No Charges For Green Berets Friendly Fire Deaths in Afghanitan

Green Berets won’t be punished for Afghanistan 'friendly fire' incident 
Stars and Stripes
By Jon Harper
Published: December 31, 2014

WASHINGTON — The commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command won’t punish two Special Forces soldiers involved in "friendly-fire" deaths in Afghanistan earlier this year, according to officials.

Five American soldiers and their Afghan counterpart were killed June 9 when an Air Force B-1 Lancet dropped guided bombs on their position after they were misidentified as Taliban fighters.

American special operators, conventional troops, and Afghan army soldiers had been battling insurgents in the Arghandab district of Zabul province throughout the day.

Following a U.S. Central Command investigation, Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, the investigating officer, blamed the deaths on a series of communication problems between the forces on the ground and the aircrew.

“Had the team understood their system’s capabilities, executed standard tactics, techniques and procedures and communicated effectively, this tragic incident was avoidable,” Harrigian wrote in the executive summary of his report.

The troops killed by friendly fire were

Staff Sgt. Scott R. Studenmund, 24

Staff Sgt. Jason A. McDonald, 28

Spc. Justin R. Helton, 25

Cpl. Justin R. Clouse, 22

Pvt. Aaron S. Toppen, 19

Afghan army Sgt. Gulbuddin Ghulam Sakhi.

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Pfc. David Sharrett, shot by Lieutenant, was alive when Apache flew away

David Sharrett Sr. seeks answers years after son's death in Iraq
March 2, 2012
By Kimberly Suiters

For four years, Dave Sharrett, Sr. has been trying to find out exactly how his son died.

But it wasn't just the conclusion that his son, Pfc. David Sharrett, was killed by friendly fire in Iraq in 2008. What was worse was the devastating reality that no one would be held accountable.

"Our son, our family gave up blood and treasure for his country, and we were treated like this by the very institution our son served," Dave Sr. said.

Four years ago, Pfc. Sharrett died after a firefight in Iraq. He was shot during the chaos by his own lieutenant, an investigation revealed. It's what his father saw in a video two years later, though, that shook him to the core.

In the video, Sharrett says that he could see his son struggling to live while an Apache helicopter flies away.

"I said, 'Did you see that?'" he said. "He left a man behind. His commanders knew he did that."
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Tank Chief charged in "friendly fire" death of Lance Cpl. Benjamin Schmidt

Tank Chief Is Charged in Death Of Marine

BY MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS

The military has charged a U.S. tank commander with negligent homicide and other offenses in the friendly fire death of a fellow Marine during a firefight in Afghanistan last year, a rare move that opens the door for a possible court martial.
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Report rips platoon boss behavior in fratricide

Report rips platoon boss behavior in fratricide
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 31, 2011 7:03:12 EDT
A new investigation into the 2008 friendly fire death of Pfc. David Sharrett II in Iraq blasts the platoon leader who shot Sharrett and abandoned him as he lay dying, saying the officer displayed “serious personal judgment errors.”

After a botched pre-dawn raid, then-1st. Lt. Timothy Hanson left the battlefield on a helicopter while Sharrett and two of his soldiers were still missing, the report stated. Sharrett was found clinging to life at least 10 minutes after Hanson left.

“[Hanson] failed to uphold the Soldier’s Creed to include the Warrior Ethos,” wrote the chief investigator, Brig. Gen. David Bishop, chief of staff of Third Army, U.S. Army Central, “and he displayed a lack of regard for completing his assigned mission and ensuring the welfare and safety of his Soldiers which calls into question his leadership.”

The new investigation, dated March 31, is the third since Sharrett was killed. It backtracks on the first investigation’s widely reported conclusion that Hanson “misidentified” Sharrett as an insurgent and shot him because Sharrett failed to switch on his infrared beacon.
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Did "friendly fire" kill Lance Cpl. Benjamin Schmidt?

'Friendly fire' may have killed Camp Pendleton Marine in Afghanistan
October 25, 2011

Photo: Lt. Col. William Vivian, commanding officer of the Two-Four, at a memorial service in Afghanistan for Lance Cpl. Benjamin Schmidt. Credit: Marine Corps

A Marine from Camp Pendleton who died in combat Oct. 6 in Afghanistan may have been killed by "friendly fire."

The father of Lance Cpl. Benjamin Schmidt told the San Antonio Express-News that a Marine and an embedded reporter, in separate conversations, told him that his son was apparently killed by fire from a tank that had mistaken Schmidt and other members of his platoon for Taliban fighters during a firefight.
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Fort Carson:Army shreds documents on friendly fire deaths

Army shreds documents on friendly fire deaths
John Byrne
Published: Thursday November 20, 2008


In late 2006, two American soldiers from Fort Carson died in Iraq. The army said the privates were killed by enemy action. But in October of this year, Salon revealed that the two men had in fact been killed by friendly tank fire.

Now, Salon has found that the documents related to the men's deaths were shredded just hours after the story was published.

"Three soldiers at Fort Carson, Colo. including two who were present in Ramadi during the friendly fire incident, one of them just feet from where Nelson and Suarez died were ordered to shred two boxes full of documents about [Albert] Nelson and [Roger] Suarez," reporter Mark Benjamin writes. "One of the soldiers preserved some of the documents as proof that the shredding occurred and provided them to Salon. All three soldiers, with the assistance of a U.S. senator's office, have since been relocated for their safety."

The night the Salon story ran, Oct. 14, 2008, a staff sergeant told three soldiers to shred two boxes of documents relating to the privates' deaths.
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Brigadier General Anthony Cucolo, right, presents Jean Feggins the American flag that draped the casket of Pfc. Albert M. Nelson, of Philadelphia, during funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 1285-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711
DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died December 4, 2006, in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries suffered from small arms fire while conducting security and observation operations. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado.

Killed were:

Private First Class Albert M. Nelson, 31, of Philadelphia.

Private First Class Roger A. Suarez-Gonzalez, 21 of Miami.

The incident is under investigation.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/amnelson.htm

Deaths and wounding of French Troops may have been friendly fire

Thu Aug 21, 11:10 AM ET
08/21/08 AFP: NATO denies friendly fire killed French troops in Afghanistan

NATO on Thursday denied that Alliance warplanes mistakenly killed any of the 10 French troops who died in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - NATO on Thursday denied that Alliance warplanes mistakenly killed any of the 10 French troops who died in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan.


"As far as NATO and ISAF (NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are concerned, the allegations in Le Monde are completely unfounded," Alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said.

"We deny the report... we have no information whatsoever that would indicate that the French soldiers were killed by NATO planes," Romero added.

Ten French soldiers were killed and 21 wounded in a sustained attack Monday by the insurgents east of Kabul.

Le Monde newspaper reported Wednesday that according to French troops wounded in the fighting, NATO air strikes missed their targets and hit French troops, as did shots fired by Afghan troops backing them up.
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UK:The real story behind brave Apache rescue

Poor training, confusion and friendly fire, the real story behind brave Apache rescue
· Battle of Jugroom Fort Inquiry report reveals errors in attack
· Officer relieved of post during failed assault
Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Saturday August 16 2008
It was hailed as a heroic operation. Four Royal Marines strapped themselves to the sides of two Apache gunships to recover the body of a dead comrade. Dodging Taliban gunfire, the pilots landed allowing the marines to pick up the body of Lance Corporal Mathew Ford before taking it back across the Helmand river to their base.

Yesterday, however, an official report on the circumstances leading to Ford's death revealed he had been killed by one of his own comrades in an operation carried out by poorly trained troops.

A devastating board of inquiry report released by the Ministry of Defence exposed a catalogue of errors. The report revealed how a request for more troops by the commander of 3 Commando Brigade was turned down, and how communications became confused as troops struggled to cope with unfamiliar equipment.

Amid the gun battle, a marine company commander, a major, was relieved of his post, the Guardian has learned.

Ford died on January 15 last year during Operation Glacier, an assault on Jugroom Fort, a Taliban base in Garmser, in the south of Helmand province. The idea, says the board of inquiry, was to show that the Nato-led coalition was "capable of operating anywhere it chose". However, "shortfalls in combat power", identified by the brigade commander whose request to London for more troops was refused, prevented British forces from succeeding, specifically in being able to "take and subsequently hold" ground, the report says.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/16/military.afghanistan

Master Cpl. Joshua Brian Roberts dies after friendly-fire

Death of Canadian soldier highlights chaotic security situation in southern Afghanistan
By Drew Brown , Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, August 11, 2008
(See video at end of story)

MAIWAND, Afghanistan —The shooting death of a Canadian soldier this weekend provides a grim example of how chaotic the security situation can often be in southern Afghanistan.

The soldier was mortally wounded Saturday morning in Kandahar province when Afghan private security guards opened fire indiscriminately after Taliban insurgents attacked a nearby group of Canadian troops, according to coalition military officers.

The shooting occurred in the Spin Beer district of Kandahar province, about 20 miles west of Kandahar city, said Maj. Corey Frederickson, part of a Canadian advisory team that trains and mentors the Afghan army in Maiwand district, about 45 miles west of Kandahar.

According to a statement issued late Saturday by the Canadian Defense Ministry, the soldier was transported by helicopter to Kandahar Airfield but died on the way.

The Canadian Defense Ministry identified the soldier as Master Cpl. Joshua Brian Roberts. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Manitoba.
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UK:Families fight plan for secret inquests non-combat deaths

Lance Corporal Matty Hull was killed when an American pilot mistakenly opened fire on his convoy in Iraq. Photograph: Bruce Adams/PA

Families fight plan for secret inquests in friendly-fire deaths
Gaby Hinsliff, political editor
The Observer, Sunday April 6 2008
Army families fear that the truth about the deaths of soldiers killed in friendly fire or other controversial incidents will be concealed under proposed government powers to hold secret inquests without a jury.

The plan to allow evidence to be assessed in private where national security or international relations are jeopardised follows controversy over cases such as that of Lance Corporal Matty Hull, killed when a US pilot mistakenly opened fire on his convoy in Iraq.

The Americans refused to provide cockpit video of the incident - relenting only after a copy was leaked to the media - or make their pilots give evidence. The Defence Secretary, Des Browne, has also recently gone to court to try to restrict the comments made by coroners on army deaths after a string of cases where verdicts highlighted failings in their kit.

Geoff Gray of the campaign group Deepcut and Beyond, whose 17-year-old son Geoff was found dead on guard duty at the now notorious Deepcut barracks, said the families of servicemen and women were entitled to all the information about how they died. 'To have an inquest in secret would be horrendous for the families: you are desperate for information about how people have died. And you have got the bigger picture, for instance in friendly fire incidents such as that of Matty Hull. The public must be aware of what's going on.'

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/apr/06/military.iraq