I do realize there are
risks in war-any war. But, excuse me if
I’m really sensitive about this euphemistic term, “friendly fire”! There is nothing friendly about killing our
own soldiers! Somewhere, somehow, during
the Fog of War, when soldiers are tired and tactical maneuvers are
miscalculated or where there is a 180 degree turn in the direction of the
conflict, our soldiers die. This is not
friendly, but tragic. So how could our own military come up with such a crazy
term?
The military commanders
must know that this term is creepy to say the least and downright arrogant to
say the most! If anyone can tell me how
else to interpret this term, I’m all ears.
When our soldiers die, as the newspapers reported just happened in
Afghanistan, and we kill our own, how in the world can we call that friendly?
When we must tell the
families of the fallen soldiers that we killed our own, how can the term
“friendly fire” be of any consolation to these bereaved family members? I can’t think of a more insensitive way to
tell Americans that our military made a miscalculation at that! If I were the
military, I’d be looking for a better way to explain the way our soldiers were
murdered by their own than “friendly fire”?
How about, the military owning up to the term and looking for a better
way to explain themselves? In some
circles, the terms “amicide, or “fratricide” is used to mask the incident of
one brother in arms killing one of his/her own by accident. That term seems
just as bad!
The Boston
Globe reported an incident of “friendly fire” just the other day. I wonder how many people brushed the incident
off because there is an overtone that this really wasn’t that bad, that it was
a casualty of war, for sure, but we didn’t really mean to injury or kill our
own soldiers.
This term is insensitive
and should not be tolerated by the American people or lightly passed off-- that
we misfired, miscommunicated our war strategy, and now we wish it were not
so! But it’s ok, ‘cause it’s “one of
us—a friend, who died.”
In plain English, the
condoning of simplistic terms meant as trickery and a glossing over of a
miscarriage of justice does not seem right.
I would like this term stricken from our vernacular- for all time! No
more “friendly fire”, but purely and simply stated, “We made a mistake that
caused our warriors, who fight for the freedom of the American people, to die
or become permanently injured.” How about that for a start? Let’s not gloss over a term that means, to
accidentally kill one’s own! Let’s call it, “a tragic accident, not “friendly
fire.” Let’s call a spade, a spade. Let’s not pretend anymore that friendly is an
acceptable word. The ugliness of war and
the scars of war are raw with the American people who should never, ever accept
a term so callous and idiotic for an ugly killing of our own soldiers. And that term makes me Bonkers—plain and
simple!
