Fog of War

British fighters (most likely, although unconfirmed) have been reported to have dropped ordinance that killed several Afghani civilians. My heart goes out to the Afghani families and communities that have been affected by this. War is a horrible place in which horrible things happen. The country of Afghanistan knows this too well.

However, my focus on this post will be toward the aircrew that dropped the weapon. My friends, the British, like us, send their young men and women to Afghanistan year after year (and hopefully will continue). These young men and women train for their entire career in preparation for this one task of fighting war with perfection. Perfection for an aircrew at war means that only those who are supposed to die do, and those who are supposed to live do.

These aircrew stake their careers, self worth, honor, pride and hope in the job they are doing on every push of the pickle button. Their greatest realistic fears are: 1. A bomb they drop kills or injures a fellow coalition soldier 2. A bomb they drop kills or injures an innocent civilian. The reason these fears are their highest is because these men and women signed up to protect the very people they would be hurting in these cases.

Here is the problem with the whole thing: our country, as well as our coalition partners, know that friendly fire and civilian casualties are going to happen. It always has and, although less often, it always will. We always remember to console the families of the dead. It is both obvious and obviously right to do so. What is often forgotten is that the moment the aircrew drops that weapon (whether a mistake was made or not) their lives are crushed. Often, entire squadrons will be fundamentally changed by this significant emotional event. Fighter squadrons pride themselves on protecting those who need protection.

If I could say one thing to the aircrew who dropped this weapon it would be, "Thank you for your continued service to the protection of others. Your country, knowing this would happen asked you to go anyway. You did, and your country now owes you more than it can ever pay back. We knew someone would have to shoulder this burden and we are so sorry it had to be you."