US Marines bombed by B-52.

From Globalsecurity.org:

www.globalsecurity.org...

Marine Cpl. Steven Johnson is another wounded soldier back from war.

But Johnson's war was different. While other members of his reserve company from Greensboro went to Kuwait and Iraq this winter, he agreed to serve as a helicopter radio operator in Djibouti, a small desert country in Eastern Africa that coalition forces use as a base for the war on terrorism.

From the time that nine 750-pound bombs dropped around him the morning of June 22, Johnson said, he realized that his company had been hit by the U.S. Air Force. The Marines had been participating in a training exercise with the Air Force, he explained, and there were no enemies in the area.

One Marine died and seven others and one sailor were injured that day. Johnson, severely burned and with numerous bones broken, almost died. After two months in a military hospital, he returned to his home in Kannapolis on Aug. 29.

And what is really sad in this whole mess is:

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stopped by to see Johnson during a visit to the hospital. But no one from the Air Force has made any effort to apologize, visit or console him, which bothers some in Johnson's family.

"You'd have thought they'd send a letter," said Melissa Moser, Johnson's older sister.

There are reasons that Air Force officials haven't contacted Johnson, said Dan Goure, the vice president of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., a think thank that deals with military issues.

"Don't dismiss the Air Force as being a bunch of insensitive slobs,'' he said. "It may bureaucratic or it may even be legal.... In the United States, an apology may be a legal admission of guilt."

This is really sad, not even being able to say: "im sorry". As one could get sued for it..

And a another thing, during "desert storm", more than 80% of all US deaths were caused by accidents or "friendly fire".

Military accidents, whether in training or combat, can be as dramatic as a bombing or as commonplace as a Humvee crash. Accidental deaths have long outweighed those in combat. During 1991, the year that included the first Gulf War, 931 service people died in accidents and 148 died in "hostile" incidents, according to the Department of Defense.

How is it possible to # up this badly?

Thats riddiculous. How can they be stupid?

Yeah, 9 750lb bombs (340kg).. in a exercise.. it isnt right..