133: There's Nothing "Friendly" about "Friendly Fire"

Tactical Tangents

The only thing more frightening than being shot at by your own team is finding out you just shot up your own team. The very idea of fratricide…aka “Blue-on-Blue” incidents…is scary, but being a professional means you can’t just be scared, you have to work on your skills and knowledge to counter the possibility of it happening to you or because of you. In this episode, Jim and Mike discuss just that.

Whether it’s a pair of USAF F-15’s mistaking American Blackhawks for Iraqi Hind gunships, a police officer not briefed to look for the undercover cop at the buy/bust, or a private citizen failing to positively identify an “intruder” and shooting a loved one, these are all preventable failures. We know that fog and friction make it harder to be aware of the environment and cause simple tasks to become more difficult, so how do we mitigate these factors and prevent “own goals”? Listen to this episode to find out.

Links:

Reading: A Chain of Events by Joan Piper

Vignettes: Tarnak Farm Incident Albuquerque undercover officer shot by LT: Police 1 Article - Update on Officer - YouTube Video NYPD Incident Providence Training Fatality Robin Sage Training Fatality

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Intro music credit Bensound.com