Posted on 04/17/2008 4:04:27 AM PDT by billorites
Two Army soldiers, whose combat duties include working to prevent "friendly fire" mishaps, narrowly avoided harm when an F-16 fighter jet from Hill Air Force Base opened fire on their SUV while driving at the Utah Test and Training Range.
The incident occurred during a nighttime training mission April 8 in which the fighter pilot was practicing shooting at ground targets. The soldiers were not hit, but did suffer minor injuries "while exiting the vehicle in rough terrain," according to a statement from the base. The sport utility vehicle, a rental from Avis, was damaged in the incident, but base officials declined to say whether it was hit by the jet's 20mm cannon fire or crashed after the soldiers jumped out.
An investigation board, headed by 388th Fighter Wing Commander Scott Dennis, will determine whether the soldiers were in the wrong area of the range or whether the fighter pilot targeted the wrong vehicle.
"One incident like this is too many," Dennis said in the statement. "While war fighting is a dangerous line of work, we take exhaustive measures to train safely and smartly in preparation for our combat deployments."
The soldiers were part of a Joint Terminal Attack Control unit from Fort Lewis, Wash., training to identify enemy targets and direct U.S. aircraft to fire on them. Similar training involving JTAC members and pilots from the 34th Fighter Squadron has been ongoing at the range since early March, although a base spokeswoman said the specific soldiers involved in the April 8 incident had just begun their training the night before.
Live fire air-to-ground exercises are common at the range, and usually involve broken or obsolete military vehicles such as tanks and trucks. The target vehicles are often "warmed" with flares, which simulate running engines for pilots flying with the aid of heat-sensitive night vision devices.
Chris Wilson, a former Hill pilot who now works as a JTAC officer at Fort Lewis, told the Hill base newspaper last month that JTAC soldiers come to the Utah range to create "ever-changing scenarios," which help pilots "understand how to support special operations forces."
"We are training ourselves and also helping pilots be better," Wilson said, " . . . so they can understand what we are looking for on the ground."
The soldiers, who were treated and released in "good condition" from Mountain West Medical Center in Tooele, have returned to their base in Washington, according to Hill spokeswoman Beth Woodward.
Woodward said she was unsure whether the pilot involved in the incident or any other Hill officer or airman had been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation, although such action is common in friendly-fire incidents, both in training and at war.
Airmen and base contractors from unrelated commands at Hill have been the subject of several unflattering and high-profile incidents made public over the past month.
In early March, Defense Department officials revealed that they were looking into the mistaken shipment of four ballistic missile fuses from a depot at the northern Utah base to Taiwan, which had ordered a set of helicopter batteries.
Last week, base officials acknowledged that they had burned several pounds of depleted uranium in a Layton incinerator before realizing that the parts were tainted with the radioactive material.
In both incidents, military officials stepped forward to make the matters public. Woodward said that wasn't the plan with the friendly-fire incident, but the base was prompted to acknowledge the incident when a local television station got wind of the mishap.
"With it taking place in the confines of the Utah Test and Training Range and it being a training exercise and thankfully nobody was seriously hurt, we were pursuing the investigation from that point," Woodward said. "It definitely is important for us to remain transparent in how we train and operate, but with this incident, thankfully, it was not serious enough and so we decided not to go proactive with it."
“Two Army soldiers, whose combat duties include working to prevent “friendly fire” mishaps, narrowly avoided harm when an F-16 fighter jet from Hill Air Force Base opened fire on their SUV while driving at the Utah Test and Training Range.”
So they allow F16s to ‘drive’ on the same roads as SUVs in Utah. Cool!!
UTTR has procedures designed to prevent this type of accident, including 100% control of all ground parties.
It sounds like the guys on the gropund violated the procedures.
BTW, I worked on the UTTR range for 16 years.
.....Bob
Talk about intraservice rivalry....Or would that be interservice? Got to hate when some jet strafes your rental car.
If it was an imported SUV, this incident is completely understandble.
Now if it were a domestically manufactured SUV, that is an entirely different matter.
“UTTR range”
A “department of redundancy” redundancy.
Sorry,
....Bob
Boy, I bet that Hertz...
(hiding from the pun police)
Yeah, that really Hertz.
As somebody quipped on the Trib's message board, "If you're going to drive on a bombing range in a rental car, be sure to pay the extra 5 dollars for insurance."
That’s the way I see it!
LLS
Once I called into range control and got clearance to proceed.
I looked out the window and saw an F-16 bearing down on me at about 100 feet. I called range control to tell them how uncomfortable I felt, and they said the pilot was aware of me.
He was using me as a target of opportunity for his training.
.....Bob
I camp near a live range in So. Ca where they do that all the time. They’ll even buzz a campfire at night.
Just out of curiosity are there any scrappers at the Utah range? You ust know who they are. They run in and get brass and aluminum.
“The sport utility vehicle, a rental from Avis, was damaged in the incident, but base officials declined to say whether it was hit by the jet’s 20mm cannon fire or crashed after the soldiers jumped out.”
Bullet holes? Those were there when we picked up the car! I’m not paying for that.
I think they’re going to find that the SUV shot first.
THAT"S MY PARKING SPACE!
I would just love to hear an audio of what was being said when they jumped out...
“The sport utility vehicle, a rental from Avis, was damaged in the incident, but base officials declined to say whether it was hit by the jet’s 20mm cannon fire or crashed after the soldiers jumped out.”
I hope they bought the full insurance. It can be expensive getting depleted uranium out of leather upholstery.
I sure hope they took the optional rental car insurance.
Soldier to buddy as they were being attacked:
"Did you get this car from Hertz?"
2nd Soldier (driving and dodging fire): "Not exactly."
:-)
LLS
Hope they cleaned the seats afterwards.
LOL. I think we could pretty much recreate that ourselves.
Glad no one was hurt.
Nope, no scrappers.
The range is protected by a fence, 15 miles off the freeway, and lots of mud flats to get stuck on.
Part of UTTR is where the Donner party got stuck. You can still see their wagons covered with salt, however.
.....Bob
Since the only casualty was a rental SUV and a couple of pairs of shorts, I just can't help but laugh about the visual I get with this statement...
After the nuke incidentm and the nuke triggers incident...
A message to the USAF Chief of Staff
“General Mosley, General Mosley!! Please pick up the white courtesy phone. The limo to take you to the dog-track is waiting!”
I know one of the scrappers around the range I camp near and got him on the History Channel. He is on the battlefield episode of the Boneyard series at the end.
There is no fence here just open desert.
Interesting people.
That would be a great way to get your self killed.
Twice my truck was hit. once by a ricochet over a mile from where they were shooting, and the other by a piece of shrapnel from a 500 lb bomb 1/2 mile away.
......Bob
Some do get killed. Some wounded pretty bad. But we never hear of it because they are “off the grid” and living underground.
It’s an all cash recycling job they call it and some make quite a lot of money.
It’s a subculture that exists around bombing ranges.
LOL! My husband’s crews (B-1 and B-52) were REALLY hard on rental cars, but I don’t think they ever got shot at; at least nothing they are owning up to! They didn’t ever get the insurance on the rentals either...
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