Frcticide

FRATRICIDE

Fratricide, better known as friendly fire. Friendly fire does not mean just human on human it can be the unintentional damage to equipment or other friendly forces. Friendly fire can be prevented by knowing your sector of fire and having positive identification (PID).

When other forces operate in the area of operations (AO) it is good to call up to higher to get there location. You can prevent fratricide if you use common sense and your resources and keep up with the information that keeps coming down to you. Platoon leaders are in charge of keeping their soldiers informed of any and all changes and movements of friendly forces in the area.

There are 5 major causes for fratricide. The first reason is target identification. We have already discussed this it is better known as PID. But as mp’s we are taught to make sure that we have pid before we fire. The second major leading cause is land navigation failures. This consists of moving out of your area of operations (AO). Or moving into another units AO believing that it is your own. Or getting disoriented and coming upon a errant unit, and receiving or firing on the errant unit. The third is weapon errors, weapon errors is more than a negligent discharge it can be the mishandling of munitions wrongful or inexperienced use with explosives it can be you not properly watching your sector of fire or that you have a lapse in your personal discipline. The fourth is reporting and communication failures. There are times when we don’t get the chance to call up a sitrep right away so when you don’t call up information of activity or movement it can distort and or disrupt the picture leading to other forces accidently moving in unexpectedly. This can also cause erroneous clearance of supporting fire. The fifth and final major cause of fratricide is operation hazards. Operation hazards are to be expected in any and all situations, operation hazards are uxo’s (unexploded ordinance), unplotted mine fields, and...