On 8/31/05, laserlight@xxxxxxxxxxx <laserlight@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> So, double blind games with detailed spotting rules can make this kind
of stuff happen,
Even without the prospect of mis-identification, Double Blind games can
give you lots of opportunity to play with your opponent's head. Have a
unit or two keep their heads down while the enemy line rolls by, then pop
up in what is now the Red Force rear area. Adding misidentification just
makes it more fun, particularly if you've got civilians and media on the
table:
"Is that a sniper, a scout, or just a civilian?"
"Movement in my rear area -- enemy partisans, or friendly civilians trying
to bug out?"
"This is new crew for station WBIAS, interviewing Sergeant Czaba.
Sergeant, can you explain why you just shot that mother and her children
with an anti-tank rocket?"
Of course,
1)In such a situation the ROE would likely require positive ID.
2)A military unit that would allow uncontrolled interviews during a firefight is wierd to say the least.
You have to remember that out of hundreds of thousands of rounds fired, the blue-on-blue or collateral damage stuff might get an inordinate amount of media coverage, but in reality it is truly unusual.
Take Desert Storm. There were a couple dozen blue-on-blue cases, but there were thousands of Iraqi vehicles blown up with great precision.
Even in Iraq today, what cases of mistaken identity there are (in the most deliberately confusing environment possible) tend to be cases where people act like terrorists. One case I'm familliar with was a pair of off-duty Iraqi Police who were totally intoxicated and attempted to run a US roadblock. Someone chopped their vehicle in half with a .50 caliber machine gun. Unfortunate, but no negative consequences for the chain of command or the soldiers in question.
John
--
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again and again. We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani