US Army Whoops....

[Bputacoma]

My pants would be shitted....

Paktika Province, Afghanistan – After spotting Taliban forces on a distant ridge line, U.S. Army mortar teams engage with 60mm mortars. A simultaneous airstrike is called in which accidentally drops a 500 pound bomb on a U.S. Army infantry outpost, mistaking the position for Taliban fighters.
Luckily there were no friendly casualties in this incident. It is still unclear what caused the pilot to target the wrong position.

FUNKER530 INTERVIEW:

FUNKER530: What events led up to this bomb drop, and what was going through your mind after the bomb hit?

Camera Man: We had been taking harassing sniper fire for a little over a month and could not find out where this guy was, so we were up in the OP, took a few rounds and battalion heard we were in a TIC. Then about a minute prior to being cleared hot we heard they were in route. We heard weapons free, they told us to get small, and I replied with "Yeah, I get small” sarcastically, and then it landed about 15m behind us.

Honestly we had dropped so many bombs up to that point that the thought never even crossed my mind that this could even happen, especially with all the checks put into place. About a half second before impact you could hear the bomb screaming in like I hadn’t ever heard before, and I definitely knew at that point something was off. After the initial realization that it had hit behind us, we were so scatter brained trying to figure out what happened. It hit so close to the guys in the tower it actually knocked the fill out of radios.

Then we went up to check on the rest of the boys. Luckily our 1sg called up and put everyone on stand to, inadvertently saving the lives of at least 3 soldiers who would have been in the bay that had shrapnel sent through every inch of it including shearing holes into weapons. Once the smoke had cleared and realized no one was seriously injured, we just sitting there in awe as the anger started to build.

If it hadn’t been for the decision of the 1st Sergeant to bring everyone to "stand to”, three of our guys would have been killed in that wooden building.

It is still unknown how this mistake happened or why the friendly location was mistakenly targeted.

[Back N Black]

Lucky as hell! Thanks for the service!

[inline 6]

It was Bush's fault.

[CJ]

Damn. That is crazy. Thank goodness it was only a 500lb bomb.

[HarrisonTX]

They'll never hear the same, that's for sure

[ceyko]

Damned PC Army these days. Needed a whole lot more cussing and threaten to skull fuck the AF and many other things.

Glad they made it alright.

[KBScobravert]

That is OP1 out at FOB/COP Tillman a few years ago. I thought it looked familiar but the second angle confirms. I got stuck in that same OP back in 2009 for 2 days due to weather then enemy fire. I will see if I can find my pictures. Where that round hit was technically inside the wire. I don't think it was a 500 or those dudes would have been really fuckered up.

That camera vantage looks like it was from our office lol. Tisk tisk stupid employees.

[Groundpounder91]

That is OP1 out at FOB/COP Tillman a few years ago. I thought it looked familiar but the second angle confirms. I got stuck in that same OP back in 2009 for 2 days due to weather then enemy fire. I will see if I can find my pictures. Where that round hit was technically inside the wire. I don't think it was a 500 or those dudes would have been really fuckered up.

That camera vantage looks like it was from our office lol. Tisk tisk stupid employees.

Guy, is there a place that you have not been in Afghanistan? I have lived in 8 different outposts in Afghanistan and have NEVER once had a civilian at an OP?? I am not calling bullshit or anything so don't get your panties in a twist but what civilian job do you have that would place you at a hilltop OP, that acts as a deterrent for a major base of operations?

[Sgt Beavis]

Somebody is in deeeeeeeeep dookie right about now. Thank God none of those men were killed.

[KBScobravert]

Guy, is there a place that you have not been in Afghanistan? I have lived in 8 different outposts in Afghanistan and have NEVER once had a civilian at an OP?? I am not calling bullshit or anything so don't get your panties in a twist but what civilian job do you have that would place you at a hilltop OP, that acts as a deterrent for a major base of operations?

I have been to 38 bases in Afghanistan not counting OPs and been here for a cumulative 7 plus years. For my first 2 years, I drove convoys in Kabul daily along with other routine security duties (community policing, force protection assessments, etc). I spent another 2 years as an AO Security Manager out of FOB Sharana with 28 bases. This is where I have done most of my cool and fun shit. Of those 28 I did the full blown TVA for 90% of them. If you are familiar with Afg, I spent the majority of my time on the PAK border where the majority of my bases were.

I was at Tillman for a TVA and to do an analysis for IDF frequency. I took a trip up to the OP with a chow run in a humvee and when we go there the weather turned on us. So I got stuck sleeping inside snuggled up0 with the Joes. That OP is not any to fun to get to. White knuckled humvee ride followed with a fucking goat trail of loose rock and a nasty fall down into the valley with a wrong step. Plus the altitude sucked. The next day we took small arms fire from across the border (valley). Nothing to warrant an air strike but they did hold our movement back to the FOB since you have drive down the opposite face of the hilltop then round a bend to come back to the base. That view in the video where they are overlooking in the first part of the video is PAK. If they panned down you would see their path down the mountain. Tillman aslo has/had two 155s and 160s. So I am not sure why they used an air strike to support them when high angle could have done the trick.

I am at Camp Spann right now for a day/two trip. When I get back to my office I can post a picture of me sitting on the HLZ next to the Pat Tillman sign. I have posted it before I believe.

Side note. While sitting on the HLZ there one day waiting for the bird that never came, I watched a speck moving across the mountain face (just below the ANA OP to the right and the US Op to the left that the video was taken from). I was by myself on the HLZ and had to wait till the air ops sgt came back to tell someone. I pointed out the movement to him and once he saw it too, he called it in to BDOC, they sent a patrol and the calamity ensued as I watched them chase this dude like keystone cops. Finally the ANA caught him and discovered he was a spotter for an IDF team. Tillman got hit daily (hence my reason for being there) around lunch time. IDF stopped for a week plus.

panties in no twist at all

[12second5.0]

I have been to 38 bases in Afghanistan not counting OPs and been here for a cumulative 7 plus years.

I have been to 13 in the 3 years I've been here.

[KBScobravert]

This video was from 2012 and filmed by a journalist who was up in the OP with them. The Army is/was conducting an investigation (as you would imagine). It was a 500lb but not a complete detonation. Otherwise it would have been a lot worse than it was.