This was my nightmare for 2 years as an OV-10 guy and ground FAC. FRAT just sucks... Its effects amplify well beyond the mere loss of lives and firepower due to the loss of trust between forces and the resulting backlash and over-control of the command authorities to try to prevent repeat occurances. A-10s killed some brits and some marines in the first Gulf War, a former FAC killed 26 guys shooting down blackhawks over Northern Iraq in 1994, and several planes were downed by "blue" SAMs in various recent conflicts. A squadron commander was relieved just before the Desert Storm ground campaign for fratting some friendlies with an Apache attack.

When it happens--it stings. Then it rips at your gut. Then it makes you very mad. But its part of war. Our job is to our best to minimize it...

FWIW...at a recent little girls basketball game I ran into my old Weapon's officer's wife who was cheering on her kids while I cheered mine on. She reported to me that she had just received flowers from a young F-15 B course (beginning basic course) for "fratting" her husband on a training mission. In our F15 squadrons at Tyndall, the "standard" cost of a frat is a keg of beer to the squadron (which I remember from EVERY squadron). What we add that I think is so valuable is the student must send flowers to the "widow" he created, and also call her and apologize for "killing" her husband. Typically, we get one or two frats per class. When it happens, it costs the student over $100 in various fines, but the act of stopping, making those calls, ordering those flowers etc really DRIVES home the impact of a mistake and hopefully instills that "be sure before you shoot" philosophy. We train hard to try to create that proper mindset.

And as a random yet related sidenote, a hunter shot and killed his brother here in NW Florida a month or two back. Seems he "thought" his brother was still in a treestand and shot the movement he "thought" was a deer. When he found his brother shot but still alive he did all he could, but his brother died in his arms. My dad taught me to KNOW what I was shooting when he taught me to hunt, and I tried to have the same discipline in the F-15. However--there are times and places that despite your best efforts and intent mistakes will happen. When they do, we have to step back, learn, and try to be careful not to crucify an honest mistake. Techonolgy helps, but it is not a replacement for SA, discipline, and the judgement to know when to let a target pass because killing it is less important than not killing a friendly.