Here's the official term for "friendly fire." Learn it. Use it.

[jmowreader]

It's called "fratricide." Literally, "death by your brother."

[bryant69]

1. How do I drop that into casual conversation, though?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Cruzan]

2. What's wrong with friendly fire?

See it used all the time.

[EFerrari]

6. For one thing it's an Orwellian term for being killed by your own guys. nt

[wicket]

7. If it's an accident, sure

But Pat Tillman's death was no accident.

[EFerrari]

10. Even if it was an accident, which I can hardly think about,

it was fratricide. There's nothing "friendly" about being made dead. That term must have originated at some PR thinktank and it disrespects the dead by trying to soften what happened.

[wicket]

15. Gotcha

I will stop using the term :hi:

[EFerrari]

17. Oh, wicket, this is so sad.

:(

[wicket]

18. It certainly is

I can't even imagine what the Tillman's are going through.

:hug:

[EFerrari]

23. Until today, I couldn't face what they were fighting.

We have to stop this somehow.

:hug:

[JVS]

29. was the killer his brother though?

[jmowreader]

33. No. Think "brothers in arms."

In combat, every other soldier is either your brother or the enemy.

[11 Bravo]

28. As I said on another thread, there's no such thing as "friendly fire".

Any shot fired in combat is addressed to "to whom it may concern". Your job is to ensure that it doesn't concern you.

[jmowreader]

32. It violates Murphy's 21st Law of Combat

Here are Murphy's Laws of Combat. These are absolute.

1. If the enemy is in range, so are you.
2. Incoming fire has the right of way.
3. Don't look conspicuous, it draws fire.
4. There is always a way, and it usually doesn't work.
5. The problem with the easy way out is that it has already been mined.
6. Try to look unimportant, they may be low on ammo.
7. Professionals are predictable, it's the amateurs that are dangerous.
8. The enemy invariably attacks on two occasions:
a. when you're ready for them.
b. when you're not ready for them.
9. Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at.
10. If you can't remember, then the claymore IS pointed at you.
11. The enemy diversion you have been ignoring will be the main attack.
12. A "sucking chest wound" is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
13. If your attack is going well, then it's an ambush.
14. Never draw fire, it irritates everyone around you.
15. Anything you do can get you shot, including nothing.
16. If you build yourself a bunker that's tough for the enemy to get into quickly, then you won't be able to get out of it quickly either.
17. Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself.
18. If you're short of everything but the enemy, you're in a combat zone.
19. When you've secured the area, don't forget to tell the enemy.
20. Never forget that your weapon is made by the lowest bidder.
21. Friendly fire isn't.
22. If the sergeant can see you, so can the enemy.
23. Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep.
24. The most dangerous thing in the world is a second lieutenant with a map and a compass.
25. There is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.
26. A grenade with a seven second fuse will always burn down in four seconds.
27. Remember, a retreating enemy is probably just falling back and regrouping.
28. If at first you don't succeed call in an air-strike.
29. Exceptions prove the rule, and destroy the battle plan.
30. Everything always works in your HQ, everything always fails in the colonel's HQ.
31. The enemy never watches until you make a mistake.
32. One enemy soldier is never enough, but two is entirely too many.
33. A clean (and dry) set of BDU's is a magnet for mud and rain.
34. Whenever you have plenty of ammo, you never miss. Whenever you are low on ammo, you can't hit the broad side of a barn.
35. The more a weapon costs, the farther you will have to send it away to be repaired.
36. Field experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
37. Interchangeable parts aren't.
38. No matter which way you have to march, its always uphill.
39. If enough data is collected, a board of inquiry can prove ANYTHING.
40. For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism. (in boot camp)
41. The one item you need is always in short supply.
42. The worse the weather, the more you are required to be out in it.
43. The complexity of a weapon is inversely proportional to the IQ of the weapon's operator.
44. Airstrikes always overshoot the target, artillery always falls short.
45. When reviewing the radio frequencies that you just wrote down, the most important ones are always illegible.
46. Those who hesitate under fire usually do not end up KIA or WIA.
47. The tough part about being an officer is that the troops don't know what they want, but they know for certain what they DON'T want.
48. To steal information from a person is called plagiarism. To steal information from the enemy is called gathering intelligence.
49. The weapon that usually jams when you need it the most is the M60.
50. The perfect officer for the job will transfer in the day after that billet is filled by someone else.
51. When you have sufficient supplies & ammo, the enemy takes 2 weeks to attack. When you are low on supplies & ammo the enemy decides to attack that night.
52. The newest and least experienced soldier will usually win the Congressional Medal Of Honor.
53. A Purple Heart just goes to prove that were you smart enough to think of a plan, stupid enough to try it, and lucky enough to survive.
54. Two things which absolutely must be together to work cannot be shipped together.
55. Murphy was a grunt.

[Aristus]

3. My father, who saw such incidents in Vietnam, has told me:

"If it's coming at me, it ain't friendly!"

I go with that.

[doublethink]

4. And one step further .... Assassination ..... why not ...... lets play word games shall we?

Assassination is the murder of a political figure or another important individual. An added distinction between assassination and other forms of killing is that an assassin usually has an ideological or political motivation, though many assassins (especially those who are not part of an organized movement) also show elements of insanity. Other motivations may be money (as in the case of a contract killing), revenge, or as a military operation.

The euphemism targeted killing (also called extrajudicial execution) is also sometimes used for sanctioned assassinations of opponents, especially where undertaken by governments.'Assassination' itself, along with terms such as 'terrorist' and 'freedom fighter', may in this context be considered a loaded term, as it implies a despicable act - whereas the proponents of such killings may consider them justified or even necessary.

[EFerrari]

9. I can hardly bring myself to think this. It's much too painful.

And who could put it past these people who have shown themselves to be above nothing?

They knew the levees were breached and warned no one.

They never mounted a defense on 9/11.

They lied us into this "war" in Iraq to enrich their cronies.

What is one man to them?

/oops

[doublethink]

11. Hey sfexpat2000 ..... did you see this thread ....... ?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2820675

Especially my comments in it, I'm biased of course because well, of instincts to be proven correct in the past. Not always right, but like the little girl in V for Vendetta have always had a knack of saying 'bullocks' when necessary. ;) Question everything. Peace.

note: I am moving into the realm of those who believe Pat Tillman was Assassinated today, from the belief that this was just a 'friendly fire' incident because of the testimony earlier in the hearings. Peace again.

[EFerrari]

12. I'll go look. Thank you.

:hi:

[rkc3]

5. When you use more words to describe something terrible,

it somehow becomes more sanitized.

Like Shell shock - now called Post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD sounds a lot more friendly to most of us who've never experienced it.

[EFerrari]

8. Diffusion. A handy tool for the marketers.

:(

[niyad]

21. ptsd occurs in people who haven't been in combat, but have experienced a traumatic event--and

believe me, with all my years of experience with ptsd--NOTHING makes it sound friendly.

[Tejanocrat]

13. I thought this was "friendly fire":

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), one of the most conservative members of Congress, said U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign because of the way he handled the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, including David Iglesias of New Mexico. The public has lost confidence in the Justice Department, Coburn said, and Gonzales should pay the consequences.

"It's generous to say that there were misstatements," Coburn said. "And I believe you ought to suffer the consequences that others have suffered and I believe to put this behind us, requires your resignation."

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=62221&cat=Headlines&more=/news/more-news.asp

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Friendly fire has been used since at least WW II

if not before

Just a histiorical note, it is not our clean skyes initiative guys who came up with this one

[EFerrari]

16. Right. The "Clear Skies" guys learned from their predecessors. n/t

[DinahMoeHum]

19. Old saying: " 'Friendly fire'. . .isn't"

n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Fratricide implies murder.

[EFerrari]

24. . . .

:cry:

[JVS]

30. it also implies being of the same mother and father

[niyad]

22. always thought "friendly fire" oxymoronic. had been hearing "fratricide" recently--much more

apropos.

[EFerrari]

25. Go read this if you have the stomach:

http://www.democraticunder.ground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2820675&mesg_id=2821007

[ArbustoBuster]

26. There's an errant period in your link.

I think you wanted:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2820675&mesg_id=2821007

[EFerrari]

27. Thank you.

[DarkTirade]

31. Up until now I'd only heard that term referring to missiles close to each other

blowing up one by one because one went off early and the explosion triggers the next one, ect.