“You Are Well Clear of Friendlies”: Diagnostic Error and Cooperative Work in an Iraq War Friendly Fire Incident

In this article, we examine a controversial friendly fire incident that took place during the early stages of the Iraq war. Our focus is on how a cockpit video of the incident was used post facto in a military inquiry to arrive at an understanding of the actions of the pilots involved. We shall concentrate specifically on a series of interpretive difficulties that highlighted the problematic status of the video as evidence and explore what their resolution might tell us about military practice, and the place of friendly fire within it more broadly.

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Credible Evidence Continues to Surface Regarding a Likely “Friendly Fire” Incident Along the Sesame Street and Shrine Corridor Area on June 30, 2013

Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing - Advances in Safety Management and Human Performance ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-50946-0_47 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 353-361

Author(s):

Fred J. Schoeffler ◽

Lance Honda ◽

Joy A. Collura

Keyword(s):

Sesame Street ◽

Friendly Fire ◽

Fire Incident

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The New Guinea Gang

The War Beat, Pacific ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190053635.003.0005 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 67-89

Author(s):

Steven Casey

Keyword(s):

New Guinea ◽

Friendly Fire ◽

Fire Incident

MacArthur struggled to tell the story of his early battles in New Guinea. Accreditation procedures and censorship policies were initially chaotic. Flying from Australia to the New Guinea front was extremely hazardous. Vern Haugland was lucky to survive this journey in August. Byron Darnton became a victim of a friendly-fire incident two months later. Often, no more than two reporters managed to report from the Buna front at any one time, and they faced numerous problems trying to communicate their stories to America. MacArthur tried to step into this vacuum, but his overoptimistic and egocentric communiqués increasingly alienated reporters.

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Avoiding Friendly Fire Incidents Through Performance Assessment

Ergonomics in Design The Quarterly of Human Factors Applications ◽

10.1518/106480408x282755 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 19-22

Author(s):

John K. Hawley

Keyword(s):

Performance Assessment ◽

Iraq War ◽

Human Performance ◽

Command And Control ◽

Air Defense ◽

Friendly Fire ◽

Primary Focus ◽

And Control ◽

And Training

FEATURE AT A GLANCE: During the combat operations phase of the Iraq War, Patriot air defense missile units were involved in two fratricide incidents. Patriot's unacceptable fratricide rate (18% of engagements) prompted the commanding general of the air defense center to request a human-performance-oriented assessment of the fratricide incidents to complement the official board of inquiry investigation. This article summarizes the results and recommendations from that assessment. Recommendations for solutions to the fratricide problem involved both command and control and training modifications. The article's primary focus is the 3-year follow-on effort to implement and evaluate selected aspects of the recommended fixes.

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