Title: Michael
Pritchard inquest: Soldier accidentally shot
Subject: A soldier believed to have
been killed by a British sniper in Afghanistan was accidentally shot while on
active service, a coroner has said.
Date: 23 may 2012
Summary
L/Cpl Michael Pritchard, of the 4th Regiment,
Royal Military Police, was shot dead in Sangin in 2009. He was deployed to
watch a blind spot on the road and make sure the Taliban wasn´t planting bombs.
The bullet that killed Pritchard was shot by L/Cpl Malcolm Graham, of the Royal
Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion. Graham´s mistake has been writen up to being
Graham being tired in vulnerable and unrational circumstances. Although the
mistake could´ve been avoided. Pritchard´s parents say that the army has taken
no actions regarding the mistake and death of their son. Pritchard´s commander
praises him as a brave professional soldier who made a huge impact on the
regiment.
Opinion
I find it very weird that
someone can be shot to the chest and abdomen with one bullet, it is quite an
achievement and sign of very good marksmanship. Sadly it was fired at an ally
instead of an enemy. There are two things that are evenly bad about the whole
scenario. One is that the parents of said dead soldier have not gotten any form
of apology or mention or any of the sort after three years. The other is that
there were british soldiers in Afghanistan to support the ego of the USA.
I am quite the pacifist. Lots of deaths in war situations could have been avoided. This is yet another case. If soldiers would just think longer before they would shoot someone this man might still have been alive. Stop killing everything that moves just because you are a soldier. Seriously, stop it.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenStupid mistakes happen. With guns, those mistakes are fatal and permanent. Many things happened before this, Graham was not aware there would be allies walking there, nor did his superior relieved him when he was too tired, nor did Pritchard know that there was a friendly sniper who was unaware of him.
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