Friendly Fire Tragedy

By early afternoon, Charlie Company's position is dangerously exposed, but no one in the

battalion HQ, co-located with Bravo Company, knows where Charlie Company is.

The regimental air officer calls in the two A-10 Warthogs on station to support the battalion,

but Whitman's Charlie Company becomes the victim of another dangerous miscommunication. The air controller

has mistakenly been told that any units north of Bravo Company are hostile. The Warthogs roll

in to launch airstrikes against what they don't realize are Charlie Company's vehicles.

The A-10s make multiple passes, strafing and bombing the remaining AAVs with AGM-65 Maverick

missiles and firing their 30-millimeter guns. The vehicles are marked with friendly