Who Are The National Air Gaurd?

the same guys who were asleep on sept 11

It seems like the most anti taliban forces killed were killed by usa

Dubya was in their ranks protecting the skies of Texas to avoid Vietnam when he wasn't AWOL. Although hopefully most of them are more qualified than that, imagine a Dubya in a jet with bombs, and we're all set for some "friendly fire." Doofus couldn't even apologize properly.

It's a sad story all the way around, Mr. Noodles. My heart mourns for the families of those soldiers who were killed, and it grieves, too, for the pilots and their families - it's one of those situations where I cannot foresee a suitable punishment/response - having to live with the knowledge of what they did, it seems to me, is a fairly stiff punishment for the pilots.

I would like to see a better, independent investigation of what led to the catastrophe, though. I am not certain that I buy all of the "conclusions" arrived at by the Americans.

The reason the one guy is getting off is because my nation didn't go to war over bombs that never existed. That is the saddest part. Two of dead had family in the town I lived in at the time. It was not pleasent to say the least.

"conclusions" in this type of situ are notoriously difficult to arrive at, and shit rolls uphill when you investigate - hence no courtmartial, because the pilots are frankly the LEAST responsible folks in this tragedy. What will happen now is that both of them will never see a combat mission again, may very well never see the inside of a combat acft again for that matter, and will be quietly shoveled out of the USAF at the earliest available opportunity. It's not prison time, but it's a mistake to imagine that these men will be able to continue with their lives as planned.

It's important to consider exactly what the consequences of courtmartial could have been in this case. It's likely that after the initial hearings it was determined that A. the lion's share of culpability did not lie with the pilots, and B. Yikes, Iraq.