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Tarnak Farm incident
Maj. Harry Schmidt and wife Lisa enter the Tarnak Farms Article 32 hearing room.
Date April 18, 2002 Location Afghanistan Result Four Canadian soldiers killed, eight Canadian soldiers wounded.

The Tarnak Farm incident refers to the accidental killing of four Canadian soldiers and the injury of eight others from the Third Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (3PPCLI) on the night of April 18, 2002 by an American F-16 fighter jet. The aircraft, piloted by U.S. Air National Guard Major Harry Schmidt, dropped a laser-guided 227-kilogram (500 lb) bomb on the Canadians who were conducting a night firing exercise at Tarnak Farms, near Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Description of incident

Major William Umbach and his wingman Major Harry Schmidt were returning at night from a 10-hour patrol, at 23,000 feet (7,000 m), when they spotted what they believed to be surface-to-air fire. The fire was actually from a Canadian anti-tank and machine-gun exercise, which was taking place on a former Taliban firing range.

Schmidt's testimony at his Article 32 hearing was that he believed his flight leader, Major Umbach, was under attack. The radio logs show that Schmidt requested permission from flight control (AWACS) to fire his 20 mm cannons at what he believed to be an anti-aircraft or Multiple Launch Rocket System below. He received the response: "stand by" and less than two minutes later "hold fire." Four seconds after the hold fire order, Schmidt said he was "rolling in, in self defense." He dropped a laser-guided bomb thirty-five seconds later. Schmidt then said "I hope I did the right thing." Minutes later, the AWACS responded with "Friendlies, Kandahar."^[1]

The incident is explored in detail in the book Friendly Fire by Michael Friscolanti and many facets of the case are brought to light, including perceived problems in communicating the chaotic ground situation to pilots on a daily basis and the use of amphetamines to keep pilots awake during long missions. The book provides verbatim transcripts of long segments of both official boards of inquiry into the incident, as well as Major Schmidt's Article 32 hearing.

Casualties

Claire Leger, mother of Canadian Sergeant (SGT) Marc Leger, speaks to media about the Tarnak Farms incident.

The soldiers who were killed were:

• Sgt Marc D. Leger, Age: 29, from Lancaster, Ontario.
• Cpl Ainsworth Dyer, Age: 24, Montreal, Quebec.
• Pte Richard Green, Age: 21, Mill Cove, Nova Scotia.
• Pte Nathan Lloyd Smith, Age: 27, Porters Lake, Nova Scotia.

The eight wounded men include:

• Sgt Lorne Ford, Age: 33, Brampton, Ontario
• Cpl René Paquette, Age: 33, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Cpl Brett Perry, Age: 26, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Pte Norman Link, Age: 24, Grande Prairie, Alberta
• Cpl Brian Decaire, Age: 25, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• MCpl Curtis Hollister, Age: 29, Cupar, Saskatchewan
• MCpl Stan Clark, Age: 35, Vancouver, British Columbia
• Cpl. Shane Brennanm, Age: 28, Collingwood, Ontario

Findings of Board of Inquiry

Two Boards of Inquiry, one Canadian and one American, were held simultaneously. The two boards shared personnel and information. Canadian Brigadier-General M.J. Dumais was specialist advisor to the Canadian board and co-chair of the American board. The findings of the four-member Canadian Tarnak Farm Board of Inquiry, chaired by General Maurice Baril, were released on 2002-06-28. The Board found that the Canadian troops engaged in the night live-fire exercise had conducted their operations as authorized and in accordance with the established range procedures for the types of weapons fire. The Board concluded that the American F-16 pilots contravened established procedures and were the cause of the incident. The Board further concluded that correcting deficiencies in air coordination and control and tactical planning might have prevented the accident:

"... as much as the F-16 pilots bear final responsibility for the fratricide incident, there existed other systemic shortcomings in air coordination and control procedures, as well as mission planning practices by the tactical flying units, that may have prevented the accident had they been corrected."^[2]

Schmidt's rationale

In his official apology to the family and friends of the dead and injured Canadians, Schmidt stated: "My perception was that we had been ambushed, as we had been briefed that Taliban were expected to use ambush tactics in and around Kandahar...I believed that the projectiles posed a real and present danger to our flight and specifically to my flight lead...I believed at the time that my flight lead's transmission to 'check master arm, check laser arm,' indicated he concurred with my decision that the situation required self-defense."^[3]

Article 32 Hearing

Colonel Robert Murphy briefs the investigating officer, Colonel Patrick Rosenow (in leather jacket), about a helmet and night vision goggles during the Article 32 hearing.

During the hearing, five F-16 pilots testified, including one who had led the US Board of Inquiry. All five pilots agreed under oath that the dropping of the bomb by Schmidt was not an unreasonable action. Friscolanti summarized their comments in his book Friendly Fire:

• Major John Milton: A reasonable fighter pilot could have believed he was trapped in a threat envelope and had no choice but to drop a bomb. It was Maj. Schmidt's right to roll in self-defense, even after the "hold fire" order.
• Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Viets: Rolling in would be a reasonable response because Maj. Schmidt was reasonable to believe that he was already in the threat envelope of a rocket-based weapons system.
• Colonel David C. Nichols: A reasonably prudent F-16 pilot might have done the same thing. "Combat aviation is not a science. It's an art."
• Lieutenant Colonel Craig Fisher: There were no "significant departures from flight discipline." A reasonable fighter pilot would have egressed the area, but that doesn't mean Maj. Schmidt and Maj. Umbach were reckless.
• Major General Stephen T. Sargeant: A reasonable pilot never would have believed that the fire on the ground was a threat to his flight. And even if he did, turning, descending, and decelerating was an unreasonable reaction. However, disregarding all the alleged reckless maneuvers Maj. Schmidt made to reach the spot where he invoked self-defense, dropping a bomb at that instant was not unreasonable. In other words, if Maj. Schmidt suddenly woke up at 14,000 feet (4,300 m) and four nautical miles (7 km) away from the mystery fire, it would be reasonable to drop a bomb in self-defense.^[4]

One of the issues highlighted by the Inquiry related to the use of "go pills" (amphetamines) in combat. (Conversely, the Air Force also issues "no-go pills"; prescription sedatives used after the mission to calm down.) ^[5][6][7] In testimony it was revealed that Schmidt and Umbach were told by their superiors to use "go pills" on their missions, and blamed the incident on the drugs. This was a significant part of the defense of the two pilots. Schmidt's defense also blamed the fog of war.

Another issue that was evident, but remained largely in the background, was the quality of communications between the various coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Disposition

On September 11, 2002, the U.S. pilots, Majors Harry Schmidt and William Umbach were officially charged with 4 counts of negligent manslaughter, 8 counts of aggravated assault, and 1 count of dereliction of duty. Umbach's charges were later dismissed. Schmidt's charges were reduced (on June 30, 2003) to just the dereliction of duty charge. On July 6, 2004, U.S. Lt.-Gen. Bruce Carlson found Schmidt guilty of dereliction of duty in what the U.S. military calls a "non-judicial hearing" before a senior officer. Schmidt was fined nearly $5,700 in pay and reprimanded. The reprimand, written by Lt. Gen. Carlson said Schmidt had "flagrantly disregarded a direct order," "exercised a total lack of basic flight discipline", and "blatantly ignored the applicable rules of engagement." Umbach was reprimanded for leadership failures and allowed to retire.

Here is an excerpt from the letter of reprimand given to Schmidt:

"You acted shamefully on 17 April 2002 over Tarnak Farms, Afghanistan, exhibiting arrogance and a lack of flight discipline. When your flight lead warned you to "make sure it's not friendlies" and the Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft controller directed you to "stand by" and later to "hold fire," you should have marked the location with your targeting pod. Thereafter, if you believed, as you stated, you and your leader were threatened, you should have taken a series of evasive actions and remained at a safe distance to await further instructions from AWACS. Instead, you closed on the target and blatantly disobeyed the direction to "hold fire." Your failure to follow that order is inexcusable. I do not believe you acted in defense of Major Umbach or yourself. Your actions indicate that you used your self-defense declaration as a pretext to strike a target, which you rashly decided was an enemy firing position, and about which you had exhausted your patience in waiting for clearance from the Combined Air Operations Center to engage. You used the inherent right of self-defense as an excuse to wage your own war."^[8]

In April, 2006, Schmidt sued the USAF, saying that the military violated the federal Privacy Act by disclosing parts of his military record without his permission and by doing so ruined his reputation. On September 22, 2007, U.S. District Judge Jeanne Scott ruled against Schmidt, stating, "The release of Schmidt's reprimand gave the public ... insight into the way in which the United States government was holding its pilot accountable. Thus considering all of the circumstances, the disclosures at issue were clearly warranted."^[9]

This was the most serious case of fratricide or friendly fire to have been experienced by the Canadian Forces (CF) in Coalition operations since the Korean War.

Notes

References

• Associated Press (September 23, 2007). "Pilot Loses Lawsuit In Friendly Fire Case". San Diego Union-Tribune.  
• Friscolanti, M. (2005). Friendly Fire: The Untold Story of the U.S. Bombing that Killed Four Canadian Soldiers in Afghanistan. John Wiley and Sons Inc. ISBN 0-470-83686-5
• National Defence Canada (2002). (Tarnac Farm Board of Inquiry.

External links

• Text of Letter of Reprimand

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