Originally Posted by
SASless
Someone please explain why the passage of time (34 years) have anything to do with what level of "gross negligence " that occurred at the time of the event? [...]
It is plain to see the matter was not properly handled at the time and to now bring this lone Soldier to Court for something that happened so long ago and not at the same time address the larger crimes that surrounded that event seems grossly unfair to me.
I think in all cases an investigation did take place at the time where COs and investigators could and did decide that further action was required, including courts marshal. Even if insufficient evidence was found to justify a prosecution or when a CM failed to find guilt, this left a great deal of paperwork to unearth, decades later. Effectively all of these individuals have previously had charges dismissed, dropped or found not guilty, or guilty of a lower charge, with the defence available to them at the time (inc chain of command, living witnesses etc) against the standards of that time.
Fast forward a few decades and those cases were subject to review and prosecution outside the CM process, this time in a civilian court. The more senior personnel in the chain of command and other witnesses have long since departed and not all records and evidence were retained. The prosecutions went ahead with what was left, which could make things look very bad or unjustifiably good. Hence someone's unchallenged notes from the day have survived that suggest (in this particular case) the individual did admit to taking aim. Other equally uncorroborated statements suggest the opposite and the forensics, such as they were, suggest that the 3-round burst all landed a considerable distance from the victim, indicating that he was not aimed at at all. The 3 ricochets all went off in different directions but 1 of them hit this innocent chap, some 300m or so from the firing point.
I've only been shot once (ie once too many) and it too was a ricochet. I've no idea who fired the round that hit me, other than it wasn't the enemy - it could even have been one of mine. Still hurt though.
It's been over a decade since I had to work or weapon, approve a dumb bomb attack or put my targeteer's signature against something surrounded by collateral damage concerns, to the very best of my ability. I guess I have to wait another 25 years or so to see if retrospective prosecutions are in vogue or not, or if what was considered acceptable at the time becomes abhorrent in the future.