The pilots asked several times if there were any friendlies in the area and c/s "Manilla Hotel" (a control unit) came back, almost sounded like he had put no thought into his reply, saying that there were no friendlies in the area. The pilots even tried describing what they were seeing and he instantly replied, almost cutting them off, with "Yeah, that matches our intel".
However, the pilots should have held off or at worst done a no-guns run to check out whether the orange they saw on the vehicles were friendly ID markings or, as one was convinced, orange rocket launchers. There was some confusion between them about what it was they were seeing, they discussed the orange panels for some time and then seemed to talk themselves into the fact that they were seeing orange rockets. "I think killing then damn rocket launchers would be great!" After each of the first 2 strafing runs they even seemed to question what they were seeing "That's what you think they are, right?", in a very questioning tone of voice both times.
It was very sobering to hear their remorse after the event, though I am not sure, listening to their words, if the remorse was for what they had done or what they expected was going to happen to them as a result!
"Got to go home dude" - "Yeah I know, were fuc#ed!"
and
"We're in jail dude".
Sad chain of events
MadMark!!!
