"ArtKramr" wrote
Sgt. Greigo's Flak Jacket

[snip]

We never asked him to put on his flak jacket again.

There was a famous book and screenplay written "Friendly Fire"
(Starring Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty). The story starts out
with their son getting killed by an artillery round. It's not as
dramatic a hit, as you would think. As a matter of fact, his mother
insisted on having the casket opened, and there he was; no
wounds showing.

What makes the story famous, is that the officer who investigated
the death, was Norman Schwarzkopf. He found that, while the
artillery guys were drinking on the job, they had put in the
coordinates given by the soldiers in the field, but they forgot to make
an adjustment after the spotting round was fired. They followed
with a real round (heavier), and it hit the trees causing a pre-mature
burst.

The dead soldier was hit with a sliver of metal that shot right through
his heart.

Schwarzkopf always forced his men to wear flak jackets, and he had
a list of 18 year old idiots who were dead, and their parents were
****ed off at him for not saving their sons ass.