Quote:
Originally posted by James
I spoke to a friend about this who is a 20 year veteran of the USAF and he thought the guy should probably have been tried more seriously. That was after reviewing the articles.
He didn't know what to think up to the point where it said the pilot was denied permission and then let loose 39 seconds later.
He also thought that the lead pilot was the one that got a raw deal because he didn't release any bombs and there is only so much he could do with an insubordinate person.
The discipline may hav ebeen administrative because the higher ups were afraid thata general court martial would show that other people were also to blame.
|
Originally he was going to be tried for more serious charges, but the political lobby group that formed around his defense put some serious pressure out there...
Most folks that I have talked are initially pretty neutral on the issue of the pilot's guillt - right up until they read the report or listen to the actual recordings of the event. Then most of the military folks condemn him as insubordinate and trigger-happy.
I thought that the flight leader got a bit of a raw deal compared to whar Schmidt recieved - while he was the commander and therefore technically responsible for the conduct of Schmidt, he did strike me as genuinely remorseful, co-operative, and most importantly honourable... whereas Schmidt has still to honestly express any remorse.
I'm also pretty much convinced that a court martial would have revealed some serious lapses in SOP and C&C, lapses that would have been politically damaging at the time of the trial.