"The battalion commander ordered Wilkerson and his unit to engage in “recon by fire” — basically firing from their helicopters into brushy areas, tree lines, hootches (as Vietnamese peasant homes were known) or other structures, in an attempt to draw enemy fire and initiate contact. Knowing that, too many times, this led to innocent civilians being wounded or killed, Wilkerson told the ground commander that his troops would only fire on armed combatants. “To hell with your free fire zone,” he said. A “trigger-happy” Cobra pilot under his command then entered the verbal fray on the radio, siding with the battalion commander. With that, as Wilkerson described it that day, he maneuvered his own helicopter between the Cobra gunship and the free fire zone below. “You shoot, you’re gonna hit me,” he said over his radio. “And if you hit me, buddy, I’m gonna turn my guns up and shoot you.”"
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Activists from the United StatesAcademics from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesMilitary leaders from the United StatesUnited States federal government officials
Original Language: English
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Sources
Lawrence Wilkerson’s Lessons of War and Truth, HuffPost, Nick Turse (26 Dec 2008)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Wilkerson
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Lawrence Wilkerson
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