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Mix-up During Exercise Kills Soldier
Tuesday, February 26, 2002
The Associated Press

Robin Sage is the 19-day final exam of the Special Forces Qualification Course. Conducted since the 1950s in North Carolina, it tests skills in survival, tactics and dealing with people, as well as judgment, decision-making and ethics.

CARTHAGE, NC -- AP
Deputy Sheriff Randall Butler became suspicious when he spotted the pickup truck with someone crouching in the back, exposed to the blustery, 40-degree cold.

Butler pulled the truck over and noticed a duffel bag with a disassembled rifle inside. When one of the three men in the truck came at him, Butler tried pepper spray. Then he opened fire, killing one man and wounding another.

According to the account given by Moore County sheriff's officials, what Butler didn't know was that two of the suspicious men were Army Special Forces soldiers training for their coveted green berets.

The soldiers apparently thought Butler was an actor in their role-playing exercise.

The deadly mixup near Fort Bragg on Saturday has shaken Army officials, who plan to re-examine how they carried out the training exercise that they have been conducting for decades.

Army officials said the shooting was the tragic result of a breakdown in communications. They said the Sheriff's Department had not been told about Saturday's exercise because the Army did not think the department would be involved.
(More: Military.com News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

I hate seeing these, but shit still happens, be it mock-training for the defense of this nation, or actually stepping up to the line.



Dan