Now you know we had a lot of experience. I was overseas for 18 months, mostly on the line. Sergeant Kennedy shot himself in the hand. They sent up a movie for us to enjoy. I was sitting there following orders and suddenly I heard an explosion and was engulfed in smoke. In came an officer and asked what happened. The GI behind me said he was sorry, but his pistol discharged. The officer said that it was lucky no one was hurt. The GI’s response, “I shot myself in the foot.” The next day an order was posted barring the wearing of pistols. Enough said?
They could keep pistols out of our hands, but booze was another story. I have seen the result of racing your jeep while drunk, lots of casualties. You put guns, booze and jeeps in the hands of a bunch of 19 year olds. Enough said?
Oh yeah, I had me a 50-caliber machine gun, a devasting weapon, no one ever taught me to shoot it. We got it off on a downed American P47 fighter plane. I once tried to bring down a German fighter plane that turned out to be American, opened up on a German foot patrol that turned out to be American.
Luckily, I was a terrible shot.
What’s the purpose of this story? When the government tells you that one January 5, 2002, we had one casualty in war, I would say this is hyperbole in reverse, or that the army is filled with more mature GIs.