According to United Press International (UPI) reports, a Texas doctor says a comrade of his son told him the U.S. Marine was killed in Afghanistan when a U.S. tank platoon opened fire on his unit.
Lance Cpl. Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt was killed in action 6 Oct 11 in Afghanistan; his death is reportedly still under investigation.
Dr. David Schmidt, team physician for the San Antonio Spurs, said the other Marine decided to tell him what happened because he had learned The Wall Street Journal was investigating the incident, the San Antonio Express-News reported. He said the Marine did not want him to hear about the “friendly fire” story from the newspapers.
Schmidt said he was told his son’s unit was in a firefight in Helmand province.
“What I’ve been told is that a tank platoon came upon them, mistook them for the bad guys and opened fire on the entire platoon. And that’s how Benjamin died,” Schmidt said.
Earlier, the Marines hold him his son was shot in the head by enemy fire.
When the military lies about how Marines and Soldiers are dying that smacks of defeat; there was no reason – NO REASON – for a family to be told their son was killed in action with the enemy when it was actually a horrible accident caused by the fog of war. Friendly fire deaths occur in a war zone, lying about them occur from someone’s swivel chair; Semper Fi must not apply to those scenarios.
The Liberty Tree 