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Oh my goodness gracious golly gee!

By The Armorer on June 7, 2008 | | Comments (11)

The two luckiest soldiers in Utah - on April 9th anyway.

SUV after encountering zealous environmentalists...


Last April 9th, at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, two soldiers were driving a rented SUV about five kilometers from the part of the range used for live firing. It was at night, and an F-16 that thought it was firing at something in the live fire area, lit up the SUV instead. Only 70 20mm rounds were fired. Fortunately, the two people in the SUV were only injured (both from flying glass, the passenger got a dislocated shoulder as he rapidly exited the vehicle when it quickly turned off the road and stopped.) The investigation of how this happen has not been completed.

Methinks those troops are glad that was training ammo. H/t, Strategy Page.

Perhaps the pilot is a rabid environmentalist.

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11 Comments

By BillT on June 7, 2008 7:36 AM
Geez, the Air Force has self-propelled, lighted targets on aerial gunnery ranges now? And here they've been blaming the F-22 for the quantum jump in the budget. Wonder if it was the same guy who lit up the school in my back yard a couple of years back. Both occupants were *really* lucky he didn't lead 'em by another 3 feet...
 
By AW1 Tim on June 7, 2008 9:08 AM
Heh, I would have loved to have been able to listen in on the conversation between the driver and the rental agency afterwards.... It must not be often that you get to explain how your rental car was shot up by a passing aircraft. No, really!
 
By AFSister on June 7, 2008 9:27 AM
Holy crap..... When I saw the picture, I thought "How in the HELL do you get holes like THAT in your CAR... in UTAH!???" damn.
 
By Fishmugger on June 7, 2008 10:20 AM
I wonder if he refused the insurance option when filling out the rental form? It's days like that where you maybe should just report it stolen and tell them to bring you another vehicle.
 
By LarryK on June 7, 2008 10:34 AM
Big hail out there!!! Seriously -- first thought was that this was a picture from the hailstorm that went through here (Junction City & Manhattan KS) the other night! I saw a car carrier the other day on I-70 full of brand new Chryslers without a single window and except for the holes they all looked similar to this vehicle.
 
By kat-missouri on June 7, 2008 10:51 AM
Dude, you almost saw my truck like that. I have two chinks in my window from last Tuesday. I was driving along, heard this plinking noise, then I heard something like a rock hit the top, leaned into look out the front window to see if it was hailing (I know, brilliant move, eh?) and this big piece of hail hit the windshield right then. Put a "U" shaped crack right there.
 
By Msg Keith on June 7, 2008 12:01 PM
'rabid environmentalists'...? nah..just another Air Force pilot.... "what do you mean that Hind we just shot down was a Blackhawk??????"
 
By Oldloadr on June 7, 2008 2:34 PM
You'd think after incidents like these that fighter jocks would be a little less arrogant... nah, what am I thinking... Seriously, if these officers don't quit stepping on their own d****, they are going to ruin my beloved Air Force!
 
By Murray on June 8, 2008 4:37 PM
Maybe the pilot is a tirgger happy dickhead who could benefit from some time as a forward observer with the NZSAS in Afghanistan. He might learn an appreciation for that soft seat indoor plumbing.
 
By JoeC on June 8, 2008 8:01 PM
I believe that is know as an "Aw SH*T"moment... Both for the SUV driver as in "WTFO?" and for the pilot when he was confronted with the results.... As in "They walked away. You should be glad they did. Otherwise you'd be in jail facing charges as well as failing your qual. As it is, you failed your qual but at least get to fly another day."
 
By Cricket on June 10, 2008 9:09 AM
WOW. Dugway, eh? That's in the middle of...nowhere. Just fer laughs and giggles, I googled DPG and came up with this.