IG: Families not told in friendly fire cases

[unhappycamper]

Death by friendly fire
Families aren’t notified promptly, IG says.


IG: Families not told in friendly fire cases
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 18, 2008 13:25:32 EST

Friendly fire incidents have caused six Marine deaths and at least 85 other casualties since the beginning of the war in Iraq — a total that is roughly 1 percent of the Corps’ 9,000 reported casualties, according to a report from the Inspector General of the Marine Corps.

In all but four of those 91 cases, the Corps failed to promptly notify the Marine’s family that the casualty resulted from friendly fire, according to the report, obtained by Marine Corps Times under the Freedom of Information Act.

While the 25-page report was just released publicly, it was completed in October and distributed internally among senior Marine officials.

The report resulted in the creation of a Corps-wide “Combat Casualty Cell” in December, when responsibility for all casualty notifications was centralized in the Personal and Family Readiness Division office in Quantico, Va. The office doubled its staff from 11 to 22 to handle the new duties.

Previously, the Corps expected individual commanders to notify families when friendly fire investigations began.


Rest if article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/02/marine_friendlyfire_080218w/