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Fratricide at Umm Hajul
A Desert Storm Friendly Fire Incident and Cover-Up
I began to consider how many people it takes to tell a really big lie and today I still do not know. However, I do know that it only takes one to initiate the process.
- Mrs. Deborah Shelton, Before the U.S. Senate, June 1995
Fratricide ... the act of killing one's brother or sister ... or, in the case of war, one's own soldiers. According to the Department of Defense, twenty-four percent of the 146 American battle deaths during Operation Desert Storm were by "friendly fire." A further fifteen percent of the 480 wounded were by our own troops. This article is dedicated to a fratricide that occurred at a small airfield called Umm Hajul, located about 150 kilometers southwest of Basra, Iraq. Sergeant Douglas "Lance" Fielder met his fate there several hours before sunrise on February 27, 1991 at the hands of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.
Fratricide has occurred in every war. I have heard that response countless times with respect to this incident. This is undoubtedly true. What does not occur in every war, is a fratricide ... followed by a cover-up ... followed by lying to the soldier's family about how he died ... followed by awarding decorations for heroism and promotions to those committing the fratricide ... followed by several more cover-ups ... followed by several military investigations ... followed by sacrificing several individuals as scapegoats ... followed by several national television appearances ... followed by a General Accounting Office investigation ... followed by a U.S. Senate hearing. The entire process lasted almost five years, at considerable taxpayer expense.
At this point, feel free to skip my tirade and go straight to the article, but please consider reading the rest of this introduction as it will help you to better understand my motivation for writing this somewhat bitter piece of work.
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My vested interest in this tragic incident is that I was one of those sacrificed in an attempt to save the careers of more senior officers. I also became quite close to the Fielder family throughout this ordeal and felt a moral obligation to help them in any way possible. My tribulations are trivial when compared to what they and their son endured. Finally, I had reached a point in my military career where I was thoroughly disgusted and disturbed by the lack of moral values displayed by some members of our professional officer corps. The fact that two fellow West Point graduates manifested some of the worst of these tendencies completely shattered my faith and idealism. Being an Army officer was not just my job ... it was my life. Four years of intense training at West Point deeply ingrained the concepts of duty, honor and country within my soul. Similarly, the honor code of not lying, cheating or stealing was an ideal I to which I aspired. I was not, and never shall be, an absolute paragon of all these virtues. I fell far short in some. What chilled me to the bone however, is how these fellow officers and West Point graduates ruthlessly disregarded and twisted these sacred principles and ideals in attempts to further their careers.
This article is not a detached, historical analysis of what transpired. It is a first person account that portrays the human elements surrounding this tragic event. It was written shortly after the incident, without the benefit of all the information contained in the investigations that followed. I have included links to the General Accounting Office findings and quoted official documents to help clarify what transpired. I do not, for one moment, believe that Lieutenant Colonel John H. Daly, Jr. intentionally opened fire on and killed an American soldier. However, I firmly believe that both Lieutenant Colonel Daly and Colonel Douglas H. Starr disregarded basic tactical principles and their command responsibilities ... perhaps even respect for human life ... to grab a slice of glory pie. Then they attempted to conceal as much about the incident as they could and ruthlessly cut down anyone who attempted to hold them accountable for their actions. Indeed, it took the United States Senate itself to finally hold Lieutenant Colonel Daly accountable.
In retrospect, I do not believe the actions after the fratricide were the result of a single, coordinated cover up effort. Instead, they seem to stem from many small efforts, by many different individuals, to hide whatever culpability they had (or perceived themselves to have) in the incident. Some of them probably even took it upon themselves to "protect" the Army from any negative repercussions. Almost every officer touched by this affair was reticent to step forward and speak up. Although the majority did not lie, they did simply turn their backs and walk away. Unfortunately, this speaks volumes for the moral state of our military.
Lance Fielder's mother, Ms. Deborah Shelton, testified before the Senate in 1995
I began to consider how many people it takes to tell a really big lie and today I still do not know. However, I do know that it only takes one to initiate the process.
Indeed, this lie took on a life of its own and raged for almost five years before it was finally put to rest. One can only wonder what the results would have been if an atmosphere of honesty and forthrightness, as instilled at West Point, had been followed from the beginning. The integrity of the Army, idealism in its officer corps, trust by the civilian populace and yes, even substantial taxpayer dollars, could have remained intact. Ron Fielder, Lance's father, stated the following during the 1995 Senate hearing
This lie has done more harm to the military than a thousand truths would have done.
I concur wholeheartedly. As long as we continue to place personal hubris above truth, entire institutions will suffer and decline. In the final analysis, doing the right thing is the same as doing the best thing.
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