The further away the reporting, the more bullshine in the story.
This was in West Germany. I was there between 1978-81 on that tour with the Army.
When our tanks went out on exercises of any size, at least 25% had to be fully combat loaded in case the Warsaw Pact and the Rooskies decided to make a surprise attack, hoping to catch us with empty guns. The 25% could hold the line/ delay the attack while we uploaded the rest.
This was a large-scale exercise and the tanks were loading up on trains to be taken to the training area. One of the M-60 Patton tanks which was uploaded with ammo as one of the 25%, swiveled its turret and fired the main gun point blank into the turret of another tank of the same unit. It killed the only man aboard, the tank commander. Likewise, the tank commander was the only one in the firing tank.
It was the old triangle. The dead GI was having an affair with the firing tank commander’s wife. Of course, he was tried by courts-martial and either got life with no parole or it may have been a death sentence.
By the time the story got back to the US and then rebroadcast by Walter Cronkite, the story’s own mother would not recognize it. It was attributed to racism or a near mutiny of the troops in Germany, a communist infiltrator, and likely Martians for all I know. It was the same in Vietnam before. Only what fit the liberal mantra was reported. All else was ignored or outright falsified.
That is why the average GI wants nothing to do with the press or embedded press teams. They are worthless as unbiased tellers of facts and will gladly throw a wounded warrior to the hyenas for something that fits their agenda.
Interesting. Thank you for the truth.
You’re welcome. I once had a link to the story by Stars and Stripes. It took me three days to find it online in a GI discussion board. That was years ago. I tried the link and it’s a dead end. Of course way before the internet. It was a scan of a photocopy.
Perhaps it’s partially our own fault that we ever believed these people were honestly relaying the facts. It’ll be interesting to see if the recent experience (COVID, Russia-gate, Hunter’s laptop, etc.) of just how dishonest the media is will change our news viewing habits to the extent that better choices become dominant.
General Sherman: “I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are.”
Sherman was wise. Remember when Geraldo Rivera gave away the position of the unit he was embedded with? Kicked out of the area by the Sgt Major. I would have sent him in the wrong direction and let Saddams troops deal with him.