Well, I can say with all certainty that there was no "USAFA-mafia" for those of us who crossed into the Army.
Should I feel "special" or just "lucky"?
P.S. The hardest thing I had to do in Desert Storm was call in FA/ CAS. I didn't have a "god's-eye-view" to know what was causing the billowing black diesel smoke on the other side of the sand dune. Our FLOT just wasn't the nice, thin line you see on most Movie maps, either. & the best advice I got during the war came from my FCS--"If you don't feel comfortable calling it in, then don't--now, clear my net!" I didn't call it in, but should have. While no one was killed because they rolled up on a BDE-sized element of the Republican Guard on the other side, there were some injuries. But that's something only I can help myself live with.
& because of my background, I do know some of the "old" problems pertaining to the training of CAS pilots & Army attack pilots--one of which was that they were prone to target any hotspot in the vicinity of their given target grid. Slightly understandable, because at the time they didn't have IF/ thermal sights to get a proper visual vehicle ID. That's been fixed--or at least I've been told it has.
Do I ever want our forces to suffer friendly CAS? Certainly not. BUT..."let those among us without sin cast the first stone." We're all human. We're all going to make mistakes. I know that's no condolence for the families of those friendly troops we've lost. I pray for their comfort & peace. But until we can all be perfect & make perfect decisions & build perfect equipment, I feel friendly casualties will remain a sad & sorry fact of life.
The best we can do is learn from our mistakes, & make every effort to keep it from happening again.
P.P.S. & the fool who said that the Army "plans" on training losses couldn't be more out of his gourd. Sometimes I feel the Army goes overboard on making sure situations are "safe" before continuing training operations, but I'll stomache this personal feeling LONG before I'll accept them doing otherwise.
Every training-related death I've been near has caused at least a 2-day "Safety Stand-down"--while information is gathered, witnesses interviewed, plans re-evaluated, etc--so that a text can be generated & decisions can be made as to how to keep the situation from happening again.
Please...conduct the following boldface--to the letter, before making similar rash statements in the future:
"ENGAGE BRAIN"