Newsday

"Army: Human Error Caused Misfire

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- A soldier entering the wrong data into a howitzer's computer caused the early morning shelling of ranch land and homes about seven miles north of the Fort Hood Army base.

Fort Hood officials said in a statement released Tuesday that an improper compass reading was entered into a computer of a 155-millimeter self-propelled howitzer the night of Jan. 26. The incorrect compass reading changed the howitzer's firing direction."

(snip)

Is this a typical occurrance?

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), February 02, 2000

Answers

If it's training, it's atypical to get it right.

C

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 02, 2000.

Shelling of innocent bystanders (or bystanders of any kind!) is considered poor form...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 02, 2000.

If the howitzer has automated controls, I would install a feature that locks out pre-determined co-ordinates to eliminate this problem in a training environment.

It's like setting up a one hundred crane that will operate in the proximety of power lines.

-- Tom Beckner (tbeckner@xout.erols.com), February 02, 2000.

This is not typical. Such training is highly supervised.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 02, 2000.

Rachel, sorry I could not find the article you referenced. Could you please give a more specific link. Thanks.

-- Lurkess (Lurkess@Lurking.Net), February 02, 2000.

Heard Paul Harvey, commentary this morning, that farmers found 6 foot craters where their cows call home. He also stated that it was a Y2K glitch.

-- Judy (dodgeball@aol.com), February 02, 2000.

Here are a few links to stories on this incident:

Army: Human Error Caused Misfire

Families Assess Blast Damage

-- Duke1983 (Duke1983@aol.com), February 02, 2000.

Sorry, about that second link, here it is again:

Families Assess Blast Damage

-- Duke1983 (Duke1983@aol.com), February 02, 2000.

Shift happens!

Thanks Duke for the links.

-- Lurkess (Lurkess@Lurking.Net), February 02, 2000.

Do these weapons use GPS?

Wondering...

-- Electman (vrepair1@tampabay.rr.com), February 02, 2000.

It is not a typical occurrance, altho it is a rare night when us residents *don't* hear the artillery booming away in the distance downrange. Personally know of a soldier who lives in the area who was awoken by the shells falling. Don't know if they use GPS systems or not, but the story around here is that a solider entered the worng compass direction into the targeting computer, causing it to fire its rounds 180 degrees in the wrong direction from the intended targets. GIGO, you know...

From the local newspaper, the Killeen Daily Herald (http:// www.kdhnews.com/news.htm) as published on 2-2-00. Copy 'n pasted from their website.... For educational use only, of course:

Probe: 'Human error' behind Hood shelling BY STEWART BROUILLETTE Herald Staff Writer FORT HOOD  Human error is to blame for a wayward artillery barrage last month that rained down upon unsuspecting families in the King community near Gatesville, post officials said Tuesday. After nearly a week of investigations, Fort Hood officials determined that a crew member in a single M109A6 Paladin howitzer owned by the 1st Cavalry Division entered a wrong compass direction into the Paladin's targeting computer. Instead of firing in a southeasterly direction into the Fort Hood impact zone, the gun then swung 180 degrees to the northwest. An illumination flare round was fired, followed by 11 other rounds in succession from that Paladin into the King community. Fort Hood officials would not verify which of the three artillery battalions  1st, 2nd or 3rd Battalion of the 82nd Feld Artillery  was operating the Paladin. "I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose," said King resident Robert Shoaf. "It happened, and we can't change that, but I'd give him a pretty good scolding." "They admitted it right off the bat," said Shoaf's son, Robbie. "They apologized for what they'd done, but I don't think that'll quite cut it." According to a news release issued by the Fort Hood Public Affairs Office, residents in the community initially contacted Fort Hood Range Control and local law enforcement officials about 9:30 p.m. Jan. 26. Fort Hood military police subsequently were contacted, and a Fort Hood game warden was dispatched to the area about 11 p.m. Although the game warden found no physical evidence of the barrage that night, residents found craters and broken trees from the explosions Thursday. Hood officials said soldiers from Fort Hood's Explosive Ordnance Detachment were then dispatched at 4 p.m. Thursday to survey the damage. Following the detachment's findings, Fort Hood immediately suspended all artillery live-fire and launched a full investigation. "These are preliminary results, and we wanted to get the information out as soon as possible," said Lt. Col. MaryAnn Cummings, Fort Hood public affairs officer. "We anticipate giving out more information when the investigation is completed." Cummings said the investigation is scrutinizing such things as the timeliness of Fort Hood's response to the accident, the training procedures undertaken the night of the accident and if disciplinary actions need to be taken toward the responsible individuals. "A full investigation means we're going to look at everything," she said. According to Doug Coffey, public information officer for the Paladin's manufacturer, United Defense LP, there are protective features to ensure the weapon, aimed by using a navigation system and global-positioning system, is pointed in the correct direction. "It went through the last eight years of service, and it has proved to be highly accurate," Coffey said of the Paladin in general. "The onboard automatic fire control system is accurate to 30 meters at a range of 30 kilometers." Coffey added that since the Paladin was first fielded in 1992, the vehicle and its weapons system has maintained a 90 percent readiness rate, and the system has a reliability of 4,000 hours of use before potential problems arise. The field artillery battalion involved is suspended from firing until all gun crews have completed retraining and are re-certified to operate the Paladin, post officials said. Although the investigation is ongoing, officials from the Fort Hood Staff Judge Advocates Office and the Fort Hood Claims Office visited with members of the Shoaf family Tuesday to examine evidence and review claims procedures with them. "Our claims office is expediting this," Lt. Col. Steve Castlen said. "This is our focus." Castlen said the claims procedure is limited to compensating people for physical damage, but on rare occasions, the Army has compensated people for emotional duress. "We pay the claim in order to make the person whole," he said. "Our claims service pays out millions a year for household goods damages. It isn't that we are paying a claim that's unusual but that there was an artillery accident." The majority of the property damage was limited to the home and land belonging to Robert Shoaf. "They've been real cooperative and real nice," he said of Fort Hood officials. "I'd like them to settle today, but the colonel said he thought they'd settle with us as quickly as possible." Artillery rounds and shrapnel also fell on other properties, including that of Shoaf's son, Robbie, and L&E Fence Co. of Valley Mills. "We bought this property to get away from things," L&E co-owner Bob Loftin said. "My only concern is will this affect property values?"

-- hiding (behind@large.rock.uprange), February 02, 2000.

addendum: the article I posted does specify GPS, sorry... hadn't looked at it too carefully before sending. =) as I said, GIGO mea culpa.

-- hiding (behind@large.rock.uprange), February 02, 2000.

Visiting update thread. when I posted article this week-end I had to go research howitzers to get answeres to questions I asked here. Found that similar models contain electronic and automated systems. I am not real conspiracy freak, but I am from a military family and have close contacts with active duty personnel. There are and have been unreported anamolies occurring within military facilities but these are rarely publicized . From a defense standpoint, that would not be a good move. From the standpoint of the personnel who might be taking a fall for malfunctions related to Y2K or other programming or structural errors, it's a bummer if these problems are not being fairly and truthfully reported. When "training" or other accidents are designated human error, I have to wonder. The military has been given enough grief lately. I don't like to think we might be dumping on these kids to save bureaucratic face.

-- charlie in houston (cml@workmail.com), February 02, 2000.

hiding:

Has artillery firing resumed or is there still a lockdown.

22 Feb, 2000.

-- Tom Beckner (becknert@xout.erols.com), February 22, 2000.

A friend of mine is a heavy mortar guy at Ft.Hood. One of his stories: through a miscommunication between his firing team and forward observer, they dropped a big live round just to the side of a public road one day. Not the same thing as a howitzer, but I believe them when they claim it was human error.

-- Nope (not@thistime.com), February 23, 2000.