Blue On Blue

During combat operations, the military does absolutely everything possible to avoid fratricide. Friendlies shooting at friendlies can happen during the chaos of combat and when it happens, it is referred to a Blue On Blue incident.

Fratricide prevention starts during operational planning. The entire operation is planned out, put on a map, reviewed, rehearsed, reviewed again, and adjusted over and over to ensure every precaution has been taken to prevent fratricide. Obviously, plans rarely survive contact with the enemy, so additional precautions are taken in the event the plan goes to hell.

Planners and operators will use predetermined locations, lines on maps, radios and signals and anything else they can come up with to prevent units on the ground from shooting at each other. We will use helicopters and drones to look downward and help with communication. Sometimes, units will even NOT shoot at bad guys because there is the potential for other friendly units in the area to feel the effects of their fires.

Blue On Blue is no joke, and we take that shit seriously. No one wants to be responsible for injuring or killing a friendly.

Somehow back here in “The World”, and especially on social media, we disregard what we learned over decades of combat. I see it every single day and, sadly, I am as guilty as anyone else.

Veterans attack other veterans on social media all the time.

I’m not talking about holding people accountable for their actions. I’m not talking about calling out people for stolen valor. I’m certainly not talking about the friendly rivalries that exist between the services. And I am not talking about friends and comrades who KNOW EACH OTHER giving each other a hard time as we are known to do.

I am talking about Veterans carrying their biases from their time in uniform into the civilian world. I’m talking about Veterans attacking other Veterans because they disagree with their opinion. I’m talking about Veterans tearing down other Veterans to serve their own ego.

Worse yet, these same people will say “22 a Day!!” out of one side of their mouth and then shred another Veteran out of the other side, having no idea what that person is going through and not contemplating the impact of their own words.

In the last week alone, I saw a social media post by a Veteran saying, “PTSD is bullshit because I’ve been through a lot of combat, and I don’t have it.” While many of the responses said this was incredibly irresponsible and even dangerous because of the impact it could have on people trying to deal with their own PTSD, almost HALF of the responses agreed with him. After everything we have learned in the last 25 years… we still have this.

I saw another where a Veteran posted a picture of himself in uniform before he retired next to a picture of him after he retired in a beard and long hair. Some of the responses were unreal with people telling him he is now fat and needs to work out every day, others telling him he has gotten lazy with his hair and his weight, and another saying everyone who gets out should keep the same grooming standards they had in the military. Really? 100% judgement about someone they DON’T know.

That person could be disabled and CAN’T work out every day. He may work in an industry or in a company culture where long hair and a beard is the norm or even encouraged. He may just be living his best life and enjoying the food he eats every day. He could also be depressed and struggling with his mental health.

I see plenty of posts about Vet Bod, Vet Beard, Vet this and that. Most of them are fun and very funny, but some people don’t know where the line is and turn these quickly into attacks on other Veterans. I saw a meme this morning that said, “People ask your MOS to determine how much respect to give you… change my mind.” This was so true it hurt. What a statement about how we view and treat each other based on something that is honestly pretty irrelevant after the military.

We carry so many biases forward from our time in uniform it is crazy. If you’re not “this”, you clearly are a piece of shit. If you haven’t done “this” you shouldn’t even call yourself a Veteran. If you did “this” or wore “this” or served in “this unit” then we can be friends. The worst ones are the “If you don’t live your life as a civilian like I do, you’re obviously looking for attention”. Seriously, we are judging other Veterans about their civilian lives AFTER they get out.

And so often, the same people will post “I’d rather stay up all night on the phone and listen to your stories, than go to your funeral.” And they will post about PTSD Awareness. And they will say “22 a Day!!”

But they never think about, or even consider, the potential Blue On Blue they are instigating through their words and actions on social media. Often enough, Veterans can be our own worst enemies. We are committing fratricide and don’t even think about it. We spent all that time in combat protecting each other from friendly fire, but we come home, and we are the ones firing on each other with very little regard for the aftermath.

Can you imagine not knowing another Veteran on social media, then attacking them for their clothes, or their haircut, or their opinion, and then finding out they are battling depression and anxiety and even suicidal thoughts? And all they needed was some encouragement to make it another day? But instead, you decided to go after them. You could have kept scrolling. You could have let it pass. But you didn’t and now something tragic has happened. How would you feel about it?

Pretty sure we would all feel like shit.

Like I said, I am far from innocent on this. I have had plenty of run-ins with people on the social media platforms. I try hard NOT to be this guy, and I am getting better, but I am not perfect. That being said, I am sure there will be Veterans who will come after me for this blog. It will happen on some social media platform or another. They will feel obligated to say something, to tell me I am wrong or tell me I should keep my opinion to myself or tell me they have a right to express themselves.

To that, I say “You Do You.” I know I am going to continue to try to improve and do better for my fellow Veterans. I am going to do better for myself. I am going to go back to all those hard lessons learned about preventing fratricide.

I am going to do everything I can to prevent a Blue On Blue.