From Farnam:

“Since 2007, there have been 126 ‘reported’ NDs in Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). Three deaths, and eleven other (non-fatal) injuries. However, those are just the ones that were ‘reported.’ You can probably multiply that by at least ten to get the actual number of NDs!

Our predictable response has been to endlessly reiterate to beleaguered soldiers how to unload guns properly, how to make their guns useless. ‘Safe weapons clearing’ is all that anyone is apparently worried about!

This is from a Battalion Sgt Major:
‘A round doesn’t go into the chamber when you are on the FOB (forward operating base), because:
(1) There isn’t a ‘need’ to keep rounds chambered in weapons on the FOB
(2) The ‘atmosphere really doesn’t put us in a position to walk around with loaded weapons
(3) If a soldier were to get into any type of trouble, he will have enough time to lock and load that weapon.’

Really?”

The problem is that they aren’t trained well enough how to handle loaded weapons, not that their weapons are loaded in a war zone. Same reason we get so many NDs from cops, and LOT of the time it happens when they are unnecessarily loading and unloading, due to a dumb-ass protocol to be more “safe.” – JP