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thedrifter
09-05-06, 01:50 PM
September 11, 2006
Quest for the truth
Families of Army friendly-fire casualties are sometimes last to know what happened

By Michelle Tan
Staff writer

Pfc. Jesse Buryj died 13 days after Cpl. Pat Tillman. Just as his enlistment in the Army attracted none of the fanfare the former pro football player’s did, his funeral was a quiet family service, a world apart from the nationally televised memorial for Tillman.

In both cases, their loved ones initially were told they died either by enemy fire or during movement to evade hostile action. And in both cases, the families only learned later that the truth was far different from what they were told.

Their experiences are common among the family members of troops who died in friendly fire. During interviews, many of these family members told of deep frustrations with the casualty notification system and months or years of depressing delays in getting answers to explain the deaths of their loved ones.


The Tillman family has publicly complained about how the Army handled his death, saying the Army first said he was killed by enemy forces during a firefight in Afghanistan, then admitting he was killed by another Ranger. The Army opened a criminal investigation into his death. And the Office of the Defense Department Inspector General is investigating the Army’s handling of Tillman’s death and events afterward.

Meanwhile, Peggy Buryj continues to search for the truth behind the death of her only son. He was 21 when he died in Karbalah, Iraq, on May 5, 2004. In January 2006, the Army opened an investigation into his death, largely because of his mother’s persistent questioning.

‘He’s gone’

Jesse Buryj left Canton, Ohio, for basic training Sept. 17, 2002. He was later assigned to the 66th Military Police Company at Fort Lewis, Wash., and he went to Kuwait, headed for Iraq, in February 2004. Less than two months after he arrived in Iraq, Peggy and Steve Buryj were at home when there was a knock on the door. It was a soldier, and their son’s wife, Amber.

“I wouldn’t open the door,” Peggy Buryj said. “She’d been crying, and she looked at me and she said, ‘He’s gone.’”

The casualty notification officer said Jesse Buryj was thrown from a Humvee and he died from his injuries.

“That’s what we knew when we buried him,” Peggy Buryj said. “We didn’t know any better.”

But a few months later, Amber Buryj gave her mother-in-law a copy of her husband’s death certificate, which said the soldier was killed by a “penetrating gunshot wound to the back.”

“We did not know Jesse was shot,” Peggy Buryj said. “From then on, my journey was to find out what happened to Jesse.”

It took seven months after receiving the death certificate to get an autopsy report. Two months later, in April 2005, the family sat down with Army officials to learn what happened to their son.

In the briefing, the family was told Jesse Buryj was on a joint mission with the Polish army when he died. Officials said they didn’t know the source of the bullet that killed their son.

“I told them, ‘Hey, if you don’t want to deal with mourning families, then recruit orphans,’” Peggy Buryj said. Jesse “was on loan to the U.S. Army. He had a life here and a family that loves him.”

Unsatisfied, Peggy Buryj called the Polish Embassy and talked to their army representatives, who said they had nothing to do with her son’s death.

Several months later, in January 2006, the Defense Department inspector general opened a new investigation into Jesse Buryj’s death. His mother said she was told investigators have collected the U.S. weapons involved in the incident for ballistics comparisons.

“This is just crap,” she said. “I understand the fog of war, I understand friendly fire. I don’t understand why they make families wait and wait.”

16 friendly-fire deaths

At least 16 soldiers have died as a result of friendly fire during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. At least six other incidents involving the deaths of nine U.S. soldiers are still under investigation as possible fratricide.

Of the 16 confirmed friendly-fire incidents, the families of at least five soldiers have had to fight to find out what really happened to their loved ones.

“Any cases where a family is told their loved one died in another way than they did is regretful,” said Col. Dan Baggio, an Army spokesman. “It’s not something we do in practice. For the most part, we do a pretty good job. Those [incidents] seem like anomalies.”

The Army has worked hard to reduce the number of friendly-fire incidents, Baggio said, crediting technology, training and capable soldiers for the decrease in fratricide.

The 16 friendly-fire deaths are by far the lowest of any modern war.

After Tillman’s death, the Army quietly updated AR 600-8-1, the regulation that deals with the Army’s casualty program, effective May 7, to include casualty reporting, notification and assistance.

According to Col. Patrick Gawkins, director of the Casualty and Memorial Affairs Operations Center, major changes in the updated policy require that:

• Battalion commanders or a designated field-grade officer review casualty reports for accuracy.

• The casualty notification officer stay on and serve as the casualty assistance officer for parents who are the secondary next of kin.

• The battalion commander of the deployed force write a letter of sympathy to the next of kin. Unit commanders also must make telephone contact with the soldier’s family within a week of the soldier’s death.

• Rear detachments make telephone contact with the family of a wounded soldier within two hours of receiving the casualty report.

• Commanders initiate an AR 15-6 investigation into hostile deaths.

• When possible, an Army chaplain accompanies the casualty notification officer. If a chaplain is not available, the second member of the notification team may be a staff sergeant or above.

In June, Chaplain (Maj. Gen.) David Hicks, the Army’s chief of chaplains, signed a memo calling for chaplains to support as many notifications as possible.

The Army also is beefing up training for casualty notification and assistance officers, Gawkins said.

A program through the psychiatry department at the University of California, San Francisco, will provide training on reactions to grief and bereavement, something the Army has lacked in the past, he said. The program includes guidelines on how to deliver casualty notifications, how to notify children, and cultural and spiritual sensitivity.

Also, the Army plans to create a mobile training team to provide instruction on casualty assistance.

Families that lose a loved one to fratricide probably deal with a unique range of emotions, said an Army official at the Pentagon who spoke on background.

“It’s not easy to lose a loved one by an enemy’s bullet, but it’s got to be psychologically harder for it to be one of your own,” the official said. “You can imagine the psychological trauma to find out your son or daughter was killed accidentally by your own troops.”

Michelle Tan covers the Army.

Ellie