Fish
10-25-06, 12:47 PM
THE HAGUE/TARIN TOWT – The Dutch ministry of Defense is dealing with a problem after the news has come out of a Dutch TV-maker fighting with Dutch Special Forces against the Taliban. During the firefight the man took the gun of the MAG-gunner and fired with live rounds at the Taliban fighters. The Dutch Military Police is currently investigating the case.
It’s not clear whether or not the non-uniform wearing civilian made any casualties himself, but according to NATO-predictions around 20 fighters were killed during the fight. Sources within the ministry of Defense also reported some civilian casualties.
The gunner, Vic Franke, was on a 6-week tour with the Dutch Royal Army to make a documentary about the work of the Dutch Special Forces (Korps Commando Troepen).
Roadside bomb
On the 11th of October 2006 Vic Franke was patrolling together with 25 Dutch Special Forces, some American soldiers and a unit of the Afghan Army. 6 Kilometers from the base one of the vehicles was hit by a roadside bomb, killing one Afghan soldier instantly and leaving 9 others wounded.
The exploding roadside bomb resulted in a well-prepared ambush of Taliban fighters, assaulting the Dutch, American and Afghan forces from 3 sides. The documentary maker kept filming till his battery went empty.
“We wanted to retreat to a dry riverbank, but also from this position we were receiving enemy fire.” According to Franke. “My military service as a conscript once taught me that the best thing to do in a situating like this is to return fire. So I took one of the commando’s Diemanco and fired in the cornfield, aiming at the places where I saw fire coming from the enemy’s barrels.” After the firefight Franke surprised many soldiers as he gave away a lot of operational details of the ‘adventure’. He talked about his ‘tour of duty’ and his ‘brothers in arms’.
A spokesman of the ministry of Defense pointed out that it is definitely not a good thing when civilians are handling the firearms, but did not want to judge the incident. “That’s from the Military Police to do.”
It’s not clear whether or not the non-uniform wearing civilian made any casualties himself, but according to NATO-predictions around 20 fighters were killed during the fight. Sources within the ministry of Defense also reported some civilian casualties.
The gunner, Vic Franke, was on a 6-week tour with the Dutch Royal Army to make a documentary about the work of the Dutch Special Forces (Korps Commando Troepen).
Roadside bomb
On the 11th of October 2006 Vic Franke was patrolling together with 25 Dutch Special Forces, some American soldiers and a unit of the Afghan Army. 6 Kilometers from the base one of the vehicles was hit by a roadside bomb, killing one Afghan soldier instantly and leaving 9 others wounded.
The exploding roadside bomb resulted in a well-prepared ambush of Taliban fighters, assaulting the Dutch, American and Afghan forces from 3 sides. The documentary maker kept filming till his battery went empty.
“We wanted to retreat to a dry riverbank, but also from this position we were receiving enemy fire.” According to Franke. “My military service as a conscript once taught me that the best thing to do in a situating like this is to return fire. So I took one of the commando’s Diemanco and fired in the cornfield, aiming at the places where I saw fire coming from the enemy’s barrels.” After the firefight Franke surprised many soldiers as he gave away a lot of operational details of the ‘adventure’. He talked about his ‘tour of duty’ and his ‘brothers in arms’.
A spokesman of the ministry of Defense pointed out that it is definitely not a good thing when civilians are handling the firearms, but did not want to judge the incident. “That’s from the Military Police to do.”