Fragging

I suppose the previous post on Vietnam combined with news today that five American military personnel were killed by one of their own in Iraq to get me thinking about 'Nam and "fragging". I remember hearing about a supposed fragging incident on my base in Quang Tri. The story was that one soldier was using drugs and his dealer wouldn't provide any more till he paid what was owed, so the "user" pulled out a grenade and tossed it across the room. Like everything in 'Nam it sounds a touch suspect, and I never saw any bodies, so who knows if it really happened. Lots of BS during all that time waiting, you know. It's hard enough in civilian life to secure a building against a crazy current or former employee. But the Iraq incident happened at a mental health center designed to treat PTSD and combat stress. Soldiers showing up there are, of course, armed. Take stress, add ready access to very deadly weapons, and...those poor five families. Bad enough to lose a loved one to the enemy, but to a supposed co-warrior? [UPDATE: Spotted this item this morning (5/12) about a big increase in the number of Vietnam Vets reporting health problems.]

UPDATE on 8-7-2022

Came across this fact about the very first reported fragging happening at Qunag Tri! About 10 months before my arrival there:

On 23 April 1969, the base was the scene of one of the first reported Fragging incidents of the war when 1LT Robert T. Rohweller of the 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines was killed by a grenade thrown into his hut.^[7]