French anti-terrorist demonstration gone bad -- 17 shot/wounded
Luckily, nobody was killed. 5.56 for the win? ;)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080630...litaryaccident
I'm sure it was accidental -- someone left their blanks at home. This is why I hate these kinds of exercises, blanks for re-enactment, etc. We should never point a firearm at anyone, unless a life is in imminent danger.
French military experience
TexasJeff,
The French have quite a bit of military experience. In WW1, They suffered the second highest casualties (second to the Russian Empire). They suffered 1,357,800 dead, 4,266,000 wounded, 537,000 prisoner or missing in action. These figures total 73% of their army, or putting it another way, 6 in 10 of the whole population of their men between the ages of 18 and 28 died or were permanently maimed. WW2 wasn't a picnic for them, either. They didn't manage to hold Paris, as they did in WW1, but as I recall, defending Paris in WW1 cost them 400,000 casualties.
We should also recall that they helped us throw off the British yoke, in spite of our rather shabby treatment of them when they arrived to help us. They later gave us the Statue of Liberty.
The French have been an important part of our history, from before the time when we were actually a nation. Instead of denigrating them, we should be extending our heartfelt thanks to them for all that they have done for us.
Bob K