• Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de
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    18 days ago

    I fondly remember back in the days doing military exercise marches on public roads:
    The last soldier in the column would have to walk with a signalling light attached to the top of his helmet.
    I typically walked in some front row (benefit of being tall and placed there for some military-aesthetics reasons), so was at least spared that embarrassment. :-)

    • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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      18 days ago

      At about 0620 on February 17th 1997, a platoon of 38 royal guard recruits, and additional NCO and a lieutenant, were marching along a public road when the driver of a Ford Transit van plowed through the platoon from behind. 20 were injured, of these two died.

      Aftermath of traffic accident. SFW no blood visible

      I know it must have looked so stupid, and felt incredibly embarrassing. But somebody made a decision to not have you guys killed.

      • Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de
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        18 days ago

        But somebody made a decision to not have you guys killed

        Absolutely, not questioning that for a moment!
        (Same reason my wife wears similar lights when riding her horse along public roads in winter also it also looks embarrasing).

        My military time has been before the incident you mentiioned btw (got drafted in 1995 for 10 months), which makes the incident even more tragic (if they didn’t use the warning lights), as the lights at the rear seem to already have been common practice in some armies at the time…

        • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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          17 days ago

          I found sources stating that the platoon was wearing regulation lights. They had white light in front, red light in the rear, and were marching in three rows (sorry, don’t know the correct English military term, Danish is “geled”)

          When I looked at the photo I discovered that the soldiers were wearing a reflective band around their right boot, as is regulation when moving in traffic in the dark.

          So maybe my first point of “stfu it’s for your own sake and people got killed making these rules” don’t stand, at least not with my example. But then again, it doesn’t sound like we’re disagreeing on this one.

        • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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          17 days ago

          Driver said he wanted to make sure to get weather announcements as it was -12°C, so he was adjusting the radio and didn’t see them.

          Apparently the driver was charged with negligent homicide, but I can’t find any verdict.

    • zeroclue@sopuli.xyz
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      18 days ago

      walk with a signalling light attached to the top of his helmet

      That was me in 2001 during basic training (one of the last conscripts in Germany). When we marched to the firing range I had to wear a blinky light right on my helmet. It was embarrassing, but so is the whole service if you are not really into that stuff.

  • Heiliger Strohsack@feddit.org
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    18 days ago

    Pictured: Guys go on a field trip to experience some kind of freedom, the outside world, but before you could turn around they’ve grown up real fast. (The picture was published over 10 years ago.)

    Edit: A joke that needs to be explained may not be a good one. Anyway. I was referring to preschool kids, which I see from time to time walking publicy within groups while some/all of them are wearing this kind of vests. And because some armies tend to recruit young adults or even teenagers I came up with my original post above.

  • Saapas@piefed.zip
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    18 days ago

    I know we did that because public safety. In actual situation, of course not