Question regarding the US 5.56mm

[Ammo Rob]

I am aware it is coloured green for identification. My question is, can that green be transferred and seen on something its be impacted on such as body armour. I ask because I was reading a story on Pat Tillman who was unfortunately killed by friendly fire. On of the theories is that there was a cover up and one of the things done was to burn his body armour because it had the green markings on it. Thank you.

 

[EODGUY]

My humble opinion, not having been involved in any aspect of the event. Admittedly things were handled very poorly at the command level and actions were taken that should never have occured. To answer your question, yes, traces of the green tip color paint could deposit on the plate surfaces around the point of initial penetration. Chances are they would be significantly small though because unlike target marking paint that is designed to come off on impact, the tip color paint is not. Doesn't mean it won't though on impact with a hard surface. It would no doubt take a forensics level analysis to recover and identify any of the paint or a very lucky human eye spotting of a flake because the residue would be very small. In the heat of the moment, no one was looking for it, later on decisions were made that would mean no one would look for it either. I have no idea what happened to the body armor or when disposition was made. If the body armor was burned, however, I doubt seriously that it was to cover up traces of green paint. Body armor involved in a penetration death is generally covered with blood, flesh and other unwanted material. It cannot be cleaned to the point of rebuild and re-issue so the easiest thing to do is destroy it. Any unaffected plates would no doubt be removed for later reuse and the remainder destroyed. For something contaminated with biological waste burning is the most often used destruction method.

 

[Ammo Rob]

Thanks. I am not a conspiracy theorist but was curious if it was even possible to leave the colour. I have been there and I do know they burn everything with blood on it.

 

[ammocat]

Ammo Rob, from my experience, as you said all items with blood are burned, however I recently involved in some talks with pers from J4 and apparently this is an unofficial policy and is actually the incorrect procedure as it prevents items from undergoing technical evaluations to see if equipment failure may have contributed to the outcome of events. Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between organizations and some TTP's lack clarity and do not define roles for the various pers involved. I also know of at least one accident where a C13 was left in some gear.

 

[Ammo Rob]

That's pretty big to miss. Hope no one was hurt. If we clear vehicles perhaps we should be doing the same with pers kit?!

 

[jayteepee_1999]

Aircraft air to air gunnery competitions have the aircraft shoot at flags being towed by another aircraft. To identify how many hit to what aircrew the tips of the 30mm, 20mm and 27mm were painted various colours so that the correct score per crew would count. It was always the Wg Cdr of the Sqn who did not have any colour on his tips as not all the painted rounds made a mark and he would claim it.

May not answer your question but painted rounds can leave the paint on items

 

[Ammo Rob]

Thank you.

 

[exat808]

Forensic analysis is not only concerned with what the projectile may have touched during its flight. You are correct in assuming that there would have been evidential traces of the green colouration on anything that the projectile came into contact with. A more comprehensive examination would have been needed to identify which particular weapon fired the fatal round. Each weapon leaves its own "signature" on any projectile that it fires. I can only assume that in operational friendly fire investigations this may not have taken place. The bottom line is that the loss of any serviceman in these circumstances is tragic but, in line with other posts I feel that the disposal of the personal equipment was solely to comply with guidelines relating to bio-contaminated articles.