# National Guard plane strafes school **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 5, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102 "2004-11-05T01:15:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/21 "2004-11-05T13:49:49Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I’d think that wouldneed to be Lieutenant Punishment (or at least Warrant Officer Punishment, if it was a helicopter gunship). Under command of General Chaos? ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/22 "2004-11-05T13:56:55Z")
The hunt for weapons of Math Instruction… GOES ON! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/23 "2004-11-05T13:58:38Z")
“Take THAT Sister Mary. Take THAT Sister Catherine.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/24 "2004-11-05T14:47:53Z")
Well done, guys. Personally, I’m still trying to wrap my head around a school 3-1/2 miles from a firing range. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Blackclaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e68b1a/32.png) [@Blackclaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackclaw)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/25 "2004-11-05T14:54:54Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Well done, guys. Personally, I’m still trying to wrap my head around a school 3-1/2 miles from a firing range. :eek: I suspect he accidentally pulled the trigger while over the firing range. He probably didn’t have his nose pointed down and the rounds traveled until they ran out of energy. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/26 "2004-11-05T14:58:33Z")
That’ll learn 'em little bastards not to _pray_ in school. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/27 "2004-11-05T15:10:15Z")
Wasn’t this a “Calvin & Hobbes” Sunday strip? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/28 "2004-11-05T15:26:15Z")
Here’s the [report](http://www.warchildren.org/images/plane_drawing.jpg) filed by the F-16 pilot. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/29 "2004-11-05T15:32:41Z")
> [@CO](#): > > Webster said he did not know what caused the gun to fire. (unidentified TSG in the background, quietly:)“Um, sir, that would be the trigger.” And it’s not that extraordinary that the school is “3.5 miles from the range” – that probably means it’s 3.5 miles from the perimeter fence, not from the designated impact zone. But yeah, **Blacklaw** is probably close to it: the pilot pulls the trigger prematurely/belatedly when not yet/no longer lined up right, and over the distances/speeds involved, a not-so-huge initial miss angle magnifies the displacement on the ground of where the rounds finally impact. (This shit happens – Back in '99 at our Vieques range a Marine F/A-18 dropped 2 500-pounders a mile and a half short and soundly defeated the range observation post. Sadly, one civilian employee bought it, and it all ended up with the base being shut down 4 years later.) ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/30 "2004-11-05T16:38:49Z")
Actually, what surprises me is that that this guy only managed to put 25 rounds into the school. Considering that he was firing a M61-A1 Vulcan. ``` If the guy had been a better shot, he should have leveled the place. Or ate least put a few more holes in it. ``` 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/31 "2004-11-05T20:56:46Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > Sound to me like the latest round of “No Child Left Behind” incentives. Well, you know how you can shoot women and children, don’t you? Don’t lead 'em as much. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/32 "2004-11-05T21:46:39Z")
More hilarity from ‘Explanation Central’ The Guard Commander, while saying ‘We will get to the bottom of this’, tried to explain away the danger. The rounds were dummy rounds, made of a lighter metal than live rounds, were smaller and thinner, and did not contain explosives in the tips. Cool…nothing to worry about here…move along… Wasn’t ‘W’ in the National guard? and a pilot to boot? heh. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/33 "2004-11-05T21:49:10Z")
> [@ltfire](#): > > From this article in todays NY Times. > [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-School-Strafed.html](http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-School-Strafed.html) > > We don’t need foreign terrorists. Our own military can’t pay attention to detail. What’s next, a friggin bomb ‘accidently’ dropped on a full house football stadium? God, save us from ourselves. :eek: - Ahem - Maybe they were trying to practice using a live target? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/34 "2004-11-05T21:50:30Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Here’s the [report](http://www.warchildren.org/images/plane_drawing.jpg) filed by the F-16 pilot. That’s sick!!! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102/35 "2004-11-05T22:44:10Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > That’s sick!!! > :eek: It’s mildly funny, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-guard-plane-strafes-school/273102.md?page=1)