Russian Soldiers Calls in Airstrike on Himself While Fighting ISIS

[Greybriar]

They probably think the same about us...

Quite so! 

[Boggit]

Look, there is a lot of (justified) cynicism about what Russia is doing around the world today. They are an adversary and potential enemy of NATO and the United States, and their media outlets are propaganda rags (though effective ones, tending to use different narratives of the truth rather than telling outright lies).

However, that doesn't mean that Russian soldiers aren't every bit as brave, professional, or honorable as soldiers from elsewhere. Russian officers have a tendency to lead from far forward, which has been a problem for them in Chechnya, Georgia, and Syria, where high ranking officers have been killed for being too far forward, but you can't accuse them of cowardice.

If this ends up being genuine, I would hope that we could all agree that it is admirable for soldier in a hopeless position to use his death to kill as many ISIS fighters as possible.

You have no argument from me. I have no dislike of Russians at all- they have many admirable qualities. They deserve better than who they have calling the shots.

+1 A brave hero in the fight against Satanic State. I am sorry for his family's loss. :(

[OJsDad]

My only reason for questioning it authenticity was how it read, which was like bad dialog from an AAR.  However, I have no doubt that a Russian soldier wouldn't be capable of such a brave act. 

[Greybriar]

During my tour of duty in Vietnam, the green lieutenant in command of our platoon called in artillery support very close to our position. He thought we were about to be overrun by North Vietnamese forces. The rest of us didn't think so and advised him he was calling in the artillery too close to our position. He replied, "I'll call it in right on top of us if I think it's necessary." I was reminded of that experience when I read this thread. So far, no one has answered my question as to how many other Russian soldiers were killed due to the young officer calling in the airstrike on his position. And was the air strike justified? Or was it the action of a young gung-ho officer who wanted to be a hero regardless of how many of his fellow countrymen would be killed?

Perhaps I am being too pessimistic and the young officer acted properly under the circumstances. But such behavior reminds me not only of my experience during the Vietnam War, but also of the Japanese kamikazes during World War II and the suicide bombers in more recent times, and even so didn't those latter individuals only kill themselves and their enemies? I was not aware of such fanatical behavior involving killing their comrades being the norm for modern warfare.

So if there were other Russian soldiers who died when Prokhorenko called in the air strike, are they heroes, too? Or just expendables that made it possible for Russian propaganda to create a hero?

[bayonetbrant]

I think it was just him from every account that I've read anywhere

[Greybriar]

I think it was just him from every account that I've read anywhere

What was a Russian officer doing in a combat zone by himself?

[bayonetbrant]

Airstrike spotter, but I don't think he went in by himself. I think he ended up by himself.

[OJsDad]

Geez Greybriar.  When described what happen in Nam, I was thinking of that scene from We Were Soldiers when they declared a Broken Arrow and had the airstrikes just about on top of them. 

[Boggit]

During my tour of duty in Vietnam, the green lieutenant in command of our platoon called in artillery support very close to our position. He thought we were about to be overrun by North Vietnamese forces. The rest of us didn't think so and advised him he was calling in the artillery too close to our position. He replied, "I'll call it in right on top of us if I think it's necessary." I was reminded of that experience when I read this thread. So far, no one has answered my question as to how many other Russian soldiers were killed due to the young officer calling in the airstrike on his position. And was the air strike justified? Or was it the action of a young gung-ho officer who wanted to be a hero regardless of how many of his fellow countrymen would be killed?

Perhaps I am being too pessimistic and the young officer acted properly under the circumstances. But such behavior reminds me not only of my experience during the Vietnam War, but also of the Japanese kamikazes during World War II and the suicide bombers in more recent times, and even so didn't those latter individuals only kill themselves and their enemies? I was not aware of such fanatical behavior involving killing their comrades being the norm for modern warfare.

So if there were other Russian soldiers who died when Prokhorenko called in the air strike, are they heroes, too? Or just expendables that made it possible for Russian propaganda to create a hero?

You make an excellent point. You didn't mention though how these gung ho officer types sometimes get killed by friendly fire when the shooting starts... ::)

[Airborne Rifles]

Body flown home. Being awarded Hero of the Russian Federation:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/30/europe/body-of-russian-rambo-flown-home/index.html

[pawelj]

I'd be extremely skeptical of anything that Russians are saying. Russians are doing very little to fight ISIS if at all, so this could have been anywhere or just made up completely to cover up some incident. Don't make a mistake to think that same levels of decency exist in Russia today as in the West.
They say it was during Palmyra fighting, but then there's this: http://news.sky.com/story/1688756/is-files-reveal-assads-deals-with-militants