Christopher Bellamy: Do troops kill each other by mistake because we trained them too hard?

Fratricide. "Brother" killing "brother". That is what they mean by "friendly fire" incidents – "blue on blue". Every fratricide is tragic, but many such incidents are ultimately explicable in the "fog of war". This time, the British are really outraged.

The US National Guard A-10 pilot who hit the British Household Cavalry force, clearly identified, in not just one but two runs, was a "cowboy", they said. And, unless he or she has some extraordinary excuse, people will conclude "rightly so".

The British Scimitar armoured vehicle – a fast light tank, used for reconnaissance ahead of the main armoured forces – was apparently equipped with the latest and best "Identification Friend or Foe – IFF" system, the "Blue Force Tracking" system.

It is not yet fitted to Challenger main battle tanks, because it is so new. The UK MoD gave it, first, to the people who would be right up front and therefore most likely to be mistaken for enemy by roving Americans. Sensible, eh?

If the Brits had any sense, they were probably also flying flags and any other identification markers they could. But all to no avail, this time. Either the combined systems, electronic and visual, failed to work, or the American pilot was on a roll. Or on something else. A forward air controller, on the ground but able to tell aircraft what to do, was in the vicinity. The weather was clear. No "fog of war" here. It should not have happened. The enquiry had better come up with some clear answers this time.

Friendly fire and blue on blue are anodyne phrases, because in the Anglo-Saxon military world friendly forces are shown as blue, the enemy as red, or at least have been since 1945. Senior Americans have apologised for the latest friendly fire incident but they really must do better to stop this happening again.

The death toll yesterday showed 45 American service personnel have been killed, 34 in combat and 11 in accidents. The British numbers were 24 deaths in total: five in combat and 19 accidental and other deaths, including a lot of fratricide.

There are five times as many Americans in the theatre as British, but they have suffered only twice the number of deaths. And most fratricide victims have been British.

Why have there been so many accidents and fratricides? One thought. The British and US troops committed to battle on 21 March may have been brought to too high a state of readiness and tension too soon. That, of course, is one reason why the US and British Governments wanted to launch their offensive when they did.

Before the war started, the troops were put through a rigorous programme of training, in part to ensure that they slept. "Train hard: fight easy," as they say. Absolutely. But once the fighting starts, you have to lighten up. "The difficulties", as [Winston] Churchill said, "will argue for themselves." I suspect what everybody needs right now are a couple of beers and a good night's sleep.

Among the casualties we also see two senior British journalists: Terry Lloyd and Gaby Rado, men who had seen more of real war than most if not all of the service personnel, including senior military officers, with whom they associated. In addition, a French TV journalist and an Australian cameraman have been killed, and several others are missing.

The Allied forces, or the minders attached to them, appear to be reacting against non-embedded journalists. The embedded journalists are therefore the eyes and ears of the democratic societies who are paying for this war and sending their sons and daughters to fight. No major war effort, remember, can be sustained by a democratic society in the face of public hostility or indifference. Air Marshal [Brian] Burridge knows that, too. It is after all, a tenet of AP 3000 – British Air Power Doctrine.

Maybe, this time, every embedded correspondent should be awarded the same medals as the service people who are in the same places at the same times.

After all, they, at disproportionate risk, are telling us about the war. The same goes for the aid workers who are already in the theatre or will be heading there soon. The end-state is about rebuilding Iraq. The honour will not end when the fighting does. And the sooner that does, the better.

Christopher Bellamy is professor of military science and doctrine at Cranfield University