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.

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.

Sorry, I must have missed that in my pursuit of sharing a memory. I have now written an update.

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.

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

Update: I missed providing a context for the photo. It’s from the site of the accident. Taken on the day at an unknown time. The soldiers in the background are the ones who where lucky and didn’t get hit.

Looking closer at the photo now, I feel like editorializing a bit. As this happened a couple of years before I was up for the draft, the line up of the gear was all I could remember, when I went looking for the photo. It was seared into my memory, although it looked different in my head. I didn’t remember neither weaponry nor soldiers.

At the time of the accident, it will have been pitch black. Sunrise was at 0728 that day, looking at the light I’d say the photo was taken some time after 0800 at the earliest. That approx 20 soldiers were left to wander about a field, in a state of emotional distress, for +2 hours, instead of getting picked up, or at the very least rounded up, says all you need to know about how well prepared the Danish defense forces were back then. I feel bad for those guys. Half their platoon has been picked up by ambulances, and now they’re on their own.