This belongs in the "war is hell" category, the raw violence that inevitably happens in any war and a causal comment that only highlights what will become a flashback for many years:

"But some of the raw violence of war is beginning to creep into coverage in ways that the Pentagon would rather not see, he said (an unidentified defence official). In Saturday's New York Times, for instance, a Marine sharpshooter described opening fire on an Iraqi soldier standing among civilians and watching a woman fall. 'I'm sorry,' the sergeant was quoted saying, 'But the chick was in the way.'"

Charley Noble