Rules of Engagement

Herschel Smith continues to hammer away at rules of engagement that put our guys at risk. This time with feedback from a few NCOs:

So yes, from the grunts on the field perspective … the ROE is vague and limiting. And every time “violations” of the ROE came up it caused our soldiers and marines to question their actions and sometimes cause casualties. If you look up the case of the [unit redacted] Soldier from the [location redacted] region you will see an excellent example. The [unit redacted] Soldiers started pulling back after that, and even though he eventually had the charges dropped it caused problems throughout the entire Battalion.

Herschel’s son is a United States Marine so this issue hits pretty close to home.

As we visit in the homes of friends and family this Christmas season and partake of good food, good company, good drink and good cheer, the more thoughtful among us might discuss “just wars” and “good wars,” and doctrine, strategy and tactics. But as we do, remember to say a prayer for our troops. While we eat and drink and converse, a marine or soldier hurts. His feet hurt. His back hurts. His knees hurt. He is very cold … or very hot. He is lonely for home. He is exhausted and never gets enough sleep. And he is expected to apply counterinsurgency warfare in conditions where the nature of the battle has far outrun just war theory – where insurgents hide behind women and children – and turn our own ROE against us as a tactic of war.

You find similar feedback at Blackfive’s place.

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