This is sad. Watch it, the whole thing.

[Tom]

i brought this up at work and the discussion lasted 10 seconds. there was no disputing that they did what was needed.


hippiessaywhat

[bucketokarma]

These guys did everything they needed to do. Yes, some guys go into combat hoping to kill. That's why some people sign up for the military, instead of trying to get an art degree. The crews reported what they were seeing to higher and received the "go-ahead" to engage the targets they were describing. If you're up in a helicopter and see a squad sized element with what looks like weapons, at that time you ask to engage ('06-'07 saw the largest most widespread spike in violence since the start of the war in Iraq). What, do you think would be scarier than, while you're WAITING for permission to engage, you see (from a helicopter, not a tank or some heavily armored vehicle mind you) what looks like an RPG being pointed at you? Yeah, no thanks! If you survive the crash, they haul you away and make a long video depicting a slow beheading with a rusty hacksaw.... Ummm, again, NO THANK YOU!
At the time ROE in this theater of combat was not PID like it is now, because by the time you got PID it was too late. Now it's a little different, there is a LOT less violence in Iraq due to insurgent activity (it does still happen, just not as much as '04, '06, and '07), now it's mainly political unrest, and sectarian violence that doesn't generally involve us. Yes they still shoot mortars on post, plant IEDs & EFPs, throw mini EFPs (RKG-3), and shoot at convoys, but now we aren't allowed to shoot back, isn't that pleasant? The hippy in me is jumping for joy And even if you do have PID on someone shooting at you and killing your friends, all they have to do is throw the weapon down and put their hands up, and you aren't allowed to do anything but cuff them. They then get a "fair" trial and are sent to GTMO, or put back out on the streets to kill again.
On this tour, I lost rank, pay and had to do extra duty for simply locking and loading a round into my weapon. I was alone, at night, being force marched 3mi to work (we have a truck but our section sgt wanted to prove something), two weeks after we had to read intel stating the Iran has operatives working on VBC waiting to kidnap an American soldier. I was walking parallel to the perimeter wall, next to unmanned towers, with no light, alone. I did what I thought was needed to protect myself at the time. I saw nothing wrong with what I did so I cleared my weapon for my team leader, and another sgt freaked out, brought it to the commander, and I got fucked. The hippy in me is joyous as all hell about that too. I now know that soldiers in a combat zone should "be able to take the fact that they are safe while on post for granted", and was asked why I would put everyones life in danger, as though I have never handled a weapon before, and didn't follow any of the saftey protocols. My weapon was always on "safe", my finger never entered the trigger housing, and my posture was at the "low ready" (pointed at the ground) at all times. Even if I tripped and by some kind of magic the weapon went off, it would have fired into the ground. We are forced to carry our weapon everywhere we go, and one 30 round magazine, has to be on our person at all times, but "Under no circumstances" are we allowed to combine the two.
The ROE, and EOF are not always the same, and can change without warning depending on what some high ranking officer with a pen decides. Rarely is that officer someone that knows anything about being IN a combat situation. They come here to get a "deployment" under their belt, so they can get awards or more promotions, because they believe what CNN tells them, and the only people killing anything over here, is us.

Go ahead say what you want, that's why we do what we do, but make sure you're informed, or don't expect someone that has been there, done that, to take you seriously till you either learn the whole story, or be there, do that yourself.