Police actions (was IRAQ: Predictable catastrophes of human stupidity)

From: Keith Elis (hagbard@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Mon Apr 14 2003 - 13:16:18 MDT

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    Mike Lorrey:

    > they should be garrison troops, not line troops.
    > There is a significant difference between the two.

    Just a terminology quibble: when not deployed for war, 'police' actions,
    or training, line troops are 'in garrison'. I'm not sure what you mean
    by 'garrison troops'.

    > Teaching a combat line marine to be sensitive to what
    > he should be viewing as the enemy entirely nullifies
    > his training for combat. You might as well just discharge
    > him and put him out of his misery.

    Not only does a marine in combat have to ID a target before he shoots it
    (if only to say 'it's shooting at me', but often more than that) but he
    has to do it under very stressful conditions. Is it a friendly? A
    neutral? A civilian? And from a political standpoint, he better be
    right. 'Teaching a combat line marine to be sensitive to what he should
    be viewing as the enemy' hardly 'nullifies his training for combat'. In
    fact, it is an essential part of his training for combat. In this age of
    "civilized" warfare, soldiers, marines, and airmen are routinely drilled
    on aircraft/vehicle identification and uniform recognition, and some
    troops training for urban terrain even do the proverbial 'cop-style'
    live-fire with pop-up mommies and kids mixed in with the bad guys. All
    tank crews must pass a test on vehicle ID. Same with A-10 pilots.
    Artillerymen must clear their fire to ensure there are no friendlies or
    civilians or mosques in the area. Anyone who thinks this kind of
    training is a bad idea needs to remember, as Saddam has shown, facing
    off against modern technology in the open is suicide. The Saddams of the
    world want to face modern armies where the odds are more even, in the
    streets, where the kids play, among the mosques and schools. This
    training is perhaps the only way to drill a marine to shoot enemies
    while preserving the lives of innocent people. Does it make him
    hesitate? Yes. Do I want him to hesitate when I'm in the sights? Yes.
        
    > Civilians are entirely incapable of having an informed
    > opinion about these issues.

    Many civilians have served in the military at one point, and some
    civilians study the issues deeply enough to have an informed opinion. I
    agree it's a challenge for an 18 year old, Semper-Fi, do-or-die trooper
    to preserve the lives of the innocent in a firefight, and within some
    parameters, he is given leeway to do his job the best he can. But a
    professional combat soldier is just that, a professional, and he *can*
    do it reasonably well if given the proper training. It's a learned
    skill, like any other, and the need for it is not going away for the
    foreseeable future.

    Keith



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