The New Castrati, as Rush calls them.
Posted on 05/19/2010 8:16:47 AM PDT by FReepaholic
From Michael Yon's Facebook page:
An American soldier emailed from Afghanistan saying that his unit has been ordered to patrol with no round in the chamber.
http://www.facebook.com/MichaelYonFanPage/posts/123097424378854
I guess I should have prefaced that sentence with “I would hope that...”
Yes, there are a few buffoons in ranking positions in every branch of service.
So what was SOP before that? Round chambered, safety engaged? I’d go safety off, bolt back, dustcover closed and use the bolt release as a safety.
Indeed. And it seems to be getting worse.
What’s next, have them patrol with the clip removed too? So, if you come upon a bad guy, what do you do, club him with your rifle?
I agree that no local command in Iraq would come up with an order for troops in Afghanistan, but I doubt it comes from SECARMY. He's not even in their chain of command. Anyhoo, with the ejection port cover closed, no one can tell visually if there's a round chambered or not. Put the bolt back for precombat inspection, quietly ride it home once you're out of the wire--if anyone asks, you felt "threatened" and took the appropriate action.
Someone needs to find out who the A-hole his tha issued that order and why they’re putting our troops into danger for nothing.
That commander who issued the order should be on a street patrol with No rounds in his chamber.
That could be why we lost a group of troops to a suicide bomber just yesterday.
Do these Commanders ever learn?
Pretty easy to accidentally hit the release when getting in or out of vehicles, juggling equipment, etc, and then you’re flagging someone with an unsafe weapon. Best to use the safety for what it was designed for, IMHO.
Yeah...probably best to use the chamber for what it was designed for, as well.
It most certainly can. And probably is.
An AF Sargent I met some years ago told me they had those orders during his 2 tours of Bosnia. You were not allowed to load your weapon until *after* you were fired upon.
Where is the ACLU on this? Seems to me the military has no legal right to put soldiers into potential combat situations without firearms that are loaded. Ought to be in court right now.........Uh, wait, could it be the ACLU doesn't give a $hit about the lives of our servicemen??
The New Castrati, as Rush calls them.
If true, then the REMF officer who gave the order should be placed on point on a patrol, at the end of a bayonet if necessary.
It’s a war zone and any soldier should be able to defend himself and his unit without any restrictions on his ability to do that.
Sir, the enemy is attacking, they’re at the gates !!
Well, then fill out the necessary requisition forms in triplicate and await your orders ...
Sir ?
Absent the "who, what, when, where", let us continue to exercise our imagination.
Yep, sure sounds like Beirut, 1983.
Better to have dead American troops than to lose “positive control,” meaning the higher command, safely located miles away, will tell you when you are in enough danger to fire back.
If you have knuckleheads like that out on a patrol, and you know it, you didn't train them well enough or the Army send you some real damn dregs.
Exactly...WTF is going to know? :-)
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