the accounts above - like any attempt at description using human language - is a poor simile for the almost instantaneous decision making that must be had, even in the midst of the greatest chaos. So many factors; observation, quick self-check - hopefully with input from other squad/platoon members who observed the same acts and can confirm - to ensure that you saw what you think you saw --- in this case a bunch of insurgent-capables entering a house. Are they hostile? Are they scared? We've just been attacked, is there another IED just around the corner? Is the IED intended to stop our progress, force us to deploy, thus opening the possibility of ambush/outflank from nearby houses? Wait! were those shots fired at us from that house over there?? That house has to be cleared NOW, else more shots can be fired at MY MEN. I've got to protect MY MEN...
So many decisions, so much chaos, an enemy with no scruples (hides in his women's clothing, in his house of worship, behind women and children... all so that we don't fire back and so that he may fire at us with impunity)... and so many critical decisions to be made in all this madness. And after, the post-op analysis... did the op go as planned? Did the enemy show any new wrinkles? Was intel confirmed?
How did MY MEN handle themselves? With Honor, as is expected from the American Fighting Man?
This last question may be the most important, for it implies the moral high ground we strive to maintain itself is under a degree of threat each time a squad goes out on patrol. Like a long-time marriage where it seems the partners can know each others thoughts and commonly can finish each others sentences, our military are proficient enough to know the difference between casualties of war that are unavoidable; ie, "collateral damage", and - God Forbid - between an act of brutality such as our Marines in Haditha have been impugned with.
Now repeat the above, ma'am, every day, sometimes multiple times per day, and repeat it for the last year or so that our Best & Brightest (... and Toughest!) have been deployed in Sunni Triangle towns such as haditha.
God Bless & Save our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen & Airmen...
CGVet58
Your description of the chaos, confusion, immediacy, danger, and priorities of combat was very good. If our soldiers are under fire from a house, they can do whatever it takes to protect their own men, including dropping a bomb on the house. If the insurgents have placed civilians in harm's way, it is not our fault. Moreover, the distinction between civilian and insurgent is extremely murky in a place like Haditha.