From Red’s link at Post #142... Squares with actions in Hamdania, damnit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Now, briefly, I don’t presume to lecture on the law; but I think it is important to understand the over arching guidance that comes down from on high. And the overarching guidance emanates from understanding rules of engagement accompanying the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Instruction 3121.01B. The relevant portions here is it sets forth in its unclassified version a number of things.
First of all, the unit commanders at all levels will ensure that the individuals within their respective units are trained on when and how to use force in self-defense. That is an important mandate. That is not an option. It comes down right from on high. The problem is that against a declared hostile, there is confusion as we talk about these rights and responsibilities under ROE.
To understand rules of engagement, sometimes these terms get mixed up. And the first one that gets mixed up that I see all the time is the concept of PID.
“PID” is a term under the rules of engagement matrices as they flow down from the Chairman’s rules through the classified and unclassified ROE that has everything to do with identifying a declared hostile. And without getting into any classified aspects of the current ROE, suffice it to say that in previous conflicts, our National Command Authority has designated certain forces as declared hostile which we can kill on sight. That is the legal authority.
When you think about it, that is an awesome, awesome responsibility and authority to give to a young Marine. But we do it. In other words, if a young Marine or higher level command can positively identify – and that’s a little misleading in itself, because PID really means reasonable certainty. If a command can gain PID on a target, they can engage them where they sleep, where they are doing whatever. You don’t have to wake them up to make it a fair fight. So that’s where PID has relevance. You want to make sure you are targeting the right folks.