In Desert Storm the pilots had to visually identify aerial targets before they could fire. That negated our advantage in Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile technology. I don't believe it cost any US lives, though.
I had friends who were Marines in Beirut and they told me that they watched a guy set up a mortar on a hill near the base, but weren't allowed to fire on him until he actually fired the first round. They couldn't call in air strikes or use artillary, they couldn't use a more powerful weapon than the the enemy.
If I were king the ground troops would pull back when they met heavy resistance and BUFs would carpet bomb the area before the troops went back in. Any ground operation would have helo and close air support.
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:DGRSGBEevVcJ:www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/cc/watts.html+%22Gulf+War+Air+Power+Survey%22+%26+BVR&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
"83. During the Gulf War 41 air-to-air victories were officially credited to Coalition fighters. . . In 15 of these 24 AIM-7M kills, the engagements opened with BVR shots (Barry D. Watts and Thomas A. Keaney, Part II: Effects and Effectiveness in Gulf War Air Power Survey, Vol. II, Operations and Effects and Effectiveness (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1993), p. 113). Ten of these BVR engagements occurred during daylight and five at night. Also, there were some occasions on which the initial BVR shot missed and the kill was achieved by a subsequent missile fired after the pilot visually acquired the bogey."
ROE is supposed to remain classified to avoid situations like in this article. You can bet the bad guy's knew the ROE and exploited it.