I agree with much of what you say. Very few people except combat Infantrymen,marines,and spec ops types really know what war is like and how changing rules of engagement effects a unit. We have a media that reports every casualty, runs with lead stories of every so called civilian killed, hypes up 600-700 killed in Afghan thus far. Let me assure everyone that 600-700 is very low for eight years. We had 10,000 KIA in 1968 and 12,000 KIA in 1969.
Still any US death is mourned and any death caused by ROE changes is negligence by the commander. These silly ROE’s are taking away our technology advantage plus they are tying the hands of every combat commander. I cannot imagine any commander breaking enemy contact and running just because he sees an old man or whatever. This is ludicrous.
Had anyone ever told me I could not call in TAC Air on the enemy, I would have been furious. I disagree with the Gen’s ROE’s.
My neighbor is a 23 yrs. old Marine, he was hit by an IED on July 14th. He told us they had cleared a village the weekend before. During patrols the locals would come up to the tanks smiling and waving, we in turn gave them food, the kids candy, fresh water, etc. On the day he was hit, he and his crew were transferring a Doctor to the village, as soon as they entered they had a bad feeling, those same villagers that were greeting them over the past few days were standing there staring at them, nobody waved or ran up, they just watched and that boom.
The Taliban come in under the cover of darkness, they kill civilians, they hold families hostage. Ben told me flat out that we know they kill the civilians to up the body count and blame it on us.