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"Obama’s ROE are what was (and still is) what’s f***ed up."

Afghanistan is not the first time ROE's have been f-d up. Our ROE in Beirut was such that you walked guard with a magazine inserted but not locked and loaded. The morning of the bombing that truck broke through a guard post where the Marines were under these ROE's. I don't know if those guys could have taken the driver out. They did get some shots off, but how much more time would they have had if all they had to do was bring their weapons up and click off the safety switch? Instead of chambering a round. Makes you wonder.

These things are written by staff officers who are more concerned with their careers (oh no accidental misfire!!) than with giving Marines and soldiers the tools to accomplish the mission. However, it does not sound to me like the situation here has anything to do with an ROE. It sounds like some idiot staff officer sitting in a command post not comprehending the situation unfolding before him. I hope his military career is over so he doesn't get anymore Marines or Soldiers killed.

These things are written by staff officers who are more concerned with their careers (oh no accidental misfire!!) than with giving Marines and soldiers the tools to accomplish the mission.

The problem comes from the current military culture.

A good part of the problem is that a minor issue (one of your troops had an accidental discharge) can be just as career ending as a major issue (your whole unit is dead because the sentry could not fire in time).

Since the probability of minor issues is generally much higher than the probability of a major "oh s***", the issues that career-minded officers focus on are the minor issues. And these officers are the ones to make it to high rank.

Our ROE in Beirut was such that you walked guard with a magazine inserted but not locked and loaded. The morning of the bombing that truck broke through a guard post where the Marines were under these ROE's. I don't know if those guys could have taken the driver out. They did get some shots off, but how much more time would they have had if all they had to do was bring their weapons up and click off the safety switch? Instead of chambering a round. Makes you wonder.

C/1/8, 24th MAU. Were you there?

but how much more time would they have had if all they had to do was bring their weapons up and click off the safety switch?

About five seconds. IMO.

Five seconds can be an eternity, sometimes ...