Posted on 04/12/2003 4:36:54 PM PDT by MadIvan
It was most likely our guy popping, and the bad guy pooping....
the infowarrior
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035780858468&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
LOL! I first thought this article was going to be about Putin, Chirac, and Schroeder!
This guy pops up four feet away. I just leaned over on the stretcher and I was, like, 'boom!' - I got him."
This is Syrian. This is HUssein.
I’m an active duty Army Combat Medic (68W Health Care Specialist), who did a combat tour in Iraq during OIF1. (Remember GWB’s speech on the aircraft carrier about “Hi Fellas, We Won...”, yeah, we crossed the berm from Kuwait into Iraq 3 days later). So don’t give me any crap about not knowing what I’m talking about please...
Yes, Chaplains are the ONLY members of a combat unit who do not carry a weapon (That’s why they have Chaplain’s Assistants, they’re the chaplain’s bodyguard). Medics and Chaplains are considered NON-COMBATANTS by the Geneva Conventions, and are allowed by international law (and Army Regulations) to carry only “small arms” (generally considered to be nothing larger than 5.56, but the generally accepted idea is this: No grenades other than smoke, no crew served machine guns, nothing that cannot be fired from the shoulder by a single person. This rules out MK19 Grenade Launchers, M2 .50 Caliber Machine Guns, 7.62mm M240 machine guns, M203 40mm underbarrel grenade launchers, and a few other choice “toys”), and use them only in self-defense and the defense of the “sick and injured”.
Yes, there are the Navy Corpsman who ride with Force Recon Marines and SEAL Teams, the 18D Special Forces Medical Sargents, and 68W W1 Ranger Medics from the 75th Ranger Regiment. These are all SPECIAL OPERATIONS Medics who do not carry Geneva Convention Medical Identification cards, and by nature of their position, would not be entitled to the protection of the Geneva Conventions. Every other Medic in the Armed Forces is bound by international and federal law to comply with the Geneva Conventions, or risk losing the protection of them (as well as risk Court Martial).
If I’m attached to my Field Artillery / Infantry / Armor / Whatever unit, and the unit is in combat, I’m not supposed to be on the front line laying down fire and “pooping” the bad guys for the sake of “pooping” the bad guys. My job is to protect myself, and when someone gets hurt, get there to help and protect my patient. If I’m working on a casualty and a bad guy comes rushing us, heck yes, I can use my M4 carbine, or M9 pistol, or whatever means are at hand to PROTECT MYSELF AND MY PATIENT!
This is one of the reasons I chose to be a Medic in the Army instead of the job I wanted as an MP or Commo. Both MP and Commo, I could have done my 4 years, gotten out and had a really good job in the Civilian sector making a whole bunch more than Uncle Sam pays me for a whole bunch less work. But the concept that I’m not out in the middle of Islamistan making war, I’m out there saving lives, was very appealing to me. No, I’m not a conscientious objector, peace nut, religious wahoo, or anything like that. It was a moral choice on my part that I wanted to serve my country, that I had skills that I could offer to the army and the military, and that this was the way I wanted to do it. I have fired my weapon at the enemy, but never in anger, or with the purpose of making war. It was always in self defense.
I know the marines have a saying that “every marine is a rifleman”, and the army is trying to adopt the concept that “every Soldier is a infantryman” and the “Warrior Ethos”. Yes that’s true when you are talking about cooks and supply clerks and intelligence analysts. With today’s battlefield, there is no “rear echelon”. They have to be prepared to defend themselves and fight. We are too. We stand in a class by ourselves in that we are forbidden by federal and international law from taking the fight to the enemy. Not that I haven’t had the infantrymen and other combat arms soldiers in my units train me on every weapon we had in our unit’s inventory. I may not be able to do a 200 point disassembly and inspection on a Mk 19 Automatic Grenade Launcher or M2 Machine Gun, but I know how to load it, fire it, and clear jams so I can keep firing it if I have to; so if I am the sole surviving member of my unit, and I have to defend myself and the casualties that would undoubtably be scattered around me, I can use whatever methods I need to to get the job done so we can all go home alive.
My conscience is clear, and so are my lines of fire.
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