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"Next I'm going to read about medics shooting people."

Medics are classified as non combatants as are a number of
other billets. Combat arms include infantry, armour, artillery, reconnaissance and engineer. They are 'teeth'. The service elements, transport, supply, medical, maintenance and training are the tail. There are no billets in the ARMED services that are forbidden to shoot bad guys. All the medics I met from 68 through 70 were armed. They shot bad guys AFTER they took care of the wounded. Your statement confuses me in that it implies that medics should not shoot bad guys.

best regards

the dozer

There are a number of medically trained people in the armed forces who are also combatants; Air Force parajumpers and Army Special Forces medical specialists come to mind. However, those who wear a white armband with a red cross are claiming legal protection from being intentionally targetted for the specific reason that they will not actively seek to kill enemy troops.

Yes, the mechanized medic outfits sometimes have smoke grenades to help them escape, and yes many medics have carried 9MM and .45 handguns for self-defense, but this is different than a normal soldier; normal soldiers (combatants) may engage in purely offensive action regardless of threat to themselves.

Both combat arms and combat support personnel are "combatants" legally speaking. They claim no special protection under the law. Chaplains and medics do. That is why their is a "Chaplain's Assistant" MOS -- the Chaplain's Assistant, when not learning how to assist with religious rites, learns a rifleman's job specifically for the reason that the Chaplain can't shoot anybody. Hence the statement that the Chaplain's Assistant is "the only combatant member of the Unit Ministry Team."

Okay, I don't understand. How is an armed non-combatant who "shoots bad guys" a non-combatant.

I'm not saying you're wrong. Not at all. I'm saying I don't understand the distinction.

And if maintenance is "non-combatant", what does that do to the Iraqi treatment of Private Lynch's fellow soldiers?