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  • From: James Dasher <jdasher AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] the cowards at the Pentagon
  • Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 18:57:47 -0500


On Tuesday, Dec 9, 2003, at 17:50 US/Eastern, Alan MacHett wrote:

Standard military theory promotes injuring the enemy. It's even part of
US Army Ranger doctrine. Injured soldiers slow the enemy. Every assault
soldier (the ones actively engaged in warfare -- infantry, artillery,
etc.) requires approximately 10 support personnel; injured soldiers only
exascerbate those figures. Injured soldiers have to be carried and cared
for by their comrades. Injured soldiers also tend to scream in pain,
which has a nice psychological effect on the enemy. Better to nearly kill
them than to kill them.

You're right about the affect of injured soldiers on morale, mobility, and logistics. Injuring, as opposed to killing, enemy soldiers is even included in the tactical doctrine taught at elite unite and warfare schools.

I should've clarified that I was speaking of standard infantry tactics - what every soldier is taught at Basic, and has reinforced through field maneuvers and other unit training exercises. Elite units are taught guerilla tactics (among assorted other useful things :), which emphasize the tactical benefits of, among other things, forcing troops on the move to deal with an injured comrade. As an elite unit, Rangers learn such tactics.

Standard military doctrine and theory, however, promotes killing rather than injuring. Close air support pilots, for example, are taught to blow stuff up so that they can kill whoever's there. Armored units are taught to blow stuff up - cars, tanks, railroad cars, and so forth - in the hopes of killing whoever's inside.

Snipers and other specialized troops, whose military objectives generally involve the morale/mobility/logistics factor, certainly have the option to aim for an injurious, rather than fatal, wound. Advancing infantry, whose goal is to take and hold territory, benefit from an absence of enemy troops, whether wounded (and therefore, under Geneva, requiring medical attention from their captors) or not (and therefore, again under Geneva, requiring humane treatment).

Cheers -





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