The US and NATO have initiated a new policy for our troops serving in Afghanistan. The policy is one of "Courageous Restraint." The policy seeks to help prevent the accidental shootings of innocent civilians during combat and it sounds good but I am concerned that unit commanders in attempting to implement this policy will miss the spirit of the policy and cause many of our troops to die unecessarily in combat.
I was just reading the accounts of several actual battles which were being fought and how many times unit commanders would override the requests of their troops for air strikes and artillery. Well it is true that troops will often use more force than necessary on an enemy target but in these instances the unit commanders were not even present to actually see what was happening on the ground. This is where it starts to get just a little bit scary. A commander who is not on the ground can't possibly make the correct asessment of what's going on. If he is not physically there he should not be able to override the requests of his observers and troops who are actually looking their target in the face. The prudent thing to do is to make sure that your troops understand the spirit of the new rules of engagement and make them responsible for whatever decision that they make when they need additional fires on a target.
This new rule also applies to the individual rifleman when he is involved in a firefight. It seeks to make him a lot more careful when he has to shoot at a perceived threat. I agree that the troop has to be careful, but my concern is that this policy in the mind of a troop who is facing down a target could cause him to hesitate too long and possibly lose his own life or jeapordize the life of another. This policy needs to be implemented with training. Commanders should wargame every scenario that they possibly can and train the troops in each scenario. Soldiers however do need to have the leeway to decide what they need to do on a case by case basis, but remember that war is chaos. It is very easy to make a mistake during a heated firefight. We need to understand this also when we apply this rule.
The spirit of the new policy is to not use a bomb when a bullet will do the job. The way that commanders in the accounts that I read seemed to understand it was not to use a bomb at all. This is not the intent of the policy at all. Military commanders always seem to err too far on the side of caution which is understandable when you consider the awesome responsibility that is placed on their shoulders. In the accounts that I read commanders were not allowing heavy firepower to be used at all when it was needed.
I'm concerned that in the spirit of doing right we do something completely backwards. I look back to the days of Vietnam when target lists had to be approved by politicians who had no real concept of combat or any experience whatsoever. Now Im not saying that the commanders are not capable at all. Im saying that in order to make an accurate assessment about what is really needed you need to be there to have eyes on the situation. Soldiers have a tendency to overkill. This is just human nature when you are faced with an enemy force which is threatening your life. You dont want to leave it to chance that there is any remaining threat.
I hope that these new rules don't cause commanders to micromanage this way because if it does it will be a disaster. Commanders need to train their soldiers using the Rules of Engagement (ROE) as the guideline. Make sure that the soldiers understand why it is, what it is, and let them do their jobs. The first line soldier is capable of doing the thing that he has been trained to do. If you allow him to use his head he will surprise you with his capabilities.
The key to implementing this policy is training. If soldiers have a firm understanding of what is required by the new rules of engagement they will perform as intended. Soldiers need to understand at the same time that they are in war and do not need to jeaporadize their lives and the lives of their comrades unecessarily.
Military Ring Express
