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Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Last night, I sat here and defended the Marine who fragged the guy in the video. Today, I talked to a guy I know about the whole thing. This man is a 20-year veteran, retired. I asked him if he had seen the film, and what he thought about it. I was taken by suprise when he told me that the soldier was completely wrong. The guy I talked to made the statement first that from the time a soldier first laces up a combat boot, they are taught to take a prisoner instead of firing. Soldiers are taught to treat prisoners well, and this training is reinforced over and over throughout their career in the armed forces. Anytime an enemy combatant surrenders, firing your weapon at him is not an option, unless he actually has a weapon you can see. If the soldier suspected that the man had a weapon and was faking being dead, he should have pointed his weapon at the man and shouted for help, for one or more of his unit to assist him in making sure that the man was unarmed. I reminded him that this was a high-stress battle situation, and he said that it doesn't matter. The training is specific as to what is expected of the soldier, and that more than likely that soldier will be in serious trouble. Hearing this from someone who spent years in the military (I did not) and who's opinion I respect, I felt compelled to pass this along. My statements from yesterday still make sense to me, but I do admit that I never went through military training, so I could be wrong. I do know that training is supposed to take over in situations. That's why you do it, not just in military endeavors but in business, in sports, in anything where the goal is to improve performance, eliminate mistakes, or increase efficiency. So, what he says make sense. If his scenerio turns out to be right, then I stand corrected.
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