The Laws of War

John, at Castle Argghhh! was asked (offline) for his thoughts on the legal side of the US Marine (there's only one in the MSM right now) and the UCMJ (Universal Code of Military Justice).

Go read his posting now. I'll wait right here for you to come back.

Back now? Good. If you're a thorough researcher, you followed all the links that John painstakingly provided for you. I'm a lazy funker, so I didn't. I didn't need to follow 'em. Because I was in the infantry. Perhaps the laziest, whiniest, most irritating infantry squaddie in the Canadian Armed Forces, but I did it. And, knowing what little I do about the situation, I think I'd have pulled the trigger exactly the way that Marine did.

Probably sooner. And with more bullets. "Double-tap"? How about a full funking magazine?

I never served in combat. The combat we were training for was when "Ivan" and his 2 million buddies went west from the Warsaw Pact and were planning on having dinner in Paris. I never had members of my section killed or wounded in action. I never had to provide first aid to friends because they'd been hit by enemy fire.

I certainly never had to cope with knowing that members of my unit were deliberately murdered while attempting to aid enemy wounded. I've never found myself, the day after that happened, in what appeared to be the same situation — where the "right" thing to do was to aid the wounded (even though they had been trying to kill me and my comrades a day earlier), but knowing that there was a strong possibility that attempting to aid the wounded would get me (and others) killed.

I can't really put myself in that position because I'm well-fed, well-rested, comfortable, unthreatened, sitting here in a civilized country, knowing that I'm well defended. But I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if it came down to doing the "right" thing which put others at a known greater risk of harm, or pulling the trigger and perhaps making a mistake that would end with me facing a court-martial, all I can say is squeeeeeze that trigger so that your aim is true.

Call me a (potential) murderer. I'd still do the same thing.