The moment I stepped on those ship my life was endangered...guess we forget that we were at war in the 1st Gulf War...my job was as important as what Marines are doing in Iraq now...but I'm sure this board will explain to me why I was not in danger.
No but there were rules of engagement and use of deadly force....yes the threat has changed, combat is different, but you don't think we wanted to just unload our clips on the Iraqi on board these floating buckets of stevestojan
it all applies...we were expected to follow the orders of our superiors. But i guess my situation on boarding parties does not qualify as war....there were sailors shot in our destroyer squadron though.....the Iraqi was taken into custodynot shot dead...but no, this sailor was not GRAZED in the face...he took a shotgun shell to his abdomen and thigh..
Nobody on my crew ever got shoot....we did detain numerous armed individuals....but we were under strict orders on what we could do and not do...the use of deadly force was pounded into our brains in training
Hey I did boardings parties on unknown ships in the Gulf during GW I.....we were scared shitless and crew members would come out of little nooks...but we never shoot dead anybody. That was not a Lethal Weapon movie in Iraq, where the villan appears dead and then shoots Mel Gibson. It was an act of cruelity..especially after the Marine's comment "now he is dead"...I was sick watching the video....this is worst than another black eye on our mission in Iraq