Military Rules of Engagement question (vanity)

My own question | 07/30/2011 | hushtx

[HushTX]

I am trying to locate information regarding some bizarre rules of engagement that were discussed on the forums a few months ago. Specifically, there was a concern about military patrols being required to keep their safeties on or not being allowed to load their magazines until combat started, or something to that effect.

Does anyone remember this? And can anyone help me track it down? I have already scoured the archives using the search for keywords such as "military patrol rules of engagement" "unarmed patrol military afghanistan" and other such combinations, but I haven't had much luck.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

[Christian Engineer Mass]

I find a commercial search engine search, adding site:freerepublic.com can be helpful

[Tijeras_Slim]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2712797/posts

Possibly this one.

Do a keyword search on ROE and plenty comes up.

[Elendur]

you might also check some of the military blogs.

and a few examples:
http://floppingaces.net/2010/06/21/obamas-rules-of-engagement-in-afghanistan-will-ensure-we-lose/
Obama’s Rules of Engagement In Afghanistan Will Ensure Our Failure

http://www.theusreport.com/the-us-report/2010/11/11/in-afghanistan-us-fights-taliban-and-military-roe.html

http://www.captainsjournal.com/category/rules-of-engagement/
British Soldiers Told Not To Shoot IED Emplacers

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2010/06/emasculated-roe-will-likely-continue-under-petraeus.html

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/09/08/75036/were-pinned-down-4-us-marines.html

[starlifter]

Typically ROE are classified and for very good reasons.

You don't want the bad guys knowing under what conditions the good guys can and cannot shoot.

Most of what you read on FR or other sites about ROE should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

[Cicero]

I saw that, too. As I recall, troops in Afghanistan were not allowed to chamber a round until after they were shot at.

And there have been plenty of stories describing delays in air support, or even refusal of air support, when troops were out on a limb and caught in a firefight against larger numbers—because air support might result in the deaths of civilians.

[MasterGunner01]

Our troops have been saddled by stupid ROE for years.

In Korea, our pilots could not pursue a MiG across the Yalu River and into Manchuria. Likewise we could not attack the bridges across the Yalu by attacking following the bridge from North Korea towards Manchuria — Manchuria was forbidden so our planes had to attack following the river and the Chinese AAA batteries set up on the Manchurian side to shoot at our guys.

In Vietnam there were tons of ROE stupidities. Don't fire until fired on was but one. Don't fire on the “friendly village” even though all the enemy fire came from there.

At the Marine barracks bombing in Lebanon (1983), Marines were forbidden to have rounds chambered or belts loaded in machine guns. The same thing happened at the USS COLE bombing in Yemen (2000).

Most of the stupid ROE are written by the State Department or Defense Department (or senior officers afraid for their careers).