Substitute Marine A for Pilot A.
The subject will not go away. Mods feel free to delete as you require. But...
What will happen then in the following hypothetical scenario; In the future...
A mother pirate ship has been allegedly sending pirates out from herself offshore NE Africa, within international waters. They attack ships, with weapons but fail to capture one and withdraw to the mother ship. They are tracked by RN vessels and challenged. The Captain of one RN ship orders his Lynx Helicopter crew to attack the mother ship with Sea Skua. He does this based on the reason the pirates are a threat to himself and other cargo vessels in vicinity, they are armed with MANPAD to repel a helo board, they are heavily armed with small arms and would repel an RN RIB boarding team. They refuse to stop, they refuse to do anything except proceed towards their own coastline in escape.
If the Lynx Crew attacked and heavily damaged, set afire the mother ship, is or was this lawful?
What would happen then if the Lynx crew returns to the RN ship, it reloads arms and refuels and returns on task?
It then elects to re-attack the mother ship - aggressively so because the crew believe the ship still poses a threat, to themselves and others. Is that reasonable?
If they then proceed to totally destroy a ship, manned by pirates but now on fire, has began to lose power and control, is taking in water and looks to be on the point of surrender (arguably) - if they kill the pirates, if the ship is totally helpless, would that not also make the aircrew be culpable of a murder charge?
Apologies to real aircrew of any hue for my simplistic "fantasy fight" if you like - you will be groaning at my comic book simple scenario. But you could substitute a Lynx for an Apache following a damaged APV on the ground, you could substitute a fighter plane following a damaged enemy cargo aircraft in the air.
Is this all not really very, very important to HM Forces? (I cannot find on the internet any evidence worldwide of soldiers been CM'd anywhere in the world at the present time (with all the fighting that is occurring on the planet) for allegedly shooting a prisoner, or being challenged in court).(No doubt someone will correct me now).
Are we not about to totally dis-establish the idea of "engaging the enemy more closely" then, in applying law of the Geneva Convention?(Would it apply here)?
Or will the recent type of court decision only be applied ever be applied to the lower deck (that's rating and non officers to the RAF/Army) and SNCOs?
I cant debate, I'm in a different time and zone. Where I am incidentally, pirates roam and are an increasing menace, the RN defence is small - the civilian ships I see daily are increasingly heavily protected with razor wire and employ (whisper it, "armed men"). The poor ships crews are now practically prisoners on their own vessels - if they have a fire on their own ships they possibly will not even escape themselves, they are totally razor wired in, to keep them out. Think about it.