Romeo Oscar Golf,
my apologies if I came across as lecturing, having re-read my post it certainly is a little heavy on self-righteous hectoring, sorry. I'm perhaps a little over-earnest because for me and my currently serving peers it's not simply an internet discussion on an esoteric topic but an issue which will undoubtedly have consequences for me when I return to Helmand.
I'm certainly not discounting the past; what I was (somewhat clumsily) attempting to iterate was that the current framework set by the Law of Armed Conflict, Rules of Engagement, European Conventions, The Human Rights Act et al is, by its very nature, of the moment and reflects the current social, political and legal norms. The contemporary operating environment is exactly that and, as we have seen with recent legal judgements based on the applicability of UK and EU legislation on operations, it can change fundamentally on a single legal judgement. Would I have liked to engage the IED emplacers? Yes I would and in just about every conflict up to the end of the 20th Century I probably could have without any great legal concerns. But, that was then and this is now and even if everything else had remained the same, the modern legal framework within which we are obliged to operate is almost unrecognisable from that of previous generations.
I'm not dismissive of the past or closed to new ideas, I'd much rather learn from somebody else's mistakes than my own! What I am is a commander fighting in a multi-dimensional, high tempo, highly kinetic war who is constantly pulled in all directions by an ever-changing black and white legal framework overlaid on a shades of grey operating environment.
MB
Last edited by Mahogany_Bomber; 16th Nov 2013 at 20:24.
Reason: Poor command of written English