US Troops Fed Up With ‘Rules Of Engagement’ That Strenghten The Enemy

http://www.truthandaction.org/us-troops-fed-rules-engagement-strenghten-enemy/

 

US Troops Fed Up With ‘Rules Of Engagement’ That Strenghten The Enemy

“I didn’t join to be sacrificed”, says an Army Ranger who recently left the military.
Politicians and lawyers in Washington have been continually rewriting the ROE (Rules of Engagement) and the COIN (Counterinsurgency) strategy in an overall plan known as “winning hearts and minds”.  (by bombing and shooting them?!)
It basically limits our troops ability to win on the battlefield as it creates absurd rules that favor the enemy – and our troops are getting tired of seeing their friends die for it.
“I got out because I couldn’t take it anymore. We tried to explain how much reckless danger we were being exposed to and they told us we were being illogical,” says one Navy SEAL who left the service only a few years shy of full retirement.
Our politicians are limiting and killing our troops to ‘win the hearts and minds’ of the people of Afghanistan with a ‘kinder, gentler machine gun hand’.
Makes one wonder if they actually want to end the war.  (no - they want to end the US military - not be able to defend our own homeland)
U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan are now forced to fight a two-fronted war. Before each deployment, these soldiers understand fully that day after day they will do battle against relentless terrorists with shifting loyalties and unspeakable hatred. But what none of them could have foreseen was the killing field that would open from their rear: the Continental United States.
Our government’s incessant tightening of already restrictive ROE (Rules of Engagement), compounded by the failed COIN (Counterinsurgency) strategy—also known as “winning hearts and minds”—has made an otherwise primitive enemy formidable.
Our best and brightest come home in body bags as politicians and lawyers dine over white linen tablecloths; writing, modifying, and re-modifying these lethal rules. Rules that favor the enemy rather than the American soldier. Rules so absurd they’re difficult to believe until you hear the same stories over and again from those returning from battle.
In a delicate discussion with an Army Ranger who recently left the military, we heard the following: “I had to get out. I have a family who needs me. I didn’t join to be sacrificed. I joined to fight.”
This decision came shortly after he lost a close friend to the ROE. He explained how the Taliban had attempted an ambush on his friend’s squad but quickly realized they were in a battle they couldn’t win and began retreating. While chasing them, the U.S. soldiers were ordered not to engage due to the slight chance the Taliban had laid down their arms as they ran through some type of shack. While arguing with leadership at the JOC (Joint Operations Center), his friend was shot and killed.
A Navy SEAL who left his job only a few years shy of full retirement said the following: “I got out because I couldn’t take it anymore. We tried to explain how much reckless danger we were being exposed to and they told us we were being illogical.”
This type of response has created a growing crisis of confidence between our warfighters and senior military leadership. His argument wasn’t illogical at all.
A gut-wrenching pattern began forming in early 2009, a pattern completely ignored by Congress, the White House, and apparently the DoD.
In the first seven plus years of war in Afghanistan (October 2001 – December 2008) we lost 630 U.S. soldiers. In early 2009, this administration authorized the implementation of the COIN strategy. Over the next five years, the U.S. death toll skyrocketed to 2,292.
Seventy-three percent of all U.S. deaths in Afghanistan have taken place since 2009.
In the first seven plus years of war in Afghanistan, 2,638 U.S. soldiers were wounded in action. In the next forty-five months (2009 – 2012) an additional 15,036 suffered the same fate.
Liars figure, but figures don’t lie.
While concern over being killed due to these policies weighs heavily on the minds of those we’ve spoken with, the deepest pit in the stomach comes from fear of prosecution should they violate these absurd and ever-changing ROE. The last thing a warfighter should ever be forced to experience is unnecessary fear.
Fear creates hesitation. Hesitation creates flag-draped caskets. Flag-draped caskets create fatherless children, widowed wives, and childless parents. Our heroes deserve the right to fight with swift hands, clear minds, and confident hearts.
However, today’s warfighters have the grave misfortune of serving leaders who elevate the virtues of inaction over action. The message? If you dare use your training or your gut instinct, if you have the fortitude to fight for your life or the desire to kill the enemy, there is a good chance you will be punished.
The physiological capacities of a true patriot cannot tolerate the vile stench of injustice, especially when perpetrated against those who defend us. Its wretched aroma permeates the core and demands a response.

Source: breitbart.com

Photo: breitbart.com

COMMENTS  (all military - are you listening?)
Mike Turner May 14, 09:07
I don’t care about winning their hearts and minds! Kill every last one of them…. Remove all rules!!!! If they are Muslim, cut em down! Armed or not.. Every man woman and child… Kill their pets, their livestock every single thing that they own should be destroyed.. Leave nothing standing in their filthy little Country.. Then come home and kill em here… All of em!!!!
Terry Fowler May 14, 09:08
Ignore rules of engagement, DOES THE ENEMY HAVE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. Kill the bastards.
Frank Holbrook May 14, 09:12
It’s all part of a plan to “cull” the military, so we’re helpless…IT WON’T WORK.
Zachary Joseph Ripley May 14, 09:24
Bring our soldiers back to teach those Nazis a bloody lesson! Come back to America, troopers, please, no matter what, forget about the wars out of your home, save us from a war in America. Their only trying to kill you if you don’t come back, your are only hope, we can’t win without you.
John Lutton May 14, 09:39
Congress needs to be booted out of the picture and go back to letting the military do what they were educated and trained to do.
Lisa Copeland May 14, 10:20
Why don’t they write them as if they were the ones that were going to be there putting their lives on the line as the ones that are there giving their lives for us all !!!
JoAnn Watson Rhodes May 14, 10:58
LETS CLEAN OUT THE WHITE HOUSE AND START ALL OVER . THINGS ARE SO OUT OF CONTROL EVERY BODY IS JUST DOING WHAT EVER THEY WANT AND IT NEED TO STOP BE FOR WE LOSE OUR GREAT COUNTRY
Gregory Martin May 14, 11:24
Is it just me?  If a country has to or decides to commit military personnel, would it not be to accomplish something important?  When you send people with weapons somewhere, it should be understood that the military will do whatever it takes to survive. To expect anything less is pure stupidity!
Lark Winslow May 14, 12:47
come home, we need you here!
Carl J Hamblin May 14, 12:55
just like hitler, obama has fired all america’s good military leaders and turned the military over to an old army supply sergeant and a bunch of little pussies with no clue or desire on how to conduct military operations. f**k them, shoot first THEN call in for permission!
Daniel Ryan May 14, 13:30
They don’t want to win the war - they want to destroy the Armed Forces.
H.c. Maas Sr. May 14, 13:34
Then come home. These current war mongrels aren’t attempting to win for your country. They’re attempting to destroy it from the inside. Killing off our best and brightest is their first core action.
Randall Hill May 14, 13:58
I would like to see these liberals' green asses on a battle field trying to follow their own rules! That’s why a president should have military experience!
Brian Tadlock May 14, 16:43
They are trying to drive all decent personnel out of the Military