A good friend of mine works "very closely" (wink wink) with the SAS and he says the SAS would've killed the goat herders in a moments notice. He says in their training they learn that their own lives and military lives are placed far above civilian lives. And in third world countries such lives are simply "expendable"
shareI just wish the Anti-Taliban Afghanis had killed the Taliban Afghanis instead of allowing them to leave only to return later. Big mistake on their part. I would never have allowed them to leave alive.
Well, most people are idiots with bad taste...so there!
well your good mate (wink wink) didn't read his good mate's book Bravo Two Zero. cos they didn't there either.
shareOP in hindsight I think we all would have killed those goddamn bastards.
The problem though was legit....the liberal commie drive-by media was on a warpath to demonize the Iraq War DAILY.
They had a ticker up every day with military deaths, and were throwing soldiers in jail left and right for "war crimes". It was a joke!
Their decision was tough.
Personally I would have made those goddamn bastards hike to the top of the mountain with them. That way when they got to the top they had an enormous head start as they ran back down to the village.
That way as they were running down they could get lost in the mountains better, instead of having to hike up as they ran down.
Doesn't matter what your friend says, or what you would've done/think they should have done. It's not like it was innacurate, because that's what actually happened.
On top of that, the rules of engagement required that unarmed non-combatants be spared. Despite the personal feelings of the SEALs, strictly follwing orders without question comes before pretty much anything else in all branches of military.
Well I'm good friends with someone who is a member of the SAS and... (we are talking about Surfers Against Sewage right?).
Anyway, three words for you: Rules of Engagement. UKSF are tied to this just as much as US special forces are. Yes you could argue that the Goat herders where civilian aids to the Taliban and therefore fair game, but what proof would they have if they killed them, skipped happily out of there and it went to trial? They were unarmed non-combatants.
But ultimately none of us know what other special forces would actually do in this scenario as I highly doubt anyone on here has ever met anyone ex or serving special forces. Oh yeah, did I tell you the bloke who works in our local pub is Andy McNab?