Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Proper Verbalization Technique!

There's a lot going around the internet on the upcoming lynching of the young Marine who shot an "unarmed enemy combatant" who was playing possum on the ground. Check out this quip from legendary firearms trainer John Farnam (whom you can see live and unexpunged on SHOOTING GALLERY this season):
Shooting the enemy when the media is there filming, from a friend in the system:

"It wasn't the actual shooting as much as the verbalization that upset so many grasseaters and put the Marine in question in the hot seat. 'He's still breathing! BANG! 'He's not now!' Accordingly, this is what I'm currently teaching my Marines:

Same scenario. Marine identifies a hostile combatant who is 'playing dead.' Marine yells, 'BOMB' or 'GRENADE' then fires a controlled pair into the enemy's head. Does the Marine know that the enemy combatant actuall y has a bomb or grenade? Probably not, but what matters is that the Marine warned his comrades and took reasonable, necessary, and immediate action. In warning his comrades, he also influenced everyone else in the area to believe that he believed this enemy combatant actually did have a bomb. CORRECT VERBALIZATION, AT THE CORRECT TIME, IS THE KEY.
There's some talk on the internet that Bill O'Reilly is trying to put something together to help this guy. I'll check it out and post.

Also, I can't recommend John Farnam's training classes enoug! Check out his classes at Defense Training International and buy his book, THE FARNAM METHOD OF DEFENSIVE HANDGUNNING.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As a 12-year veteran of the Marine Corps who is combat disabled I know a few things about this kind of situation.
1. In a combat situation people generally do not take prisoners in the middle of or just after a firefight. You just can't turn it off that fast. This shocks people who are not combat veterans and have seen too many movies where raising your hands makes you a prisoner.
2. This Marine could have been wrong. That's for the Marine Corps to decide. Hopefully they won't use this guy as a scapegoat. The Marine Corps is less likely to do that than some other branches but it wouldn't be the first time.
3. In general torturing or killing people when you don't have to shows poor discipline. Any time any act contrary to good order discipline is comitted it weakens all discipline. So from a practical standpoint it is not a good idea to allow unsanctioned killings or outright murder. Thats is a general statement and not necessarily one about this situation.
4. Lots of people think "its just another raghead" or make other chest beating statements about this and similar situations. 99.9% of these people have never been in a combat situation or seen someone killed. It is not a pretty sight and it takes a toll on the Marine or soldier no matter how justified.