Deadly Force Is Authorized
By Colonel W. Hays Parks, USMCR (Ret.)
Sidebar: Consequences of Compliance?
Overly restrictive and unsuitable rules of engagement handicap and endanger U.S. forces, especially ground troops on peace-support missions. Individual Marines, sailors, and soldiers need to know when they may resort to deadly force to protect their lives.
On 6 June 1975, Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) introduced into the Congressional Record the rules of engagement (ROEs) for forces that had operated in the Republic of Vietnam. In doing so, he declared:
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Colonel Parks served in Vietnam in infantry and judge advocate assignments and was a legal adviser for the 1986 Libyan air strike. An expert with small arms, he has trained and qualified as a sniper. He has lectured on rules of engagement at the war colleges and staff colleges, the Navy Fighter Weapons School, and Naval Strike Warfare Center and authored "Righting the Rules of Engagement" (May 1989 Proceedings).
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