Parts I through IVa can be found here:

http://www.pocketfives.com/54E4BAC8-...FA4859BF3.aspx

Part IVa ended with: My battalion commander just gave me an order to kill them if they’re hostile.<SPAN> </SPAN>They’re carrying weapons and are obviously not American soldiers.<SPAN> </SPAN>My battalion commander is not physically present and is relying on my judgment.<SPAN> </SPAN>I am in smack in the middle of combat operations and am less than 2 days removed from major urban combat in the town of Samarra.

What do you do?

Many of you made great decisions.<SPAN> </SPAN>Most of the solutions I read were viable, including the “Kill ‘em all” people.<SPAN> </SPAN>I’d also like to comment on a few of the responses I received.<SPAN> </SPAN>I think it’ll be a good way to show my thought process and why I did or did not come to the same conclusion as the reader.

First, Wretchy said “<SPAN>Kill them. no questions asked. they aren't US, they ditched their uniforms, carrying weapons and are a threat to you, Kill them all.”<SPAN> </SPAN>This is a completely acceptable answer.<SPAN> </SPAN>Some of you asked the definition of “hostile.”<SPAN> </SPAN>The easy answer is that there it is a gray area.<SPAN> </SPAN>When referring to hostile forces, we generally are referring to all enemy armed forces.<SPAN> </SPAN>The gray line comes into play when we’re dealing with civilians.<SPAN> </SPAN>An Iraqi civilian is not necessarily hostile.<SPAN> </SPAN>In fact, in most cases, they’re not.<SPAN> </SPAN>An Iraqi soldier, however, is considered hostile if he is armed and is an immediate threat to me and my soldiers.<SPAN> </SPAN>Now, the problem is defining “immediate threat.”<SPAN> </SPAN>The fact that these soldiers were walking across the desert with at least a dozen weapons among them could very well make them hostile.<SPAN> </SPAN>Here’s something to help illustrate this point:<SPAN> </SPAN>According to Geneva Conventions and the Law of Land Warfare, it is perfectly acceptable to shoot enemy paratroopers from the sky.<SPAN> </SPAN>However, it is against Geneva Conventions to shoot an enemy pilot who has bailed out from his aircraft and is parachuting to the ground.<SPAN> </SPAN>The enemy paratroopers pose an immediate thread.<SPAN> </SPAN>The downed pilot does not.<SPAN> </SPAN>Kudos to Bfactor for picking up on the rules of engagement piece of earlier articles.<SPAN> </SPAN>He makes some very good points in this post.</SPAN>

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<SPAN>In Terva’s post, he says “Definitely not just ‘shoot em all’, most retarded thing to do in this spot. Someone pointed out keeping distance which sounds very reasonable.”<SPAN> </SPAN>I agree with his first sentence. However, there is no need for me to keep distance at this point.<SPAN> </SPAN>These are armed Iraqis.<SPAN> </SPAN>I can’t let them continue through the desert.<SPAN> </SPAN>As someone else noted, they could easily be radioing in my location to other Iraqi troops, which would not be good for my platoon.<SPAN> </SPAN>Even though we’ve got 4 tanks, we’re essentially alone in the desert at this point and we don’t want to fight if we don’t have to.</SPAN>

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<SPAN>BigBadDevil said “These guys are clearly enemy forces whether they are hostile or not. So let’s say BGX's crew just strolls on through and then one hour later these enemy forces attack the vehicles/troops that are following BGX's platoon. That would be a mission failed and the results of said attack would fall on BGX's platoon.”<SPAN> </SPAN>He makes some good points.<SPAN> </SPAN>However, things aren’t always as they seem.<SPAN> </SPAN>Just because these people are carrying weapons does not make them enemy forces.</SPAN>

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<SPAN>ShortyJacksn and SoCalDrew make very different arguments.<SPAN> </SPAN>These two thoughts in particular were excellent: “Overtake them and put the lights on them at about 100 yards. If they engage you or appear to be hostiles, kill them. If not, continue to pursue them until you catch them or can determine if they are friendly or hostile.”<SPAN> <SPAN>Also, SoCalDrew said, “What if they had ditched their uniforms because they didn’t want to fight anymore?”
</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN>

I’ll pick up the story from where I left off…

The 18 people continued to run across the Iraqi desert.<SPAN> </SPAN>They remained in a group, and I still could not see much more through my TIS sight than that they were definitely carrying weapons.<SPAN> </SPAN>I keyed the microphone on my headset and told my platoon, “I want you all to turn on your headlights and move towards my position.<SPAN> </SPAN>Red 3, I need you here fast.”<SPAN> </SPAN>Red 3 was my platoon sergeant’s wingman.<SPAN> </SPAN>He was on the far right of the formation and was 1 kilometer away.<SPAN> </SPAN>My other two tanks were nearby and it only took them seconds to close in.<SPAN> </SPAN>

My tanks flipped on their headlights.<SPAN> </SPAN>Immediately, the people dropped to their knees, threw their weapons, and put their arms over their heads.<SPAN> </SPAN>I ordered the loaders on the other tanks to keep their machine guns trained on the people.<SPAN> </SPAN>As I neared them on my tank, I was astounded at what I saw.<SPAN> </SPAN>These were teenagers, aged 13 to 17.<SPAN> </SPAN>There was an Iraqi Republican Guard Major in the group, but 17 out of 18 of these people were just kids.<SPAN> </SPAN>They were crying hysterically as we approached.<SPAN> </SPAN>Saddam Hussein had told his army that the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> would torture and murder any soldier that surrendered.<SPAN> </SPAN>These kids, who had been forced into fighting, were scared to death that my soldiers and I were going to execute them.<SPAN> </SPAN>Even though I was a few days into combat, the sobbing was heart-wrenching.<SPAN> </SPAN>I envisioned my little brother, who was 13 years at the time, kneeling in front of me with his hands above his head.<SPAN> </SPAN>My gunner and I dismounted and linked up with my platoon sergeant and his gunner.<SPAN> </SPAN>I called in to my commander and told him I needed our infantry and some medics at my position immediately.<SPAN> </SPAN>We were literally in the middle of the desert, and as far as I could tell, there was no threat at the present time.

I ordered all the soldiers to keep their hands behind their heads and lie on the ground.<SPAN> </SPAN>My gunner demonstrated what I meant, and the group immediately did what they were told.<SPAN> </SPAN>Our infantry platoon showed up shortly after.<SPAN> </SPAN>We conducted a thorough search of the soldiers and tied them up.<SPAN> </SPAN>While conducting a search, one soldier pats the POW down while another keeps his rifle pointed at the enemy.<SPAN> </SPAN>Two of our infantrymen were searching the Iraqi Major as I walked towards them.<SPAN> </SPAN>The Major was resisting and putting up a fight.<SPAN> </SPAN>He started to reach into his pocket, but before he could, one of my infantrymen shot him in the stomach.<SPAN> </SPAN>While he began to scream, the 17 other POWs began to cheer!<SPAN> </SPAN>It was one of the strangest things I’d ever seen.<SPAN> </SPAN>I’m not sure what had gone on the past few days with this group, but it was now very clear that they were being forced to fight by this Iraqi officer. <SPAN> </SPAN>My medics tried to save the Major, but he died within 5 minutes.<SPAN> </SPAN>He was shot at point blank range by an M-4 carbine, and the bullet must have ricocheted inside of him, destroying a few of his organs in the process.<SPAN> </SPAN>We finished the search, tagged the POWs, and watched them until the Military Police from our brigade joined us, where they continued to process them and move them to the rear.<SPAN> </SPAN>Two of the POWs spoke broken English and told me that there were no other troops in the vicinity.<SPAN> </SPAN>I gave them all water as they waited to be moved to the POW area at the rear of the division.

Like I said, things aren’t always what they seem.<SPAN> </SPAN>I could very easily have shot these people and moved on.<SPAN> </SPAN>By definition, they were really neither soldiers, nor hostile civilians.<SPAN> </SPAN>Their intent was certainly not to fight against my soldiers.<SPAN> </SPAN>However, I was lucky in that I had the luxury of being in the middle of the desert on a tank.<SPAN> </SPAN>If I had to make this decision in the streets of Baghdad, this may not have been my choice.<SPAN> </SPAN>How could I know that I’d be faced with a similar decision just a few weeks down the road.

In hindsight, my commander and the battalion commander were both proud of my judgment.<SPAN> </SPAN>My battalion commander reiterated that he would have my back and that I should continue to use my best judgment when faced with these types of decisions.<SPAN> </SPAN>I was most proud that I restrained myself from being trigger-happy, especially since I had just fought in a battle less than 2 days before.<SPAN> </SPAN>Even while we were moving towards these guys, my platoon sergeant was yelling at me to shoot them.<SPAN> </SPAN>It was incredibly difficult to lead my tank and make this sort of decision with the radio traffic of 2 different channels blaring in my ear.<SPAN> </SPAN>

I felt that I had made the right decision this time.<SPAN> </SPAN>However, as I said before, I could very easily have justified shooting these guys and moving on.<SPAN> </SPAN>I just had a strange feeling that something wasn’t right.<SPAN> </SPAN>Had I not seen the uniforms strewn about the desert near the ammo depot, I can almost be sure that I would have open-fired on these guys.<SPAN> </SPAN>Something told me that they were hostile.

There’s one more thing I’d like to point out.<SPAN> </SPAN>In the first few stories, it seems that I made good decisions and saved the day.<SPAN> </SPAN>But, there will be times in the next few stories that I definitely could have made a different, better decision.<SPAN> </SPAN>Things didn’t always happen the way I planned.

I hope you’re all enjoying these stories.<SPAN> </SPAN>I enjoy writing them, and if you want me to, I’ll continue writing one or two each week until I’ve got nothing else to talk about.<SPAN> </SPAN>And by the way, thanks for reading this and providing me with great insight.<SPAN> </SPAN>This is the first time that I’ve spoken about many of the stories you’re going to hear.<SPAN> </SPAN>PittProduct from P5s is my best friend from high school and was there waiting at Fort Stewart with my family when I returned from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region>.<SPAN> </SPAN>Even he has not heard most of these stories.<SPAN> </SPAN>Thanks again.

wow, these stories are awesome keep em coming

Yeah keep going BigGunX, this shit is awesome

WOW, I did not see that coming. You are right though, I don't have a little brother but I have a little cousin who is about that age and I couldn't imagine him going off to war

can you please sticky these!?

I don't want to miss any!

TYTYTTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTY

Wow excellent read once again.. keep it coming please

These are fantastic reads Shawn, thanks for taking the time to post these. I hope these are somewhat of a catharsis (wicked sp, possibly made up word...awesome) for you as well.

Great stories. Please continue to update your progress through Iraq. Thanks again.

BGX, ever since i read the first episode in this series, I've looked for more from you each time I get on OT. Extremely well written, with attention to detail, and you have the ability to make your reader feel like he is standing beside you. Great stuff, keep it coming. I also get the feeling that this is the most accurate description of events we ever going to see, about what went on over there during this invasion of Iraq.

I just can't wait for more, keep it coming BGX! Awesome read. You are so a credit to this country and P5's too!

I read all of them today...great stuff..thanks BGX

I love reading these. I move in real close to the computer. I am glued to it. Great read.

who plays BGX when this gets turned into a movie? I'm thinking Jeremy Irons.

sean astin

no problem. maybe sometime you do me a favor.