Random Story

[Smalcom]

This comes out of the book "To be a US Marine"... just a small little story i found kind of funny.

"As an aside, one humorous incident occurred during the 1993 Los Angeles riots. A police officer reportedly asked a group of Marines who were helping restore order to the city to "cover" him as he ran across teh street. Without question and with a nod of their heads they did so, letting loose with a hailstorm of machine-gun bullets, just as they had been trained at the School of Infantry"

now thats followin orders

[yellowwing]

From the MilitaryMuseum.org website on the 1992 Los Angeles Riots

"Police officers responded to a domestic dispute, accompanied by marines. They had just gone up to the door when two shotgun birdshot rounds were fired through the door, hitting the officers. One yelled `cover me!' to the Marines, who then laid down a heavy base of fire. . . . The police officer had not meant `shoot' when he yelled `cover me' to the Marines. He meant . . . point your weapons and be prepared to respond if necessary. However, the Marines responded instantly in the precise way they had been trained, where `cover me' means provide me with cover using firepower. . . . over two hundred bullets were fired into that house."

Just a glimpses on why it is such a challenge for a young 23 year old LT to lead such ferocious men.

[Focus Fate]

****in OORAH

[KMichael]

Thats freakin awesome... And definately sounds like something that we would do... OOH FREAKIN RAH!

[Static_Sky25]

They failed to take into account a basic guideline...they were acting in the same capacity as the local police... while I am not degrading the action that DID take place (if anything I'm supporting it) there are some things that needed to be taken into account...

1.) the mere sight of these men with automatic weapons would probably have been suffecient to instill enough fear into the attacker with the shotgun, and if not force would've been a better alternative.

2.) are there any "Non combatants" in the house...? what if they had shredded a child with their fire...?

3.) while acting as a supporting force to the local law enforcement did they overstep their legal right? and if so could they be discharged based upon those actions?

to make a long story short it's a Marines duty to think BEFORE reacting in a situation like this... Just like you'd be expected to in the situation in Iraq right now... the Days of all out shoot whatever moves are gone, now your there to protect the civilian populace/ root out and destroy the insurgent resistance. This takes 2 very dire things that the Marines in the LA riots gave away...

1.) Tactical Reasoning
2.) Fire Discepline

I say that because force was Overused in the situation... while the Marines did react on training, they gave away any civilian respect they had built up to that point... now "niceness" is lost...

(now without having been there I cannot say one way or another if I am right, wrong or whathave you... this is just an observation based on the limited training I did receive...)

[yellowwing]

No laws were violated, and it looks like FEMA could have used this lesson:

More from MilitaryMuseum.org

Chronology of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots

...1 May
0100 Perceiving the CANG [California National Guard] deployment to be too slow, the governor requests federal troops.

0515 The President agrees to deploy 4000 federal troops to LA.

1430 Active component Marines from Camp Pendleton, California, begin arriving in the LA area via convoy...

..."Fortunately, no one in the house was injured. When the suspect later surrendered, police discovered that the couple's children were also inside the home."

[Static_Sky25]

Thanks for the back story... but I hope everyone understands what I wrote... I wrote it so some of our poolees realise that force isn't always the best option.
"It's not always appropriate to kill a fly with a sledgehammer."

[jgorosco]

I was actually in MCT at the time of the riots. We were told our weekend liberty was to be cancelled on we were put on call. We went the rundown and were told that we would be a police force and not to fire unless fire upon. At that time, I remember thinking to myself if I would have the intestinal fortitude to fire on civilians if need be. Now it is a different story, I will let off as many rounds as necessary.

[Smalcom]

"It's not always appropriate to kill a fly with a sledgehammer."

sure it is...

[Static_Sky25]

sure it is...

however I will relent in the fact that it is fun

[outlaw3179]

fire and movement baby !

[yellowwing]

At that time, I remember thinking to myself if I would have the intestinal fortitude to fire on civilians if need be. Now it is a different story, I will let off as many rounds as necessary.

I have thought about that off and on and was a bit troubled. Then the stories coming out of New Orleans changed that.

"What! Trying to shoot paramedics and firefighters just trying to help folks out? You going down hard!"