Now Without Bullets

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Hat tip to IggyMom

The Rules of Engagement for our troops in Afghanistan are restricting in every sense of the word.  No attacks at night if it might wake up a civilian.  If the enemy shoots at you and then drops their weapons, you cannot shoot at them while they run to get more ammo or another weapon.  And now this order:  You are to keep your weapons at AMBER status.  For those of you who do not know what AMBER status is, it means the weapon has a loaded magazine, but the safety is on and no round is chambered.

Commanders have ordered a U.S. military unit in Afghanistan to patrol with unloaded weapons, according to a source in Afghanistan.

American soldiers in at least one unit have been ordered to conduct patrols without a round chambered in their weapons, an anonymous source stationed at a forward operating base in Afghanistan said in an interview. The source was unsure where the order originated or how many other units were affected.

When a weapon has a loaded magazine, but the safety is on and no round is chambered, the military refers to this condition as “amber status.” Weapons on “red status” are ready to fire—they have a round in the chamber and the safety is off.

The source stated that he had been stationed at the base for only a month, but the amber weapons order was in place since before he arrived. A NATO spokesman could not confirm the information, stating that levels of force are classified.

“Our overall aim is to defeat the insurgency which means we must gain and then maintain the support of the Afghan population,” said Lieutenant Commander Iain Baxter, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in a statement to HUMAN EVENTS/ Guns & Patriots. “This must be the objective of every action taken by ISAF service members, and it calls for responses that de-escalate situations where the use of deadly force may not be necessary. In doing this, leaders at all levels make enormous efforts to ensure that troops balance their own protection with the protection of the Afghan population.”

Finish reading here.

We tried this idea of winning over their hearts and minds in Vietnam.  It didn't work then, it won't work now.  The next step will be to go on patrol without any bullets and to talk to the enemy instead of firing back.

Sheik Obama's regime has repeatedly hampered the hands of our fighting men in Afghanistan for the last 3 years.  While our men are dying, the enemy is laughing at us.  While we are retreating and leaving, the enemy is biding its time to retake that nation.  A failed military policy to go along with Sheik Obama's failed domestic, economic and foreign policies.  January 20, 2013 cannot come fast enough.