I read a few week ago that the new CG in that AOR, McChristal in think his name is has ordered a major change in the ROE in Afghanistan. Boiled down to the simplest terms it states that even if troops are engaged they MUST break contact and retreat if the terrorist can make it into a place where there may be innocents.
Can anyone say Viet Nam? The ROE in that debacle was like shackles on the Air Force and Navy. Now we have this general telling his troops to break contact if the bad guys make it to home plate.
We have been there for 7 years already. Why don't we just declare we have won and leave. Remember VN? I sure do. Seems no one in the "head shed" now remembers.
The ROE in Nam did shackle the Navy and Air Force, especially in regards the air war over the north, no doubt about it. However,
what has been imposed upon the ground forces in A'stan is far more onerous. I recall no such restrictions on ground forces in Nam at any time. They were fully empowered to engage and destroy when attacked.
From the perspective of Air Cavalry ops in the south, we had three principal ROEs. Free Fire, Fire for Fire and No Fire. I do believe they are self explanatory. It was rather common to apply psyops to a region covered by F-f-F when hostilities intensified and the news, be it leaflets or loud speakers was fairly simple. Leave the area or die. 2-4 weeks and it converted to Free Fire and hell came to town.
