Warning shots land somewhere, and so are a bad idea in general.
I used to know a few of the Guardsmen at Kent State. They all, to a man, would say they were way in over their training, and the situation for them was getting worse by the minute. No one argues that firing into the crowd was a good idea, but that’s what happens when you give scared kids guns and not specific rules of engagement. Bad stuff always is the result.
Back then, the Guard was under funded, under trained and less professional. I have no doubt that some of them thought they were in danger (fast forward to today’s “protests” and some of the people that I personally have trained are out there, and they’re afraid) and thought firing into the crowd was prudent and necessary.
The best thing to ever happen to the Guard was the first Gulf war, and the second best was the second Gulf war. It forced big Army and big Air Force to create one standard for training and proficiency and to train up the Guard to Meet that standard, using weapon systems in common with the Active components.
Only the Guard is called out with police powers for crowd control, the Active components can’t due to Posse Commentates. It’s hard to train for, and crowd control is more like trying to tame gorilla warfare than it is like policing. It’s all versions of chaos when the aggressors (the crowd) are the very people who the Soldiers have sworn to protect, and the Guardsmen and Guardswomen are from the same communities as the crowd, and in many cases are the same young age as the crowd. It is full with peril and all decisions will be second-guesses by people who were not there, an have no concept of the disorder involved.
All the worst parts of the fog of war, and family feuds.
No one with any sense sees Kent State as anything other than a failure across the board.
But, it’s also wrong to lionize the crowd and hold them blameless, while vilifying the Soldiers, most of whom were kids themselves.
Last edited by David_Walter; 06/27/20.
