Would you shoot........

I was wondering about a few things that I have heard of that sickened me.
Just think of what scenario you could be in.


Would you shoot.... (PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THERE ARE "IF YOU WERE IN WW2)

1-An enemy soldier, who is smiling and laughing while talking to a comrade, completely oblivious to your presence.

2-Shoot down an enemy fighter that is smoking and sputtering 30 meters off the ground.

3-Shoot an enemy who is dragging his wounded friend out of battle.

4-Use your anti armour weapon to blow up a medic truck/van

5-Shoot a P.O.W. if nobody was there.

6-Kill an enemy who is eating breakfast with a friend, unaware of you.

7-Kill a enemy civvie.

8-Rape in a defeated city.

9-Shoot a dieing and unarmed enemy

10. Torpedo an obviously sinking enemy boat with crewmen still on board running around scared not shooting at your boat.

11. Machine gun a Sub-Crew that scuttled their sub, because an older officer told you too.( Keep in mind your enemy is unarmed)


I will have my answers up soon now please say yours! If you want you can do "Well under the curcumstances.."

 

1-An enemy soldier, who is smiling and laughing while talking to a comrade, completely oblivious to your presence. Depends on the enemy. Like the current terrorists....but of course. A country that fights in accordance with the Genevea convention rules, I would not.

2-Shoot down an enemy fighter that is smoking and sputtering 30 meters off the ground. Nope but most likely adhere to answer #1

3-Shoot an enemy who is dragging his wounded friend out of battle. Same as #1

4-Use your anti armour weapon to blow up a medic truck/van. Never

5-Shoot a P.O.W. if nobody was there. Nope

6-Kill an enemy who is eating breakfast with a friend, unaware of you. Yes

7-Kill a enemy civvie. Nope

8-Rape in a defeated city. Never

9-Shoot a dieing and unarmed enemy Nope

In war, men change. If I am indoctrinated to hate the enemy, then I may not help myself. The US has not fought an enemy that adheres to the Geneva Convention rules since WWII. So most likely, I would return the favor of how the enemy fights.

 

1-An enemy soldier, who is smiling and laughing while talking to a comrade, completely oblivious to your presence. A country that fights in accordance with the Genevea convention rules, I would not.

Is there a convention against this?

4-Use your anti armour weapon to blow up a medic truck/van.

Perhaps. There have been instances in the Mideast where terrorists and militants have used these for transportation.

6-Kill an enemy who is eating breakfast with a friend, unaware of you.

This is the same as #1. An enemy soldier is a soldier no matter what they are doing. Just like a sniper. If you job is to kill them it makes no matter what they are doing.

7-Kill a enemy civvie

These days its hard to tell who is a civilian and who isn't. Carrying a weapon is a "dead" givaway.

In the other instances I would say no.

 

Hmmmmm.............difficult to say.
I have talked with several people who served in WWII, and most say they did things they thought they would never ever do. So, I would like to say that I would do the honorable thing, but war changes people.

How's that for a non-answer!

 

...

 

Would you shoot....

1-An enemy soldier, who is smiling and laughing while talking to a comrade, completely oblivious to your presence.
Yes.

2-Shoot down an enemy fighter that is smoking and sputtering 30 meters off the ground.
No. He's out of the fight. Even if it made me an "ace", I wouldn't bother.

3-Shoot an enemy who is dragging his wounded friend out of battle.
No I would not.

4-Use your anti armour weapon to blow up a medic truck/van
Possibly. For all I know, my opponents could be using that red cross as a smokescreen.

5-Shoot a P.O.W. if nobody was there.
Only in self defense (For instance, if he tried to rush me). Besides, he could have useful information in his head that intelligence might want.

6-Kill an enemy who is eating breakfast with a friend, unaware of you.
Yes. This isn't a sports match.

7-Kill a enemy civvie.
See number five. If they attack me or my comrades, then all bets are off.

8-Rape in a defeated city.
No way.

9-Shoot a dieing and unarmed enemy
If he was in intolerable pain and begging to be put of his misery, then yes.

 

1-An enemy soldier, who is smiling and laughing while talking to a comrade, completely oblivious to your presence.
Yes.

2-Shoot down an enemy fighter that is smoking and sputtering 30 meters off the ground.
No, he is going down anyway.

3-Shoot an enemy who is dragging his wounded friend out of battle.
No if I am fighting a country that complies with the Geneva convention, though if he's a terrorist...

4-Use your anti armour weapon to blow up a medic truck/van
No, unless i knew it was doing something else other than carrying wounded.

5-Shoot a P.O.W. if nobody was there.
No!

6-Kill an enemy who is eating breakfast with a friend, unaware of you.
Yes.

7-Kill a enemy civvie.
No!

8-Rape in a defeated city.
No!

9-Shoot a dieing and unarmed enemy
if he is clearly in a lot of pain, I would finish him off, unless he has a chance of surviving.

 

curious death head how old are you ?

 

I am 15 to answer your inquiry.


1-An enemy soldier, who is smiling and laughing while talking to a comrade, completely oblivious to your presence. Most likely but I might tell them to surrender if they do not have a weapon at the ready (if they speak English of course!)

2-Shoot down an enemy fighter that is smoking and sputtering 30 meters off the ground.NEVER, a person who has been in a fight, injured and almost shot down deserves whatever feeble chance they have to get home.

3-Shoot an enemy who is dragging his wounded friend out of battle.If I did, I would shoot myself.

4-Use your anti armour weapon to blow up a medic truck/van. That cross means something, and if you were raised to know what it means, that cross should be everybody's ally.

5-Shoot a P.O.W. if nobody was there. See #3

6-Kill an enemy who is eating breakfast with a friend, unaware of you. The innocent face would be scared into me forever but yes.

7-Kill a enemy civvie. If that had to be done, then so be it

8-Rape in a defeated city. Never!

9-Shoot a dieing and unarmed enemy Every moment of you last bit of life is precious


Also more added to topic post so please update your answers!

Please answer these as if you were a soldier in World War 2!!!!

 

That's all very pretty and well-intentioned, but a war situation is neither. Hell is full of good intentions.

Beside this, being a young shithead is an option, getting to be an old fart is a matter of time. However if you stay a young shithead chances of getting to be an old fart are lessened.

Kind regards from a middle fart.

 

WWII or the present. My answers stand.

 

Interesting topic and I would like to say 'never' to all of them and thought I would until I read some of the thought-provoking responses here. War always brings out the worst in people...stress also makes us do things we otherwise would not want to do, I have never been in a war but I have worked in extremely stressful situations where I found myself behaving in a manner that I hitherto had thought impossible of me.

So I have to say that I would endeavor to be honorable but who knows what one would really do...War is a supreme test of our mettle and our character...mine, at times, have been weak.

Solzhenitsyn said that we are all capable of commiting the worst crimes against our fellow man under the right circumstances....I'd have to agree with him on that one.

 

In regards to the Red Cross marked vehicles I think a better moral question would be "Would you shoot a enemy medic clearly marked with Red Cross insignia." Because that happened more often then with vehicles.

 

1-An enemy soldier, who is smiling and laughing while talking to a comrade, completely oblivious to your presence.

Yes

2-Shoot down an enemy fighter that is smoking and sputtering 30 meters off the ground.

Yes

3-Shoot an enemy who is dragging his wounded friend out of battle.

Yes

4-Use your anti armour weapon to blow up a medic truck/van

Probably

5-Shoot a P.O.W. if nobody was there.

No

6-Kill an enemy who is eating breakfast with a friend, unaware of you.

Yes

7-Kill a enemy civvie.

No

8-Rape in a defeated city.

No

9-Shoot a dieing and unarmed enemy

Yes

10. Torpedo an obviously sinking enemy boat with crewmen still on board running around scared not shooting at your boat.

No

11. Machine gun a Sub-Crew that scuttled their sub, because an older officer told you to.( Keep in mind your enemy is unarmed)

No

 

^Nice additions.

 

"Solzhenitsyn said that we are all capable of commiting the worst crimes against our fellow man under the right circumstances....I'd have to agree with him on that one"

Excellent answer !!

 

Would you shoot.... (PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THERE ARE "IF YOU WERE IN WW2)

1-An enemy soldier, who is smiling and laughing while talking to a comrade, completely oblivious to your presence.

Yes, and his comrade too. More than once as well.

2-Shoot down an enemy fighter that is smoking and sputtering 30 meters off the ground.

Yes.

3-Shoot an enemy who is dragging his wounded friend out of battle.

Possibly. It would depend on other things. Is the guy dragging the wounded guy marked as a medic? Is he armed? If not the former and is the later, yes, he's dog meat.

4-Use your anti armour weapon to blow up a medic truck/van

No. The only exception would be if I clearly could tell the enemy was using it as a ruse.

5-Shoot a P.O.W. if nobody was there.

No. That's just wrong. Its murder.

6-Kill an enemy who is eating breakfast with a friend, unaware of you.

Yes, along with his "friend." More than once if possible.

7-Kill a enemy civvie.

No. This too is just wrong. It is murder.

8-Rape in a defeated city.

No. Rape is wrong and criminal behavior.

9-Shoot a dieing and unarmed enemy

If I thought it he was beyond help and it would end his misery yes. Other than that, no. I would if possible given circumstances comfort him.

10. Torpedo an obviously sinking enemy boat with crewmen still on board running around scared not shooting at your boat.

If this is an enemy combatant vessel, in an instant. Obviously sinking does not mean obviously sinking. Read the account of the Neosho at Coral Sea.

11. Machine gun a Sub-Crew that scuttled their sub, because an older officer told you too.( Keep in mind your enemy is unarmed)

No. This is clearly an illegal order. I would tell him to do it himself and that I wanted no part in it.

 

After some serious thought, I think this thread is in rather poor taste for these forums, which are frequented by Veterans who have actually had to shoot to kill. I'd rather not see any of them disrespected by a thread like this, as one can truly not know what they would do unless they find themselves in a such a situation.

THREAD CLOSED

*Otto, feel free to reopen if you think it is an OK thread.