Michael Yon Gets What’s Coming To Him
BY Herschel Smith
12 years, 9 months ago
No, this isn’t another ridiculous pile-on-Michael-Yon post from some unstable Milblogger who is bored with the fact that he has nothing left to cover now that we have withdrawn from Iraq (and plan to withdraw from Afghanistan). Some people just have to find others to hate in order to be important.
No, Michael Yon has gotten the attention to the MEDEVAC issue that he deserves. You can follow his coverage here, here and here, here and here (just for starters). I won’t recapitulate the reports since you can go and read them from Michael. Here is a decent summary video.
But I will observe that my bullshit-o-meter pegged high when the Army began making claims that the Geneva Conventions required them to mark MEDEVAC helicopters and then also to require them not to be armed for self defense (thus requiring an armed escort and delaying the transit in some instances).
First of all, if the Geneva Conventions actually do require that we send medical evacuation into the field with no self defense, then we should not have ever been a signatory to such a document, and such signature should be forthwith rescinded. But it doesn’t. Take careful note. The U.S. Marine Corps doesn’t do business this way.
There. Enough said. Case Closed. The U.S. Marine Corps isn’t violating the Geneva Conventions. That the big-Army is wasting intellectual capital and moral authority on this is stupefying.
On February 12, 2012 at 12:36 pm, Chuck said:
While visiting the Dustoff Association’s web site I noted they have a section dedicated to the Geneva Convention. On their website I could not find any statements pro or con on the use of the RED CROSS on their helicopters. What does the Geneva Convention have to do with today’s war?