I re-read the book last night on my flight OCONUS just so I could refresh my memory about what it was that made some of Lutrell's decisions and discussion points worry me. Now that I know about his crazy ghost writer, Patrick Robinson, it seems clear but still very worrisome.

This worry led to my previous posts on the issue of recalibrating our sense of honor and perhaps the reeducation of our young warriors as to who we are morally and what we fight for… hell, even our OLD warriors appear to have a problem on this matter. I'll take up in another thread why the author and ghostwriter decided the ambush was actually the fault of American liberals and the media.

On page 167 he complained that the ROE in Afghanistan was that they “could not shoot, injure or kill civilians.” Surely his view was influenced by the trauma that ensued. He also asked what should he do about “the unarmed civilian who was a skilled spy for the illegal forces”, or “enemies “pretending to be civilians.” Again I am reminded of the MARSOC post-IED massacre in Jalalabad ‘if something bad happens to us, everyone nearby must be in on it, so therefore everyone gets shot.’ Its an attitude that does not serve us well.

To him, there were no innocent civilians in that part of Afghanistan. This belief reflects poorly on whatever training or intelligence he received about who he was fighting in relation to what we are trying to achieve. The mission is to destroy Talib/AQ, but not at the cost of alienating the province. There are plenty of real enemy to be killed in Afghanistan but by the reckoning in this book EVERYONE was that enemy … which is strange because his experience of [SPOILER ALERT] being taken in by sympathetic villagers, surrounded by Taliban, directly contradicts that. It was a great example of the more human aspects of the local human terrain.

The most stunning assertion in the whole book was his insistence that the “correct” military decision, when compromised by civilians, is to kill them. He states this no less than four times starting on page 202 “the military decision was clear” or “[not killing them] was military suicide” (pg 203), “the military decision was obvious” (pg 205), blames others for not executing them “when every codebook ever written had taught me otherwise.” My first question was “WTF!? What is he talking about?” I taught Geneva Convention at SERE and prisoner handling and interrogation to numerous SEAL platoons deploying to OEF and OIF. SEALs are often the best, most attentive students, especially officers and Chiefs –they are all pretty smart. This question of 'can you kill the prisoner once you’ve interrogated them?' always comes up in a tongue & cheek manner and the answer is always the same “Sorry. No. 5-Ss (silence, secure, segregate, speed, safeguard) or leave them” You can zip tie them, leave them and extract or continue mission.

Is there something going on we don’t know? Is the TV show “24” or movies like “Blackhawk Down” the 'military codebooks' that say shooting civilians is doctrinal? Or is it the crazy ghostwriter talking tough? I have read allot of books about special operations going back to Roger's Rangers and I cannot think of one where killing civilians was an objective critical to “military necessity” to meet the mission ... except for Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now!

People get killed in crossfire and off-target effects, but what Lutrell discusses is the execution of civilians as a military policy and how he should have done it. Perhaps some have confused Mil-Porn books like Robinson's with actual Field Manuals? Or is this a matter of our soldiers talking themselves into what they would do in a rite of passage they think all “hard” soldiers get put into and convince themselves they are supposed to “do whatever it takes”? The latter belief is more popular than I’d like to think.

In the first Gulf War many SR missions deep in Iraq were performed and a quarter of them were compromised by the usual suspects - kids and goats, including the BRAVO 2-0 mission. In one, an SF ODA had a little girl walk right up and peered right into the hide. They grabbed her, rejected the thought of killing her, gave her candy to keep her quiet and called for an amazing extraction under intense fire.

“Lone Survivor” was a good read but he should have let Dick Couch ghost write it for him. My fear is that unless some high level SEAL like SOCCOM C.O. Admiral Eric Olsson resets the “moral hard deck” and forcefully points out that this concept is flat out wrong, not written or unwritten in any manual and that Lt. Murphy made the right choice.

If not, then this book will join that pantheon of mythological military “codebooks” where the reader, maybe new recruits, comes away swearing that he will not fail the test of what to do with three woodcutters. Standing orders to bring four zip ties, a half roll of duct tape and five tabs of 12 hour sleep medicine per operator wouldn’t hurt either.

Lutrell is brave, tough and a Navy Cross awardee. I thank God he survived. However, the book’s contention, over and over, that you have to kill civilians may become another equally bad piece of mythology alongside my personal bugaboo, Jack Bauer.