This situation would probably be beyond my capacity to survive without going postal:

One of my goals was to shift the focus from "CIVCAS" to criteria more practical. (All insurgents are, afterall, civilians) I actually got MG Carter, COM RC-South where LTC Guy Jones operates, to agree and he publicly took the position that his command would no longer use the term CIVCAS and instead use "Combatant" and "Non-Combatant." His LEGAD had a cow. Because the phrase civcas is what is written into the law, regardless of how illogical and wrongheaded it is on the ground, we had to use it. The lawyers won, and we went back to CIVCAS.

I tried to have a conversation with LEGAD on the topic and all she could do was stare at me like I had a horn growing out of my head and bluster about the terminology in various articles of international law, the terms they use, that must be adheared to.
You have to have a strong stomach or a large ulcer.

My initial reaction was that the LEGAD was bad and that all would be well if a "good lawyer" had been on call - in short, blame it on the lawyer (a variation of pile on the wabbit). If that were the problem, the solution would be solved by employing SJAs like COL Hays Parks, who wrote in 2003 re: Astan, Special Forces’ Wear of Non-Standard Uniforms:

At the US Special Operations Command (“USSOCOM”) annual Legal Conference, May 13–17, 2002, the judge advocate debate became intense. While some attendees raised questions of “illegality” and the right or obligation of special operations forces to refuse an “illegal order” to wear “civilian clothing,” others urged caution. [3] The discussion was unclassified, and many in the room were not privy to information regarding Operation ENDURING FREEDOM Special Forces, its special mission units, or the missions assigned them.

[3] In the debate that ensued over the next year, it was my observation that those most strident in their criticism were most distant from Special Forces ground operations or were judge advocates not serving with or familiar with the missions of Special Forces units.

COL Parks bio (from same) - Law of War Chair, Office of General Counsel, Department of Defense; Special Assistant for Law of War Matters to The Judge Advocate General of the Army, 1979–2003; Stockton Chair of International Law, Naval War College, 1984–1985; Colonel, US Marine Corps Reserve (Retired); Adjunct Professor of International Law, Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, DC.
While there is truth to that solution (or to the alternative, "get rid of all the lawyers") in many situations, the problem you faced is part of a greater problem in Astan.

That problem (also directly involving the ROEs, RUFs and EOFs) has been the conscious election by the political and military masters (of ISAF, including the US; and of the Astan national government) to adopt "bad law" even though (at least for the US and Astan) that would not be required. That "bad law" hinges on the 1977 Additional Protocols I and II, Direct Participation in Hostilities and Customary International Humitarian Law as endorsed by the ICRC - many in the ISAF would see that "bad law" as "good law" (as apparently does Nick Carter's LEGAD).

It has to be frustrating to deal with nonsense like CIVCAS, restrictive ROEs, etc. (and please note, while I'd prefer a broad hunting license, I do not believe that everything in the woods needs to be shot).

Regards

Mike