Senior Chief,

Your words put my thoughts into a framework better than I think my own mind could, and that is exactly what I was trying to get at. I don't want to denigrate Luttrell's service or the mission, but I suppose it is the "mil-porn" effect that is giving me the problem.

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.
This is the I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by six mentality that crops us (especially over at the board you used to frequent a lot ) that drives me up the wall. I think you are on to something about this unwritten code or FM confusion among our young men. I've heard that tone from young and older though, enlisted and officer alike, and I am beginning to see that maybe Louie L'Amour books are the better choice for some of them.