Originally Posted by
LivingInMEM
I didn't say withhold fires because of not safe for the friendlies, I clearly implied save the day even when cleared hot on a target that was misidentified as hostile even by the GFC - and yes they would in that case. If not, your leadership is at fault. Regardless, (1) it's just an example, and (2) it demonstrates the lengths you'll go to in order to devalue the efforts of those "not in danger".
That's how I took it--how you said you intended it...I guess I took a short cut in describing it. With that said, I won't agree that leadership is "at fault" for not generating paperwork to award a crew for not shooting on an authorized target that in the end resulted in the saving of a friendly. I'd say that was leadership's decision, and they made the call they did based on all the factors and their judgment. I saw plenty of times where the decision was not to award a crew for the opposite: saving coalition lives by firing on the enemy. Granted, there were many times where actions were recognized with more than a value of "X" to get to the magic number for an AM. But for the most part, the vast majority of missions where rounds were fired and lives were saved were just counters toward AMs, and a "good mission, guys" from the CC. I didn't fault them for that type of decision either. I could restate the mindset from the "speech" but it probably isn't worth it.