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Old February 15, 2013, 11:05 AM   #23
Beretta686
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Join Date: May 11, 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 761
Quote:
The end goal of the military is NOT to kill but to carry out missions or reach goals. Death is not always required or mandated.
Exactly

Quote:
PS: He also writes in On Killing that approx 50,000 rounds were expended for EKIA(enemy killed) in the entire SE Asia conflict
I agree with that factually, but as kraigwy pointed out, it's an apples-to-oranges comparison.

I'd venture to say that the rounds-to-boudy-count ratio is even higher in OEF/OIF (or if you really want an interesting figure, I'd like to know how much $$$ per kill we spent).

But often times it doesn't matter if you kill or wound the bad guy. If you're on a convoy to deliver supplies to somewhere and some dusche-bag with an AK opens up on you and you return fire and expend 200 rounds suppressing him without killing him, it's still a success, as you accomplished your mission. Stoping everything you're doing just to go kill some bad-guys often times makes no sense in the broader scheme of things.

Too often folks get obsessed with body counts, as they look good on paper, but just killing people doesn't equal a strategic victory and in fact may be your undoing. But that's a whole other topic we can spend all weekend arguing about.
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