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I know the military has an ethos of "not leaving anyone behind", but what are the opinions of risking lives to recover bodies in combat? Does the recovery of a fallen comrade warrant the risk of other lives? Certainly the wounded should be recovered even at great risk, but should lives be put in jeopardy for the recovery of the dead? Opinions? Experiences?
I personally would try to recover the body of a fallen comrade. I couldn't leave him to the enemy to carve him up.
If you can recover a body of a fallen buddy you do.
Denial of intelligence offered by a corpse is a significant reason to recover your dead as well as the morale issue regarding leaving your dead behind. My unit spent not a few weeks doing BDA after Arclight strikes to assess the effectiveness of the 750 lb bombs left behind in a 100x300 yd tangle by the Guam or Thailand based B-52s. Bodies were an unpleasant but valuable prize we had the task of packing up and sending to the rear for evaluation.
We were also assigned a few recovery details. If you have to go back into someplace to recover friendly bodies, that's a pretty good indication that the unit suffering the loss was driven from the field in a disaster of some kind. We never had to do the recovery under fire so danger to us other than from booby traps was no worse than any other assignment.
Would you want your buddies to risk their lives to recover your body? Intelligence value aside?
"Would you want your buddies to risk their lives to recover your body?"
Assuming I'm dead, I'd have no opinion one way or another but a "no-one left behind" policy helps to dispels the notion that you may be left behind because your buddies THOUGHT you might be dead. It eases the mind.
Good perspective. It does help allay the fear that you are only wounded and may be left to be captured. I'll buy that reasoning.Quote:
Originally Posted by High Plaines Doug r
Yup, I agree that this statement clears it all up.Quote:
Originally Posted by High Plaines Doug r
That thought occurred to me right away, unless is he right next to you, how do you know he is dead?
It is, and has been, our policy to recover bodies of our casualties when possible. This policy separates us from the ethos of our enemies, which is quite the opposite. It provides a simple comfort and confidence to a soldier about to face the elephant, when he knows that his bones will not be left to bleach in the sun. It is all about those still living, not those who have given it all. Regards, Clark
I was a Marine in VN, we left no one behind in my outfit and knew that no one would leave us either. KIA or WIA, you were going home to family.