Has a troop ever been arrested/discharged for irresponsibly killing on the battlefield?

I know the military doesn't just put their soldiers and Marines on a battlefield and say, "Okay, start attacking!" There must be a lot of rules and regulations for proper weapon use on the battlefield?Has a troop ever been arrested/discharged for irresponsibly killing on the battlefield?
Oh sure - they've had several of those in Iraq - but it's not a lot considering how many soldiers we had over there.
I don't think people are answering what you are asking. You aren't asking if Soldiers have been prosecuted for murder. That has happened and we know it will happen in the future. You are asking more about Soldiers in combat disobeying the ROE or the Law of Land Warfare? That is a lot harder to answer because it is hard to second guess a Soldier on the field of battle. But there have been cases where Soldiers have killed unarmed or surrendering enemy Soldiers and at least in one case that I can recall from WWII, the Soldier was prosecuted.



The rules are less strict then you might imagine because you don't have time to consider many rules during the actual conduct of an attack. You don't shoot obvious civilians if you can help it. You don't shoot a Soldier who is surrendering. But if an enemy Soldier uses a civilian for a human shield your right to self-defense trumps the rights of that civilian.Has a troop ever been arrested/discharged for irresponsibly killing on the battlefield?
My Lai in Viet Nam was the big one.



While there were claims of rape in Okinowa the Japanese did not seem to think it happened.



There was a incident in WWII Italy with civilians and plenty of stuff involving SS.



My Dad was involved in the liberation of Buchenwald. He told me that the Russian POWs being held in a separate camp had overpowered the SS once there were very few left, liberated rifles and ammo and went to town...literally...supposedly killing all the SS and going into nearby villages killing every living thing. All I know about the SS from that point is from a book "You can't get much closer than this" written by a Lt in the same battalion as Dad. He states that the first Russians he met shot to SS in the back after telling them to run off. @ Russian Officers than stayed with the 317th IR until they hooked up with Russian Forces in Austria. These 2 took special care of any SS between Buchenwald and Ebensee in Austria about a month later.....there were no survivors and no one gave a $h!t about it.



I have no idea how many court martials came about in WWII from anything on the battlefield. In Viet Nam there were more than 300 court martials for some sort of crime...rape, murder, stealing....etc. The many Vietnamese I know would like to remove John Kerry from family jewels with a dull knife. They all know who killed those in the family, they all know what the VC did, one knows better than most as he was a ARVN Officer from 1955-1975.



The 2nd link was not authored in a completely unbiased fashion....some of it is just BS some of it is just war, some of it is just the way war was fought at the time.
Absolutely. There was a big todo about a Soldier or Marine killing a wounded insurgent in Fallujah I believe. There was a video of it and the media had a field day with it.



Also the Mahmudiyah killings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_鈥?/a>Has a troop ever been arrested/discharged for irresponsibly killing on the battlefield?
Of course.



Especially when Civilians get in the mix.



I've got a buddy in prison for four years just because he was in the unit and in the same area as the guy who got life for actually murdering a Civie.
Yeah happens all the time, if you kill someone without being authorized to do so its considered murder.
It's called Rules Of Engagement Pal.
Some even get prosecuted for doing their jobs.
The only one I know of was the Muslim soldier who fired on his own unit when he was deployed.
There have been some who have even faced criminal charges for their actions
Yes



and that is part of what is wrong with mixing politics and war
Yes.
yes
Vietnam