I had a conversation with a user on my Deviantart page about the possibility of shooting a girl. As she was a female, and affiliated with the terrorist army I write about in my fan fiction, we had a conversation as though we were actually involved in the Command & Conquer videogames (basic fan conversations, you all know how it works). Anyway, when I spouted out that I was surrounded by “Noddies” (slang for Nod, the land of Nod east of Eden in the Bible, and a derivative of the Brotherhood of Nod, the Command & Conquer “bad guys”) and that I would have to shoot my way out with M249 Mk. 48 SAW, she responded with “you wouldn’t shoot a girl.” I responded in kind:
“heh. point a muzzle at me, and you’re dead. man, woman, or child 
and i explore this concept in my writing. When my character is entrenched in fighting in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, he faces a Nod child soldier, and kills him, then runs up to him and stays with him until the child dies of blood loss.
i already shot a girl in paintball on sunday, right in the chest, center mass and right.
she took it well, though.
thanks for stopping by” -CommanderA9 (http://commandera9.deviantart.com/)
I had a similar conversation/argument with a friend about shooting women in combat situations. There is a scene in Black Hawk Down when the Rangers are evacuating to the Pakistani soccer stadium, and a Ranger almost shoots a Somali woman. He continues to track her as she runs to pick up an AK-47, saying “Don’t you do it, don’t you do it, don’t you damn do it!” The moment she picks up the AK-47 and aims it at him, he fires on her and kills her.
Now, according to FM 27-10 The Laws of Land Warfare, this Ranger did not execute an illegal maneuver, and was perfectly within his rights to fire upon her. According to Global Security, an excerpt of the Laws of Land Warfare reads as follows:
Combatants are obliged to distinguish themselves from civilian
populations while they are engaged in an attack or in a military
operation preparatory to an attack. Recognizing, however, that
there are situations in armed conflicts where, owing to the nature
of the hostilities, an armed combatant cannot so distinguish himself,
he shall retain his status as a combatant, provided that, in such
situations, he carry his arms openly:
(a.) during each military engagement; and
(b.) during such times as he is visible to the
adversary while he is engaged in a military
deployment preceding the launching of an attack in
which he is to participate.
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/WJL.htm)
Therefore, that Ranger cannot be charged with a war crime, for during a combat situation, a civilian, who otherwise could not be distinguished from local combatants, armed herself with a weapon and aimed it at American personnel, and thus immediately became a combatant of her own free will. Therefore, should the situation present itself, I am authorized to fire on any man, woman, and even a child who bear arms against myself, my comrades, my army, and my country.
I explore this element in my writing: the idea of bizarre situations during wartime: mismanagement of military resources and personnel by officers, political red tape inhibiting the military’s ability to effectively defeat the enemy, rising casualty levels affecting the political situation, which in turn affects the situation on the battlefield, and the idea of fighting off children soldiers employed by the enemy. This is nothing new, as the Allies fought against the Hitler Youth on several occasions, sometimes fighting against 12-15-year-olds on the battlefield.
In my character’s case, he is engaged in battle against Nod forces in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. While on the firing line and firing against enemy personnel, he spots a smaller silhouette of a male figure. It turns out this silhouette is a small child no older than twelve, dressed in the uniform of the enemy, and carrying an AK-47 while wearing a helmet. The boy wears no flak jacket and carries only one magazine inside the rifle. So, my character doesn’t hesitate, seeing him as an enemy, and fires, dropping him in one shot. When my character realizes what has happened, he unconsciously charges off the line, running towards the boy to administer aid out of an unexplainable sense of altruism. He reaches the boy to find him bleeding with barely any strength left. My character grips the boy’s hand and sees it is stained with blood. When he is shot at, my character returns fire against the enemy and lets go of the boy’s hand. When he looks back, he discovers the boy has died, likely when he let go of his hand. He then prays, cursing himself for the actions forced upon him and further cursing the enemy for having clothed the boy in the uniform of their deluded army. He then closes the boy’s eyes, gets up, puts one last look on the body, then moves on.
By all rights, my character could not be charged with a war crime: the men who conscripted the boy could be.
