The laws of armed conflict tell you what you can and cannot do in combat situations. With the training you receive, you will have the necessary discipline to do the right thing. But if you do not learn how to conduct yourself in combat, you will be punished for mistakes. All persons in uniform, carrying a weapon or participating in any way in military operations or activities, are known as combatants. Under the laws of armed conflict, only combatants are considered proper targets and may be fired upon. All others are called noncombatants. Noncombatants include civilians, medical personnel, and chaplains. Knowing the difference between combatants and noncombatants in guerrilla war situations may sometimes be difficult and require great care. Humane treatment of noncombatants may help you in obtaining valuable intelligence to better pursue your mission. If you are in doubt about the differences between combatants and noncombatants, consult your superior before pursuing a course of action.

Enemy Combatants

Never attack enemy soldiers who surrender or enemy soldiers who are captured, sick, or wounded. When you have prisoners of war (POWs), you should follow the six Ss: search, secure, silence, segregate, safeguard, and speed the prisoners to the rear. You must never kill, torture, or mistreat a prisoner because such actions are a violation of the law. Besides, prisoners may provide you with vital information about the enemy. Treating a prisoner badly also discourages other enemy soldiers from surrendering, and it strengthens their will to resist. But if you treat prisoners well, your fairness encourages the enemy to treat their prisoners (your buddies) well. Humane treatment of POWs is right, honorable, and required under the laws of armed conflict. Improper treatment of prisoners by you is punishable by court-martial.

Let enemy soldiers surrender. The enemy may use different signals to convey they are surrendering, but all of the signals should be noticeable. It is illegal to fire on an enemy that has thrown down their weapons and offered to surrender.

You should also provide medical care to the wounded whether friend or foe. You are required under the laws of armed conflict to provide the same medical care to the sick and wounded as you would provide for your own personnel.

When someone is captured, you may not be certain whether the person is an enemy. That determination is made by specifically trained personnel at a higher headquarters. You may question captives about military information of immediate value to your mission, but you may never use threats, torture, or other forms of coercion to obtain information.

You may not take personal property from a prisoner, except those items that are clearly of a military or intelligence value (weapons, maps, or military documents). You do this only after the prisoner has been secured, silenced, and segregated. You take nothing that is not of military value. Only an officer may take custody of the personal effects of a prisoner.

Captives may perform some types of work but the work must not relate to assisting your war effort. The acceptable work performed must be limited to allowing captives to dig foxholes or build bunkers only for their own protection. Under the laws of armed conflict, you may never use captives as a shield for your attack or defense against the enemy; to search for, clear, or place mines or booby traps; or to carry your ammunition or heavy gear.

Under the rules of armed conflict, you are not permitted to attack villages, towns, or cities. But you are allowed to engage the enemy that is in a village, town, or city and to destroy any equipment or supplies that the enemy has there when it is mission essential. In all cases, you must not create more destruction than is necessary to accomplish the mission. When using firepower in a populated area, you must attack only military targets. You may not attack PROTECTED PROPERTY.

While some protected property may mean little to you, the property in question maybe of cultural importance to the people of the country. Examples of protected property include buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes; historical monuments; hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected and cared for; and schools and orphanages for children. When the enemy uses these places for refuge or for offensive purposes, your commander may order an attack. It is common sense to destroy no more than the minimum amount of protected property consistent with carrying out the mission. To do more may undermine your mission.

Civilians

Earlier in this chapter, the reasons for knowing as much as possible about the country in which you are operating was discussed. Once there, you need to treat civilians humanely and private property as though it were your own.

Do not violate the rights of civilians in war zones. When you know something about the culture and practices of the people, you should have little trouble recognizing the rights of civilians. Make sure civilians are protected from acts of violence, threats, and insults both from the enemy and from your fellow Seabees. On occasion, it may be necessary to move or resettle civilians because such action is urgently required for military activities. Under no circumstance should you burn civilian property without approval of higher authority. Similarly, you should never steal from civilians. Failure to obey these rules is a violation of the laws of anneal conflict and punishable by court-martial. Under no circumstances should you fire upon medical personnel or equipment used for the welfare of the people or the enemy. Most medical personnel and facilities are marked with a red cross on a white background. However, a few countries use a different symbol. This is one of the reasons you should be familiar with the customs of the country in which you are operating. Similarly, never pose as a Red Cross representative when you are not. Your life may depend on proper use of the Red Cross symbol.

Parachutists are considered helpless until they reach the ground. Under the rules of war, you may not fire at parachutists while they are in the air. If they resist with weapons upon landing or do not surrender, you may fire at them. Paratroopers, on the other hand, are always considered combatants and may be fired on while they are still in the air.

Under the laws of armed conflict, you may not use

poison or poisoned weapons. However, you may use nonpoisoning weapons to destroy the food and water of the enemy.

You may not alter weapons to cause unnecessary suffering by the enemy. You cannot use altered rounds to inflict greater destruction on the enemy. These alterations are forbidden under the laws of armed conflict.