Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bellcore!att!cbnews!military
From: kluksdah@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (Norman C. Kluksdahl)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: on Exploding bullets and war conventions
Summary: rules???  in war????
Message-ID: <7435@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 14 Jun 89 03:26:28 GMT
References: <7392@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: Arizona State Univ, Tempe
Lines: 38
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: kluksdah@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (Norman C. Kluksdahl)
In article <7392@cbnews.ATT.COM>, ut-emx!walt.cc.utexas.edu!cyrius@cs.utexas.edu (Juan Chen) writes:
> 
> 
> From: ut-emx!walt.cc.utexas.edu!cyrius@cs.utexas.edu (Juan Chen)
> 
> hollow point ammo ... is not "legal" to be used in combat
>   ... what kind of rifle ammunition is allowed in combat,
> 
The kind that kills and injures people (no smiley's).

Seriously, any 'rules' of war are at best fallacious, and at
worst, a hinderance which keeps one side honest by trying to follow
the rules which are ignored by the other side.  This type of thinking,
that you have to keep battle 'clean' and 'honest', can easily lead to
defeat.  Crying foul while you are being soundly thrashed does no good
unless there is someone there to listen to you and intervene.

Hypothetically, if Y percent of hits with 'honest' ammo results in dead
enemy, and X percent results in disabling injuries, then you have
100-X-Y percent of the enemy casulties who will be patched up and return 
to battle, probably rather angry at having been hit in the first place.  
If, on the other hand, 'illegal' ammo increases either X or Y or both, 
fewer enemy casulties will end up back in the lines against you, which
improves the chances of you and your men surviving.  

If you were an infantry commander, which would you rather use???

**********************************************************************
Norman Kluksdahl              Arizona State University
            ..ncar!noao!asuvax!enuxha!kluksdah
alternate:   kluksdah@enuxc1.eas.asu.edu

standard disclaimer implied

our inherent lack of ci