Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: portal!cup.portal.com!mmm@apple.com
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: on Exploding bullets and war conventions
Message-ID: <7552@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 17 Jun 89 04:45:50 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Lines: 19
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: portal!cup.portal.com!mmm@apple.com
Norman Kluksdahl says:

> 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.

I remember hearing that some of the bombs dropped on North Viet Nam were
intentionally designed to maim, rather than kill.  The idea was to sap the
strength of the economy with the cost of caring for the wounded.

Of course, this story may have been one of the anti-war memes which were
intentionally designed to sap the political support for the war.