what would u do, shoot him or what?

Question

I was at a gate in Iraq while deployed searching workers to be brought on post. A little kid w/a cap gun was running around pointing at a convoy. We got his attention and tried to communicate to drop the weapon, he pointed at us. We all had guns drawn n pointed at him. Luckily, his mother came out of his house across the street yelling loudly, she came n grabbed him n thanked us for not shooting n went home. By the way, toy guns there look real. Complete mock up of the real thing without any tell tale signs that its a toy. So, if he would have shot off his toy gun, what would u do? I still don't think to this day I would have killed a 5 year old, he's too innocent to know what he's doing.

Answer 1

Having been in Vietnam, it seems to me you and your fellow soldiers made the correct response. You were at the ready to protect your buddies in the event the boy had a real gun. But, you exercised the proper restraint in waiting to learn if the gun could fire. The civilians who have criticized do not understand that one of a soldiers duties is to protect the other soldiers with him. Obviously all of the soldiers there knew that and they were protecting each other. Since the gun did not fire, neither did they. They had the courage and the restraint to allow a potential enemy the chance to shoot first. This is a perfect example of training and conscience working together in a dangerous situation.

In Vietnam, a boy about 10 approached a truck full of soldiers waiting to cross a body of water on a ferry. He used to come down and sell things to the soldiers, but this time he pulled a grenade out of his basket. The soldiers watched in horror as he struggled to pull the pin. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. None of them wanted to think of what it would take to stop him from throwing the grenade into the truck and killing about 12 soldiers. One of the guards near the ferry saw what was happening, took careful aim and tried to shoot the grenade so it would fly far away from the boy and the soldiers. The bullet struck the boys arm just as he started to throw it. The grenade landed about ten feet from the boy and went off. He was struck by shrapnel from the grenade. A medic leaped from the truck and tried to save him. The bullet from the rifle would not have killed him but the shrapnel did. Before he died he told the medic the viet cong had taken his mother hostage and would shoot her if he didn't do as they said. The soldier who fired with the intent of stopping the boy felt terrible and had to be sent to Saigon for counseling. He meant to do the right thing but couldn't react fast enough. That soldier saved about 12 of his fellow soldiers and it still bothered him that he couldn't save the boy. That is a perfect example of a dreadful situation in which a soldier did his best to make the right choice. How many people would have the intestinal fortitude and the discipline to attempt being that careful when there were so many other lives at stake.?

Answer 2

If you waited for him to pull the trigger, the toy gun wouldn't have made the same noise as a real gun....I know what you mean about how real they look....I am in the Army as well, been in a few convoys..the only thing that you can do is follow your orders and R.O.E.'s..the language barrier is troublesome, but, looking at at a child and seing the look on his face..is it of hate? Also, even if a 5 year old did pull the trigger of a REAL pistol, don't you thing the recoil would knock him down? I mean 5 year olds really aren't that balanced.

Answer 3

Similar things happened in Vietnam, and it's a hard choice. I don't envy you the experience.

You have reminded me of a recent experience at my local post office where I have a P.O. box. A little boy, armed with a very realistic toy pistol which fired plastic projectiles of some kind, went around shooting everyone. I was shot in the face, which narrowly missed my left eye. The parent in this case seemed totally oblivious to the whole thing, even when it was brought to her attention. In today's climate, that kid could easily have been taken out by someone who considered him a real threat.

Answer 4

Kind of scary. You never know what's real or not in situations like those, but, a 5 year old with a real gun? Not likely, and especially not likely that he would know how to use it that well. Either way, I wouldn't have shot him. Not worth the possible mistake.
Good one to you for not doing that either!

Answer 5

I prolly would shot to disable.. What the eff am i talkin bout.. I live in the hood **** i would shot his lil a.ss up. Innocence of not at 5 you know to point a gun at ppl is wrong and should suffer the consequences. AND this is in Iraq... if i would crap a brick if a kid did that here i know i would in Iraq theyre even crazier.

Answer 6

Hmm it all depends where they shot? Really I would have tried further to convey the message of dropping the gun. if he didn't and he missed well i'd have to remove the object from his presence by means necessary.Also, I wouldn't have let the mother walk away like that. I'd talk to her about the dangers of such toys and how she's really ought to double think letting her son just walk around with such realistic ones.

Answer 7

I wouldn't have killed a child, whether it be a real gun or not, I couldn't bring myself to do it. The innocence of playing cops and robbers / cowboys and indians / goodies and badies, no longer exists. It's a disgusting world we live in today.

Answer 8

then you would have been a murderer ..spouse it was a real gun ..don't you know how to duck don't you know how to take cover ..don't they teach you how to hide from 5 year old..common sense will tell you a 5 year old can not carry a real gun aim
and fire on target it's to heavy..was a 5 year old that much of a threat all of you had your arsenal pointed at him ..A FIVE YEAR OLD FOR GOD SAKE

Answer 9

many toy guns look like the real one
I cannot imagine such a young boy has a real one and his mother behave normally
if his mother didnt look suspicious, so u did a right thing not to shoot him

Answer 10

What do you think the odds are of a five-year-old being able to hold a gun steadily enough to fire it with any sort of accuracy?

Unbelievable, never mind the fact he shouldn't even be in the position of possibly being killed by people who don't even belong in his country.