Help Wanted:
ALL HANDS. Paramount Pictures has a new and exciting movie,
RULES OF
ENGAGEMENT, due out on April 7 that many of you will find both
important and
relevant.
This movie, which stars Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson,
was the
brainchild of author -- and former Marine and Secretary of the
Navy -- Jim
Webb.
We've had an advance look at RULES OF ENGAGEMENT -- and our
guess is it's
going to be a huge hit. We're also confident it's going to
trigger more
interest in an issue the American public usually pays attention
to only when
the U.S. military's Rules of Engagement are once again found
wanting and the
body bags start coming home.
Director Billy Friedkin, who really gets the significance of
the topic
and has told a story involving this important subject in a
you-are-there,
honest and hard-hitting way, has asked Hack to assist his
efforts to insure
the widest possible public discussion of Rules of Engagement.
Because Hack
knows how critical an issue this is to the trigger-pullers who
are held
responsible for using their death-dealing weapons in support of
U.S. national
security, he's enthusiastic about being involved.
Paramount has established a web site
(
http://www.rulesofengagement.com)
and is conducting a campaign to stimulate public discussion of
nearly all
aspects of Rules of Engagement as they relate to the use of
military force on
the tactical and operational level. Hack and I think this will
be as good
for the profession of arms as it will be for ticket sales.
Hack wants to encourage real-world discussion items for the
web site and
has asked me to ride herd on this project. That's the reason
for this
solicitation -- to gather anecdotal input from those of you
who've been in
the pressure cooker:
-Those of you who served in the Cold War, under rules of
engagement that
focused on preventing a shooter from starting an action that
could have
triggered WW III, in the Southeast Asian War-games, along the
Korean DMZ, in
Berlin, wherever.
-Or the warriors of post-Cold War games who've served in hot
spots in
Operations Other Than War. Places like Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia
and Kosovo, or
in the Southwest Asian War-games (1990 - present), where ROE
gets foggier as
the rules themselves need a New York lawyer to decipher.
The more historically significant the incident, the greater
our interest
in it. The movie's focus is on Marine grunts besieged at a Mid
East Embassy,
and our principal interest in the web site campaign will also be
on "ROE" as
they affect ground combat. But we're also interested in hearing
from veterans
of the Air Force and Navy, air and ground, who have some ROE
anecdotal
experience they'd also like to share.
Depending on a host of variables, there may be the
opportunity for a few
anecdotes to be posted on the web site -- either in text or in a
video clip
of a personal interview with the on-scene player.
Please send your comments to rogcharles@aol.com, and thanks in
advance for
your insights.
