Originally Posted by Hondo
There is a place in all armies for this. Civilians are killed indiscriminately, but mostly by accident all the time. Fighting an enemy that wears no distinctive uniform for the sole purpose of blending into civilian crowds hopes this happens and happens often. Sometimes, if need be, they will make it happen. All these little incidents help build into a change of opinion towards the central government by the population and the world. Physical trophies have always been taken in war and always will be. Nothing new there either. If civilians choose to hang out with their feedom fighters on their own, well, you never know when a missle guided by a drone is going to zip in and break up that birthday bar-b-que. That's their choice and part of being in the game.
While I applaud your decision to be a member of the armed forces with a future of possibly leading young men into battle, once you are actually a warrior in command of an understrength platoon that was two companies the night before, you might find your viewpoint on whats "reprehensible" changing.