Don't have to speculate.  There have been several reports that the Iranians tried to capture American soldiers.  Maybe the Brits might want to take the 'less disciplined' approach.  Or maybe it was just more fore-sight into different engagement scenarios.

       What no one seems to get is the seriousness that these poor 15 had to go through. The heinous mental torture that the suffered at the hands of the Iranian oppressors .They called one of the captors MR. Bean, you hear that MR. BEAN!!!! How cruel, this left the poor marine to cry himself to sleep. Others faced similar cruelty, the ole slide the finger across the neck routine horrified the hostages, not to mention measurements taken of the body and, OMG they hammered and sawed wood as the y slept, oh the humanity of it all. No wonder why these poor souls quickly forsake there country and caved in.

 

------SARCASM / OFF------

 

      Good Lord what an utter disgrace these “Men” in uniform are to the concept of the Marines. To hear a grown man admit to crying himself to sleep for being compared to MR Bean is just disgusting; this isn’t suitable behavior for any man let alone a soldier.

Omg, they striped the female of her cloths, what the hell do these Marines do for basic training, go to Disney World? They should be prepared to resist serious torture yet they cracked to a bunch of Fraternity house pranks.

 

        NotUKOnly and of course Ralph Peters got it right on the money, this is an embarrassment of grand proportions. Viewing this as anything other then a failure is just unrealistic. Readily abandoning your nationality in a cowardly attempt to save your own neck is not the action befitting a soldier. They should have accepted the fact that they may die the second they signed up for military duty and headed for war.

 

       Also to look at the selection of targets vs. US is nothing other then a perception of weakness, not one of rationality. Those Marines should have never let themselves be taken hostage PERIOD. They should have plainly ignored the kidnapping attempt and headed back to there ship. If there fired upon then you have the rights to bring about the aggressors destruction. But to so readily surrender is probably the worst thing they could have done. THEY were the AUTHORITY in that situation and should have acted like it. It’s like police officers surrendering to criminals.

 

        Preventing future incidents and regaining respect should have been the Uks top priority, not just rescuing a bunch of cowards. People die in war situations period, but it’s for the greater good and beneficial outcome of the nation, or else why would anyone ever go to war?

 

   Now I must ask for a CEASE and DECIST of all the nonsense people like Adamb spew about how incompetent the US military is while the UKs being true professionals. As we can all see now that is utter bullcrap, the military legend has been rendered a myth with what I see very little outcry from its public. What a shame.

 

Now the real quest

Wow aren't we a bunch of macho men.  Hey Jimme, you ever been taken hostage?  You think there is shame on a marine for crying himself to sleep in that situation.  I suppose you wake up in the morning, beat your chest and your idea of making love is whacking the nearest female over the head with a club and telling her to think of England...

The female captive was in the Navy not the marines (which I know are navy..) There's a difference between losing your kit during training and being stripped by a bunch of guys who are hostile and most possibly hold women in contempt.

I can't believe a lot of what I'm reading here.  I'd lvoe to see how hard all you guys who have made comments about them being pussies etc if you were put in the exact same situation.

 Taken hostage no, kidnapped and beaten at gun point, yes, not to mention having been stuck up twice in my life.. And i can tell ya, i was a lot more angry and defiant then i was scared and obedient. Something happens to your mentality when you resign yourself to your fate. I remember thinking if i'm going to die here so be it but hes coming with me. Thats the attitude these service men should have had.

Then again your comparing apples to oranges, its not how any of us would have acted differently its how differently the many other soldiers who have been kidnapped have acted. Crying yourself to sleep isn't the problem, many prisoners behind bares do that every night, its doing so because the guards teased you about looking like MR Bean? friggin please.

Here in NY we had a soldier who threw himself on top of a grenade to save the rest of his buddies for crying out loud. Thats a soldier, thats a warrior, thats the type of service men i hear day in and out being berated by many UK posters as being incompetent louses. so don't talk to me about them having been scared, if they couldn't stand the heat they shouldn't have been in the kitchen.

It all boils down to there behavior being fine for an average Joe, not a trained soldier in what many of yous considere the "best trained military in the world".

They were following the United Nations rules of engagement e.g., shoot only when shot at ...