Following the success of The Sheriff of Ramadi, which detailed the heroic actions of the Navy SEALs in Iraq's al-Anbar Province, Couch now examines the importance of battlefield ethics in effectively combating terrorists without losing the battle for the hearts of the local population. In his preface to this important new work on the ethical rules of engagement for the insurgent battlespace, highly regarded combat veteran, Dick Couch, warns that: "It may at times seem like I'm speaking from my ethical high horse-some kind of a born-again, moral academic who has lost touch with the contemporary battlefield...but I believe the same mistakes we are making in Iraq and Afghanistan are the same mistakes we made forty years ago in Vietnam. This I know from firsthand experience. I was there and I made some of those mistakes. But Vietnam was a sideshow in the Cold War; we lost that battle but we won the war. If Iraq and Afghanistan slip away, these battles will put us on the brink of losing a war we dare not to lose." A Tactical Ethic is a critical look at the battlefield conduct of our ground-combat units--Marines, Army infantrymen, and Special Forces--fighting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. From his unique and qualified perspective, Couch focuses on the sources and issues that can lead to wrong conduct on the battlefield, how it comes about, and what can be done to correct it. He examines the roles of command intent and rules of engagement, but his primary focus is on ethical conduct at the squad and platoon level. While A Tactical Ethic is a harsh critique of morally wrong combat tactics, Couch offers realistic measures to correct these potentially devastating errors.Tactical ethics, according to Couch's definition, is the moral and ethical armor that should accompany our warriors into battle. It applies to the engaged unit as well as the individual. While the military's official Rules of Land Warfare and theater-specific Rules of Engagement define the legal combat boundaries with which American troops must operate, Couch's tactical ethics are designed to augment these legal constraints. Together they define the limits - the permissions and prohibitions - that govern the lethal work of combat. This ethical armor is designed to protect the humanity of our warriors as they go into battle. Proceeding with an attitude that we can kill them all and let God sort them out is not an option on the insurgent battlefield. Since the prize of the fight on this modern battlefield is the people, every death has a consequence. In the context of our warriors every killing has both strategic and moral significance. Couch argues that as a nation, we must do all we can to see that our soldiers' humanity is protected. This is for our sake as a people as well and our standing in the world as well as for the sake of our warriors, so that they return from their service with honor.