"You're Gonna Feel It:" U.S. Military Unveils New Crowd Control "Heat Ray" Weapon

[USArmyParatrooper]

6. To deal with high risk situations without having to kill.

There are a lot of times when a young trooper must make hard decisions about someone else's life. Just one of many examples, if someone standing guard and can't let anyone through an area - and they don't want to let people get to close due to suicide vests or vehicle bound IED's. They will be given an SOP for when people try to approach, an "escalation of force." It could start with a verbal command to stop, followed by pointing their rifle and the person (or people) repeating the command, followed by warning shots and then finally lethal force.

There could be a huge crowd just outside a military facility with people throwing rocks and molotov cocktails, perhaps with some of them armed. That's a huge security concern, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to just fire rounds into the crowd.

There are lots of times when force is necessary for the safety of our troops, but also where lethal force is excessive.