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This publication summarizes the law and practice under LOAC for legal and operational practitioners of the
Army and Marine Corps. It draws from treaties to which the United States is a party, customary international
law, the DOD Law of War Manual, and other references describing long-standing U.S. military practice. It
has precedent in the first comprehensive publication of the U.S. military regulation of LOAC, prepared by
Professor Francis Lieber, and approved by President Lincoln in April 1863 in General Orders Number 100.
The basic LOAC rules and principles applicable to Soldiers and Marines can be summarized by the following
basic Soldier’s Rules (see AR 350-1)/Marine Corps Basic Principles (see MCO 3300.4A), developed by
Army and Marine judge advocates to train Soldiers and Marines to conform to LOAC standards applicable
in all military operations:
 Fight only enemy combatants.
 Do not harm enemies who surrender. Disarm the enemy and turn them over to your superiors.
 Do not kill or torture enemy prisoners of war or other detainees.
 Collect and care for the wounded, whether friend or foe.
 Do not attack medical personnel, facilities, or equipment.
 Destroy no more than the mission requires.
 Treat all civilians humanely.
 Do not steal. Respect private property and possessions.
 Do your best to prevent violations of the law of war.
 Report all violations of the law of war to your superiors.

BEGINNING OF CAPTIVITY
3-50. Military commanders have an affirmative duty to take the measures within their ability and appropriate
to the circumstances, to protect POWs captured by their unit until they are properly transferred to higher or
other competent authority. Commanders may not execute POWs to preserve their unit or to facilitate their
unit’s movement.

Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions
8-15. To reflect the particular seriousness of some violations, the Geneva Conventions characterize certain
breaches as “grave.” These include willful killing of protected persons; engaging in torture or inhuman
treatment, such as biological experiments; willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health;

Superior Orders
8-75. The fact that a person acted pursuant to orders of his or her Government or of a superior does not
relieve that person from responsibility under international law, provided it was possible in fact for that person
to make a moral choice (see DOD Law of War Manual, 18.22.4). Under the RCM and MMC, it is a defense
to any offense that the accused was acting pursuant to orders unless the accused knew the orders to be
unlawful or a person of ordinary sense and understanding would have known the orders to be unlawful (RCM
916(d); MMC pt. II, Rule 916(d)). An order requiring the performance of a military duty or act may be
inferred to be lawful, and it is disobeyed at the peril of the subordinate. This inference does not apply to a
patently illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime (for example, an order directing the
murder of a civilian, a noncombatant, or a combatant who is hors de combat, or the abuse or torture of a
prisoner) (see, for example, MCM pt. IV, para. 14c(2)(a)(i)). The fact that an offense was committed pursuant
to superior orders may also be considered as mitigation to reduce the level of punishment (see, for example,
United States v. Sawada, V U.N. Law Reports 7-8, 13-22; ICTY art. 7(4)).

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