text: Chapter 4
  PRACTICAL GUIDANCE ON BASIC RULES
  4-3. All Soldiers and Marines must adhere to the following LOAC rules relating to the wounded, sick, and
  dead, and enemy military medical and religious personnel, facilities, units, transports, and equipment:
  * Do not knowingly attack, fire upon, or unnecessarily interfere with: (i) the wounded and sick; or
  (ii)enemy military medical or religious personnel, facilities, units, transports, and equipment.
  * Do not steal.
  * Do not disrespect the dead.
  * Collect and care for the wounded and sick, whether friend or foe.
  4-4. Soldiers and Marines who are members of the medical service should understand their special duties
  and noncombatant status under the law of war. They must, for example:
  * Provide medical care to the wounded or sick, whether friend or foe.
  * Refrain from engaging in acts harmful to the enemy.
  * Continue to care for other members of the U.S. armed forces, if captured by the enemy (see
  Chapter 3 for discussion of retained personnel).
  4-5. Commanders must lead their units’ implementation of LOAC obligations related to the wounded, sick
  and dead. If warranted by their assigned duties and operational context, they should:
  * Determine practical steps after combat to search for, collect, and protect the wounded, sick, and
  dead, such as negotiating local truces to collect them.
  * Follow accountability procedures for enemy wounded, sick and dead, such as recording
  identifying information and safekeeping of property.
  * Ensure medical units are not misused to commit acts harmful to the enemy, such as stationing
  combat forces in a hospital.
  * Arrange for humanitarian organizations or other civilian volunteers to help collect and care for the
  wounded and sick.
  * Ensure the appropriate display of the Red Cross.
  CLASSES OF PERSONS PROTECTED BY THE GWS AND GWS SEA
  4-6. The GWS and GWS Sea protect those persons listed in Article 13 of the GWS and the GWS Sea
  (including members of the armed forces of a party to a conflict and persons authorized to accompany the
  armed forces) who are wounded, sick, or shipwrecked—that is, those who are incapacitated by wounds,
  sickness, or shipwreck such that they are no longer capable of fighting, provided they abstain from any hostile
  act and do not attempt to escape (see paragraph 2-105 regarding wounded and sick as hors de combat). The
  GWS also applies to the wounded and sick who are POWs (see paragraphs 4-11 through 4-16). The GWS
  and GWS Sea also protect military chaplains exclusively engaged in religious ministration and military
  medical personnel exclusively engaged in the provision of medical care or the administration of medical units
  and establishments (GWS art. 24; GWS Sea art. 37). Wounded and sick civilians benefit from provisions of
  the GC pertaining to the treatment and protection of the wounded and sick (GC art. 16).
  DURATION OF APPLICATION OF THE GWS
  4-7. The GWS applies to persons protected by the GWS who have fallen into the hands of the enemy until
  their final repatriation (GWS, art. 5). The GSW Sea does not specify when it ceases to apply, but only states
  that GWS Sea only applies “to forces on board ship.” (GWS Sea art. 4). Once persons who are covered by
  its provisions reach land, the GWS, or possibly, the GPW or GC will be applicable to them.
  SPECIAL AGREEMENTS
  4-8. The GWS and GWS Sea provide for special agreements to be negotiated between the parties for
  protection of the wounded and sick (see GWS arts. 6 and 15; GWS Sea arts. 6 and 18). Special agreements
  may not adversely affect the situation of the wounded and sick or military medical personnel or chaplains,
  nor can such agreements restrict the rights GWS and GWS Sea confer on them (GWS, art. 6; GWS Sea, art.
  6). Wounded and sick and military medical personnel and chaplains will enjoy the benefits of any special