text: Chapter 4
  The Wounded and Sick
  This chapter addresses the protection of the wounded and sick, medical units, facilities,
  and transports. The 1864 Geneva Convention was one of the international community’s
  earliest attempts to codify protections for the wounded and sick on the battlefield and
  provide for the use of the Red Cross as a distinctive emblem. The later versions of the
  Geneva Conventions relative to wounded and sick of the armed forces on land in 1906
  and 1929, and the 1907 Hague Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of
  the Principles of the Geneva Convention expanded the standards for the protection of
  military personnel who are hors de combat, due to illness or wounds on the battlefield
  or at sea. This standard of treatment was further refined in the GWS, and the GWS Sea,
  both of August 12, 1949. Since the United States is a party to the two 1949 Geneva
  Conventions, their provisions are binding on the United States and form the basis for
  this chapter. Additional Protocol I of 1977 (AP I), though not binding on the United
  States, also contains provisions for the care of wounded and sick that in certain cases
  its provisions may reflect customary international law and be consistent with U.S.
  practice. This chapter also addresses the principles related to the protection of medical
  care provided by impartial humanitarian organizations during armed conflict.
  BASIC PRINCIPLES
  4-1. LOAC imposes certain obligations on parties to an international armed conflict regarding the wounded,
  sick, and shipwrecked, some of which are summarized below. Also, United States Army and Marine Corps’
  practice is to respect and protect military and civilian sick, wounded, and shipwrecked, as well as those
  identified as exclusively engaged in collecting, caring for, or transporting them. Soldiers and Marines must:
  * Respect and protect wounded, sick, and shipwrecked military and other personnel to whom the
  Geneva Conventions apply during an armed conflict (GWS art. 12, 15; GWS Sea art. 12, 18;
  consider AP I art. 10(1)).
  * “Respect and protect” means that these persons generally may not be knowingly attacked, fired
  upon, or unnecessarily interfered with (see DOD Law of War Manual, 7.3.3). Soldiers and Marines
  have a positive duty to collect and care for the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked, even if they are
  enemy personnel.
  * Provide for the respectful recovery, accounting for, and disposal of enemy dead in a manner that
  facilitates the identification and proper disposition of remains (GWS art. 16-18; GWS Sea art. 19,
  20; consider AP I art. 32-34).
  * Respect and protect enemy military medical personnel, facilities, units, and ground transports in
  the performance of their duties. It is prohibited to make them the object of an attack or unduly
  interfere with their medical function, provided that those persons do not engage in, and those
  objects are not used to engage in, acts outside their humanitarian duties that are harmful to the
  enemy (GWS art. 19-21, 24-27, 35; GWS Sea art. 22-27; consider AP I art. 10, 12, 21).
  4-2. The fact that an enemy force has violated its obligations by firing upon U.S. medical personnel
  endeavoring to care for wounded U.S. military personnel does not provide a basis for U.S. military personnel
  to respond by violating U.S. obligations by, for example, intentionally firing at enemy medical personnel, or
  denying medical care to captured enemy military personnel. [For a discussion of reprisals, see para. 4-10 and
  DOD Law of War Manual, 18.18.3.2.]