Profile was out of formation. He was supposed to be backing up his squad and he was in the back of the herd just looking around. He should have been covering the wounded (or dead) men hit by the mine so they can be pulled to safety of they come under enemy fire, as someone said, mines and other booby traps are often watched by the enemy. Highway didn't tell him to shoot, but he was supposed to be in position to lay down covering fire if necessary and he wasn't.
He said, "where's my covering fire?" Meaning it was expected that Profile be shooting in... some undefined direction.
And Profile was not out of formation, and he most certainly was not at the back. He was on point, as I recall, immediately behind the guys who tripped over the rope. The "herd" were following behind him.
And to address your other point, when under attack, one often fires in a general direction until a target is visible, usually determined by sound, especially in heavy vegetation.
Care to educate me which direction that would be? Nobody was shooting at them, they had no indication of what direction the enemy were - if enemy was present at all. Again, shooting blind will only alert the enemy to your position. You do not open fire unless you have some idea where the enemy is.
Now, there are examples like Rommel in the Ardennes forest, when he knew there were French soldiers waiting for them but they were not seen. Rommel ordered his men to open fire, to lure out French fire. It worked, but here's the thing: The Germans were advancing, and they knew they were visible to the French. Second, they knew roughly where the French positions were.
Exactly how much combat have you seen?
Is that supposed to convince me that you have seen any combat at all?
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