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to fight. 274 If possible, those seeking protection as wounded, sick, or shipwrecked, should maketheir condition clear. 2755.10.5 Persons Parachuting From an Aircraft in Distress. In general, persons, such asaircrew or embarked passengers, parachuting from an aircraft in distress are treated as thoughthey are hors de combat, i.e., they must not be made the object of attack. 276This protection is provided because a person descending by parachute is temporarily horsde combat just like someone who is shipwrecked 277 or unconscious. 2785.10.5.1 No Hostile Acts or Attempts to Evade Capture. As with other categoriesof persons hors de combat, the protection from being made the object of attack is forfeited if thepersons engage in hostile acts or attempt to evade capture.Routine “slipping” to steer a parachute or similar actions to facilitate a safe parachutelanding do not constitute acts of evasion.5.10.5.2 Persons Deploying Into Combat by Parachute. Persons deploying intocombat by parachute may be attacked throughout their descent, and upon landing.Persons deploying into combat by parachute may include special operations orreconnaissance personnel, combat control teams, or airborne forces (i.e., specialized combatforces trained to arrive at military objectives by parachute drops).274 GWS-SEA COMMENTARY 90 (“[D]uring a landing by armed forces it will not always be possible while the attackis in progress to distinguish between an attacker trying to reach land and a soldier in danger of drowning. Similarly,in the case of persons specialized in under-water attacks, it may not always be evident when they are in peril andneed assistance as shipwrecked. In such instances, persons in distress who renounce active combat can only expectthe adversary to respect and rescue them if they make their situation clear, and of course provided the adversary seestheir signals.”).275 Compare § 5.10.3.2 (Clear and Unconditional).276 1956 FM 27-10 (Change No. 1 1976) 30 (“The law of war does not prohibit firing upon paratroops or otherpersons who are or appear to be bound upon hostile missions while such persons are descending by parachute.Persons other than those mentioned in the preceding sentence who are descending by parachute from disabledaircraft may not be fired upon.”); APPENDIX TO 1985 CJCS MEMO ON AP I 31 (“Article 42 of the Protocol prohibitsattacks on aircrew members descending by parachute from disabled aircraft. The United States regards such attacksas prohibited under customary international law, and the US delegation argued for explicit recognition of such a ruleat the diplomatic conference which negotiated the Protocol.”). Consider AP I art. 42 (“1. No person parachutingfrom an aircraft in distress shall be made the object of attack during his descent. … 3. Airborne troops are notprotected by this Article.”); Commission of Jurists to Consider and Report Upon the Revision of the Rules ofWarfare, General Report, Part II: Rules of Aërial Warfare, art. 20, Feb. 19, 1923, reprinted in 32 AJILSUPPLEMENT: OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS 12, 21 (1938) (“When an aircraft has been disabled, the occupants, whenendeavoring to escape by means of a parachute, must not be attacked in the course of their descent.”).277 ICRC AP COMMENTARY 495 (1637) (“There is absolutely no doubt that the majority [of States at the diplomaticconference] considered that airmen in distress are comparable to the shipwrecked persons protected by the SecondConvention.”).278 ICRC AP COMMENTARY 497 (1644) (“The airman who parachutes from an aircraft in distress is thereforetemporarily hors de combat, just as if he had lost consciousness, until the moment that he lands on the ground, andas long as he is incapacitated.”).236