Okay, did people not see the link to the news article jr2 posted a few pages ago, where it's pretty clear that the a$#*|3 in question wasn't particularly roughed up, they basically just knocked him down and sat on him 'till the fuzz showed up?
We saw it, we're just more interested in the fictional version where the robber was brutalized a bit.
So the question is,
how did the Marines attempt to apprehend the guy? Did they stand in his way and say "stop" or did they try to
physically detain him?
If the former, and the bad guy tried to stab them to remove the obstacle, then they would be justified - with their Marine training - in disabling him, brutally. If the latter, then the Marines could be viewed as the aggressors, even when one was stabbed, and there are plenty of lawyers who would take up the case on behalf of the robber.
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And on the question of the pirates attacking the frigate, I've been thinking about it some. The attack happened at midnight, so it was dark and they probably didn't know exactly what it was at first
(link).
The pirates were planning on hitting a freighter, so what kind of weapons would they bring for that? Probably not the prohibitively expensive HEAT rounds (unless they were trying to sink it, which would be the opposite of what they wanted), likely just frag RPGs, for the purpose of intimidating freighter crew and blowing up any who resisted.
That would also explain why they fired 4 rockets from far enough away to be engaged successfully by the CIWS. And if the pirates began to flee after the first RPG was shot down, that could explain the other 3 being fired in an attempt to discourage pursuit.
So in my opinion, that is logically why the RPG only "dented" the ship.
EDIT: Sorry, that looked shorter in my head