Military regulations vs. mission success - Where to draw the line?

From experience the ability to do this depends on the command climate far up the chain. If your Sr Combatant Commanders are going to stand up for whatever you do it will be reflected in your ROE and those decisions can be made freely. Otherwise do so at your own risk, disobeying regulations and lawful orders does not have a grey area, do so and take the punishment.

the line is drawn, crossing it is always an option. i personally say do whats right and let God decide your fate. i have seen people slammed (field grade Article 15) for saving a life by disobeying an order, but he went to bed at night knowing his fellow soldier was alive.

ROE is supposed to be permissive in nature than a hindrance. This is supposed to give commanders the authority to defend their unit. There may be times where you are in imminent danger and have to act. Hopefully you would be relay this info and get proper approval. You may not always. My understanding is you should be able to act to defend yourself. However, you better make sure you are absolutely correct and be prepared to be called on it.

Not to get into too much detail due OPSEC reasons but each AOR is different. The best thing you can do is have real good understanding of the ROE and what your options are for self-defense and what circumstances where may act on.

Big picture if you follow the ROE to your best ability you can stay out of trouble. There are a few people in Leavenworth for firing on a group without the right ROE. Best advice is to get the info from your superiors on what authority that you have so there is no question.