So why does a Red Cross nurse have a military rank?

Transcript

1. 2 of the 4 people killed in this helicopter crash were Red Cross medics.
2. Italy's defence ministry calls all 4 military personnel.
3. The Italian Army Chinook crashed near Brčko, in Bosnia, on Thursday, 29 October.
4. It was flying for the European Union's peacekeeping force,
5. during what the force calls routine training.
6. 15 people were on board.
7. 4 were killed, and 11 were injured.
8. The cause is under investigation.
9. 3 of the people on board were a Red Cross medical evacuation team:
10. a nurse, a first responder and a doctor.
11. The nurse and the first responder were killed.
12. The doctor survived.
13. All 3 held military ranks: a lieutenant, a sergeant and a lieutenant colonel.
14. So why does a Red Cross nurse have a military rank?
15. Because Italy's Red Cross has its own military corps.
16. Its members are volunteers, held in reserve.
17. The corps says about 17,000 people are on its lists.
18. It describes itself as an auxiliary of the armed forces, which can call its members up.
19. And a law Italy passed in March says that,
20. once called up, they answer to military discipline and military criminal law.
21. In Bosnia,
22. one of the Red Cross's 2 teams supports the force's helicopters with medical evacuation.
23. But isn't the Red Cross meant to be neutral?
24. Its principles say it may not take sides in hostilities.
25. They also say each national Red Cross supports its government's humanitarian work,
26. but must stay free to follow those principles.
27. The first Red Cross committees were set up in 1863,
28. to help armies care for their wounded.
29. In a war between states, the first Geneva Convention still covers that work.
30. The government has to authorise it.
31. The staff are then protected like army medics,
32. as long as they are subject to military law.
33. And they stay civilians.
34. The International Committee of the Red Cross says
35. that condition can sit uneasily with a Red Cross's independence.
36. Italy's Red Cross has kept its military corps.
37. 2 of its volunteers were on board as its medics.