so, I have been curious for awhile (ever since a bad round of an online game I was playing), whats Military protocol for when you are pinned down and you exhaust your ammunition?

just curious..

call in air support.

Find somebody with ammo, or just stay under cover to avoid getting killed. Really, when it comes to situations like that in the battlefield commanders and protocol may as well not exist. It's just about survival then. Unless, I misunderstood you.

They should do that before running out of ammo just to reduce possible casualties.

That's assuming there's a target for you to call in before running out of ammo.. otherwise it's protocol to call in close air support as you're being over run, aka calling in a broken arrow.

In '01 at Mazar-i-Sharif we called it in when dushmen came within twenty meters of our positions -and we were low on everything but fibre.. Fast movers responded with warthogs on station who strafed the roadside right in front of us with their gau's before dropping a full load of mk 82s so close it was raining dirt for five minutes.

sometimes things get sketchy real fast in a warzone, and it isn't until all's done and you're back behind the wire that you realize how close you came to having your ass handed to you.

pray to whatever god you think cares about you the most and pull out your machete?