Human shield is a military and political term describing the deliberate placement of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets. It may also refer to the use of civilians to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing the civilians to march in front of the soldiers. This is done in the hope that the other party will be reluctant to attack them. Furthermore, if the other party attacks these targets anyway, the resulting civilian casualties have propaganda value.

Using this technique increases the civilian casualty rate and is illegal by any nation that is party to the Fourth Geneva Convention.

During a siege the Mongols would gather a crowd of local residents or soldiers surrendered from previous battles, and would drive them forward in sieges and battles. These "alive boards" or "human shields" would often take the brunt of enemy arrows and crossbow bolts, thus leaving the Mongol warriors safer.^{[citation needed]}

After World War II it was claimed by German SS general Gottlob Berger that there was a plan, proposed by the Luftwaffe and approved by Adolf Hitler, to set up special POW camps for captured airmen of the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force in large German cities, to act as human shields against their bombing raids. Berger realised that this would contravene the Geneva Convention and argued that there was not enough barbed wire - as a result this plan was not implemented.

Michael Joseph Dudikoff II (born October 8, 1954) is an American actor who has been in numerous films, including the American Ninja series (1985–1990), Tron (1982), Bachelor Party (1984), Platoon Leader (1988), River of Death (1989), Soldier Boyz (1996), Ringmaster (1998), and The Silencer (1999), to name a few. He is in pre-production for Havana Heat, an action thriller.

Michael Joseph Dudikoff comes from a large family. His father was a Christian Orthodox from Russia, and served in the Army before marrying Dudikoff’s mother, a French-Canadian native from Quebec who was extremely talented on the piano. The couple moved to California in the mid-1970s and had five children. Dudikoff is the fourth of the group.

Dudikoff graduated from West Torrance High School and was studying child psychology at Harbor College, when he was discovered as a model. During this time, he also worked at a rehabilitation center for abused youth called Cedar House. He waited tables at Beachbum Burt’s in Redondo Beach, California to pay for his education.