I found sources stating that the platoon was wearing regulation lights. They had white light in front, red light in the rear, and were marching in three rows (sorry, don't know the correct English military term, Danish is "geled")

When I looked at the photo I discovered that the soldiers were wearing a reflective band around their right boot, as is regulation when moving in traffic in the dark.

So maybe my first point of "stfu it's for your own sake and people got killed making these rules" don't stand, at least not with my example. But then again, it doesn't sound like we're disagreeing on this one.