Arrest an American soldier without the U.S. government being involved and see what happens. I would say what you are talking about isn't normal at all.
As far as journalists, the President has authority to kill them, matter of fact, U.S. DOJ under Obama said he could kill Americans without judicial review even and DID KILL AT LEAST ONE.... let alone foreign journalists. The most famous attempt that we know about is Julian Assange whom Hillary was trying to kill for years, although not successful.
To Silence Wikileaks, Hillary Clinton Proposed Drone Strike on Julian Assange?
The issue is selective prosecution and really rules/laws that don't make sense in context necessarily. I would say its very abnormal for people to be prosecuted for crimes during war and its usually selective prosecution.