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Now, this may just be a result of me overlooking something obvious in the rulebook but I was under the impression that desperate allies, as they are not considered friendly units in any way can charge a unit and then in subsequent turns you could use your primary detachement to shoot at the actual enemies in the combat, is this true or am I just crazy? If it is this could be an actual reason to take them.

I don't think you can shoot normal weapons into a melee, but don't have the BRB to hand right now.
It would be great if you could tie up a tasty unit with a disposable suicide squad so you bunch up the enemy when they all pile in, then drop pie plates on them next turn. I like your thinking, I'd be interested to know if this is legal too.

Page 112 specifically answers this question.

Ok thank you, I didn't think so but it was worth a try

There's a mention of shooting into combat if you have no units involved, but it's in the context of a three-player game and shooting into a fight between your two opponents (where it would be stupid if you had to hold your fire because you were concerned about shooting the wrong people). However, that doesn't apply to desperate allies (or anything other than that special three-player mission) unless you make a house rule that it does.