Posted on Jan 17, 2014
Are there any orders you wouldn't follow? What would make you draw the line and say “No I will not obey that order”?
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Reading the story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroo_Onoda) of Hiroo Onoda, an Imperial Japanese Army officer who remained at his jungle post on an island in the Philippines for 30 years, refusing to believe that World War II was over, fighting a guerrilla war & his belief that doing so was “accomplishing my duty.”
Got me wondering: when does following orders become crazy and stupid? What do you all say? Are there any orders you wouldn't follow, what would make you draw the line and say “No I will not obey that order”? Are there any orders you would consider wrong/unconstitutional/unlawful/immoral etc?
Got me wondering: when does following orders become crazy and stupid? What do you all say? Are there any orders you wouldn't follow, what would make you draw the line and say “No I will not obey that order”? Are there any orders you would consider wrong/unconstitutional/unlawful/immoral etc?
Edited >1 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 35
<p>Any order that violates any portion or amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. </p><p><br></p><p>We take an Oath of Enlistment, Oath of Re-Enlistment, or Oath of Office when we enter the Military, re-enlist into the Military, or accept a commission as an Officer. If you take that oath seriously, as it is meant to be, you will not have to wonder if your orders are lawful or not. This of course assumes you have a good understanding of our Constitution (to which you are swearing an oath to support and defend) and our history as a nation.</p><p><br></p><p>If you have not read our Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10) yet, I HIGHLY suggest you do so.</p><p><br></p>
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LTC Michael Brantley
Yeah, too bad that First Admendment thing doesn't apply to those in uniform. I'm now retired so I finally have my rights back!
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SFC (Join to see)
You didn't answer his hypothetical question.
Nothing in the Constitution prescribes that the UCMJ is a higher authority or law.
So... perhaps you can deal with the question he asked with regards to acting on a literal (and perhaps, logically faulty) interpretation of the Constitution?
Nothing in the Constitution prescribes that the UCMJ is a higher authority or law.
So... perhaps you can deal with the question he asked with regards to acting on a literal (and perhaps, logically faulty) interpretation of the Constitution?
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PO3 John Wagner
LTC (Join to see) - No but you can follow your chain of command and question the order.
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SGT (Join to see)
I agree wholeheartedly. I don't mean to be cliche but...."I am an American Soldier, I am a warrior and a member of a team, I SERVE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES and live the army values." That one line means the world to me. I mean I live by the soldiers Creed as much as every other soldier ever, but that line.
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I will not follow any order making me cheer for the Cowboys. Wont do it. Bring on the firing squad.
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SGT (Join to see)
Dude, I feel the same way having a unit in Opelika Alabama, literally partners with Auburn, and having more Alabama fans in my unit, sounding off with Roll Tide. I won't do it. They can't make me.
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Many, many years ago, while both my husband and I were at Cherry Point, there was a C130 that had a certain problem. Now, my husband was a 'winger' who took great pride in the fact that the C130 units had not lost an aircraft to anything but enemy fire since Vietnam, and he loved those aircraft, still does, really, but the point I am making is that one day, he had a problem he simply felt was unsafe on a C130, and he stated this problem, pointing out the hazard to the crew. <div> They, as most air crews do, listened quite attentively and they refused to fly it, until it was repaired. The OIC came at my husband like a ton of bricks, demanding he sign off on the aircraft repair that he hadn't finished without the parts they were waiting on, saying that it would, in his view, manage the refuling mission easily and be back for further repairs.</div><div> Again, my husband refused, and it ended with the officer literaly screaming in his face that he would face a court martial for refusing the command. End result was that the higher ups agreed with my husband, and the officer was sent to Greenland as I recall.</div><div> The point is, I have to believe that, given an order that went against my own beliefs, I would probably ask for clarification of said order, and if I believed that order went against what I felt to be moral or ethical, I'd respectfully refuse to obey, because in the end, I have to look in the mirror a lot more than I have to look at a C.O, now, don't I?</div>
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TSgt Scott Hurley
We had the same problems in the AF concerning parts. But we had a hard time convincing Supervision at times if it was a feasable cann or not. OF course we would loose the battle 90% of the time and then they would have egg on their face when we were proven right.
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