Patrick O'Brian Discussion Forum

A soldier, sailor, airman or marine is not

On Sun Nov 1, The Last of the True French Short Bastards wrote
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>>A soldier is required to obey orders, even at the cost of self-preservation. Those who disobey orders in order to save their lives are called "cowards" and are shot at dawn. The legal principle is very clear.

...obliged to follow an unlawful order, that he knows to be an unlawful order. An example of an unlawful order might be as follows:

One of the old interview test questions for a special operations candidate was:

"You've gone through all your training successfully and an officer in your chain of command gives you a photo of a knockout blode tells you to go to a certain street corner off-post or base stateside and assassinate her."

I received my ski training from a Special Forces knucklehead who said, "yup, yup, yup, yessir, three bags full." He was of course immediately rejected for Delta. Typical Beau Geste blindly following of orders.

The "knockout blonde" part is a red herring. Things like "stateside," "assassination," and "without background explanation" should have raised numerous red flags. He should have said and "who else can verify the authenticity of this mission?" "Who will be working me on this?" Questions, questions, always ask lots of questions. Can I be being used to achieve that officer's personal objective rather than something related to national security. You must obey orders and Frenchie is right, an order to ride into the valley of death cannot be disobey at peril. Issuing an order to issue an order to ride into the valley of death also holds its perils.

I've seen borderline mutinous behavior and negotiations, but such things are easier for the elite to pull off than the rank and file. All senior NCO's and officers tend to be one part lawyer. Junior enlisted and junior officers are dangerous.

r,

Caltrop

[ This message was edited on Sun Nov 1 by the author ]

Sun Nov 1

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