A few in military refuse to fight 'wrong war'

by Trauma_Hound 128 Replies latest members politics

• 

  Xander

  You're both missing the point.

  There are obviously sitations in which you WANT military officers to disobey orders - to not fight when they are told to.

  Sort of like the joke:

  Guy (to girl): "Would you have sex with me and my buddy for a million dollars?"

  Girl: "Million? Hmmm....well, sure"

  Guy: "Would you have sex with me and my buddy for $20?"

  Girl: "NO! What kind of person do you think I am?!?!"

  Guy: "Well, we've already established that, we're just haggling over the price!"

  The point being, you agree that in some, extreme cases, it's okay to disobey orders. The question is only how extreme that situation has to be.

  Would you want US soldiers running gas chambers?

  No, you'd expect the US soldiers in question to consider those orders morally wrong, and disobey them.

  If this US soldier things invading Iraq is just as morally wrong, what would you rather have? Would you rather have soldiers following their moral compass? Or soldiers that obey any order whatsoever given to them?

  There isn't a middle ground! It's one way or the other. Either your encourage them to follow their conscience regarding their orders, and things like Auschwitz don't happen. Or, you encourage them to follow orders regardless.

  Which would you rather have?
• 

  ApagaLaLuz

  Syrian officials said the dead were among 37 passengers on a bus about 100 miles south of the Iraq-Syrian border, which was hit by a U.S. missile Monday. At least 15 passengers were reported injured.

  This from CNN.COM. Yep too bad civilian casualties are just another part war. Oh wait, they weren't American casualties so who cares
• 

  heathen

  IMO -- They have done every thing but mention summer camp . How about this -- The Navy ,it's not just a job it's an adventure. Army -- Be all you can be . Air force -- Aim high , and Marines -- A few good . People need to realize that when they admit themselves into the armed forces that they are being relied upon doing their job with out question. Tho I have heard that you are allowed to question orders if they are in contrast to the military code conduct. They do forget to mention that you will be called on to kill people despite what your personal views are.
• 

  Valis

  Actually during WW2 my grandfather was a conscientious objector cuz he was a JW...he had a new family thought and didn'twant them suffering while he was in jail...he was drafted and became an ambulance driver...and he had to guard prisoners a couple times, carried a side arm and had a rifle in his ambulance but he never shot anyone. Just picked up lots of dead, dying, decapitated, miscellaneous body parts, etc..both allied and axis soldiers.. I remember him so well...on the real cold nights I would sleep in his bed...I would awaken sometimes in the night to hear him crying and what I always thought dreaming about the war by some of the things he would say...war sucks all around...hopefully it will end soon and the children of soldiers won't have quite so many stories like this down the road..

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  LB

  Would you want US soldiers running gas chambers?

  No one asked the coward to do this. They asked him and expected him to do what 300,000 Americans and 40,000 British are doing. But until he was asked to face the elephant he had no problems with the military.
• 

  teenyuck

  We wil have to disagree. I see your logic, however, I do not think these situations are similar:

  There isn't a middle ground! It's one way or the other. Either your encourage them to follow their conscience regarding their orders, and things like Auschwitz don't happen. Or, you encourage them to follow orders regardless.

  Bottom line: If you don't want to handle weapons, possibly kill someone etc. DON'T JOIN.
• 

  rem

  If a US President ordered everybody of a certain ethnicity to be rounded up and systematically gassed, that would be okay, because they are 'just following orders'?

  I never said I had a problem with someone refusing to engage in genocide or war crimes. If the US government ever gets to that point, I think haggling over past wages is the least of anyones worries!

  rem
• 

  ApagaLaLuz

  Valis, my dad is a Vietnam Vet. I remember him telling me that he was never in combat, that he supposedly only worked as an electrician. Though he was a paratrooper, he said he never used it during the war. When I was 13, he and I were involved in a car accident where another driver was killed. I held the bloody man as he died untill the ambulance arrived. I was pretty traumatized. I cried and my dad told me that it wasnt a big deal. He told me he's seen people decapitated and his best friend in the Army disemboweled. I went with him to see Forrest Gump in the Theatre. During the loud war scenes my dad had tears run down his face, and he left the theatre for the balance of the movie.

  Not exactly the behavior you'd expect from a Military Electrician. Not only is war traumatizing for the innocent civillians involved, but for the soldiers and their families, when they have to come back and live "normal lives."

  P.S. I never claimed I could spell

  Chevy of the 'all I am saying is give peace a chance' class
• 

  Xander

  They asked him and expected him to do what 300,000 Americans and 40,000 British are doing

  Ahh! I see, so NUMBERS makes it right! Great! So, as long as several thousand soldiers ran, say, the Nazi death camps, then the 'just following orders' response is perfectly valid?

  No one asked the coward to do this.

  No, they asked him to participate in invading another country that had not attacked the US or her allies. To you, that's obviously not on the same level as operating a gas chamber. To him, maybe it is.

  Again, what do you want? Soldiers who think for themselves and make their own judgement calls (whether you agree with them or not), or soldiers who always mindlessly follow orders?
• 

  rem

  Xander,

  The US is not breaking any International laws or committing genocide here. If so, then he has every responsibility to object. As a soldier, however, it's not your job to pick between legal battles.

  rem