Sound Off!

Do military members have the right to disobey orders because they feel the mission is too hazardous?

The reservists in Iraq broke their oath:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

quote:

---

Originally posted by TOW Gunner:
Sound Off!

Do military members have the right to disobey orders because they feel the mission is too hazardous?

---

No.

Military members do not have that right according to the constitution. In order to have the ability to say no to an order, than they should be familiar with UCMJ. If you disagree with the order there are ways to go about it; like talking to your commander in private, but disobeying an order because you don't like it destroys the integrity of the service.

I agree with you Joe, 100%. My opinion doesn't mean too much as I'm not in the military, only a hopeful, but I agree with you all the way.

We all know that when we join, the contract we sign could also result in our deaths...

U
Signed the
Mother-f**king
Contract

We know the risks, we signed on the line... We have earned our freedoms, unlike many others...

I once heard of a unit in Vietnam disobey their orders to go in to a certain place, they held a sit down strike,The result was the entire chain of command was relieved and the unit was moved back to the firebase. The name of the unit has slipped my mind due to the 30+ years but I will try to find out which unit it was.

The UCMJ tells us we have the right to disobey an unlawful order, but disobeying an order because it places your life in danger does not fit that discription. They disobeyed a lawful order and should therefore be punished for it. Their refusal to do their job created a situation where others had to do the job in their stead. Their actions were borderline on desertion, and punishable by death during war time.

quote:

---

Originally posted by TOW Gunner:
Sound Off!

Do military members have the right to disobey orders because they feel the mission is too hazardous?

---

NO!!! The only orders a military member is allowed to disobey are illegal ones. If they don't want to do something because they think it is dangerous then they should have never raised their hands.

so they don't want to obey and order because it might be dangerous??
well, in the military, you do anything where a weapon might be less than ten feet from ..there's a fair chance it's gonna be dangerous..
even as a medic .. i had "dangerous duty" .. like being alone with a agitated and violent patient that outweighed me by 100 pounds and used me as a ping-pong ball off the walls ... but I never refused the order to go back in that room ..
"dangerous" duty comes with the job description ..if not the oath ..

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Holton F. Brown,

quote:

---

Originally posted by GraeWolphe:
The UCMJ tells us we have the right to disobey an unlawful order, but disobeying an order because it places your life in danger does not fit that discription. They disobeyed a lawful order and should therefore be punished for it. Their refusal to do _their_ job created a situation where others had to do the job in their stead. Their actions were borderline on desertion, and punishable by death during war time.

---

I AGREE THAT WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DISOBEY AN UNLAWFUL ORDER, BUT NOT NECESSARILY A DANGEROUS ONE.

No they as same as put the rest of the Command in danger they in-truth refused to suport the Command and their action.

You have a DUTY to disobey unlawful orders but sufficient care must be taken or your azz could end up in the wringer.

Dangerous orders are part of the game last time I looked.

Stupid orders are another category entirely. These are the most dangerous of all.

If I was ordered to run through a minefield, I'd refuse.
That is because there is a difference between dangerous and stupid.
What those men were ordered to do was dangerous. Dangerous is the business people who volunteer for the military sign up for.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by USMC 7051 8083:
If I was ordered to run through a minefield, I'd refuse.
That is because there is a difference between dangerous and stupid.


RE: You realize that you could go to jail for that, even though you probably would not. War is full of stupid orders and men die because of them.

War is also full of danger and that alone is no justification for refusing. If it's dangerous AND illegal? Well, that's another issue.

The bottom line is that if you're going to refuse an order, for any reason, you'd better be damned sure you're right and be willing to take the consequences if you're wrong.

quote:

---

Originally posted by coachman:
I once heard of a unit in Vietnam disobey their orders to go in to a certain place, they held a sit down strike,The result was the entire chain of command was relieved and the unit was moved back to the firebase. The name of the unit has slipped my mind due to the 30+ years but I will try to find out which unit it was.

---

RE: That happened several times, once in my unit, C 2/1 196th, in 1971. I wasn't there that day so can't really say what all happened, but I know the company commander was relieved because of it and no action was taken against anyone else.

No, no right to disobey a dangerous order. As was stated earlier, an illegal order is a different story. The oath is very clear on this.

Of course you don't have the right to disobey a lawful order, dangerous or otherwise.

If your equipment is in poor shape or your soldiers are untrained then it is the responsibility of the leadership to recognize these problems and fix them before the dangerous order comes down, but poor leadership is certainly not an excuse to disobey a lawful order. Not without paying the price anyhow.

Where I came from, one of the ways of dealing with a dangerous and ill-advised order was fragging, but then you have to be careful about that as well.

Only civilians wouldn't know the answer to this, hehe

Nope! You have to obey ALL LAWFUL orders, period!