I am not a military lawyer but:
The military oath taken at the time of induction reads:
The military oath taken at the time of induction reads:
“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 the regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God”The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) 809[890].ART.90 (20), makes it clear that military personnel need to obey the “lawful command of his superior officer,” 891.ART.91 (2), the “lawful order of a warrant officer”, 892.ART.92 (1) the “lawful general order”, 892.ART.92 (2) “lawful order”. In each case, military personnel have an obligation and a duty to only obey Lawful orders and indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the president that do not comply with the UCMJ. The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ.
Thus I don’t believe anyone is obligated to follow an order they considered to be unlawful.
I don’t believe any one of the heads of the pentagon would follow an order that reckless. Why? Contrary to popular belief, the military is not run by robots. The people who make up the military are generally rational, thinking people. At least twice nuclear war has been averted because those in charge deduced it was probably a false alarm, ignoring protocols which would have launched a retaliation.
They also care about their men and their families and people in America. That is why they do what they do. Doing something that would necessarily put 28.5k Americans in danger in South Korea, or anyone on the mainland is a strong incentive to refuse to carry out what ever hypothetically crazy order one is thinking of.
Furthermore, Trump isn’t crazy either. Like I said, if only a fraction of American solider died, plus all the South Koreans fatalities, plus plunging Asian markets in to chaos, which would fuck up our economy - you’re going to have all but the most stringent kool aid drinkers abandon you.
He has incentive and relative safety dick waving, with out needing to actually go through with it.
I am not saying there is a zero percent chance, but I am not losing any sleep over it and I hope you and everyone else aren’t either.
