Getting an order proven unlawful in court martial is next to impossible. It’s not like the movies. The order would have to be a long the lines of “shoot those pregnant women knitting socks for legless orphans”-level of evil in order to win the case.
It’ll be years of court while serving your sentence, a guaranteed separation, and questionable as to whether you’d even retain your benefits like healthcare or GI bill.
You’re probably better off pleading insanity than trying to argue an order was unlawful. It sucks but that’s the way it is. The military is a machine made up of 100% expendable resources at this point.
While I agree some cases may be like that, Law of War isn’t very complex stuff and it is typically pretty easy to know whether an order is lawful or not (i.e., is a person or thing a lawful target or is it civillian in nature, etc.) The scenario outlined in the comment below about refusing Trumps orders wouldn’t be interpreted by a low ranking grunt, but between much higher eschelons who will have access to an entire team of lawyers to determine legality.
That’s the opposite of the truth, if the orders are unlawful.
Getting an order proven unlawful in court martial is next to impossible. It’s not like the movies. The order would have to be a long the lines of “shoot those pregnant women knitting socks for legless orphans”-level of evil in order to win the case.
It’ll be years of court while serving your sentence, a guaranteed separation, and questionable as to whether you’d even retain your benefits like healthcare or GI bill.
You’re probably better off pleading insanity than trying to argue an order was unlawful. It sucks but that’s the way it is. The military is a machine made up of 100% expendable resources at this point.
While I agree some cases may be like that, Law of War isn’t very complex stuff and it is typically pretty easy to know whether an order is lawful or not (i.e., is a person or thing a lawful target or is it civillian in nature, etc.) The scenario outlined in the comment below about refusing Trumps orders wouldn’t be interpreted by a low ranking grunt, but between much higher eschelons who will have access to an entire team of lawyers to determine legality.
Yeah that was my understanding as well. Mostly based on this video. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TwPLqGkYnBA