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From: jrrt@mtuxo.UUCP (r.mitchell)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Re: Napoleonic battle ethics; or, `When to Fink on an Errant Boss...'
Message-ID: <1422@mtuxo.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Mar-86 09:00:54 EST
Article-I.D.: mtuxo.1422
Posted: Tue Mar 18 09:00:54 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 30-Mar-86 04:55:35 EST
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	Everybody that goes through military basic training is taught that
	if you are given an order by a superior that you think is illegal
	or otherwise "questionable",  you OBEY the order and
	complain later. 
Bull.  As a Navy officer (currently in the Reserves) who is involved
in some areas of recruit training, I know you are wrong.  Basic Training
includes lectures on the Code of Conduct, with some emphasis placed
on obeying "the lawful orders of the officers placed over {the
sailor}."  Included in that lecture is a discussion of what
"lawful" means, and examples are given of unlawful orders that do
not have to be obeyed, regardless of who issued them.  Also,
the lecture includes training on how to respond to the unlawful
order, both at the time and when one wishes to complain to the
order-giver's superior.

Also, for the record, midshipmen get hours of leadership training
that includes all the above stuff, so it's not just the enlisted
personnel who are the focus of "the moral buck stops with the
individual."

Rob Mitchell
{allegra,ihnp4}!mtuxo!jrrt