[Vision2020] Support for veterans

[Chasuk]

On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 8:16 PM, J Ford <privatejf32 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> We should be supporting them, not putting them down because they chose to serve their country

Dave wasn't putting anyone down.  He was merely observing that the
feeling of guilt generated by following unlawful orders may contribute
to PTSD.  There is nothing accusatory in that observation, nor
especially remarkable.  No psychology degree required.  If you kill
somebody, even lawfully, the feeling of guilt can drive you crazy.
Cops get PTSD all of the time, for lawfully killing people in the line
of duty, even when it saved lives.

"I was just following orders" does not justify committing a crime.
The My Lai Massacre and, earlier, the Nuremberg Trials proved that.
It is embedded in the UCMJ and the Geneva Conventions.  Every soldier,
sailor, airman, or marine has a moral duty to disobey an unlawful
order.  Further, it happens every day.  Sometimes, it takes the form
of desertion.    Sometimes, it involves saying "no" and facing the
consequences.  Sometimes,  it takes the form of fragging.  There were
230 documented cases of fragging during the Vietnam war, and 1,400
others probable, but unproven.

Counterpunch provides an informative overview of the duty to disobey
all unlawful orders question:

http://www.counterpunch.org/mosqueda02272003.html

I spent 10 years in the USAF, and my annual training included this
information.    Would I say "no" to a Commanding Officer?  Of course,
if he had ordered me to commit a heinous crime.  If that "no" required
a more forceful expression, then I would exercise that option, too.
Becoming a fugitive and running for the rest of my life would be
automatic, let's say, if I had been order to execute prisoners.  I
have far more respect for a soldier who obeys the Law of Armed
Conflict (where the distinction between lawful and unlawful orders are
delineated, and which comprised my annual training) then I do for a
soldier who bloodies his hands using the excuse "I was just following
orders."