The answer to that is, unquestionably, yes. You probably shouldn’t delude yourself on that score. Back in March, Commander Salamander noted this exchange between Brett Baier and Presidential candidate Donald Trump (exchange edited for brevity):
BAIER: [W]hat would you do, as commander-in-chief, if the U.S. military refused to carry out those orders?
TRUMP: They won’t refuse. They’re not going to refuse me. Believe me.
BAIER: But they’re illegal.
TRUMP: …They then came to me, what do you think of waterboarding? I said it’s fine. And if we want to go stronger, I’d go stronger, too, because, frankly…
(APPLAUSE)
… that’s the way I feel. ….We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding. That’s my opinion.
BAIER: But targeting terrorists’ families?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: If I say do it, they’re going to do it. That’s what leadership is all about.
h/t Concerned American
CURRENTLY WE HAVE A COMMANDER IN CHIEF THAT HAS NO RESERVATIONS ABOUT LIMITING AND RESTRICTING OUR ABILITY TO ENGAGE THE ENEMY. SO-CALLED RULES OF ENGAGEMENT GET AMERICANS KILLED. WAR IS ABOUT BREAKING THINGS, EVERYTHING , IN EXPONENTIALLY DRAMATIC FASHION. AND KILLING PEOPLE THE SAME WAY. THERE IS ONLY ONE RULES. WE WIN THEY LOSE. I TRUST DONALD TRUMP TO PROTECT AND DEFEND AMERICA IN THAT SAME TONE AND MIND-SET. COVERT AND STEALTH ARE WORDS THAT WILL COME TO MIND WHEN SOMEBODY IS TASKED WITH KEEPING SCORE
Its a long sad, pathetic story and I won’t go into all the details, but I was in a squad of Marines in a five hut remote village in Indian country in Nam that was given an unlawful order over the radio (the wording would never get the giver court marshaled -- but we knew what he meant and wanted) over a NVA soldier we surprised and who then tried to pose as a villager…then we found a well hidden bunker with grenades stashed in it (we got a mamasan and babysan he said was his family immediately separated and trapped him in his lie). We were hitting grenade bobby traps in the area.
Two of the squad walked him out…one right after the other…and both came back with him (his hands tied behind his back -- a sandbag over his head -- him sobbing both times) with my .45 (I was the M-60 gunner and had the only pistol) to blow his brains out…they both had struck him in anger over wounded and killed buddies…and both couldn’t do it…coming back with him alive…their heads bowed in shame.
We had an intense squad discussion -- 7 teenage Marines and one who was 20. Pressed for time we released him and I’ll never forget as he was running through the elephant grass how a few of us, including me…started to lift our weapons to cut him down…but didn’t.
I hope to God he didn’t kill a Marine after that -- some of the 8 of us were killers…that fact had been well established…but thank God none of us (yet) was a murderer. Even with a carefully worded illegal order urging us on.
Will the Military Obey Unlawful Orders? Some most certainly will….and I believe many won’t.
OATH KEEPERS at the very least has raised tremendous awareness on this issue.
We called our illegal order in as if it had being done…and not one of us ever spoke of the incident again. The two Marines who walked away with him with the .45 were never the same. Their failed attempt at murder left them both demoralized.
I have some regrets -- and a lot of heavy baggage from my time in the arena…but thank God following an illegal order and committing that murder isn’t one of them.
While I have my disagreements with and reservations about Mr. Trump, at least he is plainly stating his positions.
Mark…all I can do is offer my humble thanks for your service and a prayer…
May The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”
Thank you Joe…He has!
Targeting terrorists families is illegal, but where does this crowd stand on Allied bombing of German and Japanese civilians who were, of course, the families of soldiers. Were those orders illegal? If not, then where is the line?
lets hope and pray they dont just follow orders because TED just suspended his campaign and we will either have trump or hillderbeast . neither of which is a choice .we knew there wasnt a political solution now we will have to fight to take back what used to be ours
agreed the only difference is between their legs
I have not been in service for a long time and then it was post-Vietnam. But I have routine contact with those that are in service and those recently departed service. The consensus I hear is that
1. Certain levels of command have been compromised by bringing in soft, soft officers
2. There is a core of patriots that will sustain the republic, and no one speaks of it
3. The soft layer will likely grow if we keep hiring anti-warriors for government
4. American fighting men and women generally do the right thing on the battlefield
I know war is a terrible thing, but to think it will be eradicated by not participating is misguided if not intentionally disruptive to world stability. I watched PBS Frontline tonight and there were two interesting stories. One showed that there are a good number of Muslims that much prefer a peaceful life (in this case in Yemen) and they are fighting terrorists everyday almost unsupported from the outside (knowing that if they can kill the real bad guys across the line, they may then have to fight the pretty bad guys in the trench next to them). So unlike the apparently weak effort by civilians in Iraq to rise up and defend themselves against IS, there are free people that are willing to fight as we have to protect freedom.
It is a little encouraging that we don’t have to kill all the Muslims, just the ones that are waging war on peaceful Muslims worldwide. It is a very complicated situation made worse by America not standing strong. Next week Frontline explores how America’s lack of engagement left a vacuum for IS to fill -- creating IS. Now they may try to blame it on Bush as the nuts at NPR are prone to do, but its pretty darn obvious Bush did a lot of stuff, but creating a vacuum in the Middle East wasn’t one of ’em. It sounded in the teaser that they are pointing the finger at the “O”
I praise God that men and women of courage and faith put their lives on the line to do the right thing in the worst possible circumstances and I keep me own weapons clean in case the red coats return.