President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military.
A tiny sliver of hope.
I know the sorts of oaths I had to take when I was in the military. I didn't really enjoy my time there and I still took them seriously.
Those folks at the Pentagon, I would hope, are the sort that take them very seriously. And it is your duty to refuse unlawful orders.
If there's enough "good ones" left, we might see some resistance coming from that area.
Edit: Hey folks I know plenty of people have an axe to grind with the US military. And you are welcome to post your axe in reply to my comment. But I'm not really interested in carrying water for every wrongful or unpopular thing that the US military has ever done. I got out for (many) reasons. So please don't expect a reply!
I have a different hope, that Trump will ruin their actual offensive capacity and save the world from the Pentagon. The US can not be trusted with its own military.
I can't wait until his son's begin an arms manufacturing company and get hundreds of billions in defense contracts and then entire companies of troops get owned in war when their guns spontaneously explode in their face and the tanks rounds detonates prior to firing. Capitalist efficiency!
I don't fail to appreciate your viewpoint, but while such a military exists, I'd like stopping 21st century Hitler before he can get started to be a service they provide.
21st century hitler? Who are we talking about, bush? Biden? Netenyahu?
The military is already struggling to recruit and moves like this will only delegitimize our military even more. I'm sure they'll always be able to find goons to wield guns, but it will cease to be a respectable career path for all but the most right-wing citizenry.
It's not all bad.
Oh, so the US military should intervene in the Palestinian genocide on the side of Palestine, right? And then pay reparations to Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and all the other places the US has slaughtered in the past 20 years alone.
Is this the same US military that killed a million Iraqis or are you thinking of some alternate different US military
You see killing americans is icky until they are “the enemy” and I dont think the military is dedicated to internal struggles since no one is a real threat to power.
I wouldn't hold out too much hope. They're also preparing to purge the military leadership:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-generals/
I've been out a long time and was of low rank in any case. However, I'm skeptical that safeguards don't exist that will make that less effective than it sounds.
For one thing, the duty to disobey unlawful orders goes all the way to the lowest E1. (And when I was in, having grounds to refuse such an order and be justifiably defiant felt like Dobby hoping for Malfoy to give him clothes - it was unlikely, but I was always ready to go, and I don't think I was alone there.)
But I am doubtful that Trump can successfully reach a point where all or even enough of the top brass are willing to drink his flavor aid to not have to worry about them.
How often does this happen?
Dunno, but an awful lot has been written about it. We don't elect dictators very often, so I'd say we're in uncharted waters here.
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=soliders+who+have+disobeyed+unlawful+orders&ia=web
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