A Soldier's Duty

lewdandlicentious said:


The camera was in my bergan. Depended what we were doing actually!

that's basically what i meant..not very often we took bergans on patrol, they were usually left at camp unless we were tabbing long distances..
 
lewdandlicentious said:
I know/knew guys who took a camera everywhere.

oh well, times do change, come to think of it..digi cameras weren't around when i was tabbing everywhere..lol we needed a bergan to carry one:D
 
shereads said:
http://world.std.com/home/dacha/WWW/emg/public_html/2003_02_01_blog_archive.html

An excerpt:

The military oath taken at the time of induction reads:

"I,____________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according tothe regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God"

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) 809.ART.90 (20), makes it clear that military personnel need to obey the "lawful command of his superior officer," 891.ART.91 (2), the "lawful order of a warrant officer", 892.ART.92 (1) the "lawful general order", 892.ART.92 (2) "lawful order". In each case, military personnel have an obligation and a duty to only obey Lawful orders and indeed have an obligation to disobey Unlawful orders, including orders by the president that do not comply with the UCMJ. The moral and legal obligation is to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders, especially if those orders are in direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ.

During the Iran-Contra hearings of 1987, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, a decorated World War II veteran and hero, told Lt. Col. Oliver North that North was breaking his oath when he blindly followed the commands of Ronald Reagan. As Inouye stated, "The uniform code makes it abundantly clear that it must be the Lawful orders of a superior officer. In fact it says, 'Members of the military have an obligation to disobey unlawful orders.' This principle was considered so important that we-we, the government of the United States, proposed that it be internationally applied in the Nuremberg trials." (Bill Moyers, The Secret Government, Seven Locks Press; also in the PBS 1987 documentary, The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis)

Senator Inouye was referring to the Nuremberg trials in the post WW II era, when the U.S. tried Nazi war criminals and did not allow them to use the reason or excuse that they were only "following orders" as a defense for their war crimes which resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent men, women, and children. "In 1953, the Department of Defense adopted the principles of the Nuremberg Code as official policy" of the United States. (Hasting Center Report, March-April 1991)

<snip>

The United States Constitution makes treaties that are signed by the government equivalent to the "law of the land" itself, Article VI, para. 2.

Thank you for finding and posting the Oath and the regulations it supports. The defense of our constitution agains all enemies foriegn and Domestic is important. The most important is the following of Legal and Lawfull Orders. (Added after the Nuernberg Trials.) As a soldier it is your duty to wquestion all orders you think to be unlawful. (It is harder to do that to think about though.)
As mentioned in another response yes you do give up many of your rights when you enlist, but you do NOT give up your right to free speach. (Except under certain conditions which are spelled out before an operation.)
Yes it is legal for an officer or a Non Comisioned Officer to shoot you in the field, but only undercertain conditions. (such as your attempting to desert your post during actual combat.)
As far as the Geneva Convention. As far as I know we, (The United States of America,) never did sign it. We did not do so because our U.C.M.J. (Uniform Code of Military Justice,) goes far beyond the Geneva Convention. Our UCMJ and the Geneva Convention both cover in detail the allowed trwatment of Non-Combatants and Prisoners of War.
This being said, and as disgusted as I am at the pictures and stories coming out of Iraq, I can say with near certainty that; A) Iraq did not sign the geneva Conventions. B) Their treatment of P.O.W.'s is much worse than what we could ever imagine. (Read some of the stories from those captured during their other wars.) C) Those who did this will be punished.

Cat
 
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