Lawful Orders In The Military

PFC Hachey The importance of lawful orders

Lawful orders are important to the military to keep soldiers safe and out of trouble, lawful orders from an NCO or any one placed above you can be important to complete the mission so it is important to follow and obey them. Lawful orders are what keep the military organized and without order our military could not function as well as it does.

Any person subject to this chapter who--

( 1) violates or fails to obey any lawful general order or regulation;

(2) having knowledge of any other lawful order issued by any member of the armed forces , which it is his duty to obey, fails to obey the order; or

(3) is derelict in the performance of his duties; shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Article 92 in the UCMJ makes it very clear that disobedience of orders can be easily punished through UCMJ action. Violation of any order from a NCO or any one placed above the soldier is a violation against the soldiers army values and more specificly his integrity. When a soldier shows lack of integrity and fails to do what is right, only thinking about what he wants, needs to be punished because that is the kind of behavior that we can't have in the army. In todays army there is no room for soldiers who don't follow orders,the army is down sizing and the ones who don't live by the army values will be the first to go.

The army is an organization that operates and functions on its values, so it is important that each soldier upholds those values. Soldiers are disciplined yet they still make bad decisions sometimes but There is no excuse for disobeying direct orders. If a soldier doesn't do what he is told or goes against what he is told how are his superiors supposed to trust him to do the right ...

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...ially if taking those actions is not popular with others. You can build your personal courage by daily standing up for and acting upon the things that you know are honorable. If Ihad more personal courage Icould have kept myself out of trouble, but instead of standing up and saying no Imade bad decisions and broke the lawful orders given to me.

Lawful orders are given for a reason, they are meant to keep each soldier safe and out of trouble they are always in the interest of the army and the mission ahead. When it really matters, in battle every order has to be completed and soldiers are professionals they always place the mission first that means they do what has to be done, what they are told the lawful orders from their higher ups. Lawful orders have created organization in the military for centuries and without them we would not be as successful as we are today.