# Should this marine be rewarded for defying orders?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-marine-be-rewarded-for-defying-orders/596454
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [September 16, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-marine-be-rewarded-for-defying-orders/596454 "2011-09-16T00:47:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-marine-be-rewarded-for-defying-orders/596454/41 "2011-09-22T20:19:08Z")
Yeah, those are some epic typos! š
**AK84 -\> English Dictionary** :
if = of
onion = opinion
dose = does
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-marine-be-rewarded-for-defying-orders/596454/42 "2011-09-22T22:01:30Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> At the risk of Godwinizing the thread, to agree with you would put you in a position where youād turn in Anne Frankās family because they were breaking the law.
>
> Sometimes orders need to be disobeyed.
Yes. In fact, didnāt the Allies execute people for ājust following ordersā? They were called war crimes.
When I was in the Army, they had official traiining about this, and made it clear what a lawful order constituted, and that we were not expected to follow an order that was obviously criminal or (to use the word) evil. At the time, the My Lai incident was still fresh in their memory and they apparently did NOT want a repeat.
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-marine-be-rewarded-for-defying-orders/596454/43 "2011-09-22T22:06:40Z")
> [@Norse](#):
>
> At the risk of continuing the Godwinizing hijack, there were these rather well-known trials in a German city some decades ago, where it was established by an international court that orders never relieve the soldier from individual responsibility for his or her actions. When I did my service, one of the things we were taught in basic training was that as a soldier, itās your obligation to **not** follow orders you believe are morally wrong. There may be a court-martial afterwards, but thatās one of your duties as a soldier.
We all had that training, at one time. I donāt know if they still teach it, I hope they do.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-marine-be-rewarded-for-defying-orders/596454/44 "2011-09-23T01:44:46Z")
So far as I can tell, the orders he was given were not illegal, just stupid. And so justice demands that he receive an appropriate punishment for failing to follow them. I figure a half-hour of cleaning the latrines should do it, unless someone volunteers to do it for him.
This in addition to the awards he rightly received for his bravery, of course.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-marine-be-rewarded-for-defying-orders/596454/45 "2011-09-23T02:30:10Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Could you express this in the English language, please?
My apologies. never trust iPad. What I meant was that the leader on the ground has sufficient leeway to decide what to do and the military usually defers to him if he gets it right.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-this-marine-be-rewarded-for-defying-orders/596454/46 "2011-09-23T17:24:04Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> What if his actions had led to a Taliban breakthrough at the point in the line he wasnāt defending?
Is there really a ālineā to be broken through over there? I was under the impression that the reason we havenāt utterly crushed the Taliban is that the fighting is asymmetric and irregular without fixed lines. If they attempt anything so conventional as massing to break through a line in a set-piece battle, they play into our hands and will be defeated with massive firepower and technology.
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