Unlawful Orders

Much has been said recently about the video prepared and released by Senators Mark Kelly, Elissa Slotkin, and Congressmen Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, and Chrissy Houlahan advising members of the U.S. Military of their right to refuse to obey unlawful orders from President Trump. With all due respect to Senator Kelly and his colleagues, I believe their video was more of a virtue signaling publicity stunt rather than a serious effort to offer wise counsel to the brave men and women of our military. Senator Kelly and his colleagues surely understand that when the Office of Legal Counsel in the Executive Branch approve a proposed Presidential Order as being lawful, those who execute the order have legal protection. Failure to execute the order would subject those who disobey the order to adverse action, including court martial and even imprisonment. I hope Senator Kelly and his colleagues enjoyed the political firestorm their video engendered. I was especially surprised and disappointed that Senator Kelly participated in this action. He has always impressed me as the democrat “adult in the room” for his realistic views on border security and foreign policy.

At the risk of dating myself, the simplistic advice contained in the video reminds me a bit of scenes from the 1979 movie “Being There” starring Peter Sellers as Chance the Gardner. In the movie, Chance regularly uttered simplistic common-sense phases from his background as a gardener such as “take care of the garden and it will grow well”; “you can’t make plants grow faster than they do”; and “things improve in spring and fade in winter.” Chance’s comments garnered widespread praise from bystanders who gave Chance’s comments unintended broader application than just gardening advice.

Sadly, the video from Senator Kelly and his colleagues ignores an important fact that Senator Kelly and other military veterans must know and understand. Even on the wartime battlefield, there are occasions when it is important to question and discuss combat orders from commanding officers. This is not insubordination but appropriate and necessary dialogue. How would I know this? Let me go back to an earlier blog I wrote this past May entitled the Greatest Generation Part 2. In that blog I shared a story that my father, First Sergeant Morris A. Wilson, related to me from the intense World War II Battle of the Bulge in which he served. In that battle, my father and other members of his Third Infantry battalion had been pinned down for several days by the larger contingent of German soldiers who were securely fortified and sheltered in a wooded area. For several days, my father and his fellow soldiers sustained heavy casualties and had only snow for water and the discarded garbage from the German soldiers to eat.

At about this time, the new commander of my father’s battalion, a young second lieutenant, ordered an advance against the Germans fortified in the wooded area. The second lieutenant was new to the battle as he replaced another lieutenant who had been recently killed. My father did not hesitate to question and challenge the young lieutenant’s decision, telling him in very explicit language that advancing against the Germans would get all the Americans killed. I never inquired from my father exactly what the lieutenant said in response, but the lieutenant reconsidered his decision. I also did not ask my father what he would have done if the lieutenant had ignored his advice. I can only assume he would have gone along with the suicide mission. My father was strong, courageous, and an imposing figure of a man, so I am not surprised that the lieutenant was willing to take his counsel not to advance.  Thankfully, the American tank battalion arrived within the next day and completely strafed the wooded area, and the German soldiers who were not killed gladly surrendered in mass.

To be clear, the point of this story is not to undertake a textbook discussion of what constitutes a lawful or unlawful military order to be obeyed or disobeyed. The default response will always be to obey. The key point I wish to convey is that in the real battlefield world it is fitting and appropriate that active dialogue between the commanding officer and his soldiers take place. It may very well be the case that the soldiers have insights, information, and advice that will help the commander make the best decision possible. That was surely the case for my father. Battlefield success and the lives of American soldiers are at stake.

God bless you and thank you for the privilege of your time in reading my blog.