"We follow orders or men die"
In case you didn't recognize that movie quote...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyKJeXDoqnw
I was watching a butchered version of the movie "A Few Good Men" today and even though there were some things cut from the film, this scene was untouched (except of course for language). But should soldiers follow orders unquestioningly, without thinking about them? Let's examine the oath of enlistment for someone joining our all-volunteer military (enlisted people only, officers take a different oath):
I, (name), 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 to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
Officers being commissioned take this oath instead:
I, [name], 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; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
So we can see that while those who enlist take an oath to obey orders while those who are commissioned as officers do not. Now let's look at Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ):
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 a 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.
While the word "lawful" is absent from the oath of enlistment and the entire concept of orders is absent from the oath an officer takes at the time they are commissioned; based on Article 92 of the UCMJ, no one can be punished for failing to obey an unlawful order.
Lieutenant William Calley of the United States Army was tried by court-martial on charges of having caused the premeditated murder of 104 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He wound up serving 3.5 years under house arrest at Fort Benning, GA, and ultimately had his sentence commuted by President Nixon. Although his court-martial conviction and dismissal from the Army were upheld, his sentence was reduced to time served.
So is there a point to all of this? Of course. The point is that the excuse of "I was just following orders" remains as invalid today as it has been since man emerged from the caves and began forming military forces and police forces. An order to violate the law is an order without authority. If cops dealing with rioters are given an order to fire on them with live ammunition that isn't designed to subdue rather than kill, it isn't a lawful order. Can you be ordered to murder someone who isn't committing a crime? Would the defense be that you were protecting the lives of others?
Yes. Killing someone else in self-defense is not murder. Killing someone in order to preserve the life of a third party is not murder. As to the "Castle Doctrine" and "Stand Your Ground", I've decided that the latter should only be applied in situations involving the former. If you are in your home, you should not have to flee. You should be able to stand your ground. But if you are not in your home, even if you are in danger, you must first attempt to flee to safety rather than firing, unless you are in imminent danger of being killed.
Just one man's opinion.
* * *
Yesterday I promised to comment on the bill passed by the California legislature that would give those in the country illegally the ability to get driver's licenses. One of the justifications for this change in the law is that it will allow these people to buy automobile insurance. I guess I missed it when it was made illegal to buy insurance when you aren't a licensed driver. While the major carriers won't sell a policy to someone without a license, I'm told that smaller carriers will. If my sources are wrong on this, my apologies.
The Insurance Research Council estimates that 15% of drivers in California don't have insurance. Now the law says you must have current insurance or you can't register a vehicle. So why is it roughly one in seven drivers on the road don't have the required insurance?
I'm totally in favor of giving the current group of people here illegally a path to legal residency, even to citizenship. But unless and until we get there, what logical reason is there to give them yet another "privilege"?
A friend of mine was in an automobile accident over a year ago. They are still waiting for the other driver's insurer to pay the claim. The other driver didn't have insurance. Now if you're driving without insurance and you are involved in an accident, there should be little, if any, question about who is to blame. The person without insurance shouldn't have been driving. The person without a license shouldn't be driving.
* * *
Yesterday I also promised to comment on that really ugly obituary written by the children of that woman from Nevada who apparently was one of the worst mothers in history.
I just re-read a letter I wrote to my late father over ten years ago. It's pretty ugly, but comes nowhere near the tone and tenor of that obituary. Even if I didn't believe that one shouldn't speak ill of the dead (well, not too ill anyway), I still wouldn't trash my father now. In my blog, in an obituary, or whatever. If their mother wasn't going to see that obituary, then publishing it was self-serving to the nth degree.
My father once told me I was "dead to him" that he no longer had a son bearing my name. He did that because I wouldn't do something immoral (and almost certainly illegal) to assist him in a difficult situation. That's not speaking ill, that's stating a fact. And if I see no need to write horrible obituaries for someone who said what my dad said, I don't care what those adults who were that woman's children went through. Say it to the woman, write it down and have it read to her when she's still alive or whatever. Not only is publishing that obituary self-serving, it's downright cowardly.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Why do lawyers make commercials that actually say "if you or a loved one was seriously injured or died as the result of XX..." rather than just being clear and saying "if you were seriously injured, or a loved one was seriously injured or killed as the result of...?"
I shouldn't have been surprised by the fact that the social media activities of celebrities are followed so closely by the entertainment media. How else would they discover that Miley Cyrus unfollowed her fiancé Liam Hemsworth on Twitter?
Mel Gibson's film "Braveheart" is based on events that took place in the 13th Century (although William Wallace wasn't drawn and quartered until the year 1305). So why is he wearing kilts in the film, when they weren't in use as clothing until the 16th Century?
Which is worse? Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction or Terry Bradshaw dropping the "F-bomb" on Friday.
Vladimir Guerrero has retired from baseball? He hadn't played in the majors since 2011 and I didn't know he was trying to come back.
Even though UCLA beat Nebraska today, I'm sure the Bruins really appreciated the gesture of the Nebraska fans, who released balloons to pay tribute to Bruins player Nick Pasquale who was killed in a car accident last Sunday.
I actually like the idea of being able to use an app on your phone to order something to eat at a sporting event.
TMZ is conducting a poll on the question "where will George Zimmerman be in five years" with the choices "free" or "prisoner". 80% of those responding voted prisoner. However my own poll reveals that 99.4832% of the population has no interest in the results of polls by TMZ.
* * *
This Date In History:
81 – Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
629 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph after his victory over the Persian Empire.
786 – "Night of the three Caliphs": Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasid caliph upon the death of his brother al-Hadi. Birth of Harun's son al-Ma'mun.
1180 – Battle of Ishibashiyama in Japan.
1607 – Flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland.
1682 – Bishop Gore School, one of the oldest schools in Wales, is founded.
1741 – George Frideric Handel completes his oratorio Messiah
1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2).
1763 – Seneca warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Devil's Hole during Pontiac's War.
1791 – The Papal States lose Avignon to the French Empire.
1808 – Finnish War: Russians defeat the Swedes in the bloody Battle of Oravais.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée enters Moscow. The Fire of Moscow begins as soon as Russian troops leave the city.
1814 – The poem Defence of Fort McHenry is written by Francis Scott Key. The poem is later used as the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner.
1829 – The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1846 – Jang Bahadur and his brothers massacre about 40 members of the Nepalese palace court.
1847 – Mexican–American War: Winfield Scott captures Mexico City.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of South Mountain, part of the Maryland Campaign, is fought.
1901 – President of the United States William McKinley dies after an assassination attempt on September 6, and is succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.
1917 – Russia is officially proclaimed a republic.
1939 – World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify the annexation of Estonia.
1940 – Ip Massacre: The Hungarian Army, supported by local Hungarians, kill 158 Romanian civilians in Ip, Sălaj, a village in Northern Transylvania, as part of attempts to ethnic cleansing.
1944 – World War II: Maastricht becomes the first Dutch city to be liberated by allied forces.
1954 – In a top secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40 kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village.
1958 – The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere.
1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.
1960 – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded.
1960 – Congo Crisis: With CIA help, Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power in a military coup, suspending parliament and the constitution.
1969 – The US Selective Service selects September 14 as the First Draft Lottery Date.
1975 – The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI.
1979 – Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki is assassinated upon the order of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes the new president.
1982 – President-elect of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel, is assassinated.
1984 – Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a gas balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean.
1985 – Penang Bridge, the longest bridge in Malaysia, connecting the island of Penang to the mainland, opens to traffic.
1987 – The Toronto Blue Jays set a record for the most home runs in a single game, hitting 10 of them.
1992 – The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declares the breakaway Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to be illegal.
1994 – The Major League Baseball season is canceled because of a strike.
1995 – Body Worlds opens in Tokyo, Japan
1998 – Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.
1999 – Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.
2000 – Microsoft releases Windows ME.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Robert Cecil
Margaret Sanger
Hal B. Wallis
Jack Hawkins
Robert McCloskey
Clayton Moore
Patricia Barringer
Jim Fanning
Maurice Vachon
Kate Millett
Walter Koenig
Joey Heatherton
Sam Neill
Barry Cowsill
Tim Wallach
Melissa Leo
Wendy Thomas
Faith Ford
Dmitry Medvedev
Michelle Stafford
Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Amy Winehouse
Movie quotes for today come from the excellent 1990 film "The Hunt For Red October" in which Sam Neill gave a strong performance as one of the Soviet submarine officers who wanted to defect to the West:
Capt. Vasili Borodin: I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck... maybe even a "recreational vehicle." And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?
Captain Ramius: I suppose.
Capt. Vasili Borodin: No papers?
Captain Ramius: No papers, state to state.
Capt. Vasili Borodin: Well then, in winter I will live in... Arizona. Actually, I think I will need two wives.
Captain Ramius: Oh, at least.
#2
Jeffrey Pelt: Mr. Ambassador, you have nearly a hundred naval vessels operating in the North Atlantic right now. Your aircraft has dropped enough sonar buoys so that a man could walk from Greenland to Iceland to Scotland without getting his feet wet. Now, shall we dispense with the bull?
Ambassador Lysenko: You make your point as delicately as ever, Mr. Pelt.
#3
Capt. Bart Mancuso: [Ramius comments in Russian to Borodin that Mancuso is a "buckaroo". Ryan laughs] What's so funny?
Jack Ryan: Ah, the Captain seems to think you're some kind of... cowboy.
Captain Ramius: [spoken "You parle ruski"] You speak Russian.
Jack Ryan: [in Russian] A little. It is wise to study the ways of ones adversary. Don't you think?
Captain Ramius: [in English] It is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyKJeXDoqnw
I was watching a butchered version of the movie "A Few Good Men" today and even though there were some things cut from the film, this scene was untouched (except of course for language). But should soldiers follow orders unquestioningly, without thinking about them? Let's examine the oath of enlistment for someone joining our all-volunteer military (enlisted people only, officers take a different oath):
I, (name), 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 to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
Officers being commissioned take this oath instead:
I, [name], 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; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
So we can see that while those who enlist take an oath to obey orders while those who are commissioned as officers do not. Now let's look at Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ):
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 a 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.
While the word "lawful" is absent from the oath of enlistment and the entire concept of orders is absent from the oath an officer takes at the time they are commissioned; based on Article 92 of the UCMJ, no one can be punished for failing to obey an unlawful order.
Lieutenant William Calley of the United States Army was tried by court-martial on charges of having caused the premeditated murder of 104 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He wound up serving 3.5 years under house arrest at Fort Benning, GA, and ultimately had his sentence commuted by President Nixon. Although his court-martial conviction and dismissal from the Army were upheld, his sentence was reduced to time served.
So is there a point to all of this? Of course. The point is that the excuse of "I was just following orders" remains as invalid today as it has been since man emerged from the caves and began forming military forces and police forces. An order to violate the law is an order without authority. If cops dealing with rioters are given an order to fire on them with live ammunition that isn't designed to subdue rather than kill, it isn't a lawful order. Can you be ordered to murder someone who isn't committing a crime? Would the defense be that you were protecting the lives of others?
Yes. Killing someone else in self-defense is not murder. Killing someone in order to preserve the life of a third party is not murder. As to the "Castle Doctrine" and "Stand Your Ground", I've decided that the latter should only be applied in situations involving the former. If you are in your home, you should not have to flee. You should be able to stand your ground. But if you are not in your home, even if you are in danger, you must first attempt to flee to safety rather than firing, unless you are in imminent danger of being killed.
Just one man's opinion.
* * *
Yesterday I promised to comment on the bill passed by the California legislature that would give those in the country illegally the ability to get driver's licenses. One of the justifications for this change in the law is that it will allow these people to buy automobile insurance. I guess I missed it when it was made illegal to buy insurance when you aren't a licensed driver. While the major carriers won't sell a policy to someone without a license, I'm told that smaller carriers will. If my sources are wrong on this, my apologies.
The Insurance Research Council estimates that 15% of drivers in California don't have insurance. Now the law says you must have current insurance or you can't register a vehicle. So why is it roughly one in seven drivers on the road don't have the required insurance?
I'm totally in favor of giving the current group of people here illegally a path to legal residency, even to citizenship. But unless and until we get there, what logical reason is there to give them yet another "privilege"?
A friend of mine was in an automobile accident over a year ago. They are still waiting for the other driver's insurer to pay the claim. The other driver didn't have insurance. Now if you're driving without insurance and you are involved in an accident, there should be little, if any, question about who is to blame. The person without insurance shouldn't have been driving. The person without a license shouldn't be driving.
* * *
Yesterday I also promised to comment on that really ugly obituary written by the children of that woman from Nevada who apparently was one of the worst mothers in history.
I just re-read a letter I wrote to my late father over ten years ago. It's pretty ugly, but comes nowhere near the tone and tenor of that obituary. Even if I didn't believe that one shouldn't speak ill of the dead (well, not too ill anyway), I still wouldn't trash my father now. In my blog, in an obituary, or whatever. If their mother wasn't going to see that obituary, then publishing it was self-serving to the nth degree.
My father once told me I was "dead to him" that he no longer had a son bearing my name. He did that because I wouldn't do something immoral (and almost certainly illegal) to assist him in a difficult situation. That's not speaking ill, that's stating a fact. And if I see no need to write horrible obituaries for someone who said what my dad said, I don't care what those adults who were that woman's children went through. Say it to the woman, write it down and have it read to her when she's still alive or whatever. Not only is publishing that obituary self-serving, it's downright cowardly.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Why do lawyers make commercials that actually say "if you or a loved one was seriously injured or died as the result of XX..." rather than just being clear and saying "if you were seriously injured, or a loved one was seriously injured or killed as the result of...?"
I shouldn't have been surprised by the fact that the social media activities of celebrities are followed so closely by the entertainment media. How else would they discover that Miley Cyrus unfollowed her fiancé Liam Hemsworth on Twitter?
Mel Gibson's film "Braveheart" is based on events that took place in the 13th Century (although William Wallace wasn't drawn and quartered until the year 1305). So why is he wearing kilts in the film, when they weren't in use as clothing until the 16th Century?
Which is worse? Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction or Terry Bradshaw dropping the "F-bomb" on Friday.
Vladimir Guerrero has retired from baseball? He hadn't played in the majors since 2011 and I didn't know he was trying to come back.
Even though UCLA beat Nebraska today, I'm sure the Bruins really appreciated the gesture of the Nebraska fans, who released balloons to pay tribute to Bruins player Nick Pasquale who was killed in a car accident last Sunday.
I actually like the idea of being able to use an app on your phone to order something to eat at a sporting event.
TMZ is conducting a poll on the question "where will George Zimmerman be in five years" with the choices "free" or "prisoner". 80% of those responding voted prisoner. However my own poll reveals that 99.4832% of the population has no interest in the results of polls by TMZ.
* * *
This Date In History:
81 – Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
629 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph after his victory over the Persian Empire.
786 – "Night of the three Caliphs": Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasid caliph upon the death of his brother al-Hadi. Birth of Harun's son al-Ma'mun.
1180 – Battle of Ishibashiyama in Japan.
1607 – Flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland.
1682 – Bishop Gore School, one of the oldest schools in Wales, is founded.
1741 – George Frideric Handel completes his oratorio Messiah
1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2).
1763 – Seneca warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Devil's Hole during Pontiac's War.
1791 – The Papal States lose Avignon to the French Empire.
1808 – Finnish War: Russians defeat the Swedes in the bloody Battle of Oravais.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée enters Moscow. The Fire of Moscow begins as soon as Russian troops leave the city.
1814 – The poem Defence of Fort McHenry is written by Francis Scott Key. The poem is later used as the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner.
1829 – The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1846 – Jang Bahadur and his brothers massacre about 40 members of the Nepalese palace court.
1847 – Mexican–American War: Winfield Scott captures Mexico City.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of South Mountain, part of the Maryland Campaign, is fought.
1901 – President of the United States William McKinley dies after an assassination attempt on September 6, and is succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.
1917 – Russia is officially proclaimed a republic.
1939 – World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify the annexation of Estonia.
1940 – Ip Massacre: The Hungarian Army, supported by local Hungarians, kill 158 Romanian civilians in Ip, Sălaj, a village in Northern Transylvania, as part of attempts to ethnic cleansing.
1944 – World War II: Maastricht becomes the first Dutch city to be liberated by allied forces.
1954 – In a top secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40 kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village.
1958 – The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere.
1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.
1960 – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded.
1960 – Congo Crisis: With CIA help, Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power in a military coup, suspending parliament and the constitution.
1969 – The US Selective Service selects September 14 as the First Draft Lottery Date.
1975 – The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI.
1979 – Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki is assassinated upon the order of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes the new president.
1982 – President-elect of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel, is assassinated.
1984 – Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to fly a gas balloon alone across the Atlantic Ocean.
1985 – Penang Bridge, the longest bridge in Malaysia, connecting the island of Penang to the mainland, opens to traffic.
1987 – The Toronto Blue Jays set a record for the most home runs in a single game, hitting 10 of them.
1992 – The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declares the breakaway Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to be illegal.
1994 – The Major League Baseball season is canceled because of a strike.
1995 – Body Worlds opens in Tokyo, Japan
1998 – Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.
1999 – Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.
2000 – Microsoft releases Windows ME.
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Robert Cecil
Margaret Sanger
Hal B. Wallis
Jack Hawkins
Robert McCloskey
Clayton Moore
Patricia Barringer
Jim Fanning
Maurice Vachon
Kate Millett
Walter Koenig
Joey Heatherton
Sam Neill
Barry Cowsill
Tim Wallach
Melissa Leo
Wendy Thomas
Faith Ford
Dmitry Medvedev
Michelle Stafford
Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Amy Winehouse
Movie quotes for today come from the excellent 1990 film "The Hunt For Red October" in which Sam Neill gave a strong performance as one of the Soviet submarine officers who wanted to defect to the West:
Capt. Vasili Borodin: I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck... maybe even a "recreational vehicle." And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?
Captain Ramius: I suppose.
Capt. Vasili Borodin: No papers?
Captain Ramius: No papers, state to state.
Capt. Vasili Borodin: Well then, in winter I will live in... Arizona. Actually, I think I will need two wives.
Captain Ramius: Oh, at least.
#2
Jeffrey Pelt: Mr. Ambassador, you have nearly a hundred naval vessels operating in the North Atlantic right now. Your aircraft has dropped enough sonar buoys so that a man could walk from Greenland to Iceland to Scotland without getting his feet wet. Now, shall we dispense with the bull?
Ambassador Lysenko: You make your point as delicately as ever, Mr. Pelt.
#3
Capt. Bart Mancuso: [Ramius comments in Russian to Borodin that Mancuso is a "buckaroo". Ryan laughs] What's so funny?
Jack Ryan: Ah, the Captain seems to think you're some kind of... cowboy.
Captain Ramius: [spoken "You parle ruski"] You speak Russian.
Jack Ryan: [in Russian] A little. It is wise to study the ways of ones adversary. Don't you think?
Captain Ramius: [in English] It is.
posted by me at 10:41 PM
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