Dwight Stirling of the California National Guard and USC lecturer has written
this Conversation primer on conscientious objection in the context of protest duty. Excerpt:
The military’s rule of obedience applies uniformly regardless of what a soldier’s particular beliefs may be.
Just as the D.C. Guardsmen couldn’t disobey [Donald J.] Trump’s order to occupy the capital, soldiers ethically opposed to desegregation, for example, would have been unable to conscientiously object to President [Dwight D.] Eisenhower’s 1959 order to the National Guard to integrate schools in Little Rock, Arkansas.
This policy ultimately highlights the importance of the president’s own values. As commander in chief, it is the president who tells the military what to do, to whom, and how. If the president’s ethical code broadly diverges from that of most Americans, moral offense is more likely to arise among those tasked with obeying his orders.
Dwight Stirling of the California National Guard and USC lecturer has written this Conversation primer on conscientious objection in the context of protest duty. Excerpt:
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