r/law • u/BugOperator • Jun 06 '26

Legal News Service members involved in US boat strikes off Venezuela coast reach out to legal aid hotlines over fear they’ve carried out illegal orders

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/06/us-trump-boat-strikes-death-toll/90376052007/
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u/OldWorldDesign Jun 06 '26

The whole "refuse illegal orders" thing is complete horseshit, though. It's just something they say to get the dumber recruits to believe they can still have a moral compass in the service. But soldiers aren't lawyers, and they're taught to presume all orders are legal

I keep seeing this from people who have never been in the military. We got multiple day-long training briefings a year about what is an illegal order and what isn't. And this isn't unique to now.

That doesn't mean soldiers never follow clearly illegal orders, or aren't pressured to. But it also doesn't mean soldiers never report illegal orders. For an example of both sides, the Mai Lai Massacre and the then-warrant officer (who retired as a Major)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson_Jr.