A citizen can question policy and ought to.
An agent of the state is charged with enforcing policy. They follow orders and thats it.
What if you get sent to a war you are opposed or more simply ordered to do something you object to. Do you have a choice or will you face a disciplinary hearing. Would imagine this might be worse in countries where you get drafted like say Israel. This is an instance where being a citizen & agent of the state can at times conflict. To be fair if ppl have leeway here (how much is a good question) then your not going to have a coherent unit. otoh, if you have a unit where the ppl are not 100% in it then performance will suffer and could put lives at risk. Taken to an extreme you have a Bradley Manning or HMS Astute (admittedly this was more to do with discipline).
Is it as simple as not getting involved in politics at all and just doing your job. You could say that its good form as it makes one non partisan and neutral.
How does a soldier reconcile these two sometimes opposing forces.
An agent of the state is charged with enforcing policy. They follow orders and thats it.
What if you get sent to a war you are opposed or more simply ordered to do something you object to. Do you have a choice or will you face a disciplinary hearing. Would imagine this might be worse in countries where you get drafted like say Israel. This is an instance where being a citizen & agent of the state can at times conflict. To be fair if ppl have leeway here (how much is a good question) then your not going to have a coherent unit. otoh, if you have a unit where the ppl are not 100% in it then performance will suffer and could put lives at risk. Taken to an extreme you have a Bradley Manning or HMS Astute (admittedly this was more to do with discipline).
Is it as simple as not getting involved in politics at all and just doing your job. You could say that its good form as it makes one non partisan and neutral.
How does a soldier reconcile these two sometimes opposing forces.
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