I am a Vietnam Veteran and would like to explain why I stand by Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander and the other five Congress people that made the recent video. I know a lot of people have a kneejerk reaction to this thinking that they were saying to refuse orders — that is not so. Listen to what is actually said and don’t put words that you want to hear in their mouths.
In the military, we have two sets of laws that we have to follow. The first is the same as you, we all have to follow the laws of the land. The second is the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The UCMJ is in conjunction with the law of the land but has other things in it over and above the Law of the Land to cover specific things in the military.
From the day I raised my hand and all through boot camp and through my next four years, the UCMJ was drilled into us. Part of that was that we had to follow all orders from those above us with one exception, and that was if the order was unlawful. It was explained that an unlawful order might be anything from being ordered to hit or humiliate another person in the military, hurting unarmed civilians or being told to break a U.S. or international law.
Now to those who have said how can we allow 18- or 19-year-old kids to make a decision on what is a lawful order or not, I remind you that you have put in their hands the most modern weapons of war, taught them how to use them, and when to use them. To those who were/are in the military, I ask you to reread the UCMJ especially concerning this topic.
No one has said to specifically watch out for Trump to give an unlawful order, but with things on edge the way we are, any one in the chain of command could give an unlawful order. We have to be reminded of what we can and cannot do. To all who are not old enough, I point you to just two examples from my time, Kent State and My Lai. These are about someone giving orders that should never have been given.
We have to be very careful when putting our soldiers in American cities, because if they are pushed and taunted by civilians, then someone may give an order out of unwarranted fear and people will die. I just came back from D.C. not long ago on an Honor Flight and what I saw reminded me of what I saw in the 50s when I lived in Okinawa and Europe as a military dependent. We were still “occupying” those countries with soldiers carrying weapons all over the place.
Maggie Goodlander and her fellow veterans were right to remind the military to remember the UCMJ and to let the public know and understand the additional rules we have to follow. In fact I would think all veterans would be willing to stand with me and be counted with the six.
Gary Gordon lives in Concord.