International and US law is clear: troops must obey lawful orders ONLY.
An unlawful order is not binding, and following it can itself be criminal. US doctrine and practice reject “just following orders” if the soldier knew or should have known act was unlawful.
The oath in the US is to the Constitution, not to blindly obey leaders. As the Law of War Manual says:
"members of the armed forces are bound to obey only the lawful orders"
Resources for active military:
https://linktr.ee/vetsaboutface
"You have rights in the military, though commands often say you don't, and often push back when you use them. The regulations are often on your side; they allow you to speak out about your ideas and beliefs, to post about them on social media or in the press, to join in demonstrations, to complain to your Member of Congress about military policies and practices..."
Download the full PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TO49NiuVSIbl_qjV0jmDPb8f3P9r8rrB/view
If you have a fediverse account, you can quote this note from your own instance. Search https://mas.to/users/continuation/statuses/115278554763070906 on your instance and quote it. (Note that quoting is not supported in Mastodon.)
