British troops retiring their Hi-Powers, getting Glocks

guns.com ^ | 1/09/13 | Max Slowik

[Chainmail]

I agree of most of what you're saying - but as a professional military officer (now retired), I had a duty to refuse immoral orders from my chain of command. The Wehrmacht either supported war crimes (such as firing miserably inaccurate 1-ton warheads by the thousands at London and other cities for no other reason than "vengeance") or they stood by mutely while they went on. We had real professionals like Rommel weakly supporting the antiHitler conspirators but no real resistance to the atrocities they all knew were going on.

As for the "Why are we still fighting" response, I remember looking at a German cemetery in Bastogne with hundreds of crosses with three Germans under each of them. The embassy guy with me said "such a shame - all those young men lost" and I remember saying "and if they had stayed in Germany, they'd still be there with their grandchildren". Remember that it all started with an aggressive war of conquest. If they had stayed out of other people's countries and hadn't tried to exterminate them, all would have been pleasant. If the Wehrmacht had stayed loyal to Germany instead of the Hitler criminals, a vastly different outcome would have emerged.

Still completely agree with your pistol choices, however.

[Nathaniel]

As a retired (Infantry - most of it Airborne) First Sergeant, I agree wholeheatedly with the duty to disobey unlawful orders. However, once combat is joined, particulary CLOSE combat (and I’m talking GRUNTS, here, not air defense artillery, clerk typists, AG corps or MPs) the guy next to you is all that matters, not what decisions are being made in Berlin or by the kenyan muslim in DC. Melodrama is OK, I guess. I belong to Oath Keepers, and as such, absolutely revere the obligation to refuse unlawful orders. But, whatchagonna do when an invading army is threatening your home and family, politics not withstanding?

[Nathaniel]

And - exactly the same argument could be made for the US intervention in Bosnia - had they stayed home, none of the casualties would have happened. Ditto Somaila - Clinton’s frenzy to distract attention from his shennanigans COST AMERICANS THEIR LIVES. But, when a soldier is ordered to go, he goes. I draw the line at UNLAWFUL. True, it wasn’t all about defending German soil.