Your analysis is spot on. Every soldier has to act according to his conscience, either the conscience that binds him to his oath or the conscience that answers to a higher morality. The principles enumerated by the Oath Keepers are simply reiterations of those in the Constitution. Soldiers swear ro defend THAT, not the orders of their commanders without regard to their legality. Where the two collide, the Constitution rules.
The oath we take, in both cases (officer and enlisted) is to the CONSTITUTION, not to the President, not to the Federal Government, not to any other entity. That means, since We, the People, are the bedrock under the Constitution, that our oath ultimately is to the People of the United States. The enlisted oath does feature the part of obeying orders of the President, but, as we are taught from day ONE at boot camp, those orders must be LAWFUL, and as we grow in rank, we are more and more charged with making that determination ourselves. As a Private, you kind of have to trust that your superiors know what’s lawful and what isn’t, but as you advance, it’s up to YOU to make that call. So there’s no conflict as far as the oath is concerned.
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