It's a no-brainer. Upon your acceptance into the military, you took an oath. That oath is to the Constitution of the United States; further, when you took that oath you swore to obey the orders of the officers appointed over you.
Walt
You wrote :"It's a no-brainer. Upon your acceptance into the military, you took an oath. That oath is to the Constitution of the United States; further, when you took that oath you swore to obey the orders of the officers appointed over you."
I was talking about the general population, not the military in particular. However, the military folks did have to answer that question when the country to which they swore allegiance became two different countries. Many answered that question by deciding that their allegiance was with the South and then resigned their commissions. The world had changed around them and they simply changed to adapt to the new environment.
I took an oath to obey the "lawful" orders of superior officers. The Marine Corps never asked me to blindly obey all orders. The world settled that question after WWII at the Nierenberg trials. Following orders is not an excuse for illegal and immoral actions.
While the question of loyalty and allegiance might be a "no-brainer" for some, for others it was an ethical dilemma and each man had to answer for himself. We can argue whether he made the right decision, but there is no argument that each faced an ethical decision, that hopefully, you and I will never face. You already think you know what you would do. I would only hope that I would act honorably in the face of a difficult ethical problem.