A Word with the members of the Armed Forces Worldwide.
Posted: Wednesday, June 08, 2011
by Terrence Aubrey
Terrence
To the combined and individual members of the armed forces worldwide (and I include members of the Police Forces here), some difficult and crucially important choices are coming your way.
Most probably as part of your training and inauguration within either the Police force, or armed forces of your particular country you were asked to swear a pledge an allegiance to your ruler, government and country (the glaring omission being your pledge of allegiance towards your own individual humanity).
There must be in the name of sanity and justice be a line that you will not pass, that your very humanity and conscience will not allow you to pass.
In the 18th century the self deluded and possibly mentally ill, King Henry Christophe of Haiti ordered his troops to march over a 200ft cliff in order to show visiting dignitaries the loyalty of his troops.
Would you commit suicide at the whim of either your superior officer, or the leader of your country? So clearly there must be limitations to the pledge of allegiance that you were asked to swear.
Now let us look again at the pledge you were asked to make, but in greater detail, allegiance to your Ruler, Government and country, what will you do if there is a conflict between those three aspects of the very list you have sworn to protect?
What is your first duty, what must be your number one priority? Ok, let’s try to look at this logically, would you agree that both Rulers and governments are subject to change? If you agree with that probability, then logically your primary allegiance must be towards the protection of your country, would you agree?
I am slowly, but surely getting to the point here and the heart of the issue and at this moment in time an incredibly important issue. In your primary pledge of allegiance to protect your country you must logically have pledged also to protect the inhabitants, the people of your country, for a country is only as important as its people, yes? I hope you will agree that this is a logical progression of consideration.
Now what if there is a contradiction within the very core of the essence of the allegiance you have pledged yourself to protect and uphold. What if your ruler or government asks of you to harm, injure or worse kill the very people that you have sworn to protect, the inhabitants of your own country, what will you do?
So far as I am aware you were not asked to give up your humanity when you enrolled, you were not striped of your sense of right or wrong or your conscience, please correct me if I am wrong, so what will you do?
In recent times we have witnessed different interpretations of loyalty on the part of “The armed forces”. In Tunisia and Egypt the armed forces stood side by side with their fellow countrymen, on occasion protecting them against fellow Forces of law and order attempting to maintain the status quo.
Disappointingly within other countries we have seen a complete disregard for the safety and wellbeing of the citizens of the countries that they have pledged to protect, even worse we have witnessed mass murder of a huge scale being perpetrated by the armed forces.
The winds of change are sweeping across the planet right now and peoples across the world have lost the trust and faith that their leaders are capable or are truly interested and care for the very people they are leading.
You may well be confronted with difficult choices within the near future and I am sure I am not alone in hoping that you individually make wise and humane choices. The people that you have sworn to protect will never ask you to march off of that cliff, but can we be so sure of the world’s leaders? Terrence Aubrey, Confidential Matchmakers.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)It's just too bad we aren't all taught from birth that our primary obligation to humanity is to protect and preserve all life, not just those lives that may assist us in combat against other human beings.Yes I agree.
Very well stated. One thing that members of all armed forces need to be aware of is that they and they alone are responsible for their actions, orders notwithstanding. The trials at Nuremberg, Germany established that at the end of WW2.Very good point. I have since writing this researched a little and it does seem that the protection of the country and its people is the number one priority across much of the world. So the international courts of law will presumably be very busy in the coming years.
One man refused to participate in the My Lai massacre. He was sentenced to 3 years in a military prison. When asked why he did that, that why didn't he simply rationalize that his commanding officer was to blame and go ahead with the mission, he said that his heart said no. Interestingly, all participants of the My Lai massacre had problems state side, couldn't keep a relationship going and could barely hang on to a job. The only one that made a successful transition and led a very happy, fulfilling life, was the black man who refused to kill.Interesting point and observation e, thank you.
We must use our own judgement when confronted with circumstances beyond our control.Absolutely David.
Interesting
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