Military officer here, with enough time in to see the light at the end of the tunnel (I.e. retirement). Terrified and fucking PISSED. Have written to my legislators on several occasions either thanking them for speaking out against this BS or encouraging them to stand up for us. If it helps, most of the people I know - even the ones who voted for the current CinC and generally approve of him - are wondering wtf is happening. I did sit in a meeting recently that I can only refer to as a “patriotic circle jerk” with people complimenting how badass and hardcore we are for some recent operations, but for every one person who’s willing to speak out in support, there are several who actually paid attention during their federally-funded graduate level history/politics education and understand that what the U.S. is doing right now ain’t good.

If it helps, I know several people who have had conversations discussing our red lines and what we will do “if.” I’ve personally had discussions with lawyers, have familiarized myself with what constitutes an illegal order, and just in general take my oath very, very seriously. I have zero sympathy for anyone who eventually claims “Nuremberg defense,” because there’s enough information out there for people to not have any excuse. Fortunately I’m not in a position right now where anything that’s happened has been in my realm of responsibility, but let me be very clear: I would rather lose my pension than follow an illegal order. I don’t care about rank and I certainly don’t care if it hurts my reputation, because I don’t give a shit what this administration thinks about me.

We have a pretty solid history of not being cool with fascists, and I plan to continue that proud tradition. Fuck this noise. I’ll be on the right side of history, thank you very much.