[Avodah] Wartime orders

[saulweinreb at comcast.net]

MYG writes:

"Once someone is in the army, isn't it pretty easy to get court-martialed for
not obeying orders? And doesn't the army have the power to execute soldiers
who disobey orders? Could that be an argument that disobeying any order is
Safek Pikuach Nefesh?

(Al Achas Kama V'Kama if someone is serving in the military in some country
that is not as civilized as the USA.)"

SW:

I don't think it is a safek that if a soldier truly feels that his life is in danger that he should follow the orders.  The last time that the US military actually executed soldiers for disobedience was I think in the civil war, so I don't think that anyone is actually afraid of execution, even though the Uniformed Code of Military Justice does technically still allow for execution (I think).  However, there are other severe enough deterents nowadays.

The question that I have is where to draw the line.  For example, when I am asked to sign in to a training session on shabbos, I usually find ways to weasel out of it. I have permission from my commanders to go to minyan shabbos morning, and to generally avoid most potential chillul shabbos when I am on reserve duty.  For the most part, when I am on dut, I am treating patients which is usually not a problem, for weekends are only emergency patients anyway.  But what if a commander told me that I have to do weapons training on shabbos?  Would that be mutar because it is a wartime order like I asked before, or maybe one could say that I should try to get out of it like I do with the signing,  I am looking for some ways to categorize these things.

Shaul Weinreb
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