The mid- and low- ranks are taught that their duty is to follow orders above all else. Even with some instruction about war crimes, they’ve still been told that theirs is not to reason why (or make reply), theirs is but to do and die. I wouldn’t call it spinelessness, but I take your point.

The high-level officers are supposed to know better than to order the wrong things, and I have to applaud Randy George for his refusal. Getting fired publicly is presumably the best warning he feels he can provide. But they’ll dig around and find someone more compliant, then proceed.

The article has been updated since I originally posted it, with new developments:

Hegseth also has ousted Army Gen. David Hodne and Army Maj. Gen. William Green, according to a Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive leadership changes. A reason for their departures also was not given.

Gen. Christopher LaNeve will be stepping in as acting Army chief of staff, the Pentagon official said. LaNeve was serving as Hegseth’s top military aide when Trump suddenly nominated him to be the Army’s vice chief of staff last October. It is a meteoric rise for an officer who was only a two-star general two years ago.

So there it is. Anyone with a “meteoric rise” under this administration is a loyalist and will do what the last three before him refused.

I’ve already heard talk of the emergence of the petroyuan. If the petrodollar collapses, so will US hegemony. Existential threats abound for many.