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1. Blaming loss of morality on bad leadership is demeaning to soldiers. Soldiers are not sheep who blindly follow "bad" leadership and become baby killers and village burners. Soldiers have just as much an obligation to not follow unlawful orders as to follow lawful orders. The closest thing to what you might be talking about is that leaders set the cultural tone for a unit.
2. The current asymmetric war fare in Afghanistan has nothing to do with your Korean vignette of mixing with refugees and taking out an arty battery. The Afghans are out matched, the only way they can fight the American Army is through asymmetric warfare. It's almost more of a harassment then a battle. A quite deadly harassment but all the same they cannot stand up to us on a classic battle field. I would do the same in their shoes.
Men women and children can be armed combatants on the battlefield. At the point of battle, it does not matter how or why they got there. If another combatant is using a weapon soldiers have the right to protect themselves. There is nothing amoral about this.
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Birth, wealth, and position are valueless during wartime. Man is only judged by his character --Soldier's Testament.
Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature. - Marcus Aurelius.
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