Gen. Mark Milley: "We do not take an oath to a king or a queen, a tyrant or a dictator."

[jaxexpat]

31. Okay, pretty simple, not that difficult.

Unless you're the soldier who refuses to obey his commanding officer's illegal order. The officer who orders other soldiers to throw the disobeying soldier in jail. Are the other soldiers now obeying an illegal order when they obey the commander? How does it stop? Is there any course other than the lone disobeying soldier "learning by being in jail"? Is the commander obeying an illegal order? Who prevents his cooperation with unconstitutional activities performed by his superiors?

Before Trumps election a coworker and I discussed Trump's extreme views. He said he wasn't worried about that because the Joint Chiefs would bring him to heel if he got too far out of line. So far all I've seen is he either fires them or they resign. No bringing to heel.
I imagine they quit because Trump wanted to do something with the military which was unconstitutional or illegal, otherwise they would have stayed. There are some who yet stay. Looks to me like this simple oath gets pretty muddled in the performing. Looks like a few have refused to obey already. But the orders still get carried out. And generals Maddox or Kelly won't spend time in jail like the soldier who refused to obey an illegal order, against the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.