The Importance of Following Orders in the US Military - Essay Example

It is actually discipline that makes the platoon survive and maintains the effectiveness of the group. If there is discipline among the soldiers, then there is unity – everyone is working towards the survival of the group and no one is thinking only of himself. Discipline also keeps the individual soldier’s focus. If there is no discipline, then there is endless distraction and the soldier allows himself to be bothered even by the smallest of things like the sound of gunshot. An undisciplined soldier, who has no focus, is also easily distracted by emotions that defeat his purpose like fear, worry, anxiety and loneliness.

Thus, someone without discipline allows himself to be destroyed not only by the enemy but even by his own emotions. Worse, a soldier without discipline may even put his own comrades in danger if he fails to function as an essential unit of a platoon. He may either get himself shot for not being disciplined in his aims, thus leaving the platoon with one dead member, or his faulty shots caused by his lack of discipline may encourage the enemy to eventually crush their own platoon. Having no discipline may actually translate to poor aiming of the gun, poor coordination of the senses, and poor concentration.

Soldiers that lack discipline are those soldiers in war movies whose hands tremble as they aim at the enemy and who keeps murmuring to themselves just to keep their confidence. In short, an undisciplined soldier cannot possibly help win the battle and is therefore a liability to the platoon or even to the battalion as a whole. The point is that it is only through obedience that discipline can be learned. Whenever one obeys direct orders from his superiors without question, he indirectly trains himself to ignore distractions like pain, difficulty and other forms of discomfort that come with the command.