By Mike Ferner, World BEYOND War, January 22, 2026

Air Force veteran has informed them for 18 months they can refuse illegal orders.

Some 1,500 paratroopers from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division at Fort Wainwright are on standby for immediate deployment to Minneapolis.

Because of Veterans For Peace member Rob Molford’s tenacity, a certain number of them will have seen the signs he’s held every month for a year and a half and read the flyers he’s passed out at base gates telling them “REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS. IT’S THE LAW AND OUR DUTY!”, “THE PATH TO FASCISM IS PAVED WITH ILLEGAL ORDERS!” and “SIR, NO SIR!” the title of a documentary about GIs who refused to fight in Viet Nam.

Rob is a 73 year-old Air Force veteran, longtime Alaska and former coal miner. His flyers include the G.I. Rights Hotline number to reach counselors prepared to advise troops who are questioning orders to support Israel’s genocide in Gaza or arrest U.S. citizens domestically.

Rob also spent five years in the Army National Guard. He considers it his duty to inform young, active-duty soldiers that the oath they took to defend the Constitution does not include following illegal orders even if issued by the Commander in Chief.

Explaining his motivation, the former underground miner paraphrased labor organizer and socialist presidential candidate, “Like ol’ Gene Debs, I’ve come to recognize my kinship with all living beings. I am convinced I am not one bit better than those living under the most wretched of circumstance. As long as there is an underclass, I am in it. As long as there is a criminal element, I am of it. As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free. And, as long as there is a class that profits in the making of war against any of my relatives, I will fight them nonviolently until I draw my final breath.”

Relatedly, the national organization, “We Are Not Your Soldiers” included Mulford’s story with their publication today of an astounding story: An Archbishop Breaks Ranks: the Chaplain Says No to Empire that explains, “Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the Catholic Archbishop for the Military Services of the United States, suggested this week that American troops could morally refuse orders to invade Greenland, he did more than comment on a hypothetical war. He tugged at a loose thread in the fabric of empire, and revealed how much depends on everyone pretending that thread does not exist.”

Ferner is a former Navy Corpsman and served as National Director of Veterans For Peace.

The post If Troops Ordered to Minneapolis, At Least Some Might Refuse That Illegal Order appeared first on World BEYOND War.

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