The elemental human rights mentioned in the U.S. Constitution comprise an abbreviated listing of values critical to the way of life worth defending. Military professionals swear an oath to defend those values, that life style which incorporates the minimal conditions of human dignity. These values must be shared by military and civilian alike. Military professionals, however, in order to perfect the instrument of defending these values, of necessity curb their own exercise of some of these freedoms. They accept restrictions on the liberty to speak, they refrain from partisan politics, they are denied political office while on active duty, they accept restrictions on their freedom of movement, and in general subordinate personal preferences to the good of the military unit and the good of the country.
Obedience is an important military virtue because it is intrinsic to the military function.
But in general, obedience is crucial in carrying out any ordered activity and in a military crisis it will spell the difference between success and failure. Notice that obedience is an important virtue in many areas of civilian society although its absence in civilian enterprises is rarely as catastrophic as in the military environment. When schoolchildren are undisciplined and disobedient in the civilian classroom, chaos results, education is diminished, and bad habits are learned but the immediate survival of the nation-state can hardly be viewed as at risk. Loyalty or fidelity to military mission, unit, and country are crucial to the fulfillment of the military function but infidelity to spouses in ordinary life often simply leads to divorce, not national disaster. Dishonesty in reporting the readiness of a military unit for battle could lead to national disaster while dishonesty in reporting the financial status of a corporation might merely lead to a business failure.