Insubordination is defined as when someone refuses to obey an order given by a person who has more authority than them.
As stated in the UCMJ ,any warrant officer or enlisted member who, (1) strikes or assaults a warrant officer, noncommissioned officer, or petty officer, while that officer is in the execution of his office; (2) willfully disobeys the lawful order of a warrant officer, noncommissioned officer, or petty officer; or (3) treats with contempt or is disrespectful in language or deportment toward a warrant officer, noncommissioned officer, or petty officer while that officer is in the execution of his office; shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
Article 91 and 92 of the UCMJ defines insubordination (Article 91) and failure to obey order and regulation (Article 92). Article 92 states Any person subject to this chapter who (1) violates or fails to obey any lawful general order or regulation; (2) having knowledge of any other lawful order issued by any member of the armed forces, which it is his duty to obey, fails to obey the order; or (3) is derelict in the performance of his duties; shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. (1) Violation or failure to obey lawful general order or regulation.
Maximum punishment is dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 2 years. Violation of failure to obey other lawful order– Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 6 months. Insubordination in the Military goes against many of the 7 Core Army Values, one of them being Respect; if one can’t respect their superiors and complete simple task, how are the leaders supposed to respect them and expect them to ever accomplish their missions. It shows a lack of discipline, the soldiers creed states “I am disciplined. Discipline is essential for any soldier in order to be enlisted in the Military. This also makes the unit look bad. If a unit has undisciplined soldiers, the unit will not be looked at for redeployments, and will not give the unit any credibility. It creates a bad rapport for the United States Military in showing how our soldiers are trained throughout their entire military career. Loyalty is another value. When superiors ask someone to get them something done on the individuals own time, showing up to work the next day with the task completed is being loyal.
You took the time out of your own day to get something done is showing that you are capable of accomplishing any task that a superior asks of you. There was an incident last week where my Senior NCO told me to get a haircut that day after work. I failed to comply with that order, and the next work day I did not get my haircut. In this case it would have fallen under Article 92 because Article 92 states, “In order to be guilty of this offense, a person must have had actual knowledge of the order or regulation.
Knowledge of the order may be proved by circumstantial evidence. ” I was guilty of this because I know that grooming standards are stated in AR 670-1, and given a direct lawful order by my Senior NCO, I was insubordinate. Being a Specialist who is wanting to get a promotion to Sergeant, I know that I need to understand the basic concept of being a soldier at all times. Looking professional, being in the United States Army, one must look like a soldier.
