What do soldiers do in a war?
They take orders. Nothing else. An individual mind, complete with one of the various random sets of beliefs provided to humanity by other humans over the years, plays absolutely no role in who wins or loses.
Yes and no. Yes, you are correct, but there is more. Some areas of the military train you to question...everyone like in the field of military nuclear power. It seems though, that they forgot to tell everyone else. While someone can be trained to question, those people are also required to do what they're told. It was so confusing.
I realize there's more to the story, but I can't write the entire novel. That's where you folks come in.
I can see how that would be confusing.
Also, metaphorically speaking, is what I was doing, sometimes.