I kind of disagree with you here, but you are close. The US military encourages critical thinking in all its ranks (something many other nations do not do), bu

I kind of disagree with you here, but you are close. The US military encourages critical thinking in all its ranks (something many other nations do not do), but it has to do so while discouraging risky behavior. This is what is so difficult, because unnecessary risks can literally get you and your friends killed. Because of this the US military teaches their officers and soldiers to follow orders but to give it some thought about how it's done. The only career field (that I can think of) where orders are supposed to be followed 'robotically' is the maintenance career field in the Air Force where the Technical Orders (instructions for fixing jets) are the word of God. Most of the time there will be quite a bit of flexibility in an order to encourage critical thinking but discourage risk. Source: I'm an officer in the US Air Force.