It is wrong. Soldiers are not required to follow orders. Soldiers are required to follow lawful orders. There is a reason the word "lawful" is used.
Ignorance of the law is not a defense. If you, or a soldier or anybody else, breaks the law, it is illegal whether you knew you were breaking the law or not.
I'm afraid there is a ton of case law, and Supreme Court ruling that disagree with your opinion. Rather than argue about it because your opinion doesn't fucking matter anyway, the courts opinion does, I'll drop a link and quote a relevant portion for you to educate yourself. Not that you'll ever serve to need to know it but maybe so you don't pass your ignorance about such things on to someone else.
https://www.thebalance.com/military-orders-3332819
These articles require the obedience of
LAWFUL orders. An order which is unlawful not only does not need to be obeyed but obeying such an order can result in criminal prosecution of the one who obeys it. Military courts have long held that military members are accountable for their actions even while following orders -- if the order was illegal.
"
I was only following orders," has been unsuccessfully used as a legal defense in hundreds of cases (probably most notably by Nazi leaders at the Nuremberg tribunals following World War II). The defense didn't work for them, nor has it worked in hundreds of cases since.
The first recorded case of a
United States Military officer using the "
I was only following orders" defense dates back to 1799. During the War with France, Congress passed a law making it permissible to seize ships bound to any French Port. However, when President John Adams wrote the order to authorize the U.S. Navy to do so, he wrote that Navy ships were authorized to seize any vessel bound for a French port, or traveling from a French port. Pursuant to the President's instructions, a U.S. Navy captain seized a Danish Ship (the
Flying Fish), which was en route from a French Port.
The owners of the ship sued the Navy captain in U.S. maritime court for trespass. They won, and the United States Supreme Court upheld the decision. The U.S. Supreme Court held that Navy commanders "act at their own peril" when obeying presidential orders when such orders are illegal.