That is a very fine line - one I thought had been crossed.
Ichiban had it right, people a lot smarter, (in their opinion ) than us have made the assumption that the armed forces would "follow orders", and have died, or been imprisoned for their error.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Eight_%28Soviet_Union%29The further fate of GKChP members
* Pugo, committed suicide together with his wife. However, some sources speculate that he may have been murdered.[3]
* Yazov, spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina. According to the magazine "Vlast" No.41(85) of 14 October 1991 "...from the prison contacted the President with a recorded video message, where repented and called himself "an old fool". Yazov denies ever doing that. He accepted the amnesty stating that he was not guilty. He was dismissed from the military service by the Presidential Order and awarded a ceremonial weapon. He was awarded an order of Honor by the President of Russian Federation. Yazov works as a military adviser at the General Staff Academy.
* Varennikov, spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina, refused to accept the offered amnesty, and was eventually recognized as not guilty. Prior to GKChP he participated in events to capture the TV-station in Vilnius and according to the assistant of Gorbachev, Andrei Chernyayev, the decision to use the force was taken him personally without discussion with the President.[4] Varennikov since 1995 was a people deputy and in 2008 publicly was stating that the military force used during the August putsch was intended for security purposes including the protection of Yeltsin. He died in 2009 and was buried in Moscow.
* Baklanov, spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina, then accepted an amnesty in 1994 as not guilty. Later he worked as a director of Rosobshchemash.
* Yanayev, spent 18 months in Matrosskaya Tishina. Later he became a chairman of the department of national history at the Russian International Academy of Tourism.[5]
* Pavlov, during the putsch was taken to a hospital with a diagnosis of hypertension, but on 29 August was transferred to Matrosskaya Tishina. He accepted his amnesty as not guilty and became the head of the Chasprombank. Pavlov resigned from the bank on 31 August 1995 and six months later the bank was left without license.[6] Later he was an adviser at Promstroibank (today known as Bank VTB). Pavlov died in 2003 after a series of heart attacks and was buried in Moscow. )
As for your assertion that "Our soldiers follow orders. " You sound like one of Hitlers toadies, "Befeln ist befeln" (Orders are orders ) did not work as a defense at Nuremberg,
( http://www.nurembergfilm.org/trial_defendants_verdicts.shtml )
a variation on that did not save Lt. William Calley at My Lai, and it did not prevent the world from condemning Tienanmen Square. That is the assumption that lead to the failure of the anti Gorby coup in Moscow.
JNevis has it right on this, The UCMJ specifies LEGAL orders.
Another point you overlook is that the opinions of "soldiers" ie enlisted grades, are irrelevant until their Officers actually give them orders.
In a face off between "We the People" and "they", the administration, the orders passed on are going to be filtered through Officers who would not be there if they did not value the Constitution they are sworn to defend, and revere the Declaration of Independence.
What is far more likely is that they would put themselves between the 2 factions in an attempt to prevent violence, there would probably be efforts to organize services like "Porta potties" and such.
This is of course based on the premise of initially peaceful "TEA Party" type protest, in the face of rioting, and destruction I would of course applaud machine gunning the crowd.
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