I am a retired Army Field Grade Officer. Every officer serves at the pleasure of the President and can be fired or brought up on charges in a heartbeat by the President. He can also recall to active duty retired or released officers for the purpose of legal action like courts martial proceedings. Officers who cross the President take a very serious risk.
I’ve always followed CW II scenarios with interest and have played many of them out with a retired O5 with Pentagon experience who is a close friend.
The idea of Team Obama (McCord) talking out loud about writing position papers to subvert the chain of command is a new twist on all the “twenty million deer hunters” scenarios - which I’m sure we agree are all ridiculous.
The only way I can see American soldiers and Marines killing each other as a result of political conflict is exactly this - troopers put into a conflict situation under turncoat O1-O3 officers drowning them in misinformation without access to good sources.