Foot soldiers and obeying orders

There are a number of views about soldiers accountability and responsibility for their actions in war or under orders. Generally it is held that the war is decided at a higher rank and orders are given to be followed and not questioned. Soldiers are mere executioners who are automatons in the machinery of power with no ability to judge, question, or refuse any order. But it is the soldier who commits the atrocity at hand. The soldier kills. The soldier burns. The soldier destroys. The soldier dehumanizes. Soldiers have also been found liable. Soldiers have also been decorated in spite of not obeying orders.
Soldiers are pawns. But in reality the soldier is a human being with judgement and a conscience. And a soldier must act as a human being. If the police of the cities of the USA think of themselves as automaton soldiers following orders with no liability, accountability, or responsibility for the damage to civilian OWS protesters and no commitment to serve and protect civilians peaceful right of free expression and nonviolent protest then we are in a state of anarchy and dehumanization that is comparable to Syria, Egypt, Libya, and absolutely reflective of the worst of Vietnam and Nazi Germany. The stakes are the same. The price of blindly following orders is the same. The cost is our humanity. Are the soldiers and the police of the United States prepared to stand on the wrong side of humanity because it is a tradition that they serve government's and corporations and not civilians?