" a now deceased friend of mine once asked for an officer to put in writing an order that he thought inappropriate - and spent the rest of his service days being poorly regarded by the officer class. I can envisage that as wholly typical."

You are perfectly entitled to envisage what you like, but having never yourself, been exposed to life in the armed forces and having never had to live under Queen's Regulations what you envisage is pure surmise based on hearsay.

Your deceased friend provided that he performed his duties conscientiously and competently would not have been affected in the least by being poorly regarded by the "officer class" as you put it. Had he served in either the Royal Air Force or in the Royal Navy it wouldn't have matter a toss. In one of the instances where I refused to obey an order, in the immediate aftermath there were times when you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, that was until the chap tasked with looking into it explained his reasons for finding my actions correct and pointed out to all involved that I had saved them all from looking the biggest c**ts in creation before a Court Martial had I complied and blindly obeyed the order given.