The military is a cross section of the general public and you have some of the best of the best, a whole bunch of average types and some of the worst of the worst. Screening and boot camp weeds out many of the bad ones but not all.
Your comment:
"The other thought I had is that with a buddy system, will people who are assaulted in the future be held culpable because they didn't have their buddies with them? What about when the buddies are assaulted together? Will it still be their fault?"
If it's an order, then one can be held liable for failing to obey a lawful order. Towards the end of my time in the service, it became a standing order that anyone driving or riding in a motor vehicle had to wear a seat belt even if the state one was driving in didn't require it. If one was involved in an accident and wasn't wearing a seat belt, even if the operator of the other vehicle was at fault, the punishment was the service person who was injured may be held responsible for all medical costs or if killed, the life insurance policy would be forfeited. Failure to obey a lawful order had consequences even if another was at fault.
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