In a weapons drill on the field, recruits aren't meant to debate the procedure. Where is the legitimate time and place for critical questions about it?

In the theory lesson (Theoriestunde), not during the drill — and a critical question about a fixed safety procedure often isn't really "critical thinking" at all.

There are two careful distinctions here:

• Right moment to ask = the classroom theory session, governed by the learning objective. The field drill is for ingraining, not discussing — questioning each repetition would defeat the purpose.
• What counts as critical thinking — in a military context, "critical questions" often turn out to be about challenging beliefs (Glaubenssätze) or value conflicts, which "has little to do with critical thinking" in the reasoning sense. Genuine critical thinking evaluates evidence and reasoning; airing a value disagreement during a safety drill is something else.

And for the handling itself, Speak-up is survival-critical: weapons safety is backed by regulation, safety rules, unloading checks, ammunition orders and strict sanctions — there the licence to halt a dangerous action is absolute.

Tip: Separating "this is a reasoning problem" from "this is a values/belief disagreement" is itself a critical-thinking move — misclassifying the second as the first wastes the drill and muddies real inquiry.