>and killing for money is a bridge to far for him.
>he's in all likelyhood killed as a soldier. he killed the
>dirty cops who took out his son which he feels is justified,
>but killing AS a criminal puts him square on the other side of
>the fence.

As he said to Sir Squat Cobbler in "Pimento":

"You can be on one side of the law or the other, but if you make a deal with somebody, you keep your word. You can go home today with your money and never do this again, but you took something that wasn't yours and you sold it for a profit. You're now a criminal; good one, bad one-that's up to you."

So, like you said, he's okay being muscle. He's okay taking a beating for money. But he's not ready to cross the line into becoming a "bad" criminal.