buttons

This might seem like a daft question, but here goes...
During battle mode, if you click, say, 'fire and advance' does the 'greyed out' appearance of the button mean the mode is activated, or the clear appearance.
I ask this as I have on occasion clicked, what I thought, was 'Guard' mode, only to see my lads legging off after a retreating enemy.
Great game though, innit?