i made a little mission with respawn where 2 teams (blufor vs Indep) are battling in a town...
both teams have 4 players which all respawn when killed at the BASE marker...
however the respawn is not in the town itself so your safe when respawning.
what ive noticed when for example 3 dies...(10 secs later)... he respawns and hes on combat mode and is really not wanting to return to formation unless a move command is given (which can be annoying when you need the AI to automatically return to formation or even carry on the with waypoint given previously.
so IMHO the soldier dies and respawns not in danger and has no problems returning to the battlefield ready to engage.