Drill Instructors once pounded it into the heads of recruits to never, ever, EVER have dealings with WMs.
From the looks of things, that advice is no longer given.
Let's hope for the sake of some sad sack out there that they get back into the habit of warning young pups about the dangers cause Congress is about to get stupid. Via Politico.
Every interest group will attempt to get their pet cause moved to civilian courts. Drunk Driving? Mothers against drunk driving will insist on it. Animal cruelty? Peta will be all over you. The list will go on.
This will be the biggest failure of this JCS. They will be the crowd that allowed good order and discipline to be taken from Commanders and given to civilian prosecutors. The JCS played checkers while women's rights groups played chess. Haynie and TwentyTwenty (and all his gay brothers and sisters) should be proud.
From the looks of things, that advice is no longer given.
Let's hope for the sake of some sad sack out there that they get back into the habit of warning young pups about the dangers cause Congress is about to get stupid. Via Politico.
Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have joined an upstart effort to remove the chain of command from military sexual assault cases, POLITICO has learned.Go to Politico to read the whole thing but Military Law is about to be changed forever. This won't stop at sexual assault cases. How can you justify only placing that crime under civilian authority while murder remains under military control. That will be the slippery slope.
The tea party favorites give the bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, critical conservative cover as she battles the Pentagon and hawks in both parties on her proposal to create a new prosecution system for major military crimes.
Every interest group will attempt to get their pet cause moved to civilian courts. Drunk Driving? Mothers against drunk driving will insist on it. Animal cruelty? Peta will be all over you. The list will go on.
This will be the biggest failure of this JCS. They will be the crowd that allowed good order and discipline to be taken from Commanders and given to civilian prosecutors. The JCS played checkers while women's rights groups played chess. Haynie and TwentyTwenty (and all his gay brothers and sisters) should be proud.
They want to be President. This is the kind of brain-dead selling out that the Republican Party seems to be in for these days.
ReplyDeleteCongress has the power to change UCMJ at any time. That is their right as the legislature of the United States. I think it is particularly ill thought, as civilian conviction rates are not very impressive, and the only options are; no prosecution, conviction, aquital. The chain of command has a much broader array of options to respond, and taking those options off the table doesn't do the victims any good.
ReplyDeleteAccording to all available data that I can find, college campuses are a more dangerous place for women than military service. However, what is the conviction rate for that population? Expect the military conviction rates to drop in civilian courts, as Commanders conduct an initial investigation, hand it off to prosecutors and say "it's your problem now DA."
from listening to Gillibrand she doesn't want the command involved even in the investigation. plus look at the population you have in the military. most of these kids are fed apple pie and usa everyday. a prosecutor will be able to break one of these guys or get them to plea deal so fast it'll make heads swim. agreed that college campuses are much more dangerous places but women in college aren't trying to get into combat units and women in college aren't a cause celeb for feminist.
DeleteA service member is in a different category of citizenship than a normal everyday citizen. As part of their service, they give up certain rights because the nature of their duties requires discipline. Because of their separate condition, service members require separate laws and a separate justice system. This is simple to understand. I was just reading the comments on the posted article's page. Not one discussion of the effect positive or negative upon military discipline. They just don't give a shit. Fuck civilians.
ReplyDeletewell they're going to castrate Commanding Officers everywhere. why even listen to the dude if all he can do is wait till you get back stateside to press charges? its like a mother promising to tell daddy when he gets home. its really contrary to common sense.
DeleteOf course it is contrary to common sense, this is politics.
ReplyDeleteAnd good luck getting civilians to handle the investigation, unless it is tasked to the DA Police for the Army. I don't know if the sister organizations have a civilian police force to fall back one. Maybe the FBI? Sounds like the chain of command can remind servicemembers that if it is a civilian matter, civilian civil liberties come into play, such as the right to an attorney and the right to keep their mouth shut.
Although when I did investigations, it was always the dumb ones that confessed. We had no hard evidence most of the time, just a series of sworn statements that never told the same story, and all the guy had to do was shut up and he would walk.