This kind of situation came to a very public light and thankfully, we have a Commander-in-Chief who was not a part of the officer class and is thus not looking the other way and blindly giving them the benefit of the doubt or cover.

Specifically, the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, United States Navy.

After months of high-profile legal gaffes, the head of the Navy has ordered what officials are calling an operational pause for the Navy’s legal community. The largest and most comprehensive review of the Navy’s legal system kicked off the day after President Donald Trump publicly admonished the JAG community for awarding medals to the lawyers who were responsible for the failed prosecution of Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward Gallagher.
— US Naval Institute, 8/5/19

Navy Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak, the lead Navy prosecutor in the war crimes case against a decorated Navy SEAL, has been removed from the case by the judge for spying on defense teams and a Navy Times journalist.

Czaplak was ordered off the case against Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher by the judge, Navy Capt. Aaron Rugh, on Monday after Czaplak admitted emailing 13 defense attorneys and paralegals, as well as Navy Times editor Carl Prine, a tracking beacon in an effort to find the source of leaks to the media.

Last week, officials announced in court that the Marine Corps had withdrawn Capt. Conor McMahon, an assistant prosecutor, from the case.
— Military Times, 6/4/19

Busted thus evidence there’s a need to review the systemic.

In particular, officials singled out the unlawful command influence (UCI) from senior JAGs over the case of Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Keith Barry. Barry was convicted of a rape charge in 2015, but the conviction was overturned by a military appellate court when it found that the Navy’s top lawyer, Vice Adm. James Crawford, had pressured officials on the outcome of the case.

There’s no mention of the UCI on Vice Admiral Crawford’s official Navy bio. Funny how that works.

This “review” is LONG overdue and hopefully this won’t be scrubbed as well by those who never see a theater of battle but whose career is more important than people’s lives and freedom.

Again, it must reiterated that there are officers who are professional and decent people, have a mission to accomplish and respect those under them that get the job done. I don’t think civilians can truly appreciate the 24/7 power officers enjoy over enlisteds in all branches of the military. But if things get to a stage where legal representation becomes necessary, the officer class is rarely allowed to be found guilty of poor judgment or worse.

JAG officers, despite the glowing Hollywood depictions, are dangerous when they have power over the professional livelihoods and freedom of men and women whose only response can be either “Yes, sir” or “Yes, ma’am.” These officers can be surrounded by those unable to reveal the truth or brown nosers who’ll work overtime to conceal it to stay in the good standing of someone who can reward such warped loyalty with ease of promotion. They never thought they would ever be busted, let alone made a very public example of and hopefully a good number of their cases (with real life consequences for the accused) will be gone over with a fine tooth comb.

There could be who-knows-how-many people whose pay grades were stalled or reduced making reenlistment impossible, lost court-martials, received other-than-honorable or dishonorable discharges, or could even be in jail today because those in the good ol’ officer club were covering asses at the expense of a mere E-7 or below.

Once again, a special thank you to our Commander-in-Chief who looks out for ALL under his command.

UPDATE

Like officer abuse would be isolated to one branch…

A review of the Department of the Navy’s legal system has expanded to include the Marine legal community, according to a memo from Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer obtained by USNI News.

“Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer, in full coordination with the commandant of the Marine Corps, has directed an expansion of the U.S. Navy’s comprehensive review of the Judge Advocate General Corps to include U.S. Marine Corps Judge Advocates,” read a Thursday Navy statement to USNI News.
— USNI News, 8/22/19

That’s a nice way of saying they found more bad stuff.

Since when did that ever stop me….

With all the high profile murders of Armed Forces females by spouses or boyfriends, is it time to revisit the wisdom of allowing men and women to serve together in the military? Of course, in our politically correct society, that conversation will never occur until it personally impacts an elected official on Capitol Hill. But the fact remains that in our efforts to create a gender neutral society, the mission of our military and social engineering may be on a collision course. Don’t get me wrong; there are very responsible adults serving, but the bad news always tarnishes the reputations of the mature.

And I’m not even going to get into the gay effect on the military, so don’t ask. Been there, done that.

While on the USS Midway (and I don’t think much has changed since), the crew engaged in routine evolutions called the “Delta working party”. A supply vessel would pull up alongside to replenish our carrier with fuel and food for the crew. While dispensing the fuel was a job unto itself, the loading of food was an all-day affair.

This is something you never see in the Navy recruitment literature or videos. Delta working parties were made up of lower-ranked sailors who would form a human chain from the flight deck (where tons of provisions were placed on pallets) to the bowels of the ship were our food would be stored. This would involve dozens of crew members, and take hours to accomplish. Hours of handing off hundreds of bags of sugar, containers of ice cream, hundreds of cans, and to illustrate just how long this went on, box meals were provided so the work could continue uninterrupted.

I also got an opportunity to talk to shipmates who may have recently transferred from a supply ship, and their biggest gripes were that the females, literally, didn’t pull their weight. I was told that groups of women coincidentally had their “time of the month” during Delta working parties.

Because of Navy regulations, female medical issues could never be challenged (sexual harassment), thus many women based solely on their word, could get out of Delta working party duties, leaving it to increasingly resentful males.

The military has that purpose we all hear about, “To kill people and break things.” As simplistic and barbaric as that sounds, that’s the mission.

Let’s face some facts. The majority of those serving are men, and those men are taught to be aggressive. Passivity isn’t the preferred trait to take into battle. Within their own, that aggression can be tempered, but those outside the unit can be affected. Marriages of soldiers and civilians are hard enough to keep together, given the stress of deployments, but adding sexual tension within the ranks to the mix is not something the military disciplines should have to deal with.

The purpose of the military is not to be a social networking arena. While fraternization is technically illegal, we see more and more examples of military couples with disproportionate ranks. While that should raise red flags, the fact that unwed military personnel are breeding also means that eyes have been taken off the mission to the detriment of the Armed Forces.

There was a time when the military was segregated by sex, and it’s logical to assume we didn’t have these issues. But until we set political correctness aside and separate the boys and girls, we will continue to have all the social and instinctive distractions our gender-neutral military is having.

I don’t know what’s going on at Fort Bragg and if these murders of female personnel is purely coincidental or indicative of some “culture” on that base. But the media has noticed the pattern, and they’re eating it up. Many anti-war types would dissolve the military if they could, so something has to be done to not only keep women safe on bases, but men less distracted as well.

After all, when we signed on the line for service, there was no guarantee that we’d get laid by fellow soldiers. “Make love, not war” is good enough for civilians. It should never be sanctioned by the military.