From: "Kevin Brooks"
Date: 1/8/2004 7:47 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id:


"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Subject: The nature of military justice.
From: Ed Rasimus

I would argue strenuously that the current military justice system is
more just and balanced than anything that happens in civil courtrooms.
What were you trying to say in your initial post?????


I think we both know that if a general wants a court marshall to come out
a
certain way, that is the way it will come out. Any doubt about that?

Yeah, lots of doubt. The GO who is the convening authority does not involve
himself directly in the trial proceedings, and if you are claiming the board
of officers (and an enlisted man if the defendant is enlisted, at the
defendant's discretion--though most enlisteds are smart enough to realize
that having a junior O-4 sitting in the jury is often better for him than
having a grizzled CSM or MSG there in his stead) who serve as the jury lack
the integrity to find according to their conscince, then you are WAY off
base. Just a few short years back there was a case at FT Lewis where the CG
was accused of having illegally influenced, or trying to influence, a CM
procedure. He quickly had more senior folks and reporters poking around than
you could shake a stick at. This is serious stuff, and you don't have the
facts to back up your increasingly whacky assertions.

Brooks


.
Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer



I think it would depend on the charges and the rank of the accused. Over the
years I have become quite aware of the self serving nature of most people.

A hypothetical based on things I have seen over the years. An E-4 charged with
theft faces a board of company grade officers. The officers are aware who write
and endorse (USAF spelling "indorse") the OERs. They are under the impression,
correctly or incorrectly, they may get a less than perfect OER and the accused
is "only an enlistee" so why not go ahead and convict? Given this scenario it
would be very easy for the convening authority to make known his wishes.

Do I think this has happened? Yes. Can I prove it? No.

I will say this; there is deception in the judicial system. In the early 80s
someone wrote the Eglin AFB commander via the base paper asking why they never
posted officer's Article 15s. His printed response was that in the past quarter
there were 18(?) enlisted Article 15s and no officer Article 15s. It was an
out and out lie. The base published a quarterly list of such actions. This list
has a limited circulation. The list for that quarter showed 2 officers who
recieved Article 15s.

Have you ever noticed most base/post newspapers that have a police blotter
equivelent will give an enlisted's rank (a SSgt did this) but not an officer's
( a military member did this)? this also applies to dependants (an Air Force
member's wife was aprehended shoplifting). The only exception to this I ever
saw was at Eglin AFB when SrA Wade Flood used actual ranks in the late 1980s.

Just my observations.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired