Tag: UCMJ

What If They Say NO?

A regular visitor and reader of IST John at https://johnrieber.com/ (visit often for some wonderful stuff)….in a recent comment he asked what would happen if the generals that were chastised by Hogsbreath and Donny refused an order…..

I found this article that may answer his question.

…

Increasingly, then, the question is: What will the military leaders do? Let Trump turn full blown Kim Jong Un? Or say, “No sir!”

About saying “NO!”… It isn’t just legal — it is compulsory under the current conditions, and this will only become more apparent. According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ, Article 92, service members have the duty to obey only lawful orders and to refuse unlawful ones. An order is unlawful if it violates the Constitution, US laws, military regulations, or international law. Obeying illegal orders can result in criminal liability.

At Quantico, by remaining silent, by not applauding, by not smiling at Trump’s “jokes,” the generals and admirals gave some of us at least a sliver of hope that they understand the weighty responsibility upon their shoulders.

Perhaps they will not, after all, go quietly into the night.

What Would Happen if the Generals Refused to Follow Orders?

This may not be a definitive answer to the question but it could give us an idea an d ask questions of our generals, our military commanders.

If we go by the Uniform Code of Military Justice there are several things that could be levied against one who breaks the code….

Punishments under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) range from less severe administrative penalties to severe criminal punishments, including reprimands, forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank, extra duties, restriction, confinement, and punitive discharges like a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. The specific punishment depends on the severity of the offense, and for the most serious crimes, penalties can include life imprisonment or the death penalty. 

Common punishments
  • Reprimand:A formal verbal or written disapproval of conduct.
    Reduction in rank:Demotion to a lower pay grade.

    Forfeiture of pay:A portion of the service member’s pay is withheld.

    Extra duties:Being assigned additional duties outside of the normal work schedule.

    Restriction:Being confined to a specific geographic area, such as a base.

    Confinement:Physical imprisonment, with options for hard labor without confinement.

    Fines:Monetary fines can be imposed.

    Punitive discharges:These are severe penalties that result in separation from the military and can have significant consequences:

    Bad-conduct discharge:Imposed for more serious offenses.
    Dishonorable discharge:The most severe type of discharge, used for the most serious offenses.
    Dismissal:The equivalent of a dishonorable discharge for an officer.

Death penalty:Can be imposed for the most extreme offenses, such as treason or espionage.Severity and process

Non-judicial punishment:

Minor offenses are typically handled by a commanding officer through a process known as Article 15 or non-judicial punishment, which avoids a criminal conviction.

Courts-martial:

More serious offenses are tried in a court-martial, which is a military trial.

Sentencing and review:
A court-martial conviction can lead to severe punishments. If the sentence includes a punitive discharge, dismissal, or confinement of more than one year, it is subject to review by an intermediate court.
More specific….what about disobeying direct orders….

Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) covers the Failure to Obey an Order or Regulation. Service members accused of failure to obey orders, regulations or performing their duties in a negligent or intentionally poor manner may be charged under this article.

This is one of the most commonly charged offenses in military justice. It can apply to a wide range of misconduct, including dereliction of duty, failure to follow safety protocols, and refusing to carry out a lawful order.

Violating a lawful order in the military is serious. The government may launch an investigation into:

  • Refusal to carry out orders
  • Negligent performance of duty
  • Drunk or incapacitated on duty
  • Failure to follow standing safety procedures
  • Dereliction of duty that causes injury or death

Even a single mistake can lead to nonjudicial punishment (Article 15), a GOMOR (General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand), administrative separation, or even court-martial.

I know it is a lot of information but this is the jest of what someone who disobeys a direct order can look forward to getting.

Now the question is will any of the generals show that sort of fortitude after in vesting much of their adult life to the military?

I hope this helps understand what is expected if one does not follow a direct order.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Messing With The Military

Recently Trump issued a couple of pardons for war crimes and a reinstatement of rank to another, a SEAL…..I wrote about as it happened…..https://lobotero.com/2019/11/18/will-you-pardon-me/

Since the presidential actions more has come out…..the Navy has decided to ignore the president and continue their process against the SEAL……

President Trump is again coming to the rescue of a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes before his conviction of posing with a dead ISIS captive in Iraq in 2017. “The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin,” Trump tweeted Thursday, less than 24 hours after Gallagher learned of a decision by the Navy to remove him from the elite commando force, reports the New York Times. Though Trump reversed Gallagher’s demotion last week, the Navy believed it was acting with “official approval,” the Times reports. Trump’s tweet came after Gallagher’s lawyer appeared on Fox News, describing the Navy decision as an effort to “stick it right in the president’s eye.”

I stated before and I reiterate….the president needs to keep his grubby LITTLE hands out of the military justice process.

It appears that within the military and its leadership there are those unlike the GOP have found their spines…..

The battle over a tarnished Navy SEAL is heating up in Washington. On Friday, US Navy Secretary Richard Spencer lent his support to a pending Navy panel that will decide the military future of Edward Gallagher—despite President Trump’s assertion that Gallagher remain a SEAL, Reuters reports. “I believe the process matters for good order and discipline,” said Spencer at a security forum in Canada. “I think we have a process in place, which we’re going forward with, and that’s my job.” The rare moment of Defense Dept. resistance to Trump sparked headlines and appeared to infuriate Gallagher’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, who said he was “stunned” by this “open defiance of the commander-in-chief by a service secretary, on foreign soil, of all places.”

Parlatore also shrugged off a question about whether his client would appear at next month’s Navy review, which was ordered by Rear Adm. Collin Green: “Let’s see if Green and the Navy secretary are even still around tomorrow,” said Parlatore. But the Pentagon has been quietly seething over Trump’s decision to clear three armed services members, including Gallagher, who were convicted or accused of war crimes, per the New York Times. Gallagher was cleared of charges including the murder of an ISIS captive, but convicted of having discredited the armed services by posing for photos with the man’s corpse. His demotion in rank and pay grade was rejected by Trump in a tweet.

Gallager was cleared by the military court…..it is up to the military to decide his fate…..not some tangerine colored veg in the White House….a veg that has NEVER served in the military and yet he thinks he can do what he likes …….time to draw the line at what this creep can do.

Not to worry because the lap puppy (SecDef) Esper has been ordered to punish the SecNav…..

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer just got fired. Defense Secretary Mark Esper demanded his resignation Sunday amid turmoil over a pending military review of a tarnished Navy SEAL, Fox News reports. Esper sought Spencer’s resignation “after losing trust and confidence in him regarding his lack of candor over conversations with the White House involving the handling of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher,” a Department of Defense spokesman said. The firing came after Spencer said the Navy would still review Gallagher’s SEAL status despite a tweet from President Trump saying the Navy “will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin.” Trump also restored Gallagher’s SEAL status after the Navy had demoted him.

The DOD said Esper made the move after hearing Spencer had privately told the White House that Gallagher could retire a SEAL if the Navy review was allowed to proceed—an offer Spencer didn’t reveal publicly, per the Washington Post. “I am deeply troubled by this conduct shown by a senior DOD official,” said Esper. The Gallagher drama was heating up all weekend, with Spencer saying the review would proceed and Gallagher accusing Navy officials of “corruption,” per the Washington Examiner. Sunday reports had the White House agreeing to back off. To recap, the Navy had acquitted Gallagher of grave charges—including murder—while serving in Iraq in 2017, but demoted him for posing in a photo with a dead Islamic State captive.

The closing of the resignation letter…..

“The rule of law is what sets us apart from our adversaries,” Spencer wrote. “Good order and discipline is what has enabled our victory against foreign tyranny time and time again.”

“Unfortunately, it has become apparent that in this respect, I no longer share the same understanding with the Commander in Chief who appointed me, in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline,” he continued. “I cannot in good conscience obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath I took in the presence of my family, my flag and my faith to support and defense the Constitution of the United States.”

But for those that do not accept my words I offer up the letter for them to read if they are capable of pulling that off…..

Let the UCMJ do what it is there to do…..keep politician’s grubby LITTLE hands out of the process.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

He Was Taken Aback

Closing Thought–10Jun19

Recently the president had batted around the idea of using his pardon power to do so for a SEAL accused of war crimes…..the news made veterans groups and vets themselves come unglued…..a Trump got his feelings hurt…..

President Donald Trump thought that pardoning multiple accused or convicted war criminals would be a big political winner — but he was reportedly surprised when multiple military veterans groups came out against the proposal.

The Daily Beast reports that Trump has put his war criminal mass pardon scheme on ice after he “was personally taken aback by the across-the-board pushback” against it.

In particular, the president had “not expected the blowback to be as fierce and widespread among veterans as it was” when he watched cable TV and newspaper coverage of the plan, which would have included a pardon for a Navy SEAL who has been accused by his own fellow service members of deliberately murdering civilians in Iraq.

Veterans groups such as the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the progressive Vote Vets both signaled opposition to Trump’s plan, and multiple retired generals went on cable news to explain why these pardons would be horrible for maintaining order within the military.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/06/trump-was-personally-taken-aback-when-military-vets-denounced-his-plan-to-pardon-war-criminals-report/

Seriously?

He was taken aback?

I thought he attended military academy….maybe they do not teach military stuff at a rich guys playground for their offspring.

Maybe he would understand a little better if he had manned up and went into the draft and served his country…he might then understand the UCMJ…..the “Code” by which the military functions.

But since he chose bone spurs over enlistment then his reaction is understandable…..cowards get their feelings hurt easily.

No Way To Honor Memorial Day

Today is the day set aside to honor those that gave all for their country……and to remember those who did not return from war…..

Not a day for controversy……Our president is talking about using his pardon power yet again…..this time will be a mistake……

How are you spending Memorial Day?  Ordinary people may attend parades, host cookouts, or take the long weekend to visit loved ones……but not our beloved supreme leader……

Donald Trump, on the other hand, may pardon a few war criminals.

The president recently requested the files of several accused and convicted U.S. war criminals, a possible step toward expedited pardons for individuals who’ve done unspeakable things.

There’s SEAL chief Edward Gallagher, who senselessly shot to death a teenage girl and an elderly man in Iraq. Gallagher also brutally stabbed a wounded 15-year-old to death – and then posed for photos with the body, which he texted to friends.

https://original.antiwar.com/Peter-Certo/2019/05/26/pardoning-war-criminals-is-a-monstrous-way-to-honor-memorial-day/
 
Even members of Congress do not want the president to step into the middle of military justice…..

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Sunday urged President Trump to be “careful” in his reported plans to pardon a number of military servicemen who were accused of war crimes.

Ernst told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” that she doesn’t “know the details” of the prosecution for Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher or others but urged the president to “be very careful” in making a determination on pardons.

The president should not interfere with military justice……there is a code of conduct for service people…that code should not be questioned or overturned.
 
The president will do little to remember our fallen heroes if he goes through with this idea.
 
Today we observe and honor our war dead….it should be about NOTHING but that.
 
 
A Closing Thought…..I do not think this would be a story if the president had done his duty and served in the military (that is an idea for another post)……

Bergdahl…..Period

I have unable to keep up with the news as usual…..too many trips for doctors and such….but I see that Trump is losing his mind over the decision that Bowe Bergdahl would not get prison time.

Trump took to his fave fake news source Twitter so that he could reach the limp wristed turds that worship him (sorry about that but I have NO use for these people) about Bergdahl decision…..

He faced life in prison, but Bowe Bergdahl will serve no jail time at all for abandoning his military post in Afghanistan and endangering the troops sent to search for him. Instead, he will receive a dishonorable discharge, the New York Times reports. The military judge in the case also reduced his rank from sergeant to private and ordered him to forfeit $1,000 a month in pay for 10 months. Judge Col. Jeffery Nance, who CNN notes Bergdahl picked over a jury, didn’t provide reasoning for the sentencing. “Sgt. Bergdahl has looked forward to today for a long time,” his civilian attorney says. “He has lost nearly a decade of his life.” Bergdahl, who pleaded guilty last month, has a job offer from an animal sanctuary and may get a gig helping a military official design survival training, the AP reports.

While a life sentence was on the table and prosecutors were asking for 14 years in military prison, Bergdahl’s defense argued he had been punished enough during five years of tortuous captivity at the hands of the Taliban and “probably should not have been in the Army” due to an undiagnosed severe personality disorder. President Trump had called for the “dirty rotten traitor” to be executed in comments Nance called “disturbing.” (The judge rejected a request to dismiss the trial over Trump’s comments, but said he would factor them into sentencing.) Following Friday’s sentencing, the president tweeted: “The decision on Sergeant Bergdahl is a complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our Military.” Bergdahl is appealing his dishonorable discharge, which must be upheld by a general and the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals. If it stands, Bergdahl will lose most or all of his veterans’ benefits.

Trump being an idiot and ignorant of the UCMJ, that his interference in the process probably had a lot to do with the decision….he should have done something that he is incapable of doing….shutting the Hell up.  But if spout off maybe he should bone up on the Uniform Code Of Military Justice (UCMJ)…..

http://www.ucmj.us/

I also read that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was a “gold mine” of intelligence, helping the military better understand insurgents and how they imprison the enemy, two agents testified Tuesday as defense attorneys sought to show the soldier’s contributions since he was returned in a prisoner swap.

That also could have been taken into consideration when the decision was made.

I also read a piece by a Viet vet that wondered off camp in Vietnam and what he had to say about Bergdahl…….

Let us stipulate in advance that young men are often foolish. This I know because I have been both young and foolish.

Let us further stipulate that under the stress of war, foolish young men often do stupid things. This I know because I have done stupid things while a young fool under the stress of war.

Like me, Bowe Bergdahl was also a foolish young man, and under the stress of war he did a stupid thing. The stupid thing he did was to walk off his post, and disappear into the waiting arms of the Taliban. There are conflicting accounts as to why he walked away. In his own account, it had to do with what he described as “poor leadership” in his battalion. How walking away was supposed to change that is unclear, but apparently he hoped to trudge 18 miles to find a general who would listen to his objections. We can only smile at the fantasy of a general taking seriously the complaints of a PFC against his superiors.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/a-prayer-for-bowe-bergdahl/

WE can condemn but without knowing all the facts about why did what he did then we are doing a disservice to the man.

He is paying for what he did and he has to live with his action…….. a chore I do not envy.