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Wednesday, March 3, 2021

A separate community?

Americans in military service and veterans aren’t some sealed-off segment of the population; they are us. And like other Americans, they are yearning for the connectedness of community and a sense of belonging. Finding civically responsible ways to stitch our veterans back into their communities would diminish the pipeline of veterans into extremist groups, just as it gives jihadists and gang members offramps. Remember that veterans stood among the heroes on Jan. 6, too.

From this op-ed by Michael Robinson and Kori Schake in The New York Times. Hmmm. Maybe it would be a good start to dial back the "separate community" mantra.

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1 comment:

  1. Don RehkopfMarch 3, 2021 at 2:41 PM

    The "separate community" mantra is a "relic of a bygone era." It was true early on in the history of our Republic when Army outposts on our Western frontier might be days away from "society" and the civilian community; or weeks away for Sailors and Marines sailing the globe. Certainly, with today's technology, much of the rationale for this concept, can no longer pass muster.

    Parker v. Levy, and its progeny, seems to have cemented this concept to constitutional values which continues to be perpetuated. But, there is (as it should be) a re-evaluation of the concept along with some well-deserved criticism. See, e.g., https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2959&context=cklawreview and https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1253&context=ndlr

    This is not to say, that some judicial deference within the parameters of military justice is, and may be, appropriate - only that those parameters must be culled to the "least possible means" necessary. Certainly as this Blog frequently asks, why is a particular case in a GCM instead of the local criminal court? Such questions deserve intellectual answers, not blind deference.

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