Lies, damn lies, and statistics

In the past we've noted unexpectedly high numbers of hits from Russia. Today it is Germany. Our analytical tools report that in the past two hours, Global Military Justice Reform has had a whopping (and literally unbelievable) 1012 hits from Germany, a mere three from the United States, and just one from Indonesia. As we have previously reported, the data must be taken with a grain of salt. It's unclear if this reflects some nefarious plot (think: 2016 US presidential election), but from the glass-enclosed newsroom high above Global Military Justice Reform Plaza, it's disturbing and readers should be aware of it.

Some things are becoming constants

Regardless of country or Service, senior officers are getting into trouble and sex is somewhere in the allegations along with some lying to investigators.  The Times of India brings us this little piece.

Brigadier loses 10-yr seniority for affair with colonel's wife

The brigadier faced as many as 13 charges, including adultery, falsifying official documents and violation of good order and military discipline[.]

[He] was awarded a 10-year loss of seniority and "a severe reprimand" by a general court martial after he pleaded guilty to committing adultery during the military trial.

"Stealing the affections of a brother officer's wife'' - euphemism for a sexual affair is considered a very serious misdemeanour and unbecoming conduct in the armed forces. Usually, officers indicted for such offence are summarily sacked, sometimes without pension and other benefits. "But the punishment is relatively less in the brigadier's case because he pleaded guilty to the charges," said an officer.

See here for an earlier blog, sort of the same subject.

Up until some years ago, the U. S. Navy had a court-martial punishment called 'loss of numbers,' the same principle as applied to the Brigadier here. Someone decided to remove that as a possible punishment--I wonder if they should bring that possible punishment back?

A surprising ruling in Egypt

Global Military Justice Reform is more than willing to kvetch when the circumstances warrant -- which is all too often. Now for a pleasant surprise from Egypt. The Constitutional Court ruled today the protest cases must be tried in civilian rather than military courts. Here is an excerpt from this account:

Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court ruled on Saturday that protest-related cases fall under the jurisdiction of the regular judiciary, not military courts.

The court’s ruling was in response to six cases submitted by the State Lawsuits Authority to determine which judicial authority should review cases involving illegal protest and obstructing roads in Upper Egypt's Beni Suef.

The Beni Suef cases were the subject of a judicial dispute between the regular criminal court and the military court in the governorate.

The Constitutional Court said in its reasoning that the defendants were to be tried in regular court given that they are not members of the Armed Forces and their crimes did not involve public institutions or properties.

Welcome aboard!

Global Military Justice Reform is proud to welcome a new contributor: Captain (ret) John Byron, U.S. Navy. We look forward to having his insights as a line officer/submariner and highly regarded commentator on naval matters.

One skipper’s view of captain’s mast

Post by John Byron,  Captain, USN (Ret)

Yes, it’s non-judicial. But it needs to be just and seen as such by all the interested parties.

Who are they?

• The accused standing at the bar.
• The rest of the crew, who’ll both judge the skipper and should find lessons on good order and discipline.
•  Higher authority, the Fourth Estate, and the general public, as the Commanding Officer of USS SHILOH (CG-67) recently discovered.

So the question is how best to serve this goal, to make the justice of non-judicial punishment visible to all.

The answer I came to early in my command tours, USS GUDGEON (SS-567) and later Naval Ordinance Test Unit Cape Canaveral: hold all masts in public, with as many of the crew attending as space and other duties allow.

Admittedly, doing so was contrary to my upbringing and experience in the five ships I’d served in previously. In them (and most or all of the rest of the Navy), mast was always held in private, the chain of command and the alleged miscreant the only attendees, even witnesses kept out until called upon. It’s the way it was.

But, with some misgivings at first and an Executive Officer and Chief of the Boat rather dubious, I decided to go back to earlier tradition, the days of sail and punishment in view of the crew topside before the mast. I found the results to be better than I could have anticipated. It really worked. 

Why do it this way, hold mast in public? Three reasons:

• The accused stands before peers and suddenly the bluster and bravado that led to the incident seem a lot less brave. It’s intimidating to be seen as letting down the crew and the ship’s reputation with misbehavior. The prospect of later having to stand before shipmates accused of wrongdoing concentrates the mind wonderfully.
• It informs the crew of the fairness of the proceedings, something often lost when the main source of crew information is the accused—found to have committed the offense with which charged—then going to the crew with his or her version of how they got screwed at mast. Trust me—it happens 100% of the time when no one else sees the actual mast
• Most importantly, it makes the skipper conscious that the whole crew is audience and needs to see clearly that what happens at mast is fair and proper. Being arbitrary and vindictive tells the crew their captain is a jerk, a moral brake on mean behavior that a skipper has authority for but never justification.

Not many masts in a diesel submarine or a happy shore command, but those I did run (with one exception*) were done in front of the whole crew, to its benefit and mine.

Skippers: hold your masts in front of the whole crew.

*I had a really fine young sailor who’d made a mistake and needed to be called to account. But I didn’t want to wreck his future in the boat. So mast was private and very quiet, sentence suspended on good behavior, and I was pleased months later to pin submarine dolphins on a well-qualified squared-away submariner. Judgment call. That’s what you get paid for.