Great Court-Martial Cases by DiMona Joseph;

Author:DiMona, Joseph;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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Epilogue

To students of military justice, the case of Sergeant McKeon holds a special fascination. Over the years the most persistent criticism of military law has been the issue of command influence, and in this case that issue was turned inside out.

Critics have pointed out that in the military it is the commander who decides who will be court-martialed and on what charges. This same commander then proceeds to select judge, jurors, prosecutor, and very often defense counsel as well, all from his subordinates. These men are dependent upon the commander for promotions, recommendations, and assignments to duty. Under these circumstances it is a rare court that will act against the wishes of a determined commander.

And that is exactly what this court did! The Commandant of the Marine Corps, no less, had detailed in open court the punishment he felt was called for, and the court simply paid him no attention.

In fact, the fame that the case achieved shows how rare it is for a court to ignore command influence. The Presidio “mutiny” trials, critics say, are more typical. (In those trials, it took three investigations before the commander could find an investigating officer who would recommend the charges of mutiny that he desired.) And the issue is still alive. New revisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice are before Congress, designed to limit the scope of command influence. There can be little doubt that the major flaws of the system arise from just such influence as was dramatically brought out in the reaction of the President of the United States to the trial, in 1970-71, of Lieutenant William Calley.

In Marine Corps history, the result of the case was a re-examination of training techniques. The Drill Instructor is still a fearsome figure to the Marine recruit. And because of the Indochinese war training is still rigorous, but it will never again be what it was that night on the banks of Ribbon Creek.

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