That’s a phone call you never want to get. Especially when you are the chief “JAG” officer for the whole Brigade (Judge Advocate General: The Attorney office in the HQ that includes the Prosecutor, the Legal Defense, a “legal advisor” and several more staff to do paperwork for everything legal.)
Normally the JAG walks around, looks cool and tries to be like the attorneys in the television show JAG or like Tom Cruise and Demi Moore in “A Few Good Men”. Our uniforms aren’t quite as nice, our attorneys don’t come from central casting and they could all use some make-up. In fact this crew is not as tall, not as exciting and is not particularly cute or good looking.
They also don’t play games with senior officers nor do they elicit great quotes like this one:
Col. Jessup: “Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's going to do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall; you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch-line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.”
Short (Long) Aside and History Lesson
On a more curious note this post was first conceived on 7 December 2010, which of course just shows how far we have all come as a nation. CNN had a special broadcast on the big screen television in the DFAC which reminded us what day it was (really…who can tell?) Shortly after that fateful day we declared war on Japan, interred our citizen Japanese (think Manzanar) and wrote patriotic songs that were sung all over America to encourage the American people to support the war. Eventually we defeated the Japs. We helped them rebuild their country and economy and then provided military protection so they could focus on becoming an economic powerhouse. We then bought poorly made trinkets and consumer goods from Japan. “Made in Japan” meant that it was going to break shortly after you bought it. Forty years later the value of the property in Tokyo was worth more than all of California (that didn’t last long but it caused a panic in the U.S. for awhile.) Twenty five years later the Japanese have dominant manufacturing positions in consumer electronics, automobiles, heavy equipment and other stuff. But even more surprising is we have as our head JAG a citizen of Japanese descent. Sixty years from sworn enemies to best buddies and no hard feelings. Wow! Americans are terrific and America is the land of opportunity and forgiveness. (Some other countries need to take note.)
The Brigade JAG and his team do wills, powers of attorney, some other miscellaneous legal work that Soldiers need from time to time and do violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Violations are the fun part where they prosecute Soldiers for wrongdoing, an example of which would be going “AWOL” or absent without leave (official permission). Whenever somebody is missing the standing joke is “Where is so and so? The meeting starts in 5 minutes.”, and the answer is “I think they went AWOL!”
Which brings us almost to the opening of the post, except…there is MORE!
Not much is happening at North Fort Hood. When asked the JAGs are “Just waiting for the fun to start” which means the top four disciplinary actions required in country are all fun (from a legal perspective) and what gets the Soldier in trouble might be perceived as “fun” until you get caught.
The JAG officers left North Fort Hood to go to a briefing held twice a year for JAGs going into theatre (a military theatre of war) to understand what they are getting into and what they can expect. It isn’t about golfing (as a cynic might expect) because it is Washington D.C and there was snow there last week. A LOT of snow.
To leave Ft. Hood you had to get approval. Tickets had to be purchased and arrangements made and all the units previously mentioned in other posts had to know about it, be informed, give approval, their blessing and then fund the movement. All these things take time, and since we are now on active duty (referred to as Title 10, which is the part of the U.S Code that covers the active military; Guardsmen are normally covered under Title 32) and that requires special permission which you can’t receive until you are on Title 10.
The day they were scheduled to come home they got stuck because of weather. Not the weather in Washington D.C which was fine but the weather in Atlanta. So they had to wait for two days and then got rebooked onto another airline that doesn’t use Atlanta as their main hub…whichever one that might be, but it rhymes with “Delta”.
You don’t get plane tickets for three JAG officers that include connecting flights, hotel reservations and a rental car without somebody giving permission, do you? In fact, the request was made from one Colonel (Brigade Commander) through a couple of other Colonels who are in charge of their own “Brigades”.
They are not quite as big, not quite as important (we are going into harm’s way and they are training us to go into harm’s way; which is more important?) in the big picture and the long run. But right now they are the Big Dogs because they decide everything. They approve and assist and forward and cancel as needed. The people who train us, feed us, give us our vehicles, approve our Christmas pass and decide if we pass our “evaluations” are these other Colonels in charge of the 75th, MOB Brigade, 166th, the 120th and even the 479th. They are all more important and somebody had to say “Let them go to Washington D.C!” But right now, as our JAG (Pseudonym Major Miyagi) is taking a phone call from the good captain in charge of his time, attendance and accountability he must be thinking “Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything! Unfortunately I never caught one…” That is after of course she says, “Who authorized you to leave post!”
After returning to NFH there of course were the questions: “Who authorized this?” “How did this happen?” “I don’t recall approving this!” “Only General Anderson (the head honcho, big cheese 3 star General in charge of everything on Ft. Hood) can authorize leaving post for someone at NFH (kind of like a prison Warden). So who allowed it? Well the orders came out of the MDOC (MOB BDE HQ) and the departures were briefed at the CUB, BUB and probably the CUA (see post on CUB, BUB and RUB coming soon.) And somebody paid for it. Do you think we still need to get General Anderson’s approval, I mean now that is after the fact?
No. Probably not. Neither do I. Let’s just let this one pass and do better next time. Are you good with that? Okay. So am I.
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