Articles Posted in Up Periscope

I posted a while back about an ongoing issue with the dog-handling unit in Bahrain.

Here’s an update from NPR Youth Radio.

Since then, a Navy officer familiar with the case has told NPR that the report recommended courts-martial for both Toussaint and another noncommissioned officer from the unit. The recommendation for courts-martial was never followed. Instead, the case was closed, and Toussaint received a "non-punitive letter of caution" — the military’s equivalent of a slap on the wrist.

This is a piece on a soon to be released documentary on the “Pendleton 8.”  The blogosphere and twitter have been all-a-twitter. The documentary is intended to be a look on the Hamdania prosecutions, plus.  The plus appears to be:

The film is called Article 32, its title referring to the part of the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice that deals with preliminary hearings. It’s about the stress and strain of combat, the morally brutalizing environment of Iraq and the gaps between established rules of engagement and the will to survive.

Sikorski and Stewart feel that these eight men were made political scapegoats. Article 32 is meant to provide a full-scope view of what troops are being ordered to do in Iraq. They say their film sheds new light on both the events that happened that night in Hamdania, and the subsequent murder investigation.

If you’ve been following Miller (sex offender registration issues) and Denedo (immigration issues similar to Padilla)(link to SCOTUSWiki documents), you’ve been following Padilla v. Kentucky.

Here’s a link to United States v. Miller, 63 M.J. 452 (C.A.A.F. 2006).

Here’s a link to an LA Times editorial on Padilla.

Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, October 13, the Court will hear arguments in No. 08-651, Padilla v. Commonwealth of Kentucky.  At issue in the case is whether a criminal defendant’s guilty plea can be set aside because his defense counsel affirmatively misadvised him with regard to the deportation consequences of the plea, and whether such misadvice constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment.  A Denedo question.

CAAF.

Army tests anonymous treatment for alcohol abuse

By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes, Saturday, October 10, 2009

TOKYO — For better and sometimes worse, alcohol is a common battle buddy.

Troops use it to celebrate after a long deployment and to self-medicate when the euphoria fades, leaving only stress, emotions and memories.

Air Force Academy Censors Professor for Discussing Gays in the Military

New Data Show Lesbian Discharges in Air Force Are Disproportionate; Lt. Col. Is Reprimanded and Removed From Classroom

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Palm Center has learned that a Lieutenant Colonel who taught at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, was punished and barred from teaching after she invited three Academy alumni to campus to discuss sexual minorities in the military. The professor, Lt. Col. Edith A. Disler, told Palm Center researchers that the classroom visit was approved by her course director, but Academy officials pulled her from the classroom anyway, launching an investigation that ended in a formal reprimand based on the subject matter discussed.

PR Newswire.

For those who like to drill down into the why’s, here is a link to the (660 page) Conference Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2010, with the Joint Explanatory Statement of the Committee of the Conference.

For example here is one item, at page 83 (or 134 if viewing .pdf in Adobe/Nitro).

 

Here is how the blog Suits & Sentences reports United States v. McPherson.

Army deserter lands honorable discharge, somehow

An odd case recently resolved by the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals shows how a soldier convicted of desertion can still take home an honorable discharge. It’s all a matter of timing and regulatory ambiguity.

It’s still happening.  I remember in my days as deputy at Navy Appellate Defense the occasional question from clients:  “I just got an honorable discharge in the mail, what do I do?”

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