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This is a lesson worth remembering:
Soldiers who last month stripped rank chevrons, ribbons and other items from the uniform of a soldier who’d just been sentenced in a rape case acted illegally and undermined military justice, a military judge said Friday.
He also knocked 60 days off the Aug. 4 sentence of the soldier, Pvt. Mikel A. Reynolds.
“The public stripping … served no valid military purpose … and amounted to unlawful punishment,†Army Col. Patrick J. Parrish said Friday at a post-trial hearing in the case.
Last month’s stripping occurred inside the courtroom at Camp Humphreys and in full view of the rape victim, who was seated just yards away.
Even convicted criminals have rights and this is a perfect example of this. Having been witness to a situation similar to this in the past, what should of happened is that the escorts should of took him out of the courtroom and transported him to the confinement facility at Camp Humphreys. There they take his Class A’s, awards, and other items and inventory them and store them until release.
The leaders involved in this incident claim they didn’t know the proper procedures which is probably true. The prosecuting lawyers have some culpability in this because they should have briefed the escorts on how to properly handle their duties once sentencing is complete. So the blame can be spread around, but what is important that everyone learns from the mistakes made here so they don’t get repeated in the future.
So let me understand this, a rapist gets 2 months knocked off his sentences because he had his rank removed and the dishonor of it. What the hell is this B.S. How about the lady who was raped did not she have the expectation of saftey while she enlisted in the US Armed Forces. So this stated that we should allow soldiers to rape and to “escape” as the writer stated with his shithead. Silly Sally will have a field day with this one.
To my knowledge this public “stripping” of rank is not mentioned as a proper procedure in any Army manual or regulation.
My impression is that it this type of thing has occasionally been practiced in the last twenty years or so, based on various officers/NCO’s impressions of what must have occurred after court-martial convictions in the “old” Army (ie pre-Vietnam, WWII, or maybe even WWI). I think they must have got the idea from old movies and TV series.
I never saw it happen when I was active duty but did hear an occasional “war story” about it from other officers.
Even if it was common practice in the “olden” days, I don’t know that it was allowed to occur in courtrooms immediately after conviction. An appropriate format for it would presumably have been a “parade” type ceremony in front of the convicted soldier’s unit.
The appropriation of “his” courtroom for this type of thing is probably what ticked off the military judge.
Also, read the sentence of the court-martial carefully. I don’t think the UCMJ authorizes a court-martial to strip a soldier of his awards, only of his rank.
For awards to be rescinded I think there must be a DoD administrative board action. If I’m right about this then that’s something else that probably irritated the judge. I suppose a prisoner in jail is not allowed to wear awards (?) but this would be a matter for the correctional facility to supervise and the awards would presumably remain formally a part of the soldier’s record until such board action occurs.
GI, you might want to keep an eye on the current UCMJ or the separation regs that govern the discharge of officers and EM’s. I speculate there’s a good chance they will soon be updated with specific guidance regarding these types of “branded” ceremonies (if they haven’t been already).
(I call it that based on an old 1960’s TV Western series called “Branded”, starring Chuck Connors (he did this one right after “The Rifleman”). He played a disgraced cavalry officer unjustly convicted by court-martial of cowardice during an Indian attack; at the beginning of each show they showed him at a parade ceremony being stripped of his rank and his sword being broken, then he is escorted to the wooden gates of the cavalry fort and booted out into the cold cruel world).
I have to admit the concept is a satisfying idea (but for the really guilty of course).
If you see anything more about such a unit “ceremony”, in changes to Army regs or court-martial procedures, I hope you’ll post it here as I’d be curious.
Paul H,
"Drumming Out" is the military term used for the scene you saw on the old western. It was the Army's legal method of conducting a dishonorable discharge up until 1867. From a military history customs and courtesy article:
The custom of drumming out is as old as the American Army. A general order of 23 Jan 1776, issued from Continental Army headquarters, Cambridge, MA, announced that a court-martial found Timothy Downing guilty of desertion and sentenced him to 39 lashes. Furthermore, "…it appearing to the Court that as the Prisoner is worthless and incorrigible, they order him to be drum'd out of the army." (See: The Writings of George Washington…1745-1795. Vol 4. Wash, DC: GPO, 1931. p. 268. E312.7.)
Like many American military customs, drumming out probably came as an inheritance from the British Army. According to The Oxford English Dictionary…on Historical Principles, Vol III (NY: Oxford UP, 1933 & 1961; RefColl), pp. 688-689, the term "drummed out" appeared as early as 1766. In addition, the OED found the term "Jack (John or Tom) Drum's entertainment" meant as far back as 1577 to turn an unwelcome guest out of doors.
In the US Army, drumming out of service functioned as a dishonorable discharge from a unit and cast agnominy upon the victim. Such punishment remained legal until about 1867, after which it received no official sanction, but was practiced anyway.
Pretty good poop Kimchee.
Maybe if I could have thought of "drumming out" I could have googled the phrase for myself. Of course I've heard of it before but only remembered after you mentioned it. Thanks.
By the way (second to last sentence)– it's "ignominy" (not agnominy). Probably not your original error, or just an overlooked typo, but it's one of those good 4-bit words — ones that sound so good that they deserve a correct spelling, on the rare occasions when they are appropriate.
If you are a glutton for punishment in these matters, see http://www.niquette.com/books/sophmag/ignominy.ht… for a little humor.
I'm afraid stuff like this makes the GI wrinkle his face in disgust. Still, he needs to see it before some senior officer someday chews him out for misspelling "ignominy"…