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Post by Jed Oehler on Sept 25, 2018 6:45:39 GMT -8
Hey Jocko,
I was listening to EP 136 "War and Madness" and "He Was No Coward". I am currently serving in the Army as a cavalry scout and was a firm believer in the death penalty in regards to cowardice and desertion as a keeper of discipline (Even though it rarely comes up in the modern day). This podcast actually changed my mind in a lot of ways offering that different perspective. My question for you is in the modern day should the death penalty have been on the table for cases such as Beau Berghdahl? Moving a little bit more away from the cowardice and desertion and more towards treason should it stand for cases of leaking classified information such as Chelsea Manning or Edward Snowden did? The older part of me think yes as they were actively leaking classified information but after listening to this part of me thinks no as they may have seen something wrong happening and felt that was the way to fix it and bring light to it. I'd love to hear your thoughts and do you think dealing with these cases lightly would lead to more leaks?
Keep Charging! Jed Oehler |
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Post by mynewunit on Sept 25, 2018 8:44:32 GMT -8
I think this is a case of outcome. If you go back to Napoleon, and WW1. They imposed steep penalties on certain crimes, and they found that people were not as likely to punish if the punishment was greater than the crime required. This actually caused greater levels of that crime. When the punishment was a day of bread and water, or loosing rank, then the fellow soldiers were more likely to help enforce and violators more able to accept their punishment. If punishments were too steep, the crimes weren't punished, and then the lack of punishment was kept hidden. This was a bigger problem than the actual violations.
Obviously desertion and leaking information are not good for the "home team". We build a certain example in our head, and assume that the crime meets those standard items. Reality is more gray.
The first thing I always look at is, would I expect the enemy do it for us. Do we want POW's to share information? Do we expect enemy to desert to our side?
The reality is that they need to be caught earlier. Manning needs to get caught bringing in a recordable CD. Berghdahl needs to be caught when he starts talking about leaving, not walking off base. Ideally these are both met with Chuck Norris, Cowboy hat and Air Force uniform, reaching out and stopping them, and delivering a line like "If you stop this now, I can help you. If you walk out that door, it is between you and your Creator". Then if get yourself killed, at least you were warned.
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