Now that the anger has subsided (the disgust remains), here's what I meant to say......
(It was submitted too late to be considered a 'timely' letter to the editor)
A Matter of Honour and Justice
Re: Ian MacAlpine, “Military officer gets severe reprimand, fine.”
Kingston Whig-Standard, 7 Oct 2014.
The Canadian military has made great strides in advancing its professionalism and ethical behaviour, often motivated by public scrutiny into the periodic lapses of its members. One cannot tar the organization with a large brush, but occasionally incidents crop up that can only leave one to scratch their head; this is one such occasion.
Within two months of being convicted at a Court Martial for falsely claiming to have passed a Physical Fitness test, Lieutenant-Colonel Miller was again accused of fraudulently wearing un-earned medals and a commendation award -- the subject of this week’s Court Martial. The guilty finding of the first Court Martial returned a sentence of a severe reprimand and a $3,000 fine. For this recent transgression, which in the eyes of every military person with which I’ve spoken is a much more heinous crime, the legal system decided that a punishment of a severe reprimand and a $5,000 fine would be just; effectively, she committed a worse crime and received nearly identical punishment with some adjustment for inflation.
Frankly, the actions of the Military Justice system boggle my mind. With the first sentencing, the Judge noted that the disposition proposed jointly by counsel (the same two military lawyers who worked this case, by the way) would not bring the administration of justice into disrepute. This current Judge however, apparently struggled with the lightness of the requested sentence, given Miller’s recent conviction record and position as a senior officer. Yet he went with it anyway.
The article cites Miller’s defence attorney as saying that the decision was just and everyone was pleased with the result. She further believes that “a severe reprimand is the harshest message a soldier can receive to denounce their conduct”; perhaps she was unaware that the charges’ potential sentence could include up to dismissal with disgrace from the Forces.
A quick perusal of the comments on this story from newspapers all across the country, or reading stunned and angered comments at non-official military websites such as “army.ca,” shows how completely out of touch the legal system is; I assure you that not everyone is pleased. While the military justice system employs a two-tiered tribunal structure of summary trials and courts martial, for many there is a growing belief that those tiers are more akin to Orwell’s
Animal Farm in that “some pigs are more equal than others.” The optics here are appalling.
Now, I won’t speak to LCol Miller’s integrity or what her next move ought to be, or even comment further on the perplexing state of the military’s justice system. Instead, I’ll only express sympathy for those serving members who have the honour and often challenging task of commanding Canada’s troops and mentoring our future leaders; they are the ones who will have to justify this travesty to their subordinates.
Now I'm done.