“YOU can’t handle the truth!” That iconic line, from the 1992 Hollywood blockbuster A Few Good Men, springs immediately to mind whenever allegations of abuse in the military come to light.
For those who watched the movie, the powerful performance by Jack Nicholson, especially in that closing courtroom scene where he spewed vitriol at a judge advocate general (JAG) lawyer (played by Tom Cruise) with a raging look on his face, will always be etched in memory.
Nicholson, of course, is a well known and talented actor, but that scene is arguably his best ever.
As a refresher, the movie revolves around the court martial of two United States Marines charged with the murder of a fellow Marine.
Cruise plays US Navy Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, who defends the two Marines, while Nicholson plays Marine Colonel Nathan Jessup, their commanding officer at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
In the course of the movie, we learn that Jessup ordered a “Code Red” to be carried out on Private William Santiago (the murdered Marine) for not respecting the chain of command.
A Code Red is supposedly an extrajudicial, violent punishment administered to anyone deemed to be problematic, and in the movie, had led to Santiago’s death.
What Kaffee tried to prove was that the two Marines charged with Santiago’s murder had merely been acting on orders, something they had been trained to do without question.
And, the only way he could prove this was to get Jessup to implicate himself by admitting to giving the order, which he eventually did.
Military training, of course, has always been tough. You are physically and emotionally “abused”, for lack of a better word, in order to toughen you up in preparation for war. And, it is dangerous and may lead to death, whether through negligence or accident.
Videos have emerged showing some of the things that happen during military training. One such video has been circulating for the past few years.
Those sharing the footage claimed it was an abuse of cadet soldiers, who could be seen receiving kicks and blows in the abdomen while standing with their hands behind their backs.
This, however, seems more like training than abuse. As a soldier, you are trained to take body blows so that you can go on should that happen during battle or in captivity.
The hands-behind-the-back stance might also, say some observers who are in the know, have a two-fold reasoning — the first being that the cadets have a better chance of fighting the urge to block, and the second being that their hands would likely be tied that way should they be abused in captivity.
But training aside, there should be no other actions that may cause death in other aspects of military life, barring accidents and medical issues.
In the recent case involving the deaths of two Royal Malaysian Navy sailors, who were undergoing punishment at the Sungai Wangi detention unit in Sitiawan last month, one sailor was charged with murder and two others were accused of voluntarily causing hurt.
This came about after post-mortem of the two victims showed that they died of bleeding in the lungs caused by “torture”.
If such accusations are true, then investigations should focus on the actions of their superior officers as well.
These three men hold the rank of leading rate, meaning they are from the RMN’s rank-and-file.
Were the accused merely following the orders of a superior officer, just like the two Marines charged with murder in A Few Good Men?
The armed forces have launched a review of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in regard to military personnel under detention, be they in the army, navy or air force.
And, to be fair, the SOPs in the armed forces do state that any form of ragging, bullying or extra-judicial abuse is anathema.
What the armed forces need to probe is whether there are commanders out there, or even men of other ranks, who have taken matters into their own hands and conduct extrajudicial punishments.
It has to be ingrained into everyone’s mind that such things are not to be done, and that doing so will result in dire consequences.
Leslie Andres has more than two decades of experience, much of which have been spent writing about crime and the military. A diehard Red Devil, he can be found wearing a Manchester United jersey outside work.