I'll probably be down voted, but this article seems incredibly out of touch with reality. I was a Marine and a Federal civilian for 11+ years, but this is solely my opinion/based on my own experiences. I am also generally proud of my service and have a great deal of respect for current/former service members. Hopefully I don't offend any of you - my angst is directed towards the cherry-picking and misrepresentation of facts in this article.
That being said, at least in my experience, it is, and always has been, very much culturally ingrained that you handle problems internally and you do not rat on friends. There is an implicit trust that exists for those in combat-oriented roles, that others will watch your back and you'll watch theirs. That doesn't stop at combat situations. Trust me, the forms of reprisal taken against people in the military who rat on others is far worse than simply ending your career.
I find it a bit ridiculous we are now holding up the military justice system as some kind of panacea or institution that has it right. Just a few years ago, we were castigating the military for it's handling of sexual assault. One of the key issues? Sexual assault reporting being handled at the unit-level, unit commanders being disincentivized from escalating reports (e.g., it reflecting poorly on the unit commander when sexual assault takes place in their unit), and as a result, sweeping the issues under the rug. Now we are holding up military culture as being at risk of the "camouflage wall of silence" rising?
The Eddie Gallagher case is another great example. The article conveniently fails to mention that one of the key reasons Gallagher was able to walk away was due to an SF soldier covering his ass. One of the Government's key witnesses, who had already been given immunity, decided to change his story and take the blame for the killing the boy Gallagher was accused of murdering. Kind of throws off a murder charge when someone else says they're the ones who committed it. Less explicit, is the fact that Gallagher bragged about averaging three kills per day, including four women, over 80 days. You're telling me that, through the course of this guy's service, this was the only time he messed up?
The SEALs that finally did report Gallagher will never work in any kind of a special operations, law enforcement, government, or any other field where their skill-sets can be used. That may not seem like much, but it's akin to someone becoming a doctor and losing their license to practice. People outside of these communities don't realize just how small these circles are and how pervasive their former/current members are elsewhere in the industry/government. Word travels and stuff like what they did is not forgotten. Look no further than the Navy Times article from 2019 titled, "What motivated fellow SEALs to dime out Eddie Gallagher?". For the uninitiated, "dime out" is synonymous with "rat out".
There are many reasons law enforcement recruits heavily from prior military service members (e.g., prior training, physical fitness, etc.), but a big one is because they're already at least partially vetted as being a good "culture" fit.
That being said, at least in my experience, it is, and always has been, very much culturally ingrained that you handle problems internally and you do not rat on friends. There is an implicit trust that exists for those in combat-oriented roles, that others will watch your back and you'll watch theirs. That doesn't stop at combat situations. Trust me, the forms of reprisal taken against people in the military who rat on others is far worse than simply ending your career.
I find it a bit ridiculous we are now holding up the military justice system as some kind of panacea or institution that has it right. Just a few years ago, we were castigating the military for it's handling of sexual assault. One of the key issues? Sexual assault reporting being handled at the unit-level, unit commanders being disincentivized from escalating reports (e.g., it reflecting poorly on the unit commander when sexual assault takes place in their unit), and as a result, sweeping the issues under the rug. Now we are holding up military culture as being at risk of the "camouflage wall of silence" rising?
The Eddie Gallagher case is another great example. The article conveniently fails to mention that one of the key reasons Gallagher was able to walk away was due to an SF soldier covering his ass. One of the Government's key witnesses, who had already been given immunity, decided to change his story and take the blame for the killing the boy Gallagher was accused of murdering. Kind of throws off a murder charge when someone else says they're the ones who committed it. Less explicit, is the fact that Gallagher bragged about averaging three kills per day, including four women, over 80 days. You're telling me that, through the course of this guy's service, this was the only time he messed up?
The SEALs that finally did report Gallagher will never work in any kind of a special operations, law enforcement, government, or any other field where their skill-sets can be used. That may not seem like much, but it's akin to someone becoming a doctor and losing their license to practice. People outside of these communities don't realize just how small these circles are and how pervasive their former/current members are elsewhere in the industry/government. Word travels and stuff like what they did is not forgotten. Look no further than the Navy Times article from 2019 titled, "What motivated fellow SEALs to dime out Eddie Gallagher?". For the uninitiated, "dime out" is synonymous with "rat out".
There are many reasons law enforcement recruits heavily from prior military service members (e.g., prior training, physical fitness, etc.), but a big one is because they're already at least partially vetted as being a good "culture" fit.