# A few good man questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881 "2013-11-27T02:43:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/21 "2013-11-27T16:37:45Z")
He cared because the Private went outside if the chain of command to complain about problems he was having. (The Private wrote a letter to the Naval Investigative Service, now called Naval Criminal Investigative Service.) In essence, airing some dirty laundry in a public manner. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/22 "2013-11-27T20:24:30Z")
EVERY time this movie comes on, I watch it. I can’t help myself. It has so many great moments. The best thing is, as was pointed out above, that Jessup HAD to have ordered the Code Red because NOTHING happened on that base that he didn’t order. The men absolutely NEVER took matters into their own hands. I love that that endgame was hidden in plain sight throughout the whole movie, even from Cruse and crew. Jacl Nicholson is such a deliciously smug smarty-pants. The one thing I could never figure out was Demi Moore’s hair. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/23 "2013-11-27T20:28:36Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > No it was the “I was sick the day they taught law at law school” defense. Which only works if you use the word “strenuously”. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/24 "2013-11-27T22:23:05Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The one thing I could never figure out was Demi Moore’s hair. Her hat must be bigger on the inside than on the outside, like a Tardis. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/25 "2013-11-27T22:36:20Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > It was the, “I’m sorry miss, the dog ate my homework”, defense. > [@Isamu](#): > > No it was the “I was sick the day they taught law at law school” defense. And because truth can be stranger than fiction (I saw this yesterday while Googling stuff in another thread): [Nifong: The Dog Ate My Law License](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/nifong-dog-ate-my-law-license) > [@](#): > > AUGUST 15–In a pathetic end to the Mike Nifong saga, the disgraced North Carolina prosecutor who handled the Duke rape investigation has turned in his law license, noting that he never framed or displayed the document because it had been damaged ‘by a puppy in her chewing stage.’ ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/26 "2013-11-28T01:09:35Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Her hat must be bigger on the inside than on the outside, like a Tardis. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/27 "2013-11-28T17:24:47Z")
The Marines were found not guilty of the first two charges. They were found guilty of “conduct unbecoming a Marine”. IMHO, and according to the UCMJ, that’s kind of the “catch-all” charge that they can find you guilty of and make the case stick so they can close the case. You might not be caught with the proverbial smoking gun needed to find you guilty as charged, but they’ll nail you for the ancillary charges. Have you ever been charged with a crime? It’s not just one charge for what they said that you did that they are trying you for; there’s always the 2nd and 3rd charges associated with the actual thing that they say you did. If they don’t get you for one, they’re bound to be able to make something stick with the other two. That’s where they get you. That’s how they got O.J. That’s how they got Loudon and Downey. They were innocent of murder, but they got nailed on the “conduct unbecoming” charge. They couldn’t put them in Gitmo for it, but they could discharge them from the Corps. All because they simply followed orders and played ball. It didn’t matter that the orders were lawful orders or not (one can disobey an unlawful order), they got hung out to dry for it. All the high muckity-mucks in the military need a scapegoat. And they were it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/28 "2013-11-28T21:45:59Z")
> [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](#): > > That’s how they got Loudon and Downey. They were innocent of murder, but they got nailed on the “conduct unbecoming” charge. They couldn’t put them in Gitmo for it,… They got out of Gitmo for it. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/29 "2013-11-28T22:06:11Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > In the original play, Caffee found the discarded original flight logs. Rob Reiner, director of the movie, complained to Aaron Sorkin “ **I** could win the case with that!” Sorkin rewrote the scene, then rewrote it for the play as well. Caffee used the two subpoenaed airmen to trick Nicholson’s character into admitting he ordered the Code Red. “Now, are these the questions I was really called here to answer? Phone calls and foot lockers? Please tell me that you have something more, Lieutenant. These two Marines are on trial for their lives. Please tell me their lawyer hasn’t pinned their hopes to a phone bill.” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/30 "2013-12-02T06:26:03Z")
I always find myself wishing the prosecuting attorney had been just a bit quicker on the trigger. “Did you order the code red?” “Objection! Asking the witness to implicate himself in a crime!” The judge sustains it, the momentum is lost, everything falls back to the expected and ostensible ending. Another fun thought is if Jessup were a bit quicker on his feet. “Did you order the code red?” “You’re God Damned…impertinent, boy!” I think that’s the real “legal” thing for us to learn from the movie. Think before you answer! ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/31 "2013-12-02T07:54:26Z")
Yup, If Jessup keeps his cool and doesn’t admit to anything, him and St. Kendrick get to go home and Dawson and Downer do serious time. BTW - has the army resolved this issue yet? Can you refuse to carry out an illegal order? ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/32 "2013-12-02T10:56:56Z")
A Few Good Men, The Shawshank Redemption, Hunt for Red October…some movies, it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen 'em, if it’s on again, I’m watching it. I’m slightly ashamed to say that Ocean’s 11 is also on that list for me. A Few Good Men in particular leaves nothing to the imagination. It tells you exactly what it’s going to do, tells you how it’s going to do it, then does exactly that. It’s a minor miracle that the movie still works so well as it does given that it has pretty much zero in the way of plot twists. Great acting all around. “You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you _want_ me on that wall, you \*need \*me on that wall” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/33 "2013-12-02T12:52:43Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > BTW - has the army resolved this issue yet? Can you refuse to carry out an illegal order? This has never been in dispute. It is explicitly every serviceman’s duty to (politely) refuse an order that is illegal, and it is a crime to knowingly give an order that is illegal. That’s why Jack Nicholson gets arrested at the end, and also why Dawson and Downey get the Conduct Unbecoming conviction. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/34 "2013-12-03T05:15:37Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > This has never been in dispute. It is explicitly every serviceman’s duty to (politely) refuse an order that is illegal, and it is a crime to knowingly give an order that is illegal. That’s why Jack Nicholson gets arrested at the end, and also why Dawson and Downey get the Conduct Unbecoming conviction. Thank you. That’s interesting. Becasue I remember in the movie, Dawson states that his code is "Unit, Corps, God, Country, in that order. Now having that heirarchy of duty would allow the Unit (obey his officers) to be placed above the Country (law). That’s what set up, in my mind, the potential for conflict between competing duties in the movie. But I believe the current code is recited God, corps, country? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881/35 "2013-12-03T08:37:01Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Thank you. That’s interesting. Becasue I remember in the movie, Dawson states that his code is "Unit, Corps, God, Country, in that order. Now having that heirarchy of duty would allow the Unit (obey his officers) to be placed above the Country (law). That’s what set up, in my mind, the potential for conflict between competing duties in the movie. > > But I believe the current code is recited God, corps, country? I always understood that to be in reverse order. I mean, surely it doesn’t mean you obey your unit’s commands above the commands of the whole Corps. That would be the exact opposite of the chain of command. Do what your sergeant tells you, even if the colonel tells you differently? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-good-man-questions/674881.md?page=1)