When there is a military justice action—whether court-martial, Article 15, or reprimand—our Corps is well-versed in the follow-on actions required. From post-trial procedures to administrative separations, judge advocates (JAs) can smoothly guide our commands through the sometimes-intricate processes to maintain good order and discipline.

13 March 2020 started like any other day. I went on a long run that would energize me. I prepared for my last day of class, where I would re-certify as a military instructor. Everything was falling into place. Soon, I would permanently change stations (PCS) and slowly begin the transition to the next chapter of my career as a fellow at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.

Promotion Review Boards (PRBs) are not widely understood throughout the Army. Unlike other Army actions, for which an officer can reach out to peers and mentors for guidance, most people who have gone through a PRB do not publicize their knowledge of the system. 

Last spring, A. Benjamin Spencer, a judge advocate captain in the U.S. Army Reserve and a nationally-renowned civil procedure and federal courts expert, was appointed Dean of the William and Mary Law School, the nation’s first—and one of the most prestigious—law schools.

Irresistible to pun lovers and self-styled comedians, the words “space law” can elicit a variety of reactions: curiosity, humor, or even confusion. 

Justice Ginsburg’s dissent champions what she describes as “‘a more majestic conception’ of...the exclusionary rule,” which would exclude evidence even where deterrence does not justify doing so. Majestic or not, our cases reject this conception, and perhaps for this reason, her dissent relies almost exclusively on previous dissents to support its analysis.

A strict observance of the written law is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means.

To succeed in the emerging security environment, our Department and Joint Force will have to out-think, out-maneuver, out-partner, and out-innovate revisionist powers, rogue regimes, terrorists, and other threat actors.

The Army is on the precipice of a fundamental shift. Modernization will displace readiness as the Army’s top priority in 2022.1 To be clear, readiness will remain an important line of effort beyond 2022—much like how the renewed emphasis on readiness several years ago did not eliminate the Army’s focus on stability operations.