It inevitably strikes many as contradictory when I say I struggle with the term “servant leadership.” It is, after all, one of our Corps’s four constants. But bear with me a moment. For starters, the term is not doctrinal. Perhaps it’s also the fact that the framework is credited to an academic in the early ’70s. That’s 1970s. Or maybe it is my discomfort that this is a label placed on something that current and past Soldiers have been doing since the 1770s!

News & Notes 2021 Issue 6

There’s so much human energy involved—so much courage, so much honor, so much blood—you could easily go a year here without questioning whether any of this needs to be happening in the first place. Nothing could convince this many people to work this hard at something that wasn’t necessary—right?

Organizational leaders routinely and rightfully proclaim that “people are our greatest strength.” Yet these words ring hollow when leaders’ actions suggest otherwise. Trust is the foundation of effective teams, but many leaders across domains are experiencing a trust deficit. How can we, as Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps leaders, truly put people first, inspire trust, and bring out the best in our teams?

With the final withdrawal of U.S. forces from Kabul in August 2021, now is the time to examine the role played by judge advocates, legal administrators, and paralegals in the war in Afghanistan that began twenty years ago. Between 24 November 2001, when the first Army lawyer arrived in Bagram, to 30 August 2021, when the last judge advocate and paralegal specialist left Kabul, more than 500 members of the Corps served in Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and FREEDOM’S SENTINEL.

Every four years, at noon on the 20th day of January, the eyes of the world turn to the west front of the U.S. Capitol to witness the swearing-in ceremony for the President of the United States. The ceremony on 20 January 2021, however, looked different from years past: a limited audience of dignitaries sat physically distanced while wearing masks. 

When the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council (DEIC) kicked off its inaugural meeting in 2020, it was clear that its mandate was meant to include every core discipline in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. Representatives with a wealth of experience in each core discipline were in attendance—military justice was no exception. 

Besides being admonished by their leadership not to bother the wildlife and to ensure drip pans are correctly placed in the motor pool, most Soldiers do not concern themselves too much with the environment or the laws governing its protection. However, as the Army prepares for Multi-Domain Operations, environmental stewardship has become a matter of strategic importance.

The presidential pardon power has recently received both praise and scrutiny in the news for its use in pardoning individuals accused and convicted of war crimes. One need only conduct a brief internet search to find dozens of articles about former Service members pardoned for their role in committing war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The amendments to the 2019 Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) not only broadened the crime of adultery to extramarital sexual conduct, but also added a second defense to the offense. In addition to the mistake-of-fact defense, legal separation is now an affirmative defense to extramarital sexual conduct. The legal separation must be “by order of a court of competent jurisdiction.” However, because legal separation is not recognized in every jurisdiction, not every Service member getting a divorce can claim the defense.