News & Notes 2021 Issue 2 

The constants of Principled Counsel, Stewardship, Mastery of the Law, and Servant Leadership help members of the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps navigate immediate issues and guide our actions in shaping the future. For those supporting the practice of law, the constant that most resonates is Stewardship. 

This year marks the 75th anniversary of an event consequential to the practice of military law—the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg. While the IMT, held from November 1945 to October 1946, was reserved for the highest-ranking German leaders, subsequent tribunals held over the preceding years would carry forward the IMT’s precedence and legacy in determining how international law principles would apply to individual conduct. 

On the morning of 27 March 1945, twenty-four-year-old U.S. Army Second Lieutenant (2LT) Robert A. Schneeweis crossed the Rhine River into Germany with his unit, Company B, 36th Tank Battalion, 8th Armored Division. Shortly after the unit’s arrival in the town of Vorde, Schneeweis told three of his Soldiers—Privates (PVTs) Glen D. Joachims, William Peppler, and Francis F. Nichols—that they were to come with him to “shoot Krauts.”

Today, the Army and the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps places a plethora of attention on mentorship. Specific to our Corps, “grassroots” informal efforts—such as the Buffalo JAGs, the Hispanic Mentorship Group (HMG), and the Asian-Pacific American Network (APAN)—have recently come together to help address a perceived need for engaged mentorship among those in our ranks. 

Sometimes, I feel like the poster child for the American dream. I have known what it is to live in want and in plenty. I have lived in a small structure in a rural village, walking miles every day to and from school. I remember crying one day on the long walk home because I broke the strap on my shoe. 

At its core, a plea agreement contains two ingredients: the accused’s anticipated pleas and the convening authority’s promise to do something beneficial for the accused in return. A stipulation of fact supports the agreement by explaining, factually, what actions the accused took and what mental state the accused harbored for each offense to which he will plead guilty.

To spend money, elements of the Federal Government, including the Department of Defense (DoD), must have a positive grant of authority based in legislation from Congress. Further, without a specific statutory exception, federal entities cannot augment funds appropriated by Congress with outside funds.

While serving in the Army, a Soldier’s ability to practice their faith is an important element of personal and institutional readiness. The Army has a robust and comprehensive religious accommodation program that “places a high value on the rights of its Soldiers to observe tenets of their respective religions or to observe no religion at all.”

[T]here are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.