I'm not in the military, personally, but most of my family has served/is serving and what you say is so patently wrong that I can't believe you put that militar

I'm not in the military, personally, but most of my family has served/is serving and what you say is so patently wrong that I can't believe you put that military family disclaimer in the beginning since you obviously don't have a clue how it works. The military is no harsher than a civilian justice system. There are things you can't do in the military that would only get you a warning anywhere else. Things like being late, sleeping on the job, not respecting the chain of command. And there are things that would get you an article 15 and mandatory jail time, like drug possession, assault, or drunk driving. This is offset by the fact that you get the best lawyers the military has to offer. JAGs work your case, your defense counsel could be the prosecuting counsel on another case, unlike the real world you get the full resources and full effort of the military and not an overworked public defender. The civilian criminal courts? who knows you could go from probation to life over a simple possession charge. Soldiers take an oath to defend the constitution first and foremost. If the commander-in-chief is at odds with that then they default to the later. They'll take orders from the president as long as the end game is the preservation of the union. There are treaties and conventions in place that dictate how a soldier is supposed to behave ask one of your family members if they memorized the geneva conventions, I can guarantee all of mine have. Killing on orders hasn't been a valid defense since the Nazis lost. Uniform in Uniform Code of Military Justice is just that. It applies equally to everyone in the military. This senator can scream death penalty until he's blue in the face but he's not military so his opinion is only that. Spc. Manning is not a prosecutors special case, he is not to be made an example of, he he will be tried under the terms of the UCMJ by his peers (ie. not a senator, not the public, but other guys in uniform) and if found guilty will be given a punishment commensurate to the charges. Nothing greater and nothing less than that.