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You're missing the forest for the trees. The scene between Colonel Jessup, Lt Jg Kaffee, and Lance Corporal Dawson and PFC Downey is about the nature of contra
by ethbr1 4mo ago
You're missing the forest for the trees.
The scene between Colonel Jessup, Lt Jg Kaffee, and Lance Corporal Dawson and PFC Downey is about the nature of contradictory duties.
Everyone in that scene has a sworn duty to the United States as active duty military.
However, their duties sometimes conflict with each other (Jessup and Kaffee), and are even sometimes self-conflicting (Dawson and Downey).
Bad doesn't always come with a sticker labeling itself, and there's trauma inflicted even in peacetime in the maintenance of military strength (in broken bodies, training deaths, and emotional trauma).
To hold ones nose and pretend there isn't constant violence, even absent declared war, being perpetrated to militarily protect the US and Europe is to be ignorant, willfully or otherwise, of the foundation peace is built on.
Jessup is a tale of the distinction between the reality of war and the higher ideals and laws of war.
- nixon_why69 4mo agoI understand and respect what you're saying here, but the fly in the ointment is that this posting (gitmo) was always bullshit and never actually mattered. Jessup is missing the forest for the trees far more than I ever could because it's not my job. He's getting kids killed for a bullshit assignment while being a Colonel. How do you think an Afghanistan or Iraq veteran would regard the Cuba assignment?
- ethbr1 4mo agoYou're missing the forest, because Jessup and the entire enlisted structure would have been rotated to their next posting in 2-3 years max. And since Jessup seems to have been base commander for a while already, likely less than that. The goal of the military (as a whole) is to make people substitutable per their rank and MOS. Allowing good order and discipline to break down (as an officer, NCO, or enlisted) just because of current post is anathema to that.