UCMJ crackdown: Why Mattis thinks commanders have gone soft on misconduct

I think too many commanders these days are risk averse. What I mean is that they don’t want to upset the apple cart when it comes to discipline especially if it is a dirt bag that is a good performer and manning is low. So they give them the minimum to keep them around and put them on notice when they should have dropped the hammer on them and got rid of them. I also think that some commanders believe that discipline is equal across the board and off with their heads for every offense and that the same offense committed by two individuals requires the same discipline. Not the case. Prime example is that I had two individuals misuse a government car. One was using it as a delivery service for his wifes dog grooming business until he got caught. The other was using it for his family because they had some family issues that caused a lot of bills to pile up and their only car got repossessed. One was doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons and the other was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Both got discipline for the actions but they were handled differently. Every case is unique but a lot of commanders want to be draconian.

I also think commanders go directly off their JAG’s “advice”. Well a lot of the times the JAGs base their advice on trends and what they would do versus giving you all the options. Not saying JAG’s give bad advice but they do use trend analysis of what is being applied across the units, base, and Air Force. I made the JAGS give me all the possibilities from the UCMJ versus the coke machine answer. Then I bounced it off the 1st Sgt and the CMSgt based on our unit/mission/personnel and then made my decision for what was best for the AF, the unit, then the individuals rehab potential or lack thereof. Too many commanders don’t fully understand the UCMJ and thus are afraid to use it as they will look stupid and potentially get fired…especially these days.
Maj Marty Hogan
Lt Col Charlie Brown
1stSgt Glenn Brackin
Cpl Craig Marton
SGM Erik Marquez
MAJ James Woods
SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth
COL Mikel J. Burroughs
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"
LTC Stephen C.
CPL Dave Hoover
SFC Shirley Whitfield
SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas
SFC (Join to see)
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
Sgt Wayne Wood
PVT James Strait

I don’t see this as a problem. It’s common nowadays to take administrative action that removes the person from active duty instead of a CM. It’s a faster way to accomplish the mission which is to remove undesirables from the military. Using the CM process doesn’t give us a better result, it just takes longer and uses more resources.

My thoughts on it were mentioned once in the piece. It's an all volunteer force. Anybody active currently wanted to be there, and is less likely to do something wrong.