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Advocating A Different Point Of View
(June 19, 2011) | 
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Major Geoffrey Shows, the deputy staff judge
advocate for 2nd Marine Division (Forward), works on refining the
details in a report on May 27, 2011. The Gonzales, La., native is
one of two Marines working in the division SJA Office for Task Force
Leatherneck. |
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CAMP LEATHERNECK, Helmand province, Afghanistan (6/17/2011) – The
18th president of the United States and a former general in the US
Army, Ulysses S. Grant said, “The art of war is simple enough. Find
out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him
as hard as you can, and keep moving on.”
Hundreds of laws
and codes have been written and refined concerning how war is
conducted since Grant said those famous words over 140 years ago;
making the wars fought today a more complicated process than any
fought during or before the 1860s.
While commanders work
feverishly to make the correct tactical decisions to complete their
missions the most efficient way possible, the 2nd Marine Division
(Forward) Staff Judge Advocate Office is at their sides to help
ensure the decisions made conform to the current laws. |
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“I've heard people refer to the lawyers and judge advocates as the moral
compass of the command,” said Maj. Geoffrey Shows, the deputy SJA for
2nd Marine Division (Forward). “The command already has a (strong
understanding on what is moral and humane and what isn't). The SJA
provides a perspective from the legal side of things.”
The
Gonzales, La., native along with Lt. Col. Jonathan Hitesman, the SJA for
the division, are the Marines responsible for providing any of the legal
advice and support needed by the division.
“We don't provide the
same function as the SJA shops in the (Marine Expeditionary Force) or at
other levels of the division, back in the rear,” Shows said. “Whenever
division Marines come to us we normally send them to the SJA shops at
the MEF, who have a large staff of Marine lawyers who specialize in
specific fields like military justice. Our job, specifically, is to
think about everything the division is planning from a legal
perspective. If the general has a question, we're the guys he can come
to concerning all things legal.”
The division's SJA shop's
additional duties include keeping the general up-to-date on the progress
with detainees brought in by Marines or the Afghan National Security
Forces, delivering daily reports to the general, and sitting in on all
the meetings to ensure the legality of the decisions being made.
“We don't represent an individual Marine in a case like a court martial,
but we represent the command,” said Hitesman, a native of Brooklyn Park,
Minn., with more than 15 years experience as a Marine judge advocate.
“But I also have to balance that with my duty to the US government. So
if our command is doing something that is wrong, my duty to the
government is to bring our command back into compliance or take it up to
the next level.”
Hitesman says this isn't a problem that comes up
very often though. In most cases, it's taken care of well before the
meetings when the general's staff pays a visit to the SJA office to
ensure if something is legal. Shows and Hitesman are able to talk with
them about it and make sure everything's on the right track.
“For
DOD, the ethics side of everything really is law. There is no difference
for us between ethics and law,” said Hitesman. “There are standards of
conduct and regulations, so SJA's are the ethics advisors for the
commanding general and his staff. I can give direct and personal, legal,
and ethical advice to an individual.”
Both Hitesman and Shows say
they love the job they do and they wouldn't want to be in any other
billet as a judge advocate.
“No day is the same here, and there's
not a lot of downtime,” said Shows. “Being out here is an excellent
opportunity and experience for a deployment. I couldn't be more pleased
with the work I'm doing and who I'm working for.”
Editor's note:
2nd Marine Division (Forward) serves as the ground combat element of
Regional Command (Southwest) and works in partnership with the Afghan
National Security Force and the Government of the Islamic Republic of
Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is
dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces, and
enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of
operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development
and legitimate governance. | |
Article and photo by USMC LCpl. James Frazer
2nd Marine Division
Copyright 2011
Provided
through DVIDS
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