Dog Robber (Part II) - 144

[Continued from part 1] Lt. Barrett was taken into custody after blowing up the surveillance plane and asked Harm (H) to defend him. Adm Boone (the CAG) told H that "by all rights we should be giving him a medal." Chegwidden (C) then did assign H the defense and H turned down Singers (S)offer to assist, in favor of asking Bud (B). She then offered to help Turner (T) who was prosecuting. While T was helping H restore his Vet - H had to remind him that "according to, I've NEVER had a winnable case." Barrett had been selected for the Naval Academy as a third generation Navy man. Boone told H that he was upset of the inequities that "would give the person giving their secret plane to the Chinese a medal; while it court-martialed the person who prevented it! He told H of a time in Vietnam when they were ordered not to hit the lighthouse in Hanoi Harbor (because of it's necessity to shipping) even though it was a site of an enemy artillery unit. When 3 US air crews had been lost, Boone said that he sent his wingman on ahead and he turned back and pumped 2,000 rounds of ammunition directly into the flack site. Boone asked if H "would have brought him up on charges." H merely responded that it actually had been his own Dad that had done the deed not Boone, as he had heard the story in his father's letter-tapes. H also told him that his dad had said Boone "could never hide what you were thinking or feeling... so I'd clean you out in poker." Boone asked "have you always been this obnoxious?" H said, "yes, you just never noticed." "The larger truth is on your side," Boone said. "Yes," said H, "we just have to get past the facts."

[This is where the story breaks down. Zito seems to need to make H look woefully inadequate in order to maintain the drama] Unbelievably, Chinese General Shin-wa Chen who: had their pilot ram our EP3, hide in Manchuria, lie about being dead, incarcerate our air crew, then hold the CAG at gun point while he stripped the electronics from the plane-- testified (lied) in case! (?!!). [and amazingly Zito had H completely ignore all of that in his defense] When H told Shin-wa to "give the pilot our regards," Chen-wa said that "Lt. Li has died"- (was killed). Boone testified about the "don't give up the ship" tradition which were the dying words of Capt Laurence of the USS Chesapeake when he went against the HMS Shannon. H asked for an example where the concept was not followed and Boone mentioned the shame of the USS Pueblo incident where the ship was turned over to 4 North Korean gunboats without firing a shot! "For 30 years it has been tied up at a dock in N Korea and is an affront to every man and woman who served in the Navy. We should have gone in and sunk the damn thing." He testified that since 1952 Chinese Migs have attacked 7 intel planes in missions off the coast of china, killing 18! Barrett was found guilty but sentenced only to punitive discharge.

M investigated a hotline complaint of Marine Capt. Sheila Grantham that her CO Col Harry R Presser had created a hostile command influence. The call came 5 min after a videotape, of her looking stupid doing her PFTs, was shown on the "military bloopers" TV show. Presser refused to follow the military guidelines on fitness standards for women which allowed women three extra minutes in their running. Grantham was not able to keep up with the men's standards. It was the procedure of Training Chief G Sgt Smith to Videotape the training sessions "for educational purposes." M found that incredibly Smith had undergone a "heart transplant last year" but was still on duty. He told M that he "didn't understand weakness at all- it was my heart that gave out, not my spirit." When M tried to talk reason with Presser he tried to intimidate her and in his arrogance shamed her into doing her re-quails while she was there at his base. He personally stood all macho and grumpy at parade rest during her PFTs. M did decide that the allegations were true and made recommendations that would ruin his career. Then M told Grantham that she had discovered that it was actually her who had leaked her own videotape to the media and asked if she would do better out of the corps. C told M to charge her with conduct unbecoming. Even though it would be hard to prove, someone might follow the case and might still give Presser a shot at improving himself.

Dog Robber (Part I) - 143

[First of a two part series] An EP3 recon plane ID'd a Chinese cruiser carrying nuclear material while they were doing surveillance over the sea of Taiwan. The EP3 was then forced to seek humanitarian landing at Fuzhou airbase, after MIG pilot Lt. Kwan Li rammed it with his plane, during his routine harassment of the surveillance plane, and was supposedly killed. Chinese General Shin-wa Chen said he would only negotiate with retired Adm Tom Boone who he knew personally, so the SACNAV (who had tried to court-martial Boone) had to swallow his pride and have Harm (H) go talk to Boone and request that he come back into service in the SECNAVs office with a 2 star rank. ("Dog Robber": Military term for an aide who can get things done, usually "off the record and under the radar") H & Boone flew to the USS Thomas Jefferson where Capt Hubbard would let him take a COD into China. They were escorted to the border by Lt's Carl Barrett and Crawford. H had to interview the crew surreptitiously to avoid being eavesdropped on. The pilot claimed he had "no choice" but to land after being struck by the MIG - or "all would have been killed" when they ditched. Boone, angrily, said "that's why they call it war." The pilot told H that they only had 24 min before landing - not enough to remove all the secret codes. The 2nd officer told H that she felt sorry, in a way, for the "dead" Chinese pilot because he "seemed like a good guy." He had always "waved" while he had been harassing them previously, and one time even held up a sign with his Email address. H had her write the address "Beagleboy34@chinanet.net." Boone and H saw that Chinese technicians were removing the security consoles from the plane and Boone had to be forced away from protecting the plane at Chinese gunpoint. H asked Bud (B), in code to check the email id with Webb and found that Chen-wa was lying- Li was still alive, had landed his plane in Manchuria and had emailed his girlfriend to let her know he was ok.

They then faced down Chen-wa with a recon photo of the undamaged plane on a runway. Chen-wa had previously said that they needed to "talk about an apology" but Boone had countered with "we'll be happy to accept any one you will give." Chen-wa chided Boone that he "should know sometimes it's better to apologize" and Boone said "you're in the right country for it- the Chinese have more words for 'sorry' than the Eskimo's have for 'snow.'" Now, with the photo, they threatened Chen-wa that he was "at odds with the civilian leadership of your country." So, Chen-wa released the crew so Boone & H flew them out in the COD; but, the plane would be "sent back piece by piece when we are through with it." The COD was being escorted back to the carrier by Lt's Barrett and Crawford. Upset about leaving the surveillance plane to the Chinese, Barrett sent Crawford away and, defying orders, flew into china, buzzed the grounded aircraft to give warning, then blew it up on the tarmac. --(story to be continued)--

Mac (M) prosecuted, and B & Turner (T) defended, two Annapolis midshipmen who were arrested for dueling with their sabers. They were the 5th generation grandsons of civil war ship captains Franklin Buchanan (confederate) and Morris (union). They had been arguing over their grandparents battles and decided to resolve it on the "field of honor." T described it as an "embarrassment to both them and the Academy and dishonor to the memories of their grandfathers." M charged them with attempted murder and wouldn't settle for anything except their resignation from the Academy for doing something so completely stupid. T assured her that he had done something just as stupid and M asked "did it involve H?" T said that "fortunately the statue of limitations has run out on it." M said she "might feel differently if either of them showed a shred of remorse or realized that what they did was wrong." M finally relented after they finally did show some remorse on the stand.

T helped H fix his Vet claiming that he had a "light touch" and H "pressed to damn hard." Gunny requested a transfer back to the Force Recon unit at camp Lejune who needed a company gunny. Chegwidden wished he could go with him and said "be safe Victor."

Jagathon - 141

[Superbly written, complicated expose' of the JAG "relationships" using flashbacks between the actual race, and the days leading up to it, throughout the whole episode] Turner (T) wouldn't enter the Jag-a-thon which Harriet (Ht) produced, because he was a champion runner and felt the "highest rank" reward should go to "someone here longer." He finally asked Chegwidden's (C) counsel saying that he didn't think that he was "fitting in" at JAG. C told him that it was because he "didn't know what everyone else already knew; namely, that he was already part of the family." Singer (S) took bets on the race which upset Ht. She told S to "stop kicking everyone on your way to top, and we all would have fewer bruises and you would be less alone." Finally, running all alone in the race, S cried.

The SECNAV pressured C into giving a JAG tour to another of his female relatives. It was set for Tuesday but the relative fouled up and came when the office was closed for the Jag-a-thon. With Harriet's incompetence in holding Cs phone, the SECNAV was able to get through and pull C out of the middle of the race only to find that the lady had already left. Mac (M) prosecuted PO Ramsey Dill when he was caught impersonating an officer while rendering first aid to a motorcycle accident. Dill had been turned down for OCS after his CO referred him to a psychiatrist for "fabricating lies" about his prior accomplishments- but they were actually true. The incompetent psychiatrist labeled him with an "identity dysfunction" as it fit in with a research paper he was writing for a medical journal- of course, pointed out by Harm (H) in his defense. H gave an eloquent closing and Dill was found guilty but sentenced to "no punishment."

Gunny (G) and Tiner (Ti) bet on each other to NOT finish the race then ran side-by-side each other nearly the whole race. Ti was distracted by a girl and headered with an oncoming jogger bruising his rib. G looked back at Ti taking his header and tripped in a hole himself, landing on his face and pulling a muscle. Neither of them finished. Bud (B), who had been shamed and pressured by Ht to enter, was actually catching up to S until she spitefully told him that "everyone was betting he wouldn't finish" which demoralized him.

T was feeling sucked into the feud (or rivalry) between H and M then finally asked H point blank if he was involved with M. Outside of an elevator, H flippantly said "anyone who has been involved with M is either dead or feels like they are" just as the door opened and it was overheard by M. C noticed M's sullenness and finally spoke with H who admitted that he had been "pushing her buttons" all day, not taking her running ability very "seriously." C asked "do you think you can stop that?" and H said he "was trying." H had told M that "even if she had a 6 min head start she couldn't win" and before he could say another word she said "I'll take it" and walked away. C told H that he didn't know why H didn't take her running seriously because M and he had been "training ever since she had gotten back from the carrier."

H apologized to M who perfunctorily accepted. H told her that he just "didn't want to compete with you anymore." T let slip to M that H had split with Renee which surprised her. They finally started the race and despite everyone's head start, H nearly caught up with M. He sent word ahead to M with Ht, riding around in a golf cart, that he was going to beat her. But meddling Harriet had him stopped "to be checked by a corpsman" cause "people were worried about him." The corpsman turned out to be PO Dill impersonating again! So H had him arrested. H and M finish in a tie and began talking: "where does this leave us?" H said: "at the end I guess." But M said: "how about at the beginning." T had won the race by 4 minutes and exercising his 24-hr "highest rank" prize, he ordered them to go back with him and run along side the demoralized B so that he could at least finish the race.

Ambush - 140

Because of Harm's (H) "run of bad luck" in the courtroom Chegwidden (C) assigned him the Capt "FRUTT" case in Quantico. Mac (M) was assigned the investigation of Capt William Shepard who had led his men into an ambush in Sierra Leone, which killed six. H became very anxious about the assignments and said that he "wasn't without influence on the hill" which was needed in the Shepard case. C reluctantly agreed and swapped their assignments. To help with Hs run of bad luck Tiner (Ti)gave H a velcro'd statue of Saint Ivo of Kermartin, the patron saint of lawyers, to put on his cars dashboard. Harriet (Ht)gave H a copy of "7 Secrets of Highly Successful Lawyers" by Don McGill (the writer of this episode) and Bud (B)let slip that she had also given a copy to him after he had lost his first case.

B assisted H investigate the incident and found that Shepard had "exceeded the rules of engagement" by splitting off from a convoy he was escorting to go in pursuit of War-Lord Col Mohammed Makani, leader of a faction in the civil war who had been targeting US peace keeping forces. The convening authority didn't follow Hs recommendations and ordered a public court-martial due to public and political pressure. Shepard said that he had been given verbal orders to take out Makani by Col Klesco who then denied giving them. Turner (T), the prosecutor, showed that Shepard had posted a wanted poster and reward of up to $90 for Makani and had twice before broken away from an escort mission in pursuit of Makani. Congresswoman Leatham (L)invited H to a party where a new missile was going to be unveiled. T was also there and was introduced to L. At the party H met ex-Maj Frank Seawell who said that he had been given verbal orders by Klesco to take out a Taliban leader after the Bekea Valley army barracks bombing. He did so with faulty Intel and ended up killing the whole family. Klesco "left him hanging" back then too. H also found that Klesco had been subpoenaed before the "National Security Sub-Committee" chaired by Bobbi Leatham and Leatham had sent several SPECAT messages asking Klesco to capture Makani. Klesco had armed and fueled all his men for "aggression" not just escort. Because Seawell didn't want to testify H tricked Klesco into admitting giving verbal orders in Bekea Valley and also to Shepard. Shepard was found not-guilty. T said he "didn't mind loosing this time," Leatham, very angry, told T to "talk some sense into" H. She told H that "Shepard wasn't the only one to receive 'unofficial' orders" but wouldn't say who had given them to her. Klesco told H he had no hard feelings and "may need a good attorney." H agreed to help if necessary.

M's "FRUTT" case was a "peeping tom" incident which used the "Forward Remote Unmanned Tracking & Transmission" hovercraft being developed in Maj Millan's unit. The mother of a 17 year-old girl caught the unit hovering outside her daughters bedroom window and went mental hitting it with a broom. She demanded M to "throw the book at him" to "protect her daughters virtue." M eventually found that Maj Millan had "borrowed" the unit in order to catch his own daughter who had been sneaking out of the house. Before he could do it though, the unit was stolen out of his locked car. M found that it was Millan's 13 year old teckky son who had thought the girl was pretty and just wanted to "hang out." He was upset when M wouldn't just let him apologize by Email. He was grounded to "Low tech" by his father and M told C that the boy would get "much worse" from the angry mother. Maj Millan would receive a letter of reprimand.

Redemption - 142

Harm (H) was assigned TAD to an air squad with his old buddy Cmdr Scott Webster and ended up defending him on fraternization charges trumped up by Lt Mantei a pilot who Webster passed over for assignment to the Joint Strike Fighter project. During his defense H looked at Webster's computer and found an email from Ciecle Tech negotiating payment for stealth paint. He couldn't do anything about what he thought was espionage because it was privileged information as Lawyer- Client. Webster's son, Bill, who had been estranged from him, all of a sudden turned positive and testified for his father. After Webster's hearing H found that there really had been a can of the paint reported missing, so he told the NCIS and had Webster arrested. Charges were filed against H for attorney misconduct. Chegwidden (C) told him that the paperwork hadn't gotten to his desk yet, so to "use the time wisely." H continued the investigation and found that Bill's "girlfriend" was working at Ciecle Tech as a secretary. H got Webster to finally confess that he had been covering for his son. When H found the Email, Webster had challenged Bill who said that he "hadn't actually given the paint to them but had flushed it down the toilet." H said he would try and get him a plea-bargain deal for his testimony against the company. C decided that the charges against H were groundless.

Mac (M) defended PO Maat in civil court regarding the custody of her daughter Katelyn who was abused by her attorney father Seth. The father acted connivingly and was infuriatingly assured and cocky. Even expert witness Beth Salluci, who Bud (B) recommended, wasn't able to prevent the judge from granting joint custody. M and B told Singer (S) about the decision. PO Maat went UA with Katelyn immediately prior to her fathers first visitation. Seth then came storming into JAG, pushing people aside and threatening people. He said that his ex-wife had been seen leaving her home in the company of a "blond female officer". When he saw Harriet (Ht), he knocked down Bud to get to her, so M to "took him down," effortlessly. M told him that she would appeal the joint custody and pursue assault charges for B against him. S was made to "seem guilty" of being the "blond officer" when she deferred answering Ms question about if it were she who had secured PO Matt and her daughter. She just said "that would be illegal, wouldn't it?"

Mixed Messages - 139

[superb, story driven episode] (M) Mac was back at JAG and received a meritorious service medal. She contacted police Capt. Jarot who helped find the girl Lylyana who was in a hospital with a concussion. Jarot questioned M about the engagement ring which she had given up to him - "you didn't love him?" "Someone else you care about but aren't with?" "Is he a fool?" M gave Lylyana the medal she had received.

Renee appeared, engaged to Cyrus the mortician who "loved her completely." Harms (H) former shipmate on the Midway, Cdr Rick Stoechler, was assassinated in a high security cryptography unit along with Sr Chief Trujillo. Cdr Pagano, who was there also, was only wounded. At Admiral Danaco's request, Chegwidden (C)assigned H to "parallel" agent Holland's investigation which was receiving obstruction from NSG. Webb (W)brought H a dossier, from his "source in Beijing," which showed that Stoechler had been a "mole" feeding info to the Chinese. There was also a videotape showing the gunman and the fact that the last security code entered was Stoechlers. If that weren't enough, he showed that Stoechler had $150,000 in a secret bank account. Both H & C were suspicious because: "when did W ever do anything without an agenda?" Stoechler's boss, Capt Reeves, was shown to be real "jerk" obviously throwing rank and hiding something from H. Reeves had summoned Stoechler to a "needless" offsite meeting and the killer had entered the secured area after he returned. Trujillo was shot once but Stoechler 3 times (once for spite). The tape showed the killer get point blank drop on Pagano and shoot. Stoechler's wife set H on track of a memo she heard her husband say he had sent to Capt Reeves about the new experimental Submarine Jimmy Carter (JC). Turner said he had heard of espionage 2 or 3 times while he was JAG for ComSubPac.

The JCs Capt. told H of the sub's recent tonal signature tests (noise "signature" which allows tracking). Gunny (G) and H went over the video tape frame by frame and found alterations! Reeves blocked access to the original tape so H got C to have Adm Danaco hold an article 32-hearing in a classified, bug swept, "jammed" courtroom then called Reeves to the stand. Bud (B) defended Pagano who's soot in his wounds proved his lie that he had been shot from across the room. Then, in a surprise visit, they found Reeves, Pagano & W "conspiring" in his hospital room. Judge Harrison made W testify so he finally admitted that they knew Pagano was really the mole and had fed him dis-information about the tonal tests. Pagano then gave the faulty information to the Chinese; but then, in his spy job, had decrypted a message between two Chinese agents about the results. So he then told the Chinese that the "US knew that THEY knew!" The assassin was then sent, hoping that the info would die with the people killed and deliberately left Pagano wounded, but still working as their agent. W & Reeves had ordered the videotape altered, then framed Stoechler in order to preserve their deception. H called the JCs Capt., who unexpectedly testified in front of Pagano that the decrypted message of their tonal tests were not the "real" results, thus "spilling the beans" of the CIAs counter-intelligence. W & Reeves decided to "turn" Pagano into a double agent. H asked W how the court could know that he was telling the truth. He responded "I'm under oath." Danaco told C not to let H pursue Pagano's murder & espionage charges further. W said that Stoechler's wife could keep the $150K. H was "ticked off" about having to keep his wife and children in the dark over their fathers death. H told her to tell her kids their dad was a hero and Danaco had promised a medal "at some future date."

Guilt - 138

[A bit of a "contrived" plot] Mac (M) and Gunny (G) are still TAD onboard ship. She was sent to secure the release, from civilian authority, of Cpl Lassiter who had been arrested for rape in Aceh Province. The corrupt police chief, Jarot, shook M down for a bribe and the only thing of value that she had was Brumby's (Brum) ring. An angry mob besieged the US consulate setting off an explosion and they were eventually ordered to evacuate. While they were undertaking procedures for burning records, one of the mob dropped a grenade killing Gunny Sgt Simpkins and blinding his second in command. The ambassador, Raymon Dart, wanted to give Cpl lassiter (who actually turned out to be guilty) to the mob as a "diplomatic solution." M was senior officer. The "motor-mouth" daughter of a consulate cook, Lylyana, took to M and drew her a picture. M gave her an insignia from her uniform in return. The evacuating helicopter couldn't land due to small arms fire from the mob. Lylyana led them all through a "secret" tunnel beneath the consulate (that no one knew about) onto the next street, and her school building. The mob eventually came to the school, as they all were boarding the helicopter, and lobbed mortars. Unbelievably, the girl stood in the courtyard jumping up and down waving that M had forgotten to take her picture! A mortar was shown exploding directly in front of her as the helicopter took off. Chloe & Jingo talked to M by phone and are OK at her grandparents.

Harm (H) and Singer (S) defended Lt Cmdr Kegan who killed Anton Summer, an ex-con going to be arrested for disabling a smoke detector and smoking on a plane. Turner (T) was prosecuting and called Harriett (Ht), who was on the plane, as a witness. Ht said that Kegan had knocked a water bottle out of Summer's hand and while he was picking it up wrestled with him and broke his neck. Ht, however was not in a position to see that Summer had actually grabbed the exit handle and was trying to open the door. In cross examination, S made Ht cry talking about being "blinded" over her grief for the loss of her baby. H had to reprimand S that she had acted like a bully and had hurt their case with the jury. A "dead head" pilot on board had conversed with, and warned, Summer not to smoke in the lavatory but he said "let the captain try and stop me." The stewardess, then, had requested that Kegan watch Summer while she notified the pilot. That's when Summer made for the door, was knocked down and grabbed the exit handle trying to open it despite struggling. Kegan finally subdued him but killed him. An officer, who had felt insulted by Kegan in a bar before take-off, gave surprise testimony against Kegan. Also (unbelievably) Kegan was found guilty of manslaughter; but, after Hs closing statement (where he told the members that SEALS had always done peoples "dirty work" and 193 souls would have been lost if Kegan hadn't acted) Kegan got off with a reprimand and anger management (for manslaughter?!!)

The Measure of Men - 137

Mac (M)and Gunny (G)are still on the Guadalcanal in her self imposed exile. Capt Huddleston disliked marine Major Lasley, who he considered "an arrogant SOB who is incapable of admitting that he is wrong," and ordered M to investigate when a man was killed during a severe-storm training exercise that Lasley refused to cancel. M suggested an article 32 hearing but Huddleston demanded an unusual special court-martial so he wouldn't have to give up control and therefore might be able to force Lasley off his ship. Neither M nor G liked Lasley's pattern of avoiding responsibility. Harm (H) requested the defense because M had ignored his many calls and the assignment would put him back on the same ship. Even though H kept pressing, M kept pushing him away, then said: "Brumby gave up country and navy for me, are you willing to give up Renee?" H danced around stupidly trying to make her commit to a position first, so M, frustrated, said she "was tired of the dance." H finally said "yea, I would giver her up" but by that time M had already stormed out and didn't hear him say it. Without telling H, Lasley hired Larry Kaliski (a civilian attorney who "beat" M previously) to perform his defense. Kaliski wanted H to continue second chair to which H only reluctantly consented. Kaliski threatened H with filing a grievance on him if he didn't act appropriately subservient. He nearly lost the case until H recreated the boats course showing that the accident happened due to inaccurate maps and Huddleston's own insistence on a delay which washed away the marker buoys. M finally got Lasley's XO to admit that others "may have" taken the heat for Lasley in the past. H finally negotiated a settlement with M if Lasley would take the stand and admit his portion of blame; but, he was still too arrogant and refused to do so. He was found guilty of dereliction of duty. M didn't even say goodbye to H when he flew back to JAG.

Chegwidden's (C)teen goddaughter Lisa Rossbach ran away from her aunt and came to his house. She refused to let him call her mother so they could talk. C did call her mother, Merrill, who was deployed as skipper of a ship, and offered to keep Lisa for a week over the holiday's. Lisa pretty much did whatever she wanted and acted rude, childish and demanding to C whenever she didn't get her own way. C, eventually, could only prevent her from going out in the evening to meet an unknown boy by saying that he would follow her everywhere she went. She stormed into her bedroom but then ran away from his house too during the night. Finally her mother had to take leave during deployment to solve her daughters issues.

Sturgis Turner (T)tricked Bud (B)into jogging with him 8 miles to his apartment, ostensibly "for Bs career's sake" and to ameliorate his weight problem and doughnut fetish.

New Gun in Town - 136

[Good episode despite Harm and Mac's "parallel play" and somewhat "forced" plot lines.] People were barraging Mac (M) about resetting her wedding plans. Even Chloe hung up on M saying "Harm happened." M begged Chegwidden (C) for TAD assignment on the USS Guadalcanal to replace Maj Miles Holmes who had "gone overboard." C made her take Gunny (G)with her. Using computer files they found that Miles had communicated with USO worker Susan Evans as much as he had with his own wife, and that Evans had met the ship at all of her last ports. They discovered that Miles had faked his own "man overboard," then hid out in a ships void until he could sneak aboard a landing craft the next day to Jakarta. They intercepted Miles and Evans both at a hotel on the island. Oddly Miles advised M that maybe "someday she could work without a net" and love again!

Harm (H) attended Rene's fathers funeral and was very uncomfortable being manipulated into their "family" role especially by Rene's pushy mother. Rene met Cyrus Fortney, the undertaker, who used to be her old flame until he went to embalming school. H appeared before the mishap investigator who claimed the only reason H didn't die, having not followed "the book," was because "someone up there likes you." H replied "well he can't like me very much cause I'm in here with you." C told H about when he returned from Vietnam all beat up and went to church. When the priest offered kind words it "damn near killed me. I had no idea how bad I hurt until I heard those words. Make of it what you will." H went to see his Stearman but couldn't bring himself to fly. The caretaker of the hanger where H kept his plane counseled H that "sometimes it's better to stay on the ground" unless you felt like you had the luck to fly. Cdr Sturgis Turner (T) came to JAG (Hs old company mate). He refused to bump Bud (B) out of his office and instead took the small office with pipes saying it reminded him of a submarine. Sturgis played basketball with H and asked about Annie. Then he asked "you got a girl" and H replied "No, she's got me." Sturgis prosecuted and H defended airman Peter Tyree who had tried to get a T-34 trainer up in the air and flipped it. Sturgis prosecuted and refused to deal. Tyree was a real "doofus" and although H successfully presented the case that he was just taxiing and "it got away." Sturgis tripped him up into admitting he just wanted to get it into the air one time. The judge found him guilty; but, H talked Admiral Landry (AIRLANT) into taking authority of the case and dropping it in favor of applying for education scholarship and OCS. H took Peter for a ride in his Stearman.

B prosecuted and Singer defended Master Chief Edwards who disliked and swore at children at a scout camp. Scout Lovelace wrote down the words cause he wouldn't say them - there were 40 some that B didn't know. Singer suggested a settlement that she knew her client wouldn't like, knowing how much he hated kids - 200 hrs community service at Norfolk freedom scout camp, without swearing or straight to jail.

Adrift (Part II) - 135

[The season opener and conclusion to last seasons cliff hanger. Apparently DJEs contract was renewed] Mac, Brumby, Chegwidden, Bud, Harriet, Chloe and Singer left the pre-wedding dinner and went back to JAG headquarters to monitor the rescue attempts. M withdrew and wanted to be alone, excluding Brum who became increasingly hurt. Renee also felt like "odd man out." She said she was going to call Hs mother but B stopped her. M postponed their wedding for that day and Brum reluctantly concurred. Chloe talked with M and chided her for not trying to find H "like you did me." Together, M had a vision of Hs raft, without H in it. She went out and put her finger on a map saying "look here." C was able to convince captain Ingle to search at Ms envisioned coordinates. The Viking found the empty raft and dropped SAR buoys. C saw Brum frustrated and told him "she's dealing with it in her own way." "That's the problem," he said. Renee asked Brum "why aren't you with M" and he told her "you'd have to ask M." Renee asked him "how do I look," and he said "left out." The SAR buoy floated and hit H. He used it as a radio to call the plane back. Then when the helicopter couldn't see him, fired his weapon so they could see his muzzle flashes. The weather was still below minimums but they pulled him up, having been in the ocean for 3 hours (the maximum exposure time). He had stage 4 hypothermia and was dying until Skates "jumped his bones" and talked him back recalling his promise to "save her."

Everyone found an excuse to be elsewhere so Renee could meet Hs plane at transfer. He had retrograde amnesia and could remember Renee but only from a year ago. H told M he was sorry for fouling up the wedding plans and asked if they had set another date. She said "don't worry about it. That's the least of our concerns." Brum pressed to reset the date for the weekend but she said she "couldn't get her head around it that fast" and to "let her think about it." Renee told B that H had forgotten their last year but "seemed to have all his Mac memories organized and cataloged." M and Brum took Chloe to the airport, hugged and were all smiley then Brum said he didn't want to reschedule. He said "let me think about it." Skates told H that the incident "had reawakened her love for flying" so she wasn't leaving. H thanked Loftness for breaking minimums and was told that "I like flying in zero-zero." When Ht wanted info on the new date, M told her that she and Brum were having problems. Renee was pressing H to talk about their relationship and he said "why does it always have to come back to M?" Brum moved out because "if we end it I don't want to have to come back here." He asked "why in a crisis am I the last one you look to?" Very upset M went to Hs apartment to talk and while there Brum called. He told her he had "wondered who she would go to first" and that he was leaving back to Australia. She left for the airport to stop him but he still got on the plane. Very upset and weeping she called H that "he's left." H told her to "come to me… you know the reason…" When she got there, however, Renee was there having just been told that her father had unexpectedly died and had asked him to go with her to the funeral. He wanted to call M when they landed but M said "don’t do that to her. I'll be here when you get back." M walked out into the storm and rain and saw H and Renee embrace through the window.