Defenseless - 48

[This was an odd show with an awkward, barely believable ending.] Harm was selected by Chegwidden to investigate, and "wrap it up quietly and quick," the shooting of Turkish military attaché to NATO, Col Behrouz Hasan. Ensign Elizabeth Lane, a data systems officer assigned to the Turkish embassy 2 months previously for upgrades, shot Hasan in her apartment and was not in confinement- "in a daze." H took Bud with him and, when Mac said she was upset over not being assigned, he took her along too saying that "C didn't tell me I couldn't." They spent the entire episode investigating and defending Lane who claimed a poor memory- M opinioned due to post traumatic stress. M believed that "women's intuition" for danger was a valid defense. H tried to visit Lane's apartment but was chased away by a DEA reject dog who didn't like men in uniforms. H was summoned into Cs office to face pressure for "quick resolution," and M was jealous. She told B that it "feels like a 15 year-old again, getting grounded for stealing cars and drinking." She gave B the credit for screwing up her courage to storm into Cs office and demand better treatment. And she did, saying, "I know you believe I should be punished but I believe the clients welfare to be more important than teaching me a lesson." C asked her if she knew the "difference between initiative and insubordination?" She pointed out that a "woman's instincts were on overdrive 24 hours a day." Women leave buildings differently, she said, "you go out and drive away. We pay attention to shadows with our keys in our hands for escape and weapons." The case demanded a woman's perspective, she told him. C called to her that his instincts "tell me that I wouldn't recommend this approach in the future!"

H took Lane back to her apartment and she babbled about not having "real" friends. H said "I'll be your friend." With flashbacks, and progressive disclosure, it was revealed that Hasan hadn't paid any attention to her before he appeared unannounced at her apartment, buzzed twice, let in by mistake thinking it was neighbor, peeked through door dressed only in a towel, dog barked, closed- but not locked- door to get dressed, came inside anyway, heard metal click, closed windows, went into kitchen, put plate of food on floor to stop barking dog, took phone off hook so couldn't call 911, got full bottle of wine from cabinet and wrapped it in towel, came into her bedroom - where she shot him feeling afraid for her life. H got her out of confinement and delivered her to her apartment where someone shot at her. He took her to his apartment for safety. The SECNAV and C were shown talking in his office saying that "the Turks expect a conviction, it's not going per plan, C unhappy at deceiving his people, and if this doesn't go as planned YOU become MY problem!" H saw the SECNAV and Imes (the prosecutor) coming out of the office and wanted to know why. When C said he couldn't tell him, H threatened that he "refused to let her be sold out by the Navy, or anyone else… sir." H conjectured Lane found something without knowing it, Hasan's predecessor expelled for spying, but C wouldn't let him involve the Turkish govt. When H asked "is politics more important than the truth?" C replied "find another way."

Imes acted arrogant, haughty and demeaning. H reconstructed: Back door locked, key in purse in kitchen with Hasan, Front door key in lock for emergency, but needed to get key from purse to let police in- so it was locked- by Hasan, key found in Hasan's pocket, all prints had been wiped by Hasan. Lane was acquitted and H insisted on a celebratory dinner in his apartment. She didn't show and neither he or B could find any trace of her in any computer record. C called him into his office and said that Lane was really a Naval Intelligence agent working to infiltrate a spy ring- "you were supposed to loose"- and she was to be convicted for life, on paper. The Turks deny involvement in the sniper but have recalled some staff. "Only you could have gotten her acquitted," C said. [What makes this unbelievable was the weak rationale for Hs love interest AND why, if she was supposed to loose, Lane would progressively help exonerate herself.] H met her back in her empty apartment and asked why she came back. She said that "she didn't know," she could usually just walk away. "What made this different," he asked and she just walked out.

Bud's apartment was being fumigated and he went to a skuzzy hotel room. It was beneath Harriet's standards so she invited him to stay with her. He found out that she was wealthy when he couldn't play with her Hummel figurines. M bet H $20 that the two were "hot bunkin' it." She asked B where he had "slept last night- and remember officers never lie." He quickly claimed to see admiral Drake and ran the other way. Ht and B snuck around in the library whispering that "they know what we're doing."

People vs. Rabb - 47

Russian Mafioso Stephan Gregorovitch Konaplanik called Harm to sell him documents of his fathers whereabouts. While delivering the documents Col Mikhail Parlovski, KGB, showed up to prevent the sale. Bumbling FBI agents, who had been following Konaplanik, tripped over a garbage can and Parlovski shot Konaplanik. H wrestled the gun from him just as incompetent FBI Novack & Grenin arrived on scene and arrested H. Chegwidden watched their interrogation of H and was pissed so he had Bud go get Webb to "spring" H. The SECNAV refused to lift a finger to help H and wanted to throw him into the civilian court until C pointed out the advantage of being able to put "spin" on the case in the press. C assigned Caroline Imes (back from Spain) and B to defend against Mattoni who was prosecuting. Konaplanik was shot with 100 grain, truncated, Israeli made, hollow points and H said he used "115 grain full metal jacket's." Parlovski planted bullets in Hs toilet for bumbling Novack to find during search even though they had inadequately searched the crime scene.

Arrogant Imes gave a poor, "justifiable homicide" defense because she thought that H was guilty. W brought a gun to the brig, where H was taken, and asked H to escape to be the "bait" to find Parlovski and gave H the documents. H went to Ms apartment to have the documents translated and found that his father had been taken to "Cherlisk near lake Boshna." Novack and his flunkey nearly captured H coming out of Ms apartment but Parlovsky, dressed as a mailman, prevented it. Parlovsky contacted M at her new civilian office with Dalton's firm and offered to confess to killing Konaplanik if H would return the documents. Bud brought supplies to H who was hiding out on a moth-balled ship and was "pissed" at being "dissed" when H tried to send him home. The meeting with Parlovski at an aircraft museum was tracked by W from a device he had planted in Hs gun. Parlovsky had agreed with H to help him find his father if the documents were returned so H helped him escape Ws trap. Parlovsky told H that the documents were fake, there was no place as Cherlisk or Boshna, and that he was leaving back to Russia.

H fired Imes as his attorney and M completely reversed the case flummoxing Mattoni and embarrassing Novack for not even knowing there was a trap door to the warehouse. H was acquitted. M quit Dalton's firm but still wanted a relationship with Dalton who said he didn't care where she worked as long as she went home with him. M asked for her job back and C, who hadn't processed her JAG resignation, took her back. Novack threatened H with further civilian action. Parlovski sent a "real" photo of Hs dad in Russia.

Impact - 46

Something hit a marine helicopter during maneuvers causing it to crash and killing the pilot. Harm and Bud were sent to 29 Palms to investigate surprising Mac that she was left behind from a marine investigation. Chegwidden had given her an admirals gambling case to review. They found a strange piece of metal at the site just before Clark Palmer came and kicked them off the investigation claiming he was DSD. H stole a small piece and sent it for analysis. Eyewitnesses saw "a big, black, thing which absorbed light and had no engine sound. They just "felt it" and it had a crescent row of pulsating lights. B called it a UFO then, while discussing it with H, saw it go over their car and onto the Bradenhurst Corporation compound. They crashed through the gate to follow it but were intercepted by armed security. Adm Elgin bitched & threatened C over not calling off the JAG investigation. He told C that he should be worrying about his "bars." Upset, C responded that no one was going to interfere with a JAG investigation and that he hadn't met a SEAL yet that didn't like a good "bar" fight. Marine base Col Barrett delayed sending H & B home for 24hrs and said that if congress didn't like it they could come and "kiss my Marine green @#$%." B caused a diversion & H snuck inside the fence. However he was "impulse blasted" by a hovering black aircraft. Captured, he broke away from Palmer, saw the aircraft and stole a computer disk before he escaped in a jeep. He was chased through desert by Palmer who then slugged him and was threatening to shoot him. B brought Barrett and the marines over hill to surround them. As Palmer was backed down H slugged him telling the Col that "I owed him.".

C was giving "small" cases to M she asked H "why is C mad at me." H replied flippantly "the same reason we all are." Dalton Lowne's came to take her to an interview and gave M an expensive jewel necklace. The law firm offered her a job for a lot of money. She flew to New York with Lowne to be with him overnight to celebrate. M resigned on very short notice angering C. She told him that she would be arguing before the supreme court and "spreading my wings." C said that she had "ambushed" him. She was leaving without saying goodbye to H but met him on the way out the door. She asked "permission to hug" which he granted just as Lowne drove up in his convertible. She told H "It's no Tomcat."

Above and Beyond - 45

A black SEAL, Lt Curtis Rivers, was nominated by Pres Clinton to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, for rescuing Under Secretary of State Lawrence Culbertson from terrorists before they killed him. His squad disliked him and as they were only supposed to do recon, argued w/ him when he led them into rescue Culbertson. Rivers killed 8 terrorists and went back for the wounded PO Douglas who told him to go. Rivers lit off a pop up flare and carried Culbertson to the beach. Harm & Mac needed "two witnesses" in order to recommend the medal but the angry, wounded Douglas lied and said he didn't see it because he was unconscious. Chief Wilkins told H that Rivers was dangerous to his men and that he had broken the SEAL code of not leaving his man. Rivers acted like a spoiled brat the whole episode and wouldn't give his side. M told him to "not play the race card with us." H took a bottle of liquor to his house and tried to "buddy up" to him in order to obtain his side of the story. Rivers said that his father, Edgar, had been a seaman who was wrongfully accused of stealing money from the officers mess and had hung himself while in the brig. Rivers said that neither of the JAG lawyers believed his father and that he had read his letters from the prison. A "weenie" assistant to the president came and dogged H to "push through" the award ostensibly for "national healing." C assisted by interrogating Culbertson. H finally told Rivers that he was using his father as an excuse which provoked an attack. Rivers said he would "talk to H" if H would do "SEAL hell week." He used the excuse to abuse H until the Chief stopped him. When H recovered he "cleaned Rivers clock." Rivers still didn't keep his word but H deduced that Douglas wasn't unconscious as he had claimed then got Douglas to stop lying which allowed Rivers to get medal. Footage of Clinton's speech was used with a dubbed voiceover. Lt. Rivers was shown receiving the medal then leaving it at his fathers tombstone.

B got drunk on "pineapples" and when M accused him of being lovesick he told her that was the "black pot calling the kettle the same thing." He asked her if she was leaving JAG for Dalton and she just said that she hadn't been given an offer. B went up on stage and sang Delilah.

Against All Enemies - 44

An AMRAAM missile was being tested near North Korea and a "civilian" plane flew into the test zone so the captain ordered the test to "stand down." But, as the pilot did so, the missle spontaneously fired killing 31. Harm, Mac & Bud were sent to the USS Reprisal to investigate. The salvage vessel Sea Star was surrounded by North Korean war ships and the cruiser Choson gave ultimatums & fired shots across the Sea Star's bow. Capt Jim (?Ray) Hubbard sped to the scene and authorized "booming" the Choson with tomcats & "shouldering" by other vessels. Mac "pushed" and "bullied witnesses and H had to warn her several times. Walt Rockwell, the communications officer, acted guilty and was found to have made a $90K bank deposit. He, later, said that it was an inheritance. Bumbling seaman Alice Tuppany poured hot coffee in Hs lap. When Tuppany was being chewed out by her chief, Mac bought into her excuse for leaving the galley unattended while a fire started. She was gone to communications for 15 minutes "for career practice." H found that the missle had fired before it had left the launch rail and that it had been caused by a radar sweep, which was also unexplained. Bud, working with PO Sullivan, found that there had been an unaccounted for burst transmission the day before the test. It was decoded, and found to be from a spy notifying of the test. It had been during the time Tuppany had left the galley for the CIC room so M asked C for background information. The photo sent was different so H confronted Tuppany, was taken hostage and forced, with a de-pinned grenade, to take off in a Tomcat toward North Korea. NK launched MIGs, which wouldn't accept Tuppany's radio message, and shot at them. H ejected Tuppany before her grenade could explode. The Sea Star found that the downed plane had: actually been a NK spy plane; swept the missle with radar launching it; and caused it's own demise.

M denied to H that she was in a hurry to get back to Dalton. M said "that's the stupidest think you've ever said. He's a man not a new career choice." Harriet tried to get a "good bye kiss" from B before he left then called "I love you" across the room. B just nodded then called her several times from the ship playing "Rambo" role.

Vanished - 42

A fully armed F14 disappeared in a storm in the Bermuda triangle with the pilot, Cdr. Douglas and his RIO. Chegwidden sent Harm, Mac & Bud to investigate. B ranted about the Bermuda triangle, aliens and UFO sightings through the whole episode along with the "Brain nuts" (doughnuts) he was eating with ginko biloba frosting. Aboard the Coral Sea they were experiencing severe stormy weather and electrical problems "ever since we entered the black water." They went to general quarters when a water spout was sighted. B ranted to much about it, H finally told him that the government was indeed experimenting with weather control. A top secret procedure was to have a "half dozen Sea Wolf class subs circle round and round until they created a coreolis vortex which could suck down either a ship or plane." "Are you mocking me, sir," B asked. H reviewed even the land based radar and found that the Tomcat had dropped below the storm, just at he had sent his wingman up above the storm, then flew north along the Florida coast for about 12 minutes when it flew in circles and went off the screen.

M & H had a talk about Dalton Lowne, of Lowell, Hanson, and Lowne law firm, who he had seen talking with M. She baited him with "are you jealous." He said that he just didn't like "breaking in new partners." "Dalton drives a Porsche," she said. "I fly a Tomcat," he retorted. So she exclaimed, "you are jealous." "When I was assigned to you," he said, "I thought a tattooed jarhead would be challenging me to an arm wrestle." She said, "I have a tattoo, I'm good at arm wrestling and technically they do call me a jarhead." Then H became obsessed with the fact she had a tattoo and where it was.

The F14's RIO stumbled, beat up, into a Florida campsite and collapsed. C interviewed him to find that he had passed out, awoken with a severe headache and people standing over him in bright lights, and passed out again when someone stuck him with a needle. He said that the pilot had acted strangely for a few days and had spent 2 hours trying to call his wife before their mission. C told him not to talk to any men in black suits with sunglasses. They found that the pilots wife and daughter were missing. B found the "Freedom Brethren" militia group's website bookmarked on the pilots computer and continued obsessing about UFO sightings all along the coast that night. He showed H a photo which was taken that H recognized immediately as Tomcat afterburners. B arranged a meeting with "oppenheimer and Einstein" who H had to promise a tour of the pentagon "including sub-level 2 beyond the purple water cooler" in order to get information. They traced the landing to the Percane valley where they arrived just after the Pilot had taken off to shoot down Arafat in a civilian plane; but, just in time to have a gun battle with Jack Lambert's Freedom Brethren and rescue Douglas' wife and daughter, Lee and Kim. Douglas had drugged his RIO, dropped below radar, and made it look like his RIO had punched out. The Coral Sea sent fighters to shoot down Douglas but he had already decided that he just couldn't pull the trigger on a civilian aircraft and broke off before they fired. H threw his match at Lambert as he lit up a cigar, and said "never underestimate the integrity of a naval aviator."

The King of the Fleas - 43

The wheelchair bound, accordion playing, ex POW, "King of the Fleas" (Roscoe Martin) spotted the Commanderr of his old Vietnamese prison camp on a US street, and killed him. He had been a captured deserter from his unit and was tortured, but when he gave in to the Viet Cong he was pronounced "king" over the other prisoners and was given special respect by the guards. He was used to get information about which prisoners were pilots and could be taken to Russia (it turns out that Harm's dad was one of them). He was then left untouched and had to watch as the commander had all the remainder of the POWs in the camp killed. A policeman (Costas) was outwitted by Bud, in taking custody of Martin, who turned himself in to Harm. Chegwidden started the interrogation but left. Martin was deliberately vague and rambling so, when Harm got anxious and "pushed" for information, Martin lied and told Harm that it had been his father who was the the informer. Harm finally gave up trying to make sense of Martin's ramblings and told him to leave, which made him finally admit that it had been him who was the weakest captive and made "king" by the dead Viet Cong CO. Harm promised to defend him during his trial. Dalton pursued Mac.

Blind Side - 41

Harm's old flight instructor and mentor, Capt. Gary Hockhausen, was out for a six month "checkout" of one of his junior flight instructors, Lt Peter Judd, when Judd hit a pole and had to eject. The loose jet crashed into Melanie and Joshua Lanier's car killing them both. H and Bud were sent to investigate and were sheparded around by a sort of "motor-mouth, air-head" from New York, Lt Schiparelli, was a former cab driver and extremely loyal to Hockhausen. Judd's RIO, Lt. Gerter, blew his knee and would never fly again. He revealed that they had been "pulling a hell of a lot of Gs" and almost blacked out when they had to bail. Mac was called in to represent Judd even before H had completed his investigation. The maneuver scorekeeper said that Judd had "an aggressive style of flying" and had previously cut a phone line with his tail fin (upside down at 30 feet and 500 knot's). H saw Schiparelli hustling two marines at pool in a bar and joined her playing doubles. The marines wanted Hs fancy boots and Schiparelli's bra so he demanded their pants. While celebrating their victory later in their car, Schiparelli kissed H just at M pulled up. M bristled and derisively asked her if she spent her spare time hustling marines. Not to be out done, Schiparelli sarcastically retorted "no, I usually like a challenge." H quickly jumped between them. Both Hockhausen and Judd claimed that a "severe down draft" had slammed him into the telephone pole; and, when H acted incredulous, Hockhausen reminded H of when he had almost lost flight status for shooting out of bounds during a High noon gunnery competition. H countered that the judges had decided he was really inside bounds and Hockhausen claimed that it was he who had "convinced them that it didn't matter," and that he had "saved your windswept butt." He opinioned that he had seen good men "skewered by rule book barons and ignorant COs. "If you don't give a man room to make mistakes," he said, "you take away his ability to learn from them." He tried to intimidate H by saying he resented "not being believed," but H recounted that pilots needed to learn consequences of their actions and take responsibility for them.

Bud, doing his "routine library reading," discovered that the wind was on the other side of the ridge so there would have been UP drafts not DOWN drafts. He also had to remind H that there were statistical accelerometers on board. Judd's plane had pulled 7 Gs at the accident. M wanted to know what Hockhausen's showed but it was found to be "missing." H believed that he had stolen his own device in order to protect his wingman so decided he had to "prove it" by "recreating" the incident. Hockhausen used his own RIO and H took M in his back seat - and she got sick and vomited. After the run, and during the climb over the ridge, they nearly hit a phone pole, so H was convinced that a down draft right then would have caused them to hit the pole. However during landing Hockhausen pulled a rookie mistake and misjudged his landing distance which allowed H to see another rationale. When Schiparelli apologized for the kiss, H just told her that she had "seized the moment" which is why she was an officer. Then he twisted her arm into revealing that she had overheard Hockhausen on the phone with some other pilot trading ideas on how to pass eye tests. He then interviewed Retired Admiral James Dawkins, who seemed to know H and his father. Dawkins had flown into his 50's and told H that he had never falsified his eye tests but that he knew it had been done and briefed H on how. H then confronted Hockhausen and offered to let him resign, but he flew in Hs face to the point that H had to tell him "not to exploit my loyalty, I'm not Lt. Judd." H met Judd in a bar and told him the story about loyalty but Judd wouldn't budge in his lie. H then told M about Schiparelli's information and had to tell her that there was a "difference between loyalty and being indebted to someone."

On the stand, Hockhausen denied any culpability or knowledge of how to falsify eye tests, then grinned like he had gotten the best of H. M called Schiparelli, and when H saw the reluctant look on her face, he seemed to change his mind about something. He then continued and manipulated Hockhausen into reading a "standard" eye chart from a line that the base optometrist had placed on the courtroom floor. Hockhausen "read" the chart (apparently from memory) and missed the 20/20 line on which H had substituted the letters "I FLY NAVY." H claimed that Hockhausen had been "unable to adequately determine the accurate range of the oncoming ridge endangering his wingman in the process." Outside the courtroom Hockhausen told H that "at least I went down in a dog fight." H said that it didn't mean that "one day we couldn't mend fences." Hockhausen replied "yes it does." Judd was disciplined for lying.

The Good of the Service - 38

A band of rebels kidnapped and held hostage five marines who were distributing food to Haiti civilians. Admiral Colter of COMCARIB ordered Lt Col John Farrow to prepare his recon unit to extract the captives; but, 10 min before launch ordered him to stand down because "the state department wanted another crack at 'talking' to the rebels. Capt Barnes brought Farrow intel that the rebels had killed another man and drug his body through the streets; then pressured Farrow into launching the operation, which he then did. During the rescue one of Barnes' men began shooting and gave away their presence which started a gunfight. A rebel took up a small boy as a shield until the child was killed along with 20 other villagers. An Australian photographer was in the camp, giving the rebels publicity, and caught a photograph of a weeping mother holding her dead child. Chegwidden sent Harm and Mac to investigate and Harm found out that Farrow was Mac's old mentor. "He's the reason I'm a lawyer," M told H, "the corps paid law school based on his recommendation." The SECAV acted his usual "arrogant ass" and said he had ordered Admiral Coulter to file charges against Farrow then told C that he had to defend, counting that C would loose because of being out of practice. Farrow was upset with M over her "filing charges" until she said that they hadn't. Then she got mad at H for sending in his report without discussing it with her. H told her that she wasn't "unbiased" and recommended her dismissal from the case; but, C wouldn't do it.

Bud assisted C with research. He and Harriet decided to "get tested" before they had a relationship. It was Bud's idea but Harriet said that "she had better do it too," because she "had a life" before they met. Coulter testified that Farrow had disobeyed orders. The photographer said he was there to photograph the "freedom fighters" which "you blokes support." C objected to any tricky "tactic" H used; then, got the photographer to admit he couldn't tell who had shot the boy. H rested his case but before C could rise Farrow got up and said he wanted to change his plea to guilty. In chambers the judge listened to C and H bicker about an extension until she asked H if he wanted his objection to be on the record which backed him down to saying no. C witnessed the SECNAV 'gloating' and realized that "you expected me to loose." The SECNAV said "that was a pointless question," and C shot back "not to me it isn't." SECNAV smugly said that he wanted to give a fair hearing "which you’ve don’t." C pointedly said "no I haven't, but I will." C went to Farrow's home for a discussion and was able to remind him of his original reason for wanting to tell his story in court. "They've taken military bashing to an art form in this country." Farrow said that it was a "circus" and he should "go gently, for the good of the service." C responded that "for the sake of the service, you need to stay and fight." The next day Farrow withdrew his plea telling the judge that he "lost the bubble for a moment, but my attorney has squared me away." On the stand Farrow told H "no" that he didn't disregard Coulters order. "I regarded it very closely and chose to disobey it. If I had complied I would be failing in my duty to my country and the corps." "While they talked," he said, "marines were being butchered. If I did nothing, how would I ever lead again. Leaders put political self interest above what's right. We used to love our heroes in this country - people of integrity - acted without waiting for permission from a dozen committees. The bureaucrats bring you down and the media pick you clean." He said he was forced to make a decision. H asked directly if he disobeyed. Farrow said "I've obeyed orders all my life; but, if I'd obey that one then I would be guilty." H then just let it go.

Admiral C called H into his office and read him the riot act for letting up in his prosecution. H said he didn't want to kick him while he was down. "You think he's a hero don't you," C asked. H replied that "the jury knew he was guilty." "You don't get it," C yelled at his face, "it’s the public that is judging this case. The press is circling like vultures waiting for a chance to scream whitewash. I don't want to give them that chance." He told H to either "do your job or step down" into his face. H asked to see the photographers other photos and realized that the woman had been in a position to actually see who had shot her son. He pressured the photographer to take him back to Haiti in order to get the woman to testify. They found Antoinette Malidor, teaching English to her school class and brought her back. C objected but H and M double-teamed him and got the judge to allow her testimony. When H wasn't allowed to ask her directly who had killed her son, he asked if she blamed Col Farrow. She said "yes," then went on to embellish that she also blamed H, and C and the jury. "All of you, because you stand by and do nothing. The soldiers come, rape murder, take children and train them to kill - and you do nothing. You give food, shovels but you don't protect us. Even when YOUR OWN PEOPLE are killed - YOU DO NOTHING. Finally this one sends in soldiers to fight and you want to punish him!" "I don't understand your country," she said through tears, "DO YOU?" M chastised H again for leaving her out of the prosecution. H merely said that he knew she was friends with Farrow. H said "I'd rather have you ON my team than oppose me"! She asked, "is that an apology"? He responded, "I consider it more of an acknowledgement." General Parham, president of the jury, announced the verdict that they found Farrow guilty of disobeying orders; but, then announced that the jury awarded "No punishment." Farrow asked C "what does that mean"? C answered "they heard you. Public opinion changed. You're a hero. Then, talking with M and watching H leave the courtroom, C told her that H had made a "1st year law student mistake. You never call a witness unless you know what they are going to say." M told him: "oh, he knew."

The Court-Martial of Sandra Gilbert - 40

Arrogant marine Lt. Col. Turner charged 1st Lt. Sandra Gilbert, top in her class as a Cobra pilot, with disobeying his specific order and "conduct unbecoming" when she "related" with Gunnery Sgt. Maxwell Frankl. Harm tried to tease Mac about her quick volunteering to investigate the case. She said that she just wanted Gilbert to get a fair shake and H returned "no playing the gender card." General McCartney called Chegwidden at home to request that everything be handled "quietly" because he was undergoing interrogation by congress for funding. When M arrived with Bud, Turner just made them stand there at attention waiting for him to finally talk so they would have to submit to his "power." He told M that C had told him that she was "cold blooded" and would be fair on the case. Without jumping to his baiting she merely asked for the file and instead of handing it to her, Turner just dropped it on his desk trying to make her have to stoop to get it. Bud, seeing his disrespect, picked up the file for her. Turner had already filed charges - WITHOUT INVESTIGATION, claiming it was his prerogative and grounded her in the middle of her flight quals. Turner claimed that he had given a direct order to Gilbert to stop her affair with Frankl. Congresswoman Bobbi Latham was shown dragging Gen McCartney over the coals in her budget hearings. She defiantly flailed about claiming that she was "going to get to the bottom of this" (referring a 'good ol' boy's network); then, inflicted herself in the middle of the trial.

Gilbert had been invited to a birthday dinner given for her by the Frankl children while his wife was away. Mrs. Frankl returned home unexpectedly and blew up. H was assigned to defend and M prosecute. Both Frankl and Gilbert claimed that there had never been any affair and that Gilbert had only been "counseling" Frankl over his marital difficulties. Mac's legal tactics were specious and she led Mrs. Frankl into making assumptions which were completely ludicrous. Then she began objecting to H's almost every question. H actually adequately broke down both Mrs. Frankl's assumptions as well as Turners arrogant "railroading." T said that he had acted on an "anonymous hotline" phone call; but, that he had never given Gilbert the courtesy of telling her about it claiming that "even the perception of impropriety" needed action. He also had never put his order in writing and said that he couldn't recall his specific wording. "But," he said, "Gilbert knew what I meant!" Latham demanded a Cobra demonstration flight from Turner and took H with her during her request. When Turner said "he couldn't reverse" his grounding so Gilbert could take her, Latham asked H "is he telling the truth?" Reluctantly H said that he could reinstate Gilbert. After the flight, Latham slinkily forced herself on H in a bar and told him that "if the Pentagon had cashiered every officer during WWII who committed adultery, Hitler's children would be sitting in the White House instead of Bill Clinton." She inflicted personal questions on H about previous loves. He said that it had been his best friends wife (Annie Pendry) so he hadn't said anything. Latham started to rag on him about wanting a "little woman waiting patiently for her 'man' to come home from the war"; until, he shut her up by saying "that was my mother's life." Referring to her colleague Congresswoman DeLong (an arrogant congresswoman whose manipulative interference actually killed an incompetent female navy pilot) she told H that "I don't dislike you as much as DeLong said I would.

Bud found that Gilbert was actually pregnant from her medical records (?!). Gilbert finally admitted to H that they actually did have an affair but Frankl had broken it off many months ago. It was Frankl's daughter who had called and asked her to come over to the party while their mother was gone. H tried to get M to back off on the charges; but, she threw his previous words back in his face to "not play the gender card." H found that four male officers had also been found in adultery at Pendleton but none of them had been charged. He claimed it was "selective prosecution" but M still wouldn't budge. Latham went ballistic when H wouldn't tell her confidential information. He had to back her down by asking "are you trying to threaten me?" She replied "is a pig's ass pork?" She then went to talk to Gilbert personally demanding that she "wouldn't let you quit." Gilbert finally admitted that she had had the affair but that Frankl had broken it off a long time ago. She said that she "knew it was wrong, but I was just so damned lonely… and now I've lost everything that I love." Latham added "except your baby." H worked out an "administrative discharge" with M and Gilbert wouldn't contest it. He then told Turner that Gilbert wouldn't let him file charges against him for "selective prosecution." He was incensed but H threw his own words back at him "It's the perception of impropriety that counts." Turner let her finish her quals and she passed number one in her group.