All Ye Faithful - 169

[This was one of the most superbly written episodes, a parody, of the entire JAG saga] The story all happened on the way to a Christmas eve party at the Roberts home. Turner assisted "Mary and Joseph" Tenny, who were evicted from their apartment in a misunderstanding over "drumming." Mary was imminently pregnant and Chegwidden loaned his office to them for comfort while they attempted to resolve the situation. Mary went into labor and C delivered her baby, Jason, in the office secondary to an ambulance failure.

There were three Kuwaiti lawyers on their way to JAG headquarters in a rented car for a site visit that the SECNAV had authorized. Through the show they became lost and finally called C who "talked them in" on phone. He told them "look for the radio tower beacon light" through the fog and they finally arrived, after Mary's baby was born, in full "wise men dress" and being overjoyed, gave gifts: a silver coin, incense and an apartment with a view, from one of their 16 apartment buildings.

Coates came to JAG and Tiner began "sparking" her. He had never been around an infant and brought a stuffed sheep and a swaddling blanket to the baby Jason who was sitting in the firelight in his mothers arms with his father and the Kuwaiti "wise men" standing by. H notified b that he might be late to the party as they were flying a Tomcat home. Co asked Mac "if there was a problem" and she said "only if there is no aspirin." M opened her gift from H which was a photograph of them in Afghanistan- and M said that her present to H was a picture frame of the identical size. Meredith told C that he encouraged pregnancy and labor. She cited: Harriet, Singer, and the lady today- "you're a facilitator" she said.

Bud & Harriet had not been paid in a month and were hurting financially, especially since they needed to buy food for their party that night. They went to see "Scoggins," a scrooge like disbursing officer, who was rude and unhelpful to them. Harriet cursed him with "I hope the ghost of Jacob Marley drags chains on your foot," as she was ill from what they supposed to be food poisoning from five day old Chinese food. B drove her to the ER where a pediatrician took sympathy on them and came, in a Santa costume, to their aid. He informed them that it wasn't food poisoning after all, rather pregnancy. After B & H left his office, the scrooge Scoggins" experienced eerie happenings at work and showed up at the Roberts house, just before guests were to arrive, with food, saving them from needing Big Bs credit card at a restaurant.

H and Boone were on a carrier heading back home, hopefully in time to make the Robert's party. Their ride home broke a tail hook and couldn't land. H found that there was a Tomcat which was supposed to be delivered to the states that evening but he had to bribe the pilots with an introduction to Jennifer Lopez in order to get them to switch with he and Boone. H confessed to Boone that he saw Jennifer Lopez two times a year for many years as his dental hygienist. But the ships CAG was hateful to H saying that the plane H had dumped into the ocean "was my ride" and was "ok when I flew it." Boone told harm "he doesn't like you." At the last minute an unexpected inspection kept all the ships pilots onboard so the CAG allowed them to fly the Tomcat to the states. When H tried to "make nice" with the CAG he told him "I won't allow you to undermine a perfectly valid level of resentment with me" and said he would "yank Hs wings" if he did "anything except go to the assigned destination." They were flying in a storm and were requested to divert in order to assist a "broken" C130 to land in the fog. They couldn't see the C130 through the fog so H wanted to get closer despite the regs. "How many people do you plan to piss off today," Boone asked him. "Everyone but you," H replied. H descended and hit a weather balloon throwing them nearly out of control. They finally met the C130, which they found to be on toys-for-tots run. They "led" the big plane down letting them follow their "red tail lights" to "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer music."

After landing H went to the Vietnam wall with Boone, who had flashbacks of Rabb Sr going down on Xmas eve. M called, worried, and they told her they would be there shortly. They met Lt. "Clarence," a graduate of flight school who had left in an emergency before his "winging" ceremonies in order to help a friend on suicide watch. Winging was normally done by an admiral so H had Admiral Boone do it using Hs wings. Boone asked Clarence was his goals were and was told "to be a Blue Angel" just as a bell rang on a wreath.

FINALLY, all were gathered at the Roberts. Meredith offered to play the piano for them to sing carols and C desperately tried to dissuade her. Everyone was completely surprised that it was a skill which she actually did have. At dinner, Bs toast (holding up his designer crutch) was: "God bless us, every one."

The Killer - 168

Inspector Pietro Gianinni of Interpol requested JAG assistance investigating four serial killings in Italian cities wherever the destroyer USS Gillcrest was in port. Harm was diverted from the Seahawk to Italy and Manetti was sent to meet him because she was the only one in the office who had taken an FBI "profiling" course. She had never actually profiled a case before but was told to follow Hs lead. H walked in on her only wearing a towel in his room (while hers was being cleaned). She hit if off with Gianinni because she spoke Italian from her heritage. With Cmdr Amanda Waller, ships captain, and PO Marshall, they narrowed the suspects down to duty section four, the only one ashore during all four murders. Manetti gave the profile as a young man with female authority figure issues. They uncovered two previously unknown crimes but they both had alibi's. PO Lester Petrosky was with a prostitute who turned out to be a transvestite and got so upset he beat him up. PO Benjamin Holt's initial alibi didn't pan out but H eventually tricked him into admitting that he had raped a girl. Feeling they had failed they saw PO Marshall saying goodbye to his new wife who met him in his port's of call. They then started looking for a dependent of a crew member and the Waller told them of her step son Peter who had been under psychiatric help for anger and violent behavior after his father died. They had to subdue him but found a sailor's uniform in his suitcase.

B was found unfit for full duty by the physical evaluation board so he began conditioning w/ Turner's help while he requested a formal hearing. S was back and rebuffed all attempts at friendship of the staff. Ht obsessed at S's intended abortion and forced herself on S about not having one and advised that pregnancy was "a gift.". Later S came to Ht's house and AJ called her the wicked witch. S asked why she cared. Ht told her "I know what it's like to loose a child." "Sometimes it's not what you do that's hard, it's living with it afterwards." S said goodbye and that she was taking 30 days leave to "sort things out."

When the Bough Breaks - 167

Bud is preparing to return to JAG. He routinely Emails Coats, still aboard the carrier Seahawk with Singer, standing up "for practice." Ht, still worried about B "overdoing it," whined to Meredith about it when she was visiting Chegwidden. So Meredith came up with "sit down" busy work to coerce C into coercing B to do: reading 6 major volumes of work by Shakespeare. C was very concerned not to make B feel like his own choice of reading (comic books, star trek stuff) wasn't "good enough" but Meredith persisted. B was able to rapidly return the books because he said he "already knew the stories." Macbeth was "Dagger of the mind," Tempest was "Requiem for Methuselah" and Hamlet was "conscience of the King" all Star Trek episodes. He said that he was writing a fan fiction story himself for a web magazine based on Richard the Third called "Picard the Third."

Singer had wanted to become indispensable to the Captain by studying continually. "All work and no play makes Lauren a dull girl," Coates told Mac. Her vomiting, "sea sickness," had subsided and she since has been eating ravenously such that she had her uniform let out at the waist. She was watching on the catwalk when an arresting cable snapped killing a Boatswains mate trying to remove some FOD from the deck prior to a Hornet landing. After her heavy handed interviews she wanted to court-martial "all men that had a hand in putting those men in that position," seven in all including the Air Boss, LSO and Pri Fly lens operator. Captain Johnson was astounded and requested a "second opinion" from C. And, after S got light headed on the bridge he ordered her to sick bay, found that she was pregnant and filed conduct charges against her. So C sent H to give the second opinion and M to investigate S.

M talked to many people and couldn't find anyone who even liked her "let alone …." But S refused to give any information about the father except that the incident occurred about 3 1/2 months ago before she came aboard the ship. Her refusal to talk made M suspicious but when she could find absolutely no one who might be the father she had to drop the case. H called Manetti and asked her to "nose around" about S telling her "you'll know what your looking for when you find it." Manetti found that the barman at Benzinger's recognized S as a "tag along" with those JAG people who seemed to not really want her along. He also saw her with a "nondescript, sandy haired man" acting very happy and sitting in the back booth for a long time shortly before she left. Harm thought it was Sergei but didn't say anything to M. On the way back to JAG, H told S that he thought it was Sergei and she said nothing except that she was going to have an abortion.

All the men refused to talk to H about the incident because S had "turned all your witnesses into suspects." S said that her shock at witnessing the death had nothing to do with the report she filed. She thought rules were black and white and didn't understand why the captain wouldn't take her word. H told her that he was sticking to the rules like she always did. When H told the captain that the men's silence spoke to a cover-up and charges being appropriately filed, Johnson became very upset thinking he was "loosing it." He made mistake jumping to conclusion S was guilty and then that his men were innocent so he said he was resigning. After that everyone started to talk to H. He called everyone together in a "show" to convince Johnson not to retire. A Tomcat made a heavy and off center landing but the LSO PO wrote it up as normal. The F18 "Super" Hornet landed but Pri-Fly misdialed for a Hornet, 8,000# lighter. It "added" the equivalent of 15 traps to the wire but it still was within navy guidelines. Chief Kaufenhaus realized excessive run out on prior landing to 184" but reg's don’t call for in depth inspection until 185". Technically ALL were responsible but no ONE person was to blame. He said he was filing an amended report and Johnson asked "who the show was for." H said he shouldn't resign and he replied that he found "arguing with attorneys was rarely a winning proposition." M stayed onboard to replace S for 2 weeks until reaching Norfolk.

Ready or Not - 166

H defended Marine Maj Gen Lucas West (red team) charged with disobeying orders of Army Lt Genl Anthony Manzarek (joint ops leader) when he won a war game that he claimed was "rigged." West used small zodiac boats, troops had shoulder fired missiles and corporate jets were loaded with fuel and TNT and they ran directly at the battle group and disabled it. Manzarek wanted to put a punitive letter in West's record but he refused wanting his day in court. Blue team admiral Tucci whined that he was "killed" unfairly so he had to be "reconstituted" to finish the game. "West," he said, "had targeted their communications which is what the games had been scripted to test." Manzarek claimed he had disobeyed orders to stand down, but West said they had no communications as they were being jammed. Col Haller, West's chief of staff, told harm that they did have an emergency channel to communicate only "real world" emergencies. Turner brought up a previous incident of West's 10 years earlier when his battalion killed a column of Republican Guard who were "retreating" after having fired on West's men, after the cease fire had been called but before he had received the message. Harm found that Manzarek had testified against him back then as well and was angry when West had been cleared. West sent an Email to Oliver North who ranted about it on his radio talk show.

Mac was the judge for this trial and she dogged Hs standard courtroom procedures to the point that he said "I know, sustained" before she had the chance to do it. She let Turner get away with things that she wouldn't allow H. H tried to deal with Turner but he wouldn't. Haller then brought H a copy of West's complete battle plan that he had surreptitiously given to Manzarek 5 months before the game- a spy. He said he had originally been told West was a loose cannon but had now changed his mind. H reamed Manzarek on the stand and made him look like a fool . It was obvious that he had rigged the game to get rid of "an officer which he had branded as corrosive and disruptive." West was found not guilty on all counts. T said he was glad this one was over and H said "you and me both and appeal before this judge would be murder."

Meredith nearly killed C in her car saying she had been to "rally school." During a dinner she admitted to wounding her male high school home economics partner with a knife requiring stitches & loosing his tennis scholarship. He had a great dinner with her and said "I can't believe it." She admitted to having purchased their dinner at a restaurant." C tried, but failed, to confront her about her penchant for danger.

B & Ht had an open-house where C told him that his coming back was up to the doctors. M said the crab cakes looked "dangerous" and H asked her if that was a "ruling or an opinion." B found Manetti in his old office and she called him a "legend around the office" and a "true northern gentleman." He was approved to return to limited duty. Full duty would be determined by the Physical Review Board (85% fail).

Need to Know - 165

[Captivating episode about the submarine USS Angel Shark going down with 129 men aboard during a "compartmentalized mission (black-ops)" in 1968.] Congresswoman "Lillian," who was the daughter of the Angel Shark's captain, told the new SECNAV, Edward, that "she wasn't asking for favors." She had helped him become "what he wanted" now she "expected" him to help her get the classification lifted to provide "closure" for the families. So he authorized C to hold a second board of inquiry into the incident (the published results of the first one being a lie.) C assigned H & M but also Turner, because of his extensive submarine experience, to be court council. Norman Watts, CIA Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) got in a power struggle with the SECNAV and assigned Catherine Gale, touted to be really "tough," to represent them.

As the CIA was the Original Classifying Agent (OCA) Watts had the upper hand and kept blocking inquiry at every angle by claiming that the new hearings were only "level ONE" security cleared and the operations were "level TWO" so no one could reveal anything. H found that even Gale didn't know why the ops were classified so asked her if she was BLINDLY doing her job "how she knew she was doing the right thing." She told him because "I'm doing my job right and that makes it the right thing." H talked to W, thinking they had at least a working relationship after the Kabir capture, and was told that Watts had given him a direct order to "keep out of it" and not even "see" H. Gayle dogged H, M & Ts every move with secrecy level rhetoric trying to intimidate their witnesses into silence. Gale even dogged W for information about how to "rattle" H, M & T. He told her that with H "what you see is what you get, he never quits" and to leave him alone as well.

B, who was recuperating in Harriet's two story home, found a cross reference on the internet that a CIA agent had "committed suicide" two days after the Angel Shark went down. Surmising that he had been a "double agent" T said that the Russians may have had a Victor-class Hunter-killer sub waiting for them. He also knew that if it had been a "cable tapping" mission they would have been in the Sea of Okhotsk- not where the CIA had lied about. The COMSUBPAC admiral, didn't even know the mission, except that the president approved it! The then CNO admiral did know & did want it released but couldn't say anything- except let it slip that they did search for, and found, the ship due to its having released a radio buoy before it went down. H was masterfully unruffled in the hearing and with every avenue closed by Gale finally called Director Watts. It became much more clear that it really was a "pissing" contest between him and SECNAV so H asked for court order that they produce documents. Watts immediately classified even the recovery as "level TWO" to block Hs inquiry and had to admit that it wasn't the level of clearance but the "need to know" that determined who could see information; and, that with those rules he could even keep secrets from the president! W met H at the "wall of stars" in the CIA building representing those CIA agents who had died "anonymously." He said that he had been told by Watts to prevent H from "going to the press." H apparently effectively shamed him because W sneaked H a video tape of the burial at sea of recovered bodies that had been videotaped by the CIA. H surprised Gale with the tape which showed Watts himself to have supervised recovery! That conflict of interest was enough to get Gale to say she'd "talk to Watts about it. H suggested he could keep some of it secret, tell the surviving families, and show them the tape," which was done." The sub collided w/ a Russian sub which was tipped off by a CIA double agent. Immobilized and waiting for rescue they sent up the buoy and radioed but their pressure hull collapsed. They found the ship, secured the wiretapping devices, recovered bodies and videotaped the burial at sea.

Coates Emailed B that Singer had been "sick" continuously since coming on the ship but wouldn't go to the doctor. B struggled w/ rehab & eventually climbed stairs, in the house that Harriet went behind his back to have her daddy buy for them, to the upstairs bedroom where he then had to deal w/ Harriet's aversion to intimacy by saying "I'm not a freak. I just lost a bit of weight, finally." Watts was really pissed at W & reassigned him to Paramaribo, Surinan as deputy chief of station. He told H "it could have been worse, it could have been Canada." Watching the videotape together Webb told Harm "it's better than stars on a wall."

Offensive Action - 164

Commander Beth O'Neil was charged w/ sexual harassment by Lt. Cursey who she had given a poor fitness report. H & Manetti defend but differ in their assessment of O'Neil. Manetti believed she was innocent, H that she was hiding something. Cursey claimed that she had called him into her BOQ in the evening, commented on his girlfriend, and paused before she signed his report. He believed she was waiting for him to offer sexual favors and she wouldn't sign it although she never actually said anything of the kind. He told M "I don't know how to say this w/o being vain but I've been approached by women before, a lot." He never actually warned O'Neil before filing charges. During the case others testified that O'Neil had seemed inappropriate to them referring to male personnel. Lt. Murtaugh wanted to testify that she "danced with him." Lt Cdr Nancy Yorkin said O'Neil asked if she had ever fantasized about sleeping with Cursey. Manetti pursued the answer until Yorkin admitted "yes" but never acted on it- then understood that O'Neil probably never acted either. O'Neil said that she only talked about Cursey costing 14hrs of flying time and missing a Japanese sub by carelessly deploying sonar buoys. She paused to see if he had understood and he just glared back. She said this one was too important to let go.

M asked O'Neil if she had had any sexual encounters in 3 years since her divorce over Hs objections. O'Neil said no and M badgered her until the judge had to back her down. When both Manetti and H said they didn't believe her, O'Neil admitted that she was gay and had probably overcompensated in front of female personnel. M offered another deal to H which he couldn't take. In their discussions he told M that O'Neil was innocent (but of course he couldn't reveal how he knew). M said case was pure and simple; but, H replied that "the truth is rarely pure and never simple, Mac." Manetti gave H a ring from a cigar and explained that when young she would give the ring's from her daddy's cigars to her friends. H asked if she considered him a friend and she said she would "when you learn to trust me." He said that she should learn to trust him- they were both right: O'Neil was innocent and she was hiding something. H showed that Cursey was still making mistakes under his new commander and suggested that "perhaps you are so used to being defined by your looks" that he had overlooked the real story. He asked him if it was possible he had misunderstood and Cursey finally admitted that it was possible. The judge dismissed the charges. T & M argued: T- that Cursey was mistaken, M- that H had snowed Cursey into thinking he was mistaken. M asked "what was she hiding" and both H & Manetti answered at once: "don't ask."

Ht pulls away from intimacy with B. B walks out on Styles in a bar when Styles went to pick up a woman with his prosthetic showing. B apparently seemed to think that Styles wasn't sufficiently ashamed of not being whole. He then started malingering in his rehab. Finally Styles came to confront B with hurting his feelings and B surprised to see that Melissa had actually found Styles interesting.

C sent Meredith flowers and she responded with an embarrassing videotape. H complained to C that Meredith had been leaving messages on his answering machine but C wouldn't give him any suggestions on what to tell her. She cooked fish for C leaving a bone which he choked on. She gave him at least 2 heimlick's and had a fire in the kitchen. Then she forced a back massage on him, called herself a "professional" and broke his rib.

In Thin Air - 163

H investigated the death of Cdr Phil Zuzello by asphyxiation due to LOX (liquid oxygen) system failure. He was the RIO and long time friend of Lt Sam Albrecht. When H said that "things didn't add up" Albrecht said that Zuzello had "barely passed his O2 demonstration" and it was his last mission. Then a Sr Chief told H to "look at" PO Moritz, the plane captain, who had been fouling up a lot recently. Moritz admitted that he had used graphite to get the LOX bottle to attach to the plane because it always stuck but didn't get any in the fitting. Apparently H didn't believe him because he recommended charging Moritz when tests revealed graphite in the LOX system.

M was sent for a JAG consult to the widow who eventually had to decide to "pull the plug" which raised the charge to negligent homicide. Then C assigned H to defend Moritz over Hs vehement objections- but was told that Moritz had specifically requested him on the recommendation of one of Hs previous clients. But H didn't do a very thorough job of defense and Moritz finally requested that C appoint someone else. C "severed" H and gave the case to Turner. When H pointed out that he had been forced into the assignment in the first place C informed H that the assignment had been "a test" to see if he could be impartial and trusted for judgeship. T took over and recalled witnesses and did the thorough job that H should have done. He saw M & H talk about the case despite being severed & when M used "aviator talk" in court he claimed misconduct. T & H traded sarcasms when C talked to them about it. H said that he believed that Moritz should have to take the whole blame and would like to prove it. C asked if "this involves a trip to a carrier" then told H "not to press his luck" while he waits for the judges ruling on Ts charge. H convinced Albrecht to replicate the flight looking for a roll-sas failure and "wing rock" but uncovered that Albrecht had vertigo which nearly killed them both. Zuzello had told his wife that he had had "a close call" before he died.

M, seeking the truth, helped T discover that Albrecht had been using his backup O2 for 4 minutes before he reported the oxygen failure and began a slow descent and had also been a LOX tech before becoming a pilot. He had killed Zuzello to prevent him from reporting Albrecht's problem. Moritz apologized and thanked H for what he had done. T heard it and asked if H would be "as easy on him." H said he would if T bought him a drink.

Ht manipulated & interfered w/ B behind his back. She said she would take him to rehab and he said he had a week off. Then she called the doctor behind his back to find that he had "overworked" his good leg and then indignantly accused B of lying to her. She told Tiner to stop sending a list of cases to B then to lie and say that it had been Cs new policy and C was out of the office. B found out & finally blew up at her over-protection. She claimed that all her manipulation was done "for him" prompting B to finally tell her "well it's MY life, so leave the DOING to me." B & Ht visited JAG bringing pizza.

Dangerous Game - 162

Harriet & B pulled up in front of their new two story house that daddy bought behind Bs back; in their new SUV that Ht pressured B to let daddy help them buy; into the den with a big screen TV that daddy bought and a piano that mommy thought would be good for AJs music lessons. She babied B until he complained to Coats by Email. Coats said Singer had thrown up every day since coming on board. AJ brought wine, Tiner Star Trek DVDs, Turner a submarine book, H an Enterprise CD and M a Seahawk model.

The SECNAV was "fired" and replaced by Sen. Sheffield who had been his accuser in previous hearings (blue screen footage w/ pres Bush in oval office for swearing in). SECNAV Sheffield forced C to bring a "friend" into JAG- LT Cdr Tracy Manetti who's tobacco farmer father had contributed substantially to his election. She and her 3 brothers are all lawyers. When Sheffield showed familiarity w/ Manetti, she told C that she wasn't part of SECNAVs agenda and didn't expect special treatment. C told her "you won't be disappointed."

SEAL Lt Brad Reynolds & PO Pittman were on a training mission in the community of Somerville when Deputy Ray Gault clocked them speeding. He got instructions from his sheriff, who was watching smoky & the bandit, to give chase and was killed in rollover. Reynolds knew he wasn't speeding and thought the pull over was part of the exercise, like a previous time, and didn't stop. Manetti wanted to increase the charge to reckless endangerment from negligent homicide. When M called Reynolds arrogant he said "confident" because he "made myself that way." OP orders were to obey civil authorities. The 'Old boy sheriff, dishonest, arrogant claimed he didn't receive either the fax or telephone call notifying him of the training mission. H & Manetti showed that Reynolds had been involved in a bar altercation 10 days previously and had threatened the deputy. M told T that they wouldn't do any re-direct because "how can you patch the Titanic." They found that it was the sheriff who had instigated the bar incident by shaming Gault in front of the SEALs that he had washed out. They found that the sheriff had lied and did receive fax. Also that another deputy had called the sheriff in the office twice: both before and 5 minutes after the SEAL office had made their direct phone call notification. phone log show sheriff was in office. The radar gun was miscalibrated 10 MPH fast. They intimated that the states attorney would have questions with the sheriff when they were through. Reynolds took a plea so he could stay in navy. Turner told H that Reynolds had volunteered to take a "career hit" because he felt he should be "held to a higher standard as a SEAL."

Meredith coerced C to coerce H to take her flying. H asked it "it was an order" but then was shamed to agreeing to "gas up Sarah." C thought Hs plane was named after M but it was named after his grandmother. Like the scatterbrained, buffoon she is, Meredith pushed the stick into a power-dive and was oblivious to the ground and Hs shouting "let go of the stick." Then smashed into the rudder looking over the side and was oblivious to the plane flipping over and Hs shouting "get off the rudder." She offered to "help" H land and was oblivious to his emphatic "NO" then told C that she "couldn't wait until the next 'lesson'."

Family Business - 161

Singer was shipping out. Everyone was extremely polite, had a party, but were gone so fast with excuses she couldn’t even finish her "goodbye and thanks for the party" speech. M told H that the reason she was happy was because of her dream of "seeing S on television 'standing on the Seahawk.'" T told her that he had two presents: one- he wouldn't tell about her being Jewish lie as long as she acted the part and as far as he was concerned she was Jewish; and two- he gave her a Mezuzah that she was supposed to put up on "the doorway of her quarters."

DNA testing was inconclusive so Sergei didn't get citizenship. He told H that he was lonely most of the time and that he had decided to go back to Russia. H had tried to warn him about Singer to which he "blew up" claiming H was trying to overprotect him. S charmed Sergei who told H that she was "Russian in spirit, and deeper than he realized." When H was a bit late to take him to the airport Sergei ended up calling S who gave him ride. Sergei told H that "I will miss you and that is all you need to know."

The Pres accepted the SECNAVs resignation. Cpl Shawn Stiles (amputee) was dogging B in rehab where B was "giving up." Mk had to shame BB into visiting B. B whined at Stiles [at least you've got your fathers support]. B finally recognized the folly of his ways after H talked to him. He went down to rehab by himself and fell while trying to walk on the bars but was caught by Mk and BB who had finally come to visit.

H defended Gunny Sgt Akers on a murder charge for shooting his wife. M prosecuted and refused to talk about a settlement and went for "premeditation." Akers claimed "self defense" as his wife was an alcoholic who had "abused" him before. Akers also refused to let H talk to his 10 y/o son Tommy & said that he had not reported either his own previous broken arm and scalding by his wife or her abuse of Tommy because he considered it "family business." When M revealed that Akers had been previously charged with "assault" of his wife H blew up at Akers stating that "the death penalty just came into play." Because he knew Akers was lying to him H discussed the case w/ B. During the discussion he realized that Tommy had shot his mother and his father was covering up for him. H told B "there is a God" cause "he only took your leg not your head." H then found that Tommy had a knife wound on his back where he was attacked by his drunken mother. Tommy fled and tried to hold her back with an (unregistered) gun from a drawer but when she came at him he shot her. Akers told Tommy that she was just wounded and he would try to calm her down. Then wiping Tommy's fingerprints off the gun he stabbed himself to make it look like self-defense and shot her in the shoulder to make it look like Tommy was the one who only wounded her. When finally confronted with all of this he claimed he was trying not to have Tommy go through life knowing that he'd killed his mother. He was found "not guilty" but the judge told him he hadn't acted worthy of a marine.

The Promised Land - 160

B came home in a wheelchair as was met at the airport by C, T, M, H, Mk, Ht, aj (No BB). C came to the hospital and tried to give him a purple heart but he wouldn't receive it. B refused rehab while Harriet was there ostensibly because he didn't want her to see his stump. Harriet wasn't talking to B about his injury ostensibly because she "was being supportive." After C confronted Ht she and B began talking about him loosing his leg. Finally she demanded to pin the Purple Heart on him and he demanded to stand up to receive it. BB made excuses and refused to visit B. B finally called him and said "I love you" to which BB didn't respond.

Chegwidden began dating Meredith Cavanaugh who, besides being a Shakespearian scholar and college professor played a complete fool. She brought him food "thinking she could cook" but it tasted foul; she made a fool of herself by taking over the piano players microphone in a fancy restaurant (NO karaoke bar) and wailed apparently oblivious to the winces of the patrons. She did give C insight about how to handle his sensed resentment from Harriet. C described her to H as "the brightest most perceptive woman he's met. There's nothing that doesn't interest her and nothing that she's afraid of trying. Her capacity for expanding herself is becoming an issue. She is remarkably unskilled but doesn't know it. She has no sense of her own limitations - and she wants H to teach her to fly!" C asked Ht point blank "Do you resent me?" Harriet didn't answer. When he asked "do you hold me responsible?" she said "Yes." Then she said that "if Bud had to choose between his leg and having you in his life HE would choose Cs leadership."

H & M together defended an deserter cpl Peter Mars who was found fighting in the Israeli army after: becoming Jewish; being rejected by his mother & his Jewish fiancé; and being relieved as fire team leader after breaking cpl Fogal's nose when Fogal threatened w/ him with circumcision. The (I'm better at obeying orders than you) T prosecuted along with S as co-council. S "shut H up" by claiming to be Jewish herself and never feeling "put upon" in the service enough to desert." When T questioned her about her "hiding" her religion she lied even deeper. Mars was found guilty but received a light sentence. During the case T asked the jury: "what is ultimately the moment of truth? It is the intersection of what you want for yourself and what is expected of you."

C told S of her new assignment to the Seahawk to replace Bud. T told S that "it saved him from requesting to never be partnered with her again" & he's "considering revealing her lie" (he had checked her service record and revealed her lies). S asked what she could do. "Anyone else but you I'd tell to pray."