Military Justice and Week 3 of JAG School

*In this post, I discuss the military justice block of instruction during week 3 of the Army JAG School. *

Photo by U.S. Army RDECOM is licensed under CC 2.0. This content uses referral links.

Week 3 of JAG school is now complete, and the military justice block is quickly coming to its apex. We have worked through most of the pre-trial and evidentiary matters and will actually begin our mock trial next week.

Military Justice Curriculum

I find this block of instruction very interesting, so this last week was quite enjoyable. We spent a lot of time in lectures and power point presentations, as usual, but we also had several breakout sessions where we practiced going through some courtroom exercises, such as direct and cross examinations of witnesses and an Article 32 Investigation—which is somewhat analogous to the civilian grand jury.

The classes are very well taught, and the instructors do a good job helping us understand how the process works. I am learning a lot about courts-martial very quickly, and I look forward to the mock trail that starts next week.

Blues Reception

We had our first big class event this week with the blues reception. The reception was in honor of the school’s commanding general, who is one of just a few brigadier—that is, one star—generals in the JAG corps.

As you can see in the picture above, we all had to wear our dress blues, which are just the service uniform with a bow tie. It was a pretty fun night. We really just stood around and talked to each other for a few hours. Most of the faculty was there, though, so there was a lot of opportunity to visit with more experienced officers. We could also bring our spouses and significant others, which made the event much more enjoyable.

Next Week

Next week we start wrapping up the military justice section. Friday we start our mock trial, so we have just this next week and Monday of the week after that before moving onto another block of instruction.

I’ll post more information next week, so please check back if you’re interested.

I provide a more expansive account of my experience at the Army JAG School in my book The JAG School Survival Guide: Succeeding at the Army’s Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course.

The views and opinions expressed in this post are the author’s own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Army, the National Guard Bureau, the Arkansas National Guard, the Department of Defense, or the United States Government.

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See also:

Week 2 of the Army JAG School

Week 4 of the Army JAG School