A new thought... -- HarmyBoard Reviews

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Date Posted: 02:23:57 03/04/03 Tue
Author: CQ
Subject: A new thought...
In reply to: - 's message, "season eight: Friendly Fire, February 11, 2003" on 03:17:47 02/21/03 Fri

This is something I haven't seen posted anywhere (Ok, I've only been here, but still) although CatMom did touch on it a little below. Part of what has always set Harm aside as an attorney is his combat experience, specifically as a Naval Aviator. It has been intimated several times that most JAGs assume pilot error without looking at the other facts--Harm obviously sees those situations from the standpoint of the pilot and assumes the pilot is free from blame until all other avenues are dead ends.

Because of this, there have been several times when it has been implied that Harm doesn't have impartiality when it comes to pilots. In... hm, the second ep of the season, can't remember the title. Anyway, Harm was severed from a case because even his client didn't think he could be on his side, considering that he was on trial for accidentally killing a pilot. Of course, at that point Harm himself wasn't sure, but after his pride had been hurt he went on to objectively review the evidence and ended up proving the guy's innocence.

In this instance, Mac didn't think Harm could be an impartial judge when the defendent was a pilot. In a way, I can understand this based on his past history of working so hard to exonerate innocent fighter jocks. However, I think she was forgetting one thing that tipped the balance in her favor: Harm holds pilots to the highest of standards. Remember in Vanished when he kept saying the guy wouldn't do it because Naval Aviators have more integrity than that? And in Dog Robber when he had difficulty finding a defense when his client had blatantly disobeyed an order? And in Rules of Engagement when he reluctantly defended the guy and then told him he wouldn't be defending him at his flight board because he thought what he'd done was against the code Naval Aviators are supposed to live by?

My point is that while Harm is not quick to point the finger at pilot error when there is a mishap, he does expect Naval Aviators to live up to a high code of conduct in the air, and when they fall short of his expectations, he lets them take the heat. He did it once again by telling Ridgley that he was recommending a flight board (Ok, I know that's not the right term, but bear with me) to see if he deserved to keep his wings.

And one last little point... While I don't think Harm's actions were out of line in the first half of the ep, I do think he had an attitude. Perhaps this attitude was due in part to his ability to be impartial being questioned yet again? We know it stung to be severed from his case before, and I'm sure he saw this as his chance to redeem himself on that note. This is especially true since the Admiral had told him that case was a test to see if he could handle the pressure of the bench, and he'd failed.

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responses -- all, 02:24:57 03/04/03 Tue