'Authority In A Few Good Men'

In the movie A Few Good Men, director Rob Reiner displays a conflict between the authority of Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Jessep and his subordinates, Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private Louden Downey, who unintentionally kill a fellow soldier. In an attempt to teach Private Santiago a lesson, Jessep manipulates Lieutenant Jonathan James Kendrick into ordering Dawson and Downey to commit a Code Red on Santiago. Codes, manipulation, superiority, and morality all factor into their decision to carry out that fatal order. A similar scenario develops in the article, “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience,” where authors Herbert C Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton investigate whether or not Lieutenant William Calley was justified in organizing

These soldiers were left in a situation where they really had no choice. It is this exact situation that fuels seemingly poor decisions made by officers in the military. The code that every soldier must follow dictates that when given an order, he or she must comply. At the time of another soldier’s Code Red, in which he was food deprived, Dawson disobeyed and snuck the man a meal. Setting up as a precursor to Dawson’s future actions, Jessep tarnishes his record without reasoning due to his disobedience. Having realized what happens when he fails to follow an order, Dawson ensures Kendrick’s Code Red ordered on Private Santiago is carried out. Similarly to the case of Dawson and Downey is the trouble that Lieutenant William Calley fell into during the My Lai Massacre. His decision to remain non-rebellious against his superior’s orders resulted in him alone being charged with what the court ruled to be murderous acts and not simply two men following orders. Hamilton and Kelman rebuttal Calley’s statement with, “You could be court-martialed for refusing an order and refusing an order in the face of the enemy, you could be sent to death, sir.” (136). According to the account by Calley, an officer who disregards his superior’s commands takes the chance of punishment for his actions; therefore, the dichotomy that Calley receives in his position promotes him following orders given to him if he could be so far as killed for disobeying. Though it seems unethical to murder hundreds of innocent Vietnamese townspeople, the position that Calley was placed in made it as though he had no choice at all. Similarly, Dawson and Downey, with the codes by which they must follow in the military and the laws they must abide by as U.S. citizens, are given a choice between two actions which condemn each other;