Not even speaking about the proxy war that the U.S. Military is currently in right now, but there is something else that is another topic of concern that has been lurking around virtually all of the U.S. Military bases around the world and that thing is servicemen committing adultery with near impunity. Speaking with several servicemen of various branches in the U.S. Military and across the different rank structures - all of them had one thing in common and that is they're tired of the high level of adultery that goes on within the ranks of the U.S. Military.
One serviceman stated that he witnessed his wife and his superior out on a date when she was supposed to taking evening classes at the local community college. Another servicemember said that she would overhear other female solders choosing who they were going to sleep with pre-deployment knowing full well that the other servicemember was married. So, the question is: is the UCMJ ever going to investigate these dishonorable crimes within their military ranks.
And the answer to that question is not really.
According to UCMJ Article 134 - the punishment for being found guilty of extramarital sexual conduct (formally adultery) can consist of one or a combination of the following: “a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement up to 1 year.”
This is really something to look at considering that all military personnel are “held to a higher standard”. One marine stated that when he confided in his superiors, they did little to nothing to investigate the crime. As a consequence, the marine reported that he “lost all morale and respect for the corps” and “couldn’t wait until his contract was over”. It is a well-known fact that when it comes to the uniformity of the military handling crimes within its ranks it has nothing to do with morality - but everything to do with what your rank is, whose command are your under, and how much it's going to cost the military to have lose a solider to such a crime because let's face it, training isn't free.
Another thing that tends to get swept under the rug are the sexual assaults that a lot of female servicemembers either have to endure or have to witness and turn a blind eye to for fear of retaliation. The servicewomen I've spoken with have reported that the sexual misconduct in the U.S. Military goes from “unwanted sexual advances, to unwanted touching to outright rape” despite the fact that the military does provide sexual assault briefings to all of its personnel. The female servicemember when on to say: “I remember going to the sexual assault briefings and they said something to the liking of not to combine alcohol with soldiers of the opposite sex in a private space because it’s considered risky behavior - don't engage in it.” But yet it still happens more often than you think off post and especially when soldiers have their own place off base”.
So, when it comes to the uniform code of military justice (UCMJ) it's anything but uniform and more often than not the victims of crimes such as extramarital sexual conduct get no justice and have to suffer in silence.
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