LIEUTENANT COLONEL MATTHEW ANDREW MARKINSON USMC (J. T. Walsh), in A Few Good Men, was Executive Officer, Marine Ground Forces, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In the fall of 1990 came the case that prompted him to take his own life.Col. Nathan R. Jessup USMC served as Markinson's commanding officer at the time. Markinson and Jessup had been Academy classmates, and done tours in Vietnam together. But Jessup had the street smarts Markinson lacked. Which was why August of 1990, when the fateful events began, found Jessup outranking Markinson by one grade and serving as his boss.The trouble began on the night of 2 August 1990. A Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson USMC fired a round from his weapon across the fenceline into Cuban territory. Dawson would later say his mirror engaged.But someone else witnessed the incident: Pfc. William T. Santiago USMC. Private Santiago was a member of Second Platoon Bravo, Rifle Security Company Windward. In fact L. Cpl. Dawson was his squad leader. Santiago was not happy. Markinson first heard of him when, on the morning of 6 September 1990, a thoroughly angry Jessup summoned him and the leader of Second Platoon Bravo, 1st Lt. Jonathan James Kendrick USMC, to a meeting in Jessup's office. There Jessup read aloud a letter from Santiago, dated 3 September, to the Naval Investigative Service. Appallingly, Santiago regaled the NIS with his troubles as a Marine attached to RSC Windward. And at the end he mentioned an illegal fenceline shooting. Jessup asked Markinson what he thought, and all Markinson could say was that he was appalled. Jessup wouldn't stop there. This kid broke the chain of command and ratted on a member of his unit, Jessup said. To say nothing of the fact that he is a United States Marine, and it would appear he cannot run from here to there without collapsing from heat exhaustion! What the f**k is going on in Bravo Company, Matthew?!? Matthew did his best to move the discussion into a private meeting between him and Jessup. Kendrick however, boasted he could handle it. Markinson nearly exploded. The same way you 'handled' the Curtis Bell incident? he asked, referring to a Pfc. Curtis Bell, who stole liquor from the Officers' Club. Instead of reporting Bell to proper authority, Kendrick placed Bell on barracks restriction for one solid week, giving him nothing but water and vitamins the whole time. Lance Cpl. Dawson sneaked some food to Bell. For that, Kendrick down-rated Dawson. Markinson, per the rules of command authority, could do nothing about that.Kendrick snarkily mentioned the illegal nature of Bell's act. And Markinson tried to assert himself again: Don't interrupt me when I talk! I am still your superior officer! And I'm yours, Matthew, said Jessup. I want to know what we are going to do about this. Markinson recommended transferring Santiago off the base at once, for his own safety. To his horror, Jessup said, I have a better idea. Let's transfer his whole squad off the base. Let's, on second thought: Windward. Let's transfer the whole Windward Division off the base. Jon, get your boys off that fence. They're packing their bags. Tom! In rushed Jessup's orderly. Get the President on the line. We're surrendering our position in Cuba. Tom prepared to do that! Wait, Tom, said Jessup. Don't get the President just yet. Maybe we ought to consider this for a minute. Dismissed, Tom. After Tom left, Jessup went on. We have a responsibility, as officers, to train Private Santiago. Conclusion: Santiago would stay exactly where he was. They would train the lad. Kendrick would take charge. I think that's a mistake, Colonel, Markinson said.Jessup quickly dismissed Kendrick and promised to meet him at the O Club for lunch later. Then he read the riot act to Markinson, along these lines:1. We're in the business of saving lives. 2. Shipping off Santiago to another assignment might put lives in jeopardy.3. He, Markinson, must never again question an order of Jessup's in the presence of another officer.Markinson experienced absolutely no surprise when he learned that Pfc. Santiago was dead the next morning, and that Dawson and another member of his squad, Pfc. Louden Downey, were under arrest in his death. That manner of death was listed as a homicide: acute pulmonary hemmorhage as a consequence of lactic acidosis, the nature of which suggested chemical poisoning.So Jessup was going to railroad Dawson and Downey. But on Monday 10 September, the Navy JAG Division abruptly transferred Dawson and Downey to the brig on the Washington Navy Yard. Furthermore they assigned two young lieutenants as counsel: Lt. (jg) Daniel A. Kaffee USN and Lt. (jg) Sam Weinberg USN. Markinson took heart. Daniel Kaffee was the son of Lionel Kaffee, who had visited Markinson's high school while he, Markinson, had been a student there. A great trial lawyer. If the son was anything like the father, Dawson and Downey would have justice.Better yet, Internal Affairs was getting involved, in the person of Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway USN, Special Counsel.Jessup, to Markinson's amazement, was unfazed. He arranged to phony up an order of transfer for Santiago, by best available air transport, predated to 6 September. He forced Markinson to co-sign it, on the very day Kaffee, Weinberg, and Galloway arrived in Cuba to investigate.The three officers, when they arrived, caused Markinson a little bit of disquiet. Kaffee was, quite simply, in over his head and overawed by Jessup's authority. Galloway was not. And Jessup might have acted unwisely and made an enemy of Galloway, when he crudely suggested Danny should count himself the luckiest man in the world for having a sexual partner who outranked him by two grades. (This although neither Kaffee nor Galloway ever once adduced one scintilla of evidence that their relationship was anything but professional.) Then Kaffee, almost off-the-cuff, asked for a copy of the transfer order. And Jessup clearly gave Kaffee The Treatment.As soon as the three JAG officers left, Markinson slipped away from the base and made himself disappear: Unauthorized Absence. In fact he managed to land in the States--where, the narrative does not state--and used all his skill as a counterintelligence officer to make sure no one could find him. But he hung around the Washington Navy Yard and followed the trial closely.Then on the night of 19 October he saw his chance. Kaffee had gone into town to buy a newspaper. He parked his car near a newsstand and left his door unlocked. So Markinson quietly got into the right rear seat and waited. He didn't have to wait long. Kaffee, oblivious, got into the car, closed the door, and pulled out into traffic.Then Kaffee noticed him, bade fair to jump through the car ceiling, and invoked the Name of the reputed Lord and Savior of mankind. You left the door unlocked, Markinson said, by way of explanation. You scared the *** out of me. Just keep driving. Are you aware you are under subpoena? I am aware of that, Markinson said. I am also aware that the lives of two Marines are in your hands. If I could do anything about that, I would. But since I can't, all I can do is help you, Lieutenant. Markinson's story was simple. The attack on Santiago was indeed a Code Red--a phrase Galloway had challenged Jessup with. Lt. Kendrick must have ordered it, though Markinson did not witness that personally. But most importantly: the transfer order was phony. Not only that, the flight that left at 0600 7 September was not the first flight out. A flight left seven hours earlier, at 2300 hours 6 September. It landed at Andrews AFB (now known as Joint Base Andrews) three hours later.Kaffee installed him in a hotel. He offered Markinson immunity, but Markinson refused, saying, I am proud neither of what I have done nor of what I am now doing. Later that night, Markinson noticed he had Federal marshals to guard him.The next night, an angry Kaffee came to see him, the Guantanamo Bay tower chief's log in hand. There was no fight that left at 2300, he said, What the f**k are you trying to pull?!? Markinson examined the log. And the situation became chillingly clear to him: Jessup had doctored the tower chief's log. And surely he had done the same to the Andrews tower chief's log. Jessup is about to be made Director of Operations for the National Security Council, he said. You don't get to that position without knowing how to sidestep a few land mines. Kaffee cockily proposed to put Markinson on the witness stand the day after next.Markinson knew that would mean disgrace for him, and would accomplish absolutely nothing, since Jessup would only lie about that. So for him he had only one out.He wrote a heartfelt last letter to the parents of William T. Santiago. In it he confessed: Santiago died because Markinson was not strong enough to prevent it.He then donned his full-dress formal-affair uniform, stood in the middle of the hotel room, drew a nickel-plated .45 semiautomatic from its holster, stuck it into his mouth, and pulled the trigger.And then, of course, he felt, saw, heard and thought nothing else ever again. Show less «