FIRST LIEUTENANT JONATHAN JAMES KENDRICK USMC (Kiefer Sutherland), in A Few Good Men, was assigned as Leader, Second Platoon, Bravo Company, Rifle Security Company Windward, Guantanano Bay, Cuba. Now he finds himself languishing in Fort Leavenworth, all over an order he gave.Jonathan Kendrick grew up in the South. And as such he came to recognize only two kinds of authority: a military line infantry commanding officer, and the LORD God. When he joined the Marine Corps, he kept only two references: the Marine Code of Conduct and the Authorised or King James Version of the Holy Bible.He might, or might not, have remembered a famous school-desegregation case in his county, when a black family named Jefferson sought to enroll their children in an all-white school. Lionel Kaffee, a former Navy Judge Advocate, represented those particular plaintiffs. Mr. Kaffee later became Attorney General of the United States.Kendrick never met Lionel Kaffee--he passed away in 1985. But Kendrick would meet his son, Lt. (jg) Daniel A. Kaffee USN. To his detriment, devilment, and everlasting regret.Kendrick's troubles began, actually, with a totally unrelated case. He discovered that a Private Curtis Bell had been stealing liquor from the liquor cabinet of the Officers' Club. Rather than report Pvt. Bell to any legal authority, he decided to handle the problem within the unit. Accordingly he ordered Pvt. Bell's squad leader, Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson USMC, to place Pvt. Bell on barracks restriction, and to offer him as much water as he could drink, plus vitamin supplements, but to allow him no food. To his anger, Kendrick discovered that L. Cpl. Dawson sneaked food into Pvt. Bell's room. As punishment, Kendrick downgraded Dawson on his next Proficiency and Conduct Report. This was the most likely reason why L. Cpl. Dawson was passed over for promotion, this although he had been one of the high men in his Basic Training class.Subsequent to that, came the case of Pfc. William T. Santiago USMC. Lt. Kendrick first heard about this when the Marine CO, Col. Nathan R. Jessup USMC, summoned him to attend a meeting with him and with the XO, Lt. Col. Matthew A. Marskinson USMC, on Friday 6 September 1991. Col. Jessup began by reading a letter from Santiago. A letter to the Naval Investigative Service. A letter offering a litany of namby-pamby gripes and ended by offering to lay information with the NIS over an illegal fenceline shooting that occurred the night of August 2nd. Who the f**k is Private First Class William T. Santiago? Jessup, with his usual deadly calm, wanted to know. Private Santiago is a member of Second Platoon Bravo, sir, said Kendrick, stating the obvious.Jessup went on to reveal that Santiago had written everyone but Santa Claus asking for a transfer, and now he's telling tales about a fenceline shooting. Santiago had broken the chain of command and ratted on a member of his unit. Kendrick probably could tell who that might have been: Lance Corporal Dawson, who had mentioned discharging his weapon on 2 August after his mirror engaged.Col. Markinson wanted a private discussion with Jessup. Kendrick said that would not be necessary, because he, Kendrick, could handle it. The same way you handled the Curtis Bell incident? Markinson demanded.Kendrick simply could not see what complaint Markinson could have. After all, Bell had been a thief--and a thief was one thing one did not tolerate. Kendrick started to say so. And Markinson cut him off: Don't interrupt me, Lieutenant! I am still your superior officer! And I'm yours, Matthew, said Jessup. I want to know what we're going to do about this. Markinson wanted to transfer Santiago off the base immediately. Jessup gave that namby-pamby recommendation the contempt it so richly deserved. He summed up: Santiago stays where he is. We're going to train the lad. Jon, you're in charge. Santiago does't make four-six/four-six on his next Proficiency and Conduct report, and I'm going to blame you. And then I'm going to kill you. Kendrick acknowledged the order.And Markinson said, I think that's a mistake, Colonel. Matthew, said Jessup, I think I'll have that meeting in private with you after all. Jon, that's all. Let's meet at the O Club for lunch. We'll discuss the training of young William. I would welcome any suggestions you might make, sir. That's all. Kendrick left the office. He did not know, nor concern himself with, what Jessup said next to Markinson. Instead he showed up at the O Club and reconnected there with Jessup. Jessup then gently suggested that since Pfc. William T. Santiago did not know any better than to break the chain of command, maybe a Code Red would be sufficient.Kendrick handled the matter as carefully as he knew how. At 1600 he called a meeting of the platoon. He informed them they had an informer in their midst, but regardless, they were not to touch Santiago in any way, shape or form.The meeting broke up, and the men returned to their barracks rooms. Kendrick visited Dawson in his room, and ordered Dawson to select a member of his squad--one he could trust--and deal Santiago a Code Red.The next morning, Kendrick received with some small measure of disquiet the news that the Code Red had gone sour. Pfc. Santiago had died in the middle of it. The MPs had placed Dawson and his designated helper, Pfc. Louden Downey, under arrest.Kendrick left the matter alone. Jessup told him he would take care of things. And to the best of Kendrick's knowledge, he did.Kendrick might or might not have taken alarm upon hearing that the Navy JAG Corps ordered Dawson and Downey transferred to the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard, to face court-martial there. That happened on Monday, 9 September. on Wednesday, 11 September, Lt. (jg) Kaffee, the lead counsel, arrived, together with a Lt. (jg) Sam Weinberg USN and a Lt-Cdr. JoAnne Galloway USN. If Kendrick found it strange that an officer who outranked the lead counsel by two grades was involved in the case, he did not let on. He gave the defense team the tour they requested. He then said this to Kaffee: Yes, Santiago's death was a tragedy. But it was also an object lesson. Santiago was dead, Kendrick said (for so he believed), because he had no code, because he had no honor, and because God was watching.Kendrick did not speak to any of those officers again, until Wednesday 9 October 1990 when he had to testify as a hostile witness. Lt. Kaffee grilled him on his handling of the Curtis Bell incident and in particular about the involvement in that handling on the part of L. Cpl. Dawson. He consistently denied ordering Dawson to give Santiago a Code Red. He had one bad moment when the judge advocate, Captain Jack Ross USMC, asked him directly whether he had given that order to Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey. He decided after a beat that he could answer in the negative, because Capt. Ross had asked him whether he had given the order to both men. In fact he had given the order to one of the two men, that being L. Cpl. Dawson--because Pfc. Downey wasn't in the room at the time.One can only imagine his surprise when Capt. Ross, later in the week, placed Kendrick under arrest. Charge: murder, conspiracy to commit murder, issuance of an unlawful order, and perjury. Show less «