Life Course Theory
The criminology theory known as the life-course theory will be applied to US military organizations. Life course theory covers five basic premises e.g. cohorts, transitions, trajectories, life events, and turning points. (Hutchison, 2011)
Cohorts
All clubs require some sort of loyalty pledge as part of being affiliated with the group. For example, upon enlisting in the military, members were responsible for signing a contract and swore or affirmed to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Then all trainees are required to assimilate via mass basic training designed to instill teamwork and core military values. After basic training trainees with knowledge, basic military skills, and loyalty move to specialized cohorts according to the career field e.g. MOS, AFSC, etc. All military members are required to adhere to the rules aka laws of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). One of the funnier UCMJ rules, article 125-sodomy, is explained as follows, “It is unnatural carnal copulation for a person to take into that person’s mouth or anus the sexual organ of another person…” (Powers, 2016) Nearly every military member, homosexual or heterosexual, has not or will not adhere to UCMJ’s article 125.
Transitions
Military members know the UCMJ rules and break the stupid ones regardless, which opens up a path or a transition towards bigger criminal UCMJ violations. For example, anyone stationed abroad is issued a ration card limiting the amount of spirits and cigarettes one can legally purchase per month. Non-smoking military members will routinely horse trade spirits for cigarette cartons. Some military members will further horse trade the cigarettes and spirits with local bars and restaurant employees in Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia, etc, where the goods are sometimes double or more the subsidized prices of military installation goods. (Schwomeyer, 2007) Black market sales are a transitory feature of a few low-level bad actors.
Trajectories
Subsidized goods and services are few of many military perks, but military members rarely ask why Big Businesses subsidize military supplies. The answer lies in bribes paid to the US government Congress. OpenSecrets.org provides an extensive database of all the bribes Congress receives in exchange for Big Business kickbacks aka subsidies like cheaper military supplies. Goodjobsfirst.org subsidy tracker lists all the kickbacks Big Businesses receive in exchange for Congressional bribes. Unfortunately, there are many more high-level bad actors than low-level criminals.
Life Events
Every military unit is complicit in the dirty exchange between Big Business bribes and government kickbacks. I would challenge every military member to go to the military hospital on a lunch break and watch the bribes and kickbacks in action. Big Pharma drug sales people cater lunches for the doctors, nurses, and staff in “hopes” the doctors and nurses will accept the foot-in-the-door social manipulation sales technique to land a Big Pharma drugs purchase agreement. Off-site parties, a clear violation of the UCMJ, are also routine.
In 2002, after watching this clear UCMJ violation, I reported the bribes and kickbacks to the USAF Surgeon General’s Office and the Inspector General. I was told the observations were above my pay grade and stick to being an airman. That correspondence was the turning point for me when I had to choose between military ethics or becoming a mercenary. A mercenary is a person that horse trades ethics for money. I became a mercenary; the government happily trades ethics for money, and what’s good for the goose for is good for the gander.
Turning Points
Shortly thereafter, I was reassigned into specials operations (spec ops) at Hurlburt Field for technical school, a perfect place for training mercenaries. Spec ops are government-sponsored criminals, and spec operators do not follow many rules, at least not in the field, haha.
We start out as basic trainees where we follow the UCMJ rules how the rules were written then through trials and tribulations we transition to mercenaries, the keen observers that is.
An aside: The last time I visited a military hospital in 2014 in South Carolina, sadly status quo government-sponsored kickbacks and Big Pharma bribes were still going strong.
References
Ellis, L. (2003). Biosocial theorizing and criminal justice policy. In A. Somit & S. A. Peterson (Eds.), Human nature and public policy: An evolutionary approach (pp. 97–120). New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
Hutchison, E. D. (2011). A life course perspective. In Dimensions of human behavior: The changing life course (4th ed., pp. 1–38). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Powers, R. (2016, November 10). Punitive Articles of the UCMJ — Article 12 — Sodomy. Retrieved January 17, 2019, from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/punitive-articles-of-the-ucmj-3356841
Schwomeyer, P. (2007, March 15). Black-marketing on Osan: Violators will be punished. Retrieved January 17, 2019, from https://www.osan.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/406399/black-marketing-on-osan-violators-will-be-punished/
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