We should abolish military specific ‘offense’

[Theworried2]

Watching the new Channel 5 show ‘Court Martial: Soldiers behind bars’ has made me think how unjust it is that soldiers are locked up for things that would not be an offence in civilian life like going AWOL or being drunk at work.
Surely soldiers should get the same rights as normal civilians and only ever be jailed for civilian crimes.
To be clear, those who commit murder as a soldier should be jailed as it is a civilian crime too, but those who go on AWOL for example should not as this would not be a crime in normal life.

@DownNative I completed 2 tours of Op Telic (Iraq) I spent 11 months of my life in a shithole desert.

I don't particularly care what we're classed as under any law. I won't ever think of myself as a civvy, I'm ex-military.

Many of the values and standard learnt in the army underpin my life as a single mother of 2.

You might technically be a civilian but you will never be a civvy

Every veteran I know personally all agree that veterans are civilians. Indeed, under International Humanitarian Law, they ARE civilians since they're no longer in the armed forces.

The legal definition and how you view yourself are 2 separate things. I am legally a civilian and recognise this, I'll always be a veteran though and I don't see why you feel the need to point out the obvious when you haven't served yourself. What a sad and pathetic comment aimed at trying to bring someone down and civvysplain something.

There are plenty of jobs where being drunk at work could land you in prison - anything involving machinery or driving for example.

Plenty more jobs require you to behave a certain way - you probably wouldn't have police, judges, teachers, local politicians etc turning a blind eye to cannabis, going dogging etc.

They're military, not civilian. They need to follow the disciplinary rules they signed up for. If you could go awol without consequences then you'd lose half the battleforce whenever they were called on to do something unpleasant.

@Tippley well said ! I really hate it when people quote what their friends say or their husband say as if that gives them a valid opinion when they haven't done the thing themselves

Now that is an OTT reaction.

Ex-military are veterans and civilians. Nothing at all wrong with that. In terms of domestic terrorism, its problematic to refuse to view yourself as a civilian and this is an issue we're still dealing with.

International Humanitarian Law takes prominence. The distinction is, therefore, important.

I don't refuse to view myself as a Civilian, I even said that in my post. I class myself as a veteran because I'm proud of my service and its absolutely shaped who I am. This doesn't affect anyone else and doesn't affect anything that could be complicated by referring to myself as such- ie I am not doing anything or behaving in a way because of how I class myself. I can't speak for anyone else but everyone I know feels the same, they understand that legally they are a Civilian but choose to view themselves as veterans. Now do fuck off.