Honor and Dishonour
The film is filled with moments of honor and dishonor. Harold and Louden betrayed their fellow brother in arms, William when they carried out a code red order by their superior. Initially, when they carried out the order, they did so in honor of their commanding officer’s order. In doing so, they dishonored their oath to serve and protect. Commander Nathan Jessup let his ego get the best of him when he refused to grant William his transfer. He dishonored his position as a commander of the base to make his point and in so doing, it cost him a soldier. Despite William being the victim, he did not have respect for his brothers and the chain of command which caused him to be a victim of a flaw in the system.
When Daniel initially took on the case as the lawyer, he did not take his job seriously. As he progressed with the case, he came to learn the importance of honor. In the end, he earns the respect and honor of his comrades. Colonel Matthew Markinson showed honor when he fought for William to be transferred. Despite his failure, he honored William by helping Daniel solve the case. Although when it came time to testify in court he showed signs of honor and dishonor. He was too much of a coward to testify against his fellow officers which were dishonorable. At the same time, he showed honor by standing by them despite their wrongdoing. Thus, deciding to commit suicide than testify.
Abuse of Power
Commander Nathan Jessup abused his power by ordering Harold to carry out an illegal extrajudicial punishment which involved humiliating and hurting his comrade. Nathan used violence to force William into his rule. He showed no remorse for his actions and defended them by calling them necessary. Nathan and Kendrick abused their positions as leaders by oppressing their juniors into serving them without question. They disregarded the rule of martial law and decided to take matters into their own hands.
Nathan abused his power by fabricating evidence to conceal his criminal acts. Instead of serving in his position as required, he used it to push his agenda to his subjects without much thought of the repercussions they hold. Daniel used his power as an attorney to try to close the case in a hurry. He drew up a plea deal which had Harold and Louden agreed on would have hindered the truth from being discovered. Had Daniel been unable to corner Nathan into admitting his crime in court, Nathan would have abused his power once more by dragging Daniel to military court for smearing a top official of the Navy.
