Quote Originally Posted by Cataholic View Post
Whoa. Stop the presses, Nelly. "Beat[ing] the charges" has nothing to do with whether the crime was committed. If someone rapes a person, abuses a child, or animal, but the prosecution doesn't do its job- that means a not guilty charge is returned. That is a whole lot different than a innocent charge.

Imagine, heaven forbid, your wife was raped at gunpoint, and the prosecution failed to present a good enough case to a jury, and the jury had no choice but to find the defendant 'not guilty'. Are you going to tell your wife the crime didn't happen?

The stigma of the accusation exists in our culture for both the defendant AND the victim. Fair? Perhaps not. I don't believe the military is somehow hit harder with false charges than the rest of the population. If so, perhaps the military needs to beef up its code on 'false charges', or get better prosecutors.
For many crimes, the prosecutor is the immediate chain of command.

Why does the military have a rough time recruiting Drill Sergeants, even though that patch on your uniform means easier promotions later? Part of it has to do with the fact that it's tough duty, but another big piece of it is that one private can ruin a career.