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THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER

© John Lovett

THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER is one of those few and far between movies that got it right. The "it" being of course the military relationships between the characters. The military technical advisor for the film was Jared Chandler. He has previously worked on THE PEACEMAKER, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and OPERATION DUMBO DROP.

Jared Chandler is a career military NCO. His service with the United States Army has included training and assignments with the Airborne Infantry and Military Intelligence. He is currently assigned to Special Operations Command as a Ground Operations NCO. Chandler is a qualified paratrooper, sniper and demolitions technician. He graduated from the Royal Thai Army Special Warfare Center after participating in their high altitude parachute course.

While I have a problem with the exploitive subject matter, general's daughter gets into S & M and gets killed, I can find few faults with the military direction of the film. The uniforms were mostly correct. The saluting was correct. The film company used the military facilities at Fort Bragg and other bases. The general feel of the movie was correct.

If there was one thing I would take issue with in the film was the idea that a CID officer could have total power to arrest anyone, anywhere, for any reason. While that is a cute idea, it is not exactly a truthful one. Like any police officer, CID officers have to follow the law. They cannot arrest anyone falaciously, facetiously, or as a means to extract information.

There is a scene with Travolta speaking to another character about that character's legal rights. Travolta tells the character that since he is in the U. S. Army he has no legal rights. While William Goldman is a brilliant screenwriter, I think he got this wrong. People in the military have the same legal rights as anyone else. The CID cannot violate the Constitution to find the "truth." However, as a plot device this purported ability on the part of CID can move the story line along.

I think this logic goes along with the preconceived notion in Hollywood that the military is some super - secret organization that do anything it wants, anytime it wants, because, well, it's the military. Ahh, no, sorry it can't. The military is not above the law and it cannot use methodologies that could be construed as being un - Constitutional. Military law as embodied in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) does have provisions that make it unique from civil or civilian criminal law. Those provisions do not grant military law from arresting anyone, anytime, anywhere for no reason.

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