I was on the treadmill tonight (yes, a miracle I know) when a commercial came on television. Normally, this would be the time to flip over to my alternate channel, you know, the one I visit so I don’t have to watch commercials. But, since my husband, the commercial fanatic, was in the room, I left it on. I tuned out and turned up the treadmill, so I really couldn’t hear the commercial, but I heard Randy say “I didn’t know that.” I looked up and saw the commercial was for a law firm and it said something about “When you need a few good men.”
When I got off the treadmill, Randy said the guy in the movie claimed to be one of the guys the movie A Few Good Men was based on. Now, I have seen A Few Good Men about a thousand times, but never realized it was in any way based on a true story. Randy the Marine was skeptical too, so he went to the know-all, be-all of the Internet – Wikipedia!
Sure enough, the guy on the commercial wasn’t lying. So, I went to Wikipedia and got the lowdown on the film. It seems that it was indeed based upon the trials of Navy JAG attorneys Don Marcari (the one I saw the commercial for) and former New Mexico United States Attorney David Inglesias, with Marcari being played by Tom Cruise in the film.
Here’s the story – Marcari was 28, out of law school, stationed at NAS Oceana, and set to defend a Marine charged with attempted murder. Oh yeah, and he was scared. He defended Lance Cpl. David Cox, who was then 19. Along with nine other Marines, Cox was charged with tying up and gagging a fellow Marine who complained to the Naval Investigative Service about peer harassment. Yes, it was truly a Code Red and it did take place at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But, the Marine that was tied up and gagged didn’t die. When offered an Other-Than-Honorable discharge, seven of the Marines took it rather than face a court martial. However, Marcari didn’t draw a confession out of the base commander Col. Samuel Adams a la Cruise in the movie. Col. Adams just said he wasn’t aware Code Reds were going on and there must have been a mistake. Cox was eventually charged with simple assault and got off with time already spent in the brig. And, he was allowed to stay in the Marine Corps, unlike the enlisted men in the movie.
The trial eventually drew national attention (where was I?) and prompted Aaron Sorkin to write the play. Okay, again, I have been watching this movie for 16 years (yes, I saw it in the theatre) and I didn’t know it was a play too!
I have now learned my lesson to not be so quick to change the channel during commercials!