And then my roommate began buying DVDs of the CBS clusterfuck that is "JAG." While I truly cannot express how much I have grown to hate this show, it did serve one valuable purpose: answering why people associate military attorneys with flying fighter jets.
I hate you all so very very much.The show's protagonist, Commander Harmen "Harm" Rabb Jr., is a former Navy fighter pilot turned Judge Advocate. This career transition is my first problem with the show. Harm only becomes an attorney after he crashes the shit out of his F-14 and is removed from flight status. The unspoken message for the audience is that law is the silver medal of careers, nothing to strive for but a decent backup in the event that you are ever diagnosed with night blindness after accidentally killing your RIO due in an abortive aircraft carrier landing.
It's like they had to dumb down the concept of James Bond for people
So, in a sentence, the show can be summed up as "former Naval Aviator becomes a Navy JAG." They even explain this in the opening credits. Despite this, in a blinding act of cognitive dissonance, the show simultaneously ignores the "former" in "former Naval Aviator." Harm flies F-14s. Constantly. He is in the cockpit more than the courtroom. No matter how tangential it is to his role as an attorney to have him fly a fighter, he will be in the air. No one, not in the JAG Corps or the Navy at large, seems to have a problem with this.
And so, I now understand why people hear what I do for a living and assume that I am driving an F-16 Viper when I am not behind my desk. These good people are not to blame. CBS and Donald Bellisario (the show's creator/writer/EP) are to blame.
The sad part is that the flying is only the tip of the shit iceberg with this program. After a few episodes, one cannot help but conclude they did not consult a single lawyer, officer, or JAG in producing this show. There appear to be at most 5-6 attorneys in the entire Navy JAG Corps, all of which work directly under the Navy Judge Advocate General. They all sleep with each other at various points and regularly socialize, even when they are opposing counsel. The Navy TJAG is a former SEAL, further reinforcing the notion that law is a great backup career once you can no longer do what you love. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of the show is that when Harm flashes back to memories of his father, his father is played by the exact same actor but he wears a ridiculous mustache to help the audience differentiate between Harm Sr. and Harm Jr.
In addition to the writers not consulting anyone that knows about the Navy or the law, they also apparently did not consult any women either. This show might be the single most unintentionally misogynistic program that was on prime time. If a female character is attractive, she will sleep with Rabb and then conviently disappear from the plot line, usually by being murdered. Other options for female characters are to become pregnant and provide comic relief or to be the ball busting ice queen archetype. The strongest female character, Marine Major Sarah MacKenzie, is still an alcoholic that is hopelessly in love with Rabb.
There is no real point to any of this other then to caution this blog's readership against ever watching reruns of this program. With that said, time for me to fuel up my F-15E Strike Eagle and administer some Air Force justice.
This entire post was a lie. I fly fighter jets all the time.
It's like they had to dumb down the concept of James Bond for peopleSo, in a sentence, the show can be summed up as "former Naval Aviator becomes a Navy JAG." They even explain this in the opening credits. Despite this, in a blinding act of cognitive dissonance, the show simultaneously ignores the "former" in "former Naval Aviator." Harm flies F-14s. Constantly. He is in the cockpit more than the courtroom. No matter how tangential it is to his role as an attorney to have him fly a fighter, he will be in the air. No one, not in the JAG Corps or the Navy at large, seems to have a problem with this.
And so, I now understand why people hear what I do for a living and assume that I am driving an F-16 Viper when I am not behind my desk. These good people are not to blame. CBS and Donald Bellisario (the show's creator/writer/EP) are to blame.
The sad part is that the flying is only the tip of the shit iceberg with this program. After a few episodes, one cannot help but conclude they did not consult a single lawyer, officer, or JAG in producing this show. There appear to be at most 5-6 attorneys in the entire Navy JAG Corps, all of which work directly under the Navy Judge Advocate General. They all sleep with each other at various points and regularly socialize, even when they are opposing counsel. The Navy TJAG is a former SEAL, further reinforcing the notion that law is a great backup career once you can no longer do what you love. Perhaps the most annoying aspect of the show is that when Harm flashes back to memories of his father, his father is played by the exact same actor but he wears a ridiculous mustache to help the audience differentiate between Harm Sr. and Harm Jr.
In addition to the writers not consulting anyone that knows about the Navy or the law, they also apparently did not consult any women either. This show might be the single most unintentionally misogynistic program that was on prime time. If a female character is attractive, she will sleep with Rabb and then conviently disappear from the plot line, usually by being murdered. Other options for female characters are to become pregnant and provide comic relief or to be the ball busting ice queen archetype. The strongest female character, Marine Major Sarah MacKenzie, is still an alcoholic that is hopelessly in love with Rabb.
There is no real point to any of this other then to caution this blog's readership against ever watching reruns of this program. With that said, time for me to fuel up my F-15E Strike Eagle and administer some Air Force justice.
This entire post was a lie. I fly fighter jets all the time.
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