Military Courts: See Here, Specialist Schmidt

MILITARY COURTS See Here, Specialist Schmidt

Specialist Fourth Class Gerald L. Schmidt sounded like an average G.I. when he bellyached about the Fort Riley chow and groused about overcrowded quarters. Unlike most of his buddies, though, Schmidt was not content to restrict his complaint to barracks bull sessions; he put his beefs in writing and sent them to Senator Gaylord Nelson of his home state of Wisconsin. The Senator forwarded the complaint to Fort Riley's commanding general. A veteran of four years of Army service during World War II, Nelson might have been expected to choose a more promising way of serving a constituent.

Schmidt's letter finally got into the hands of the first sergeant. After that Schmidt really did have something to bitch about. He was assigned to extra duty peeling potatoes and scrubbing the grease trap in the mess hall. When he warned his company commander that unless the persecution stopped he would inform the press, he was charged with "wrongful communication of a threat" and "extortion." Despite the chaplain's testimony that he was only guilty of immaturity, singular lack of judgment and stubbornness, a general court-martial sentenced him to 18 months in the stockade and a bad-conduct discharge. The sentence was eventually cut in half, and Schmidt was given a "general discharge," which ranks somewhere below "honorable" but does not carry the stigma of "dishonorable."

Last month the U.S. Court of Military Appeals unanimously threw out the conviction. "Military discipline, harsh as it may seem, is essential to the efficient functioning of our armed forces," conceded Judge Homer Ferguson. "But when it is perverted into an excuse for retaliating against a soldier for doing only that which Congress has expressly said it wishes him to be free to do, this court would be remiss if it did not condemn the effort to persecute him." Schmidt's announcement that he would write the papers "to expose to public view the unlawful and unjust measures which have been taken against him does not amount to an unlawful threat or an extortionate communication."

Heady with success, Schmidt is now talking about getting an honorable discharge and says that he even expects to get damages from the Army for his unlawful imprisonment.