Here’s what you need to know about the biggest update to UCMJ in decades

I like most of these changes. Especially the bench trial addition. Having lost an entire week of my life on two different occasions, (once as a bailiff, once as a witness who was just waiting to be called, day after day) for relatively simple cases, anything to speed up the process and simplify the simple courts-martial is welcome. Provided, of course, the accused still gets due process.

The military culture is nothing like that of any state. Thus it is hard to correlate military and civil law. However, the military might benefit from taking a lesson from the civilians and allow its "citizens" to participate in the crafting of laws just as civilians do. Thus, military law might more accurately reflect the needs of the military community. Having laws dictated by legislators who bear no allegiance to the members of the community or an elite cadre of lawyers, seems destined for failure