it comes in pints?

That's the UCMJ for you, Ken. And that's precisely what people who have never served don't realize when they crack on RETIRED folks who speak up. You can disappear for a very long time, confined to barracks, treated howEVER, whatEVER with very little recourse.

That's what is so outrageous. Our own soldiers and Marines are treated worse than the murdering scum at Guantanamo.

There are limits to what can be done if they've not been formally charged. It's been a while since I've read up on administrative punishments and confinement, but I do know there are time limits as to what can be done to a military servicemember. Just as there are limits to how much duty they can do in a day, how much sleep we have to be allowed, how much money can be taken from them as punishment ... etc.

I want to say 90 days is the max administrative confinement, but it's been a long time since I had to look at that stuff.

But, yes, it's outrageous that we treat enemy prisoners better than our own fighting forces. Although, there are some differences in how the different services handle these kinds of things. It's been my experience that the Marine Corps is far harsher than any of the other services.

I would love to see this get some play -- via comparison and contrast -- in more mainstream media.

Hannity has picked this up. The dad of one of the Marines called in to his radio show and I caught some of the conversation while picked up D#1 from Asthma Camp.

He answered my confinement question: The military can confine a servicemember up to 120 days without charging them. However, he talked about how when they first were returned to Pendleton, they were just confined to quarters, but after a couple of days they were imprisoned in the brig.

It should be pointed out that apparently, the military is acting completely withing their rights under the UCMJ. Even if it's extreme and morally and ethically reprehensible.

The dad said the families have retained a lawyer who is a retired Marine brigadier general JAG and he said (paraphrasing the dad who was paraphrasing the lawyer) that this is unheard of in the military.

Solitary confinement in restraints pre-trial is extremely unusual even for accused murderers in the civilian justice system: I don't know if I've ever even heard of it. I know the UCMJ is different in a lot of ways, but this still strikes me is as being in no way possibly normal.

I know the military likes to guard its jurisdictinal turf, too, but if no charges have been filed, an extraordinary situation calls for extraordinary remedies, and as an educated guess I don't think a petition for a writ of habeas corpus from the local US District Court would be inappropriate.