Thanks to the past 20 years of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), we’ve been able to run into our fair share of military clients who have engaged in combat. Experiences vary, but one truth remains consistent. Namely, that regardless of training, the first time you hear the snap and crack of a bullet flying overhead in your direction, that the pucker factor hits a high 10. The experience is universal as you just can’t fully replicate combat until the person trying to shoot you is serious about the matter. People like to think that they would rise to the occasion in the moment, but that is equally not true. People do not rise to the occasion in such moments. Rather, they fall to the highest level of their training. That’s why if you put a National Guardsman who puts in his awesome one weekend a month and 2 weeks a summer in a situation designed for a Navy SEAL or a Recon Marine you are going to get a different result. No offense to the Guard, but it is true. That’s why we train and prep our witnesses to the highest degree possible, because we know that is where they will fall to when the trial goes hot. If we can borrow a few moments of your time, we’ll explain how we do it.
Witness Prep Begins And Ends With Trust
As a global boutique military court martial defense group defending service members all over the world, our clients are exclusively members of the military. They spend time with other members of the military, date members of the military, and get drunk to do some hilarious things with members of the military. This means that in many cases, the witnesses to such actions are themselves members of the military.
Because both attorneys at Bilecki are veterans of the United States military themselves, we don’t sugarcoat anything for our clients or the witnesses involved. We talk like they talk, care about the things they care about, and speak in plain F’ing English, F’s and all. Some may deride us for our candor, but when young service members’ lives are on the line we’ve no time to pretend to be something we are not. A fight is coming and we need to get ready.
It is our experience that this allows us to quickly gain trust because we are being genuine. We’re not confused about discourse in the military and while you may not hear them from the local Chaplain, most military instructors drop about 50 F bombs in every class. “F**k”, or some variation thereof, is the ubiquitous “uhm” of public speaking for the military. Yet it is really not about the language. It is about trust. It is about meeting service members on their level as this might be the first time some of them have ever spoken with an attorney. Trust is essential if you are going to prepare the witness for what is to come.
Preparing The Witness For The Coming Conflict
If you’ve never seen Tim Bilecki in action during a military court martial it can come as a bit of a shock to those who were not prepared. Aggressive is an understatement as he takes the fight straight to the prosecution. Bilecki is clearly more reserved with his own witnesses, but what he does to the prosecution’s witnesses is hard for some to watch. Regardless of how much brass they have on their shoulder, he shreds them to pieces.
Witnesses have to be prepared for the combat that is trial by court martial and after their own pucker factor hits a high 10 when the first shot is fired, they need to settle back into their training and preparation. They need to maintain their bearing and stick to the facts when the prosecutor tries to pull his own weak imitation of Bilecki’s style.
They need to know what is happening when objections are flying over the battlefield and they certainly need to know not to piss off the judge. They get to be calm, cool and collective because they have put in the work. They’ve prepared with Bilecki, talked about how to get back on track, and most importantly, how to remain consistent. They’ve trained and prepared for this day and that training will pull them through it. However, there is one more step to our witness prep and it might be the most important.
Bilecki Is The Lawyer Special Operator Gifting Violence To The Prosecution
We represent a good number of Marines in our work and we love our Marines because they give us some of the most interesting cases around. Universally, they all love to talk trash about the Navy and we let them. However, when a Navy SEAL shows up in the room, the criticisms get a little more muted. That’s because there is no mistaking the combat prowess of a SEAL.
Equally, our witnesses can be calm on the stand because they know that Bilecki will do all of the fighting that is necessary at court. He’ll pull the trigger and he just needs the witnesses to supply the ammunition. Think of witnesses as the POGs or REMF, for you old guys. Witnesses are prepared for the fact that they don’t have to do too much other than supply the information.
Witnesses can relax and just regale the court about how the false accuser was gleefully having sex with two Lance Corporals at an off base party. Just the facts ma’am. We’ll be the ones to point out that she only made the sexual assault accusations after her Staff Sergeant husband saw the video that she livestreamed her own damn self. We’ll hold nothing back because false allegations during the era of Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention are absolutely destroying innocent lives right now. We will do the fighting. We will pull the trigger and witnesses can just relax and focus on the truth. This is what we prepare them to do.
In Summary And Conclusion On Witness Preparation
As said earlier in the article, it begins and ends with trust. Our witnesses trust us enough to tell us the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth before we ever get to trial. They’ll pull out their phones and show us all the pics they sent to the women involved. Though we wish it were otherwise, there are often some raunchy pictures involved in Article 120 or 134 cases these days. We know, we’ve seen far too many. It’s just what the kids do these days apparently.
That trust leads to adequate preparation and we rehearse, train, and retrain for the day the trial goes live. Finally, they trust us in the courtroom. They know we’re not going to leave them hanging and they know we’re not going to let the prosecution make them look stupid. They know they’ve got a fighter in the courtroom and that makes all the difference in the world.
It is said of combat that once the first bullet goes down range, you’re no longer fighting for causes, countries, or ideals. Rather, you are fighting for the man to your left and the man to your right. Bilecki fights for his clients and he fights to ensure his witnesses are ready for the fight ahead. Anything less is pure negligence. If you are facing an investigation or court martial right now, we encourage you to reach out to us. We’ll shoot you straight on exactly what you are facing. Reach out to us and get us into the fight.
Defending Service Members Globally
Wherever Duty Calls, Our Defense Follows
