History Recap / JAGS01E04DesertSon

Directed by Creator/JoeNapolitano

Written by Creator/RobertCrais, Creator/EvanKatz, & Creator/DonaldPBellisario

During a training exercise, several Marines are injured in a friendly-fire accident. Lieutenant Williams, the officer who called in the artillery strike, turns out to be the son of General Williams, a former Commandant of the Marine Corps and Medal of Honor recipient.

Lt. Williams, despite being otherwise entirely devoid of personal integrity, has claimed responsibility for the mishap, having been drunk while calling in the strike. When one of the injured Marines dies, and Williams is informed that he will be charged with Manslaughter, he rescinds his previous statement and places the blame on another officer, Lieutenant Boone, who he claims transposed two digits while relaying the call for an artillery strike.

Harm is particularly suspicious because the tape used to record the radio calls in the exercise first goes missing then turns up with some audio abnormalities on it.

!!"Desert Son" contains examples of the following tropes:
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* IAmSpartacus: Lampshaded. Harm and Reed get into a fist fight. Later, General Butler demands to know who started it. In unison, both men declare "I did!" General Butler is not impressed, and demands that someone explain to him what happened.
* JurisdictionFriction: Captain Reed does not like Harm interfering in his unit's training with their investigation, especially as he sees it as open and shut. This leads directly to PoorCommunicationKills.

* ManipulativeEditing: Lt. Williams has a female DJ (who has a crush on him) edit a tape recording of a radio conversation to make it sound like Lt. Boone transposed a set of numbers, when in fact Boone had perfectly relayed the incorrect coordinates Williams had sent him. Harm picks up on the editing because there's an analog hiss on the edited portion due to the DJ's different equipment.

* OperationJealousy: Minor example. Uncle Ollie is concerned that by making Harm stay in the humvee while she meets with Ollie, Meg might give the wrong impression that Ollie is her boyfriend. Meg grins and replies "[[ShipTease That's the idea.]]"
* PoorCommunicationKills: Harm and Captain Reed do not get along, and Reed gives the bare minimum of assistance when Harm and Meg go to investigate the accident site. This plus one knocked over road sign nearly get Meg and Harm killed when they accidentally enter the Free Fire Zone.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: General Williams insists that Harm be impartial in the investigation, rather than covering up for his son's failure like many others have done. Major General Butler similarly makes it clear that he expects his men to cooperate with Harm's investigation. Captain Reed doesn't like Harm at all, and he's very harsh towards Lt. Williams (and rightfully so), but when it seems that Lt. Boone was responsible, he simply tells him that mistakes sometimes happen, and he should learn from it rather than let it haunt him.

* RoadSignReversal: A sign marking an entrance into the Free Fire Zone has been knocked down, which nearly gets Harm and Meg killed.

* WhatTheHellHero: Major General Butler gives Harm and Reed an ass-chewing of epic proportions after the two get into a brawl. He only gets angrier when both men try to claim responsibility at the same time before Meg explains that it was the result of a [[PoorCommunicationKills particularly bad misunderstanding.]]

* TheCameo: Former Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of Iran-Contra fame as Meg Austin's "[[TheDanza Uncle Ollie]]", who she calls in for a favor. Heavily implied to be cast AsHimself.

* IKnewIt: Captain Reed's reaction after Harm proves that the tape was tampered with.

During a training exercise, several Marines are injured in a friendly-fire accident. Lieutenant Williams, the officer who called in the artillery strike turns out to be the son of General Williams, a former Commandant of the Marine Corps and Medal of Honor recipient, and despite being otherwise entirely devoid of personal integrity, has claimed responsibility for the mishap, having been drunk while calling in the strike. When one of the injured Marines dies, and Williams is informed that he will be charged with Manslaughter, he rescinds his previous statement and places the blame on another officer, Lieutenant Boone, who he claims transposed two digits while relaying the call for an artillery strike. Harm is particularly suspicious because the tape used to record the radio calls in the exercise first goes missing then turns up with some audio abnormalities on it.

* AFatherToHisMen: Williams and Boone are both presented as different versions of this. Lt. Boone takes time to visit the injured Marines in the hospital, and when the evidence suggests that it was his mistake that lead to the friendly fire incident, does nothing to avoid the blame. Williams meanwhile is a subversion, going out of his way to be friendly with his men, partying with them and buying them drinks, but quick to shirk responsibility when a mistake on his part gets one of them killed.

* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler: "Why me?"]] Harm tells the general that his son's last words were [[DeathEqualsRedemption an admission of responsibility for what he'd done]].

* UnfriendlyFire: What prompted the investigation - marine artillery hitting marine infantrymen during a training exercise.

During a training exercise, several Marines are injured in a friendly-fire accident. Lieutenant Williams, the officer who called in the artillery strike turns out to be the son of a former Commandant of the Marine Corps, and despite being otherwise entirely devoid of personal integrity, has claimed responsibility for the mishap, having been drunk while calling in the strike. When one of the injured Marines dies, and Williams is informed that he will be charged with Manslaughter, he rescinds his previous statement and places the blame on another officer, Lieutenant Boone, who he claims transposed two digits while relaying the call for an artillery strike. Harm is particularly suspicious because the tape used to record the radio calls in the exercise first goes missing then turns up with some audio abnormalities on it.

* FamousLastWords: [[spoiler: "Why me?"]] Harm tells the general that his son's last words were [[DeathEqualsRedemption an admission of responsibility for what he'd done]].

* TheCameo: Former Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North as Meg Austin's "[[TheDanza Uncle Ollie]]", who she calls in for a favor. Heavily implied to be cast AsHimself.

* IAmSpartacus: Harm and Reed get into a fist fight. Later, General Butler demands to know who started it. In unison, both men declare "I did!" General Butler is not impressed, and demands that someone explain to him what happened.

* KickTheDog: Williams shoots Boone when confronted with the proof of what he's done, then [[TheRadioDiesFirst shoots the radio]] so the heroes will have to drive Boone back to the camp to get medical assistance rather than try to chase him.

* OldSoldier: Captain Reed served in the enlisted ranks before bucking for officer. As a result, he's unusually old and salty for Captain. And of course there is [[RetiredBadass General Williams.]]

* RetiredBadass: General Williams. Even as a retiree, he still warrants his own helicopter transport and honor guard.

* [[Recap/{{JAG}} Back to the JAG Recap page]]
* [[Series/{{JAG}} Back to the JAG mainpage]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Major General Butler gives Harm and Reed an ass-chewing of epic proportions after the two get into a brawl. He only gets angrier when both men try to claim responsibility at the same time before Meg explains that it was the result of a [[PoorCommunicationKills particularly bad misunderstanding.]]

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: General Williams insists that Harm be impartial in the investigation, rather than covering up for his son's failure like many others have done. Major General Butler similarly makes it clear that he expects his men to cooperate with Harm's investigation.