A Few Good Men

Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private Louden Downey are suspects in the murder of a fellow Marine, Private William T. Santiago, at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As the play opens, the two suspects provide overlapping accounts of the night of Santiago’s murder. The men entered Santiago’s room just before midnight, whereupon they bound and gagged Santiago. The Naval Investigative Service prepared the men’s signed statements on their behalf.

Sam Weinburg enters the office of Lieutenant Daniel A. Kaffee, a disaffected navy lawyer, to tell him about “a lady lawyer from internal affairs” (8). Weinburg admits that he cut a few corners in a previous case, so he asks Kaffee to cover for him if Internal Affairs asks any questions. However, Kaffee insists that Internal Affairs doesn’t concern him.

The “lady lawyer” to whom Weinburg referred is Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway, a hardworking, determined lawyer who works for Internal Affairs. She meets with Captain Isaac Whitaker, who complains that she’s caused him grief with several old cases. Even though Dawson and Downey have confessed to the murder of Santiago, Galloway wants their confessions rejected because of mistakes during the investigation. Galloway asks Whitaker to assign her to the men’s defense to ensure that the case “is handled properly” (11). However, the case has already been assigned to Kaffee.

Captain Matthew A. Markinson meets with Downey and Dawson. He warns them that their case has been re-opened and tells them to trust the lawyers even though they do not care about “honor or loyalty” (13).

Kaffee arrives late to a team meeting that Whitaker is holding and meets Galloway, who is shocked that their superiors would assign such a junior lawyer to such an important case. Whitaker discusses the case, revealing that Santiago wrote a letter claiming to know the name of a Marine at the Guantanamo Bay base who fired a weapon across the fence into Cuba. Santiago asked for a transfer from the base in exchange for revealing this name. Shortly thereafter, Downey and Dawson went to Santiago, bound and gagged him, beat him, and then left his room. Santiago later died, as the rag placed into his mouth was “treated with some kind of toxin” (16). Downey and Dawson claim to know nothing about any poison or deliberate murder. Whitaker says that Kaffee will travel to Cuba to find out as much as possible about the case. Weinburg and Galloway will accompany him. Galloway worries that Kaffee lacks sufficient experience, especially as the leader of the base is a powerful Lieutenant Colonel named Nathan Jessup. Galloway thinks that Santiago’s murder may be a cover-up for an embarrassment to the Marines and Jessup himself.

Santiago’s letter complains that he’s been “mistreated since the very first day” (19) he arrived in Guantanamo Bay. He struggled to keep up with the fitness regimen, which caused resentment among his fellow Marines. He wrote many letters asking for a transfer but received no response. He even offered to share information about an illegal fence line shooting in exchange for a transfer.

Jessup meets with Markinson and Kendrick. He praises the exacting standards and expectations of the Marines’ training program. When they turn their attention to Santiago, however, Jessup claims not to know him.

Galloway meets Downey and Dawson. After introducing herself, she speaks to Downey alone. Without Dawson, Downey seems frightened. Galloway asks Downey whether Santiago’s murder was a “Code Red” (23), a common but illegal retaliatory hazing practice in which Marines beat one another to enforce discipline. Downey will only talk to his lawyer, Kaffee.

Kaffee coaches a softball game. Galloway interrupts him to discuss the Downey and Dawson case; she wants Kaffee to be replaced as the men’s lawyer, as she doesn’t think that he’s “fit to handle this defense” (24). She accuses Kaffee of being lazy and uninterested in doing anything more than fulfilling the bare minimum of his military obligations until he can leave for a private law firm in three years’ time. She thinks that Downey and Dawson accidently killed Santiago when a Code Red went wrong.

In a flashback to before the murder, Jessup describes how much Santiago’s behavior disgusts him. Jessup loathes Santiago’s inability to meet the exacting standards of the Marines and criticizes Santiago’s attempts to snitch on his squad mates to secure a transfer. Jessup thinks that he has a responsibility to his country to try and turn Santiago into the best possible Marine. Allowing Santiago to transfer would be a sign of weakness.

Kaffee and Weinburg interview Downey and Dawson. After examining their signed confessions, Kaffee asks them to describe a Code Red. Dawson explains that, when “a Marine falls out of line” (30), the rest of the unit viciously beat the man so that he’ll improve his behavior. Dawson handles most of the talking, but Downey hesitantly explains that their original plan was to shave Santiago’s head to “train him to think of his unit before himself” (31). Unfortunately, they noticed blood dripping out of his mouth during the Code Red. They called an ambulance and were then arrested.