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| “ | I have two books at my bedside, Lieutenant: the Marine Corps Code of Conduct and the King James Bible. The only proper authorities I am aware of are my commanding officer Colonel Nathan R. Jessup and the Lord our God. | „ |
| ~ Lt. Kendrick |
(First) Lieutenant Jonathan James Kendrick is the secondary antagonist of the 1992 legal drama, A Few Good Men.
He was played by Kiefer Sutherland, who also played Bob Wolverton in Freeway, Senator Quintas Corvus in Pompeii, David in The Lost Boys, Freddie Lee Cobb in A Time To Kill, John "Ace" Merrill in Stand By Me, Bosco in Marmaduke, Venom Snake and Big Boss in the Metal Gear Solid video game series, and The Caller in Phone Booth.
Biography[]
Kendrick was a firm believer in the vision of the Marine Corps espoused by his commanding officer Colonel Nathan R. Jessup. It soon became clear that Jessup did not value too much for Kendrick but appreciated how much the two men saw eye to eye on a number of subjects, including the training of Marines and keeping things within the unit.
Like Jessup himself, Kendrick had little respect for other branches of the service or the code of military justice. When one PFC Curtis Bell was apprehended stealing liquor from the officer's club instead of turning him over to the authorities, Lt. Kendrick instead put him on barracks restriction for seven days with water and vitamin supplements being his only nourishment. Lance Corporal Dawson, feeling this was excessive, smuggled food to Bell, and in retaliation Kendrick put an unsatisfactory rating on his record.
When Private First Class William T. Santiago wrote to military officials begging for a transfer, Kendrick was not too happy that he went outside the chain of command. Col. Jessup was rather incensed and ordered a code red be performed on Santiago.
As a cover he had Kendrick call the troops together and told them not to touch Santiago, but then gave orders to Lance Corporal Dawson and Private First Class Downey to perform the code red on Santiago. They performed the code red but it resulted in the death of Santiago. Realizing how much trouble they would be in, Kendrick and Jessup began covering their tracks, and threw Downey and Dawson under the bus.
Their lawyer Lt. Kaffee tried to get them to accept a plea deal but they refused stating they did nothing wrong. When Kaffee visited Guantanamo Bay, Kendrick made his dislike of the Naval officer and the Navy quite evident. Kaffee continued his investigation and demanded a full court martial when the arraignment took place.
At the trial Kendrick was argumentative and even went so far as to deny the authority of the court and the JAG to administer military justice. Kendrick continued to insist that he had ordered his men not to perform a code red on Santiago.
When Jessup finally broke down on the stand and admitted that he had ordered a code red, the prosecutor Captain Ross left to go arrest Kendrick. Kaffee asked Ross to say hello to the good Lieutenant when he arrested the man, Ross said he would do so.
Trivia[]
- In real life, Kendrick would have been arrested and charged after admitting that he had confined someone to the barracks for a week with no food, as such acts are against the UCMJ. While "bread and water" punishments were still allowed at the time the movie was made they were usually restricted to ships where other discipline would be less effective. They were also limited to three days in duration and were performed under the strict supervision of medical personnel. Such punishments were completely banned in 1995.