A,
Having a JAG guy in a BDE TOC would be new to me, but then again I haven't been in one in many years.
Maybe a permanent JAG presence at that level in the field is evidence of how seriously higher commands are taking things.
Personally, I think it's a little ridiculous that we have to go to war and play lawyer-ball while our enemies are playing rugby, but that's not JAGs fault.
Do you ever find it frustrating that our forces go the extra mile to operate within an ROE designed IAW with the laws of land warfare, but when our enemies are free to brutalize whomever they can catch with little outcry from the broader world? Meanwhile some jokers put panties on some guys' heads and it's Armageddon.
We obviously hold ourselves to a higher standard than our enemies ever have. Whether we get any real benefit from that is questionable. I had a ROTC instructor that was a Company Commander in Vietnam tell us that, if for no other reason, he made his soldiers follow the Law of War so they would be able to more easily adjust to civilian life when they got home.