Comments by "Bruce Tucker" (@brucetucker4847) on "Military Laws Broken: Top Gun (with real JAG)" video.

@Caseytify That was the last execution for desertion or any other military offense. Executions after that were for crimes like murder 1 that could (in some states) carry the death penalty in civilian life. Theoretically there is still the death penalty for desertion in wartime, it just hasn't been enforced.
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I think in 1986 getting that homoerotic with other pilots might have gotten them kicked out of the Navy. ;-) Nowadays we're a bit more enlightened.
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You don't cut the throttle when landing a modern plane, you go full throttle at the last second so if you miss the cable you don't go in the drink. The cable is designed to take the added stress. No one would ever order a pilot to cut their throttle to land. In WW2 days on straight-deck carriers the LSO would either signal the pilot to cut the throttle or wave him off for another approach. Ignoring a wave-off was (and still is) a very serious infraction. However, Maverick plainly aborted the landing deliberately and that was disobeying orders.
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Jester supposedly went under the deck to end the exercise because he thought both of them had lost sight of each other. So it may have been BS if he really did it just to avoid being "killed", but it wasn't a safety violation on his part.
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@44excalibur Sure it was BS, which is why Maverick followed him, but that was his excuse. He was ending the exercise by going under the hard deck, while Maverick was trying to continue the exercise under the hard deck.
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Maverick would have faced mandatory retirement for an O-6 a decade ago.
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At 15:00, that may be the case today, but in 1986 having a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex was verboten and would have gotten them both kicked out of the Navy.
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