by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
County Court Judge James Ruth turned some heads downtown as he walked down Newnan Street. The Florida Army National Guardsman’s desert fatigues may have helped him blend into the surroundings in Kuwait, where he spent the past year assigned to support Operation Iraqi freedom, but the pale beige and brown camouflage stands out against the streetscape of downtown Jacksonville.
Ruth has just started his adjustment to civilian life. Waiting for him when he returned two weeks ago was a stack of case law and his wife’s chore list, which he says is nearly as substantial. Ruth will spend the next month trying to recalibrate before he takes his place on the bench again Jan. 1. But he says his experiences in Kuwait will leave a lasting impression, just as he believes his experience on the bench prepared him to be a more effective Command Staff Judge Advocate.
“My judicial temperament came in handy in the military,” says Ruth. “We have to make decisions based on facts, not on the chaos that surrounds us.”
Ruth speaks deliberatively. Questions are answered only after careful seconds of quiet thought. His disinclination toward rash decisions and action, a quality forged on the bench, made him a better adviser to the 50th Area Support Group command.
But his job in Kuwait went far beyond mediation. His responsibilities included arbitration on $800 million worth of military contracts; providing advice for troops dealing with legal problems at home; and serving as an investigator and prosecutor for military justice matters.
Ruth’s job as mediator on contract negotiations provided him with the most varied set of challenges. He would oversee talks between the military and civilian contractors. But he said the biggest challenge was moderating negotiations with the locals. Americans he says, are used to presenting their best offer up front, while the Middle East thrives on bartering.
“It’s a different way of negotiating in that region,” said Ruth. “There, the first offer is considered an insult.”
Also complicating negotiations was the Kuwaitis’ habit of haggling over tea. “Hot tea in 103 degrees,” he says shaking his head.
Not that military life doesn’t have its benefits. Ruth grew accustomed to his subordinates carrying out his instructions quickly, completely and without asking questions. He knows that won’t be the case when he returns to the bureaucracy of the county courthouse.
“There’s no room for democracy in the military. When an order is given, it’s followed. The civilian world is not like that,” says Ruth, laughing at the understatement.
When orders are not obeyed, consequences follow. In the military that can mean a soldier will be charged with an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Ruth served as investigator and prosecutor on those cases. Although he was obviously taken with the dedication and professionalism of the troops, Ruth says he was never conflicted about prosecuting those who fell short of the military’s required conduct.
The mission required rigid standards for the behavior and performance of the troops, says Ruth. He notes the worldwide headlines generated by prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. When soldiers stray from those standards, Ruth takes it as his responsibility to investigate and prosecute thoroughly. It’s an approach he learned working for Ed Austin when the former Jacksonville mayor served as state attorney.
“Your role is always to seek justice in search of the truth,” says Ruth. “I was taught by Ed Austin that we should be just as aggressive whether we’re prosecuting someone or revealing their innocence.”