On her final day as an Air Force lawyer, Capt. Maribel Jarzabek figured she could finally speak out.
It was Dec. 2, three weeks before she officially separated from the service. It was also the same day a group of senators gathered on Capitol Hill to renew their call for a military justice system that would put lawyers instead of commanders in charge of serious crimes like rape and sexual assault.
Top brass across the service branches opposed such a fundamental change, charging it would undermine their ability to maintain good order and discipline.
But Jarzabek supported the senators, a bipartisan bunch led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. As a specially appointed Air Force attorney representing victims of sexual assault, Jarzabek felt well-qualified to give her opinion.
So she took to Gillibrand's Facebook page, where she introduced herself as an Air Force special victims counsel and listed several experiences that she believed illustrated why commanders shouldn't be involved in matters of justice.
The post did not go unnoticed by the Air Force, which opened a commander-directed investigation into the matter. On Dec. 23, Jarzabek was told that she'd violated Air Force instruction by participating in an online discussion of a "partisan political cause" and that her comments had the potential to degrade the public's trust and confidence in the service.
She was verbally counseled for the transgression.
Airmen are allowed to express personal opinions on political issues, just not as representatives of the Air Force or Defense Department. In hindsight, Jarzabek said in a Dec. 31 interview with Air Force Times, "I made a mistake. I should have put a disclaimer."
She also feels she's being held to a different standard than other airmen — particularly when it comes to the highly contentious issue of whether commanders should maintain their decades-old authority over criminal cases.
Jarzabek said a fellow special victims counsel who stood up in uniform during a commander's call to speak out against Gillibrand's bill earlier this year went unpunished.
She also pointed to an officer's remarks in an October 2013 edition of a weekly newsletter to the JAG Corps that underscored the historical success of commander control and authority.
"Break, or unnecessarily dilute, this authority and we render a commander less effective to accomplish mission," wrote then-Col. Jeffrey Rockwell, who today is a major general serving as the Air Force's deputy judge advocate general.
Those remarks weren't, of course, posted to a politician's Facebook page. And the Air Force said at the time Rockwell was ensuring leadership was up-to-date on the issue and could communicate it to the public.
Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Karns also distinguished between a social media post and a commander's call. "Air Force instructions and regulations set parameters on how they [airmen] communicate with Congress. Commander calls are an opportunity for leadership to gain an understanding of issues airmen might have," he said Jan. 2 in response to Air Force Times questions.
The Washington Post first reported Jarzabek's story Dec. 31. Gillibrand sent out a Tweet the same day calling the punishment "absurd."
In an email statement, the senator wrote she "admired her [Jarzabek's] bravery ... because I have heard from many other active duty service members who have encouraged me privately to keep moving forward but are afraid to say it publicly out of fear of retribution or retaliation. I think the message being sent here is very clear — unless you are going to toe the company line, shut up, or we will punish you."
The Air Force would be better served, Gillibrand continued, to embrace feedback from SVCs like Jarzabek rather than punish them "since they are on the front lines of working with the brave survivors who come forward to report."
Karns said the Air Force actively listens to input from airmen. It was their feedback, in fact, that led to the establishment of the special victims counsel program, which has been recognized by the Justice Department.
"Everyone associated with the military justice process has worked diligently to make a proven and fair process even better,'' he said.
'Too victim-centered'
Jarzabek worked as an immigration lawyer before joining the Air Force in August 2009. She'd first considered military service two years earlier — as an enlisted Arabic linguist. Then she'd gotten to know a former Air Force JAG who encouraged her to consider doing the same.
"I got to travel around the world and prosecute cases and practice a different area of the law," Jarzabek said.
She was selected in March 2013 to become part of the Air Force's new group of special victims attorneys. Among her first clients was a staff sergeant who accused an airman first class of rape.
When then-Third Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin dismissed the case in August 2013, Jarzabek drafted a memo to Franklin on behalf of her client. She accused the investigating officer of bias and noted that Franklin had not responded to their request to meet with the victim before making his decision. In response, the Air Force took the extraordinary step of reinvestigating the case and transferred jurisdiction away from Franklin.
Franklin, already under fire for overturning the sexual assault conviction of a fellow F-16 pilot in February 2013, announced his retirement soon after.
The reinvestigation — due largely to Jarzabek's advocacy — was at the time heralded as a success story for the Air Force's new special victims counsel program. Jarzabek said she also received kudos from the Air Force's top JAG.
But behind the scenes, the case marked a decided turning point in Jarzabek's young Air Force career, she said. "The memo [to Franklin] really pissed a lot of people off. I started getting told my performance was substandard, even though my clients said they were extremely satisfied with my advocacy."
Her next officer performance report took a hit, said Jarzabek, who was also up for the force-shaping board.
"I knew right then I was done in the Air Force," she said.
She learned in August she'd been selected for separation through the force-shaping process; she'd work her last day on Dec. 2 before beginning terminal leave, the military's term for using up unspent leave.
Around 2:30 that afternoon, Jarzabek introduced herself on Gillibrand's Facebook page as an Air Force special victims attorney. "I completely support this bill. It is much needed," she began.
She wrote how she'd watched a first sergeant display support during a court hearing for the accused but ignore the victim; that her leadership had called her "too victim-centered;" that a lieutenant colonel had told her to remember her place when she was trying to facilitate a move for a victim.
"I finally dared to speak out," Jarzabek said.
She doesn't plan to stop now that she's out of the Air Force.
She'll work as a pro bono victims rights attorney, continuing to represent two airmen she was assigned to while on active duty. She plans to help others file congressional complaints.
"I'm going to advocate [against] wrong things that have happened," Jarzabek said. "Somebody has to."
