So, it really isn't about justice under the law, it is about politics and score cards.
@EdinVA That has been the goal for maybe the last 20 years. It is now impossible to make General Officer unless you have a political Rabbi in the Pentegram.
IMNSHO,I will never again trust the opinions of anyone above the rank of Colonel.
To start with,it is for all practical purposes impossibe these days to make General in the Army unless you are a graduate of West Point,and a member in good standing of the West Point Protective Society.
That used to be probably THE best thing about being in Special Forces,until recent years. Back in the 50's,60's,and part of the 70's,Full Colonel was the highest rank you could obtain if you were a Career Officer.
We had a lot of Captains serve one tour with SF to get their "tickets punched",but they were gone after the minimum time.
We had ONE General Officer in charge of ALL SF operations world-wide,and even he was only allowed to have ONE star.
The effect of this was every officer who volunteered for SF duty and stayed more than the minimum time,was a committed professional,and one of the "good guys" you could all trust to put the troops,the army,and the nation ahead of ALL other considerations,including his own life.
I have called the camp from the airfield in VN to let them know I was back and needed a ride to the camp,and had Captains show up driving a jeep to pick me up,and I was a nothing,nobody E-4 at the time. They did it because one of the guys needed a ride,and they didn't happen to be doing anything important at the time,so they grabbed a jeep and came to get me.
You wouldn't believe the looks we would get leaving the airfield from the regular army when they spotting a Captain driving a jeep,and a Spec-4 was the passenger.
You would NEVER see anything like that anywhere else in the army.