you know what is more archaic than military justice?

common law

Commanders have great power to pardon their underlings. Is that what you are complaining about? From the part you quoted the opposite appears true. In fact the accused has a lot of protection against conviction. For example, confessions are mostly worthless; there must be material evidence.

But as for the pardons, that appears to me to be a case of commanders not getting it. This should not surprise anyone. There are a lot of men, perhaps most, who do not get it. There was a time when i didn’t get it. but now I do and soon so will everyone else. I really don’t see any reason to overhaul a system that is in the process of correcting itself, just as the society that sees the issue has had to correct itself.