well. look at it this way,, he didn't HAVE to come out of hiding to tell Kaffee anything,. he could stayed in hiding until the trial was over, had Jessup cover for him, and be back to work again. he let kaffee know the details of the coverup and that was enough, he didn't need to testify, kaffee caused him to go suicidal

I agree. He was everything a marine was NOT supposed to be. Unlike the marines on trial, he was afraid to face the consequences. And as a result of his cowardice, he could not be counted on to make tough decisions or make difficult actions. No bravery. He was a pathetic coward.

It wouldn't make for a great rest of the movie if Dawson & Downey were acquitted after Markinson testified.

I think in his mind, he was already a coward for not being strong enough to stop the code red from happening.
Therefore, the guilt of knowing he could have done more to avoid tragedy but did nothing was eating him up to the point where he lost the will to live.
It's reaching, but his guilt have have gotten to the point where he felt that since he played a role in the death of someone else, that he too did not deserve to live.
In other words, shame is what did him in !

He went as far as he was willing to go. Testifying wasn't an option for him, there could be multiple reasons for that.
It's also a parallel to the actions of the two defendants. They tried to do something good but in the end they failed to do so.

I've always thought part of it was (despite the friction between them over this matter) he probably did not want to testify against Jessup.
I'm sure that was fundamental to his actions. He clearly didn't want to see the Marine Corps cast in a poor light whilst wanting to see the truth brought to light, even though ultimately he couldn't bring himself to take a public stand against Jessup. Whether this brands him as a coward, I'm not so sure. You sense Markinson may have had other demons in his life.

Thank you that's actually a good point. I guess the operative word is
could
. As in he did all he could with his limitations.
I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time Del Boy, it's them that started me drinking!

I guess in his mind he
had
done as much as he could (without betraying his friend). But you are probably right that he was fooling himself on that.
Ignoring: MythicCDXX, Creeping Jesus/Judas, RonPaul_Lies, Digby (and aliases), ibestupid, Holiday_Hobo, sharon_18, TilaMoo, Okie-from-Muskogee/boo321, NorCalNik, Nullifidian

I agree but my point is does he have the right to say 'I did
as much as I could
' on that basis?
I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time Del Boy, it's them that started me drinking!

How in good conscience could he write that to Santiago's parents knowing he was due to take the stand but instead ended his life before testifying?
I've always thought part of it was (despite the friction between them over this matter) he probably did not want to testify against Jessup. As Jessup said they went back a while.and you just don't throw that away easily. And in spite of what he thought of Kendrick, he probably didn't want to testify against him either.
So I don't think it was just the guilt over Santiago or cowardice.
Ignoring: MythicCDXX, Creeping Jesus/Judas, RonPaul_Lies, Digby (and aliases), ibestupid, Holiday_Hobo, sharon_18, TilaMoo, Okie-from-Muskogee/boo321, NorCalNik, Nullifidian