Blog

Court is Assembled: Lawyers of Record

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 19:52:00 GMT

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.

- Winston Churchill

Career Note: Taking AIM2

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 19:17:00 GMT

There’s a lot of buzz about the Assignment Interactive Module 2.0 (AIM2) among officers throughout the Army. You may have heard the term thrown around by your S1, your fellow brothers- and sisters-in-arms from other branches, your commander, or even your staff judge advocate. Your curiosity may have brought you to the AIM2 website, https://aim.hrc.army.mil/portal/officer/portal.aspx. If you haven’t visited yet, please take the time to do so.

Why They Stay

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 18:59:00 GMT

I stayed because I realized that leadership . . . is about his heart and his commitment to his fellow man. It’s about developing the hand that you are dealt. It’s about giving back to society a better citizen than society gave to you when that soldier enlisted in the military. It doesn’t matter if a soldier stays for three years or thirty. If he leaves the military feeling a little bit better about his fellow man; if he begins to question some of the prejudices that he grew up with; if he feels moved when he hears the national anthem being played and stands a little straighter, then staying in the military is worth all of the pain and sweat and hardship.

Why She Stays

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 18:51:00 GMT

When Colonel Fansu Ku—a military judge in the Second Judicial Circuit—first joined the Army, she thought she would only serve for her three-year minimum obligation. Being the only member of her family to join the military, she had no idea what to expect when commissioning into the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Her initial impression of the Army was not what she had anticipated. She still remembers the discomfort she felt on the first day of her Officer Basic Course (OBC): having to be weighed in an assembly-like fashion and her weight being announced by the cadre for all to hear. She was already asking herself, “What have I done?” Her uncertainty about the Army lasted throughout OBC because it took her all twelve weeks of the course to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT).

News & Notes

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 20:42:00 GMT

1. Please join us in congratulating nineteen-year old Private First Class (PFC) Tony Ladebu, a paralegal specialist with the U.S. Army Cadet Command, on winning the 2019 Soldier of the Year for Cadet Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The five-day competition covered twenty events designed to measure excellence in warrior tasks and skills. Private First Class Ladebu, who arrived at Fort Knox fresh out of basic and advanced individual training, received a pistol, Trojan helmet, and other prizes for his efforts. Outstanding job, PFC Ladebu.

Lore of the Corps: From Legal Clerks to Paralegal Specialists

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 15:41:00 GMT

Today, there are some 3,500 men and women in our Corps who have the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 27D, Paralegal Specialist. Roughly 1,400 are on active duty, about 1,100 are in the Army Reserve, and about as many are in the Army National Guard. The Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAGC) relies on these paralegals to support the delivery of legal services throughout the Army. Although there have been uniformed lawyers in the Army since 1775, enlisted personnel were not authorized in the Judge Advocate General’s Department (JAGD)—as the Corps was then called—until 1918. This means that paralegals, and their forerunners, have been an integral part of Army law for 100 years.

The Beast of Lichfield

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 15:34:00 GMT

“The buck stops here.” That phrase, popularized by President Harry Truman, tells us that responsibility ultimately rests with the person in charge. This concept has long been embraced in international law.¹ So too has it been adopted by the military. Army Regulation (AR) 600-20, para. 2-1 says “Commanders are responsible for everything their command does or fails to do.”²

Life Hack: College for Under $10K

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 15:12:00 GMT

You will hear a lot of folks say, yes, education is important—it is important. (Laughter.) But it requires not just words but deeds. And the fact is, that since most of you were born, tuition, and fees at America’s colleges have more than doubled. And that forces students like you to take out a lot more loans. There are fewer grants. You rack up more debt. Can I get an “amen”?¹

Practice Notes: Recent Changes to the Anti-Deficiency Act

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 15:01:00 GMT

In the midst of a leadership turnover in Congress and a partial government shutdown, the 116th Congress of the United States of America quietly passed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019.¹ Nine days later, Congress enacted the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act of 2019.² Both of these Acts amended the Anti-Deficiency Act, specifically 31 United States Code (U.S.C.) § 1341,³ adding a new subsection and more than 200 new words.⁴ The amendments more than doubled the text of 31 U.S.C. § 1341.⁵ On its face, such voluminous changes to a statute appears drastic.6 However, in this case, the considerable amount of text added to 31 U.S.C. § 1341 is generally inconsequential for the practicing fiscal law attorney.

An Overview of the Judgment Fund and How Its Availability Can Impact Claim Settlements

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 14:44:00 GMT

The Judgment Fund was established by Congress in 1956 to alleviate the need for specific legislation following every successful claim against the United States.¹ The purpose behind the Judgment Fund was to eliminate the procedural burdens involved in getting an individual appropriation from Congress, allowing for the prompt payment of judgments and reducing the amount of interest accrued between the time the judgment was awarded and payment was made.²

An Intelligence Law Primer for the Second Machine Age

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:00:00 GMT

An army without spies is like a man without ears or eyes.¹

Government Communication with Industry

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 18:36:00 GMT

The times they are a-changin’

A Writ of Habeas Corpus: Ad Prosequendum

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 18:16:00 GMT

Imagine that an active duty Soldier begins to sexually abuse his minor daughter while stationed at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, his criminal behavior continues after his Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to Germany because his daughter is too fearful to report her father’s sexual abuse to authorities. Indeed, the abuse continues even after the family’s next PCS to Virginia. The Soldier is later assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas, but occasionally visits his family who remains in Virginia, where he continues to sexually abuse his daughter. Thankfully, while the Soldier is assigned to Fort Riley, the victim finally develops the courage to report her father’s sexual abuse that occurred in Texas, Germany, and Virginia to Virginia authorities. Ultimately, the accused Soldier confesses to Virginia authorities that he sexually abused his daughter in Virginia.

We Didn’t Start the Fire

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 17:08:00 GMT

We didn’t start the fire. No we didn’t light it, But we tried to fight it!¹

No. 1: From MP to Under Secretary

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:25:00 GMT

Before his appointment in late June to Acting Under Secretary of the Army, James E. McPherson, then the General Counsel of the Army, sat down with The Army Lawyer to talk about his life and military career. McPherson, a former Judge Advocate General of the Navy who began his military career in the Army as part of the Military Police (MP), previously served as the executive director of the National Association of Attorneys General and as the general counsel of the Department of Defense’s Counterintelligence Field Activity. McPherson is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, and the Meritorious Service Medal.

No. 2: Welcome to the Wild West

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 17:57:00 GMT

It is painful enough when we lose members of our armed forces when they are sent in harm’s way, but is unfathomable that they should be vulnerable for attack in our own communities.¹

No. 3: Independent but Invested

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 17:26:00 GMT

The implementation of the Military Justice Act of 2016 on 1 January 2019 ushered in the most revolutionary changes in military justice practice since the Military Justice Act of 1968 (MJA 1968). As we look forward to the fiftieth anniversary of MJA 1968, which had an effective date of 1 August 1969, it is worthwhile to examine the role and responsibilities of the U.S. Army Trial Judiciary, which effectively came into being with the passage of that Act. While MJA 1968 authorized an independent judiciary, and our judges should and do scrupulously guard their independence, the Army’s Trial Judiciary remains an integral part of The Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Trial judges have a vested interest in, if not shared responsibility for, the training of counsel and outreach to the community for the betterment of our justice system and our Corps.

No. 4: Leading an OSJA Team

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 15:47:00 GMT

I have had the good fortune and, more importantly, the honor and privilege, to serve in numerous leadership positions during my Army career. I have learned much by watching and studying leaders—both good and bad—“practicing” leadership. These observations have led me to conclude that there is no right or wrong way to lead; everyone is different and must develop their own leadership style. I would suggest that everyone think about leading early and commit to a leadership philosophy, with a willingness to adjust when appropriate. For a leader of any sized organization, I cannot emphasize enough that leading is a privilege, the opportunity is fleeting, and how you execute your responsibility will impact those you lead personally and professionally far beyond your service with them in that organization.

Closing Argument: Officers Should Vote Early and Often

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 15:29:00 GMT

The American military jealously guards its status as an apolitical institution. This status is enshrined in regulation and tradition dating back to George Washington.1 Some well-intentioned officers take this tradition and Professor Huntington’s model of a modern apolitical Soldier to a logical and self-defeating extreme when they advocate that officers abstain from voting.2 Persuading officers to abstain from voting to maintain professional impartiality is a cure far more insidious than the proposed disease of political partisanship. It misinterprets our oath of office, ignores American history and constitutional framework, and falsely proposes a bright line separating politics from war. American Soldiers’ connection to their country through the exercise of the secret ballot is not a weakness, but a strength. Voting makes officers more effective and, more importantly, better citizens.