A Hot and Dusty Practice

We hit almost 100 degrees for the first time today.  That combined with the sand storms makes this a unique place to practice law.  Just the other day we were hit by a sand storm with winds so fierce that it started to lift the supports of the tent that I call my law office from the ground.   The dust is just everywhere.

The team is busy.  The CPT P the Trial Counsel (prosecutor)  is out straight and CPT B in legal assistance is hitting the camps giving legal advice to Soldiers - family law - consumer law - landlord tenant.  The practice moves at light speed.  We process cases that would take close to a year back home in only a matter of days.  It's interesting work.  More later. Dusty

Tradition

FALL IN

The unit forms up on the soft sand in front of the tents that are our headquarters.  The soldiers quickly assemble.  Four rows stand at attention in front of the Command Sergeant Major.   Under a typical cloudless desert sky a strong breeze overpowers the beauty of the day with the all too familiar pungent odor of urine from the nearby portable latrines.  The blue flag of the State of New Hampshire stands tall above our formation.

The Adjutant reads:

The combat patch, or shoulder sleeve insignia, indicating former wartime service is a tradition started by the Army during World War II.  Today, all soldiers assigned to units actively participating in or supporting ground combat operations against hostile forces are eligible to wear the combat patch if they are assigned to a unit serving in a declared hostile environment.

The 197th Fires Brigade "Granite Thunder" is such a unit.  Thus, all of our soldiers have become eligible to wear the unit patch on their right sleeve.  The right sleeve patch is a strong tradition in the Army and is sought after by soldiers.

The Adjutant continues:

It's more than just a piece of cloth or symbol of service in some distant land.  From this day forward it serves as an emblem that you are forever a veteran of the 197th Fires Brigade and Operation New Dawn.  The Red and Yellow of the shoulder sleeve insignia are the traditional colors used for Field Artillery.  The tied bundle of five arrows is adopted from the New Hampshire State crest and refers to the home state of the brigade headquarters.  Arrows were the first missiles used in the artillery and symbolize the core mission of the 197th Fires Brigade.

Our Colonel then places the first patch on the right shoulder of the Command Sergeant Major.  He then places one on the leader of each row.  The person so "patched" then places a patch on each member in their row, one at a time.  The Deputy Commander walks down the front row and finally stands in front of me.  He takes the opportunity to offer some words of encouragement.  "Major, they say no one likes a lawyer until they need one.  I'm sure glad that your'e here."  Then with a strong handshake and a hard slap on the right shoulder the patch of the 197th is stuck to the velcro on my sleeve.  Tradition.

The 197th Fires Brigade Patch (subdued ACU).

SPC V 27D in the legal section and his new patch.

CPT P hard at work with some military justice actions after the patch ceremony.

Matt is Home!

My last post "Two Blue Stars" got my thinking about Matt.

Next to his birth, the return of Matthew from Afghanistan last week was one of the sweetest moments of my life.  Matt is my eldest son.  He was deployed as an infantryman with the NH Guard Mountain Infantry Company.  He could have selected any MOS but he wanted infantry.  He was in school and could have gone into ROTC but he wanted to enlist.  He wanted to be a soldier.  He left school to enlist and deploy.  He left school to spend a year on a remote FOB surrounded by the Taliban. 

He is not alone.  The guard is full of kids just like him.  I ran into an old friend when Matt was getting on the bus to leave for Afghanistan.  I asked why he was there and found out that his son had also left school and enlisted in the guard to deploy.  When people complain about this generation, I think of kids like Matt and the ones that we have on our gun trucks, or here in the desert and realize that they could have it easy coasting at home but they choose selfless service instead.  They are the "Greatest Generation."

Matt will be back at UNH soon but for now he is home with his mom, sisters and brothers.  Welcome Home Matt!

Matt saying goodbye to Mary and Colleen.

Picture I took on the way over, in the airport in Bangor Maine.  It as a weird feeling knowing we had been in the same place.  Matt's unit patch in the center.

Story in the Union Leader of the return of Charlie Company.

Guardsmen come home from Afghanistan - Friday, Dec. 3, 2010

Two Blue Stars

A story appeared in the Union Leader profiling our paralegal NCO and her family.  For a two blue star family having more than one family member deployed is enormous. It is most difficult around traditional family holidays like Christmas.  We can all take some comfort that we have soldiers all over this world standing between our nation and those that intend to do us harm. Check it out here. NH guardsmen a world away from Konnor - Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010

Granite Thunder!

Back in Court - Camp Arifjan

We attended our first hearing a week in theater.  There is a courtroom here on Arifjan.  Despite the fact that our law office is in a tent, the courtroom is like any other back at home in NH.

The hearing is called an Article 32 Hearing.  It is a proceeding under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and similar to a probable cause hearing.  It is a prerequisite to trial by general court-martial. 

However, rather than a judge, a commander appoints a commissioned officer to conduct an investigation into the charges.  The officer, acting like a judge, makes recommendations and conclusions regarding the disposition to the commander.  Witnesses are called and subject to direct and also liberal cross-examination. The hearing gives the defense an opportunity for early and substantial discovery. 

My team was there to monitor the hearing in a case that was being transferred from the unit that we were replacing.  Because it was a rather complex matter the hearing gave us an opportunity to come up to speed and evaluate the evidence and witnesses.  It took the better part of a day.  But, it was good to be back in court.

NH State Flag raised in the desert.

Today was the TOA, the army term for the transition of authority from the outgoing unit to the incoming unit.  My NH National Guard unit took over responsibility for the mission we were assigned here in Kuwait.  One visible sign was replacing the Florida flag with the New Hampshire Flag.  One unique aspect is that as a guard unit we fly the flag of our home state, the Granite State.  It was nice to see it but strangely it seems somewhat out of place as I travel around and see service flags, the British flag, the US flag and Kuwaiti flag.  But there it is among them in this distant land - a half a world away from our home - the New Hampshire flag waives in a strong breeze for all the world to see.  It symbolizes that NH men and women are here answering the call of our country as they have done since Bunker Hill.  Live Free or Die.

A taste of home

I had a meeting with some of the other JAGs this weekend at the local Starbucks.  On the outside, it is just another dreaded tan building (everything here is the color of sand, in fact it is the only color here).  Inside it looks like any Starbucks back in the states.  In fact, sitting in one of the typical coffee house chairs chatting over your favorite blend you almost forget that you are in a desert a half a world away from family and friends.  The key word is almost, until you step back outside onto the moonscape, under a cloudless sky, and your boots sink into the sand and you take a deep breath of the fine sand that just hangs in the air, you remember that your'e not in Kansas anymore.  But, the coffee sure is good!

Hells Doorknob - Explains itself

Dusty Desert - Desert Sunrise

Kuwait - The Dusty JAG Arrives

After over a year of preparation and training, including two months at a Mobilization Station in Wisconsin, I have arrived in Kuwait.  I am a JAG officer assigned to a unit here.

The first thing I noticed is that everything is tan, the ground, the buildings, everything. The second thing is that my entire world is covered in a find sand almost like talcum power.  It gets everywhere.  It is everywhere, coating the world.  Hence: The Dusty JAG!