According to the Army Times, “brain scans of veterans with symptoms of Gulf War illness show neurological differences between those who deployed to the region in 1990 and 1991 and a control group.” Some veterans of the Gulf War have complained of having many different symptoms following their deployment. These symptoms include, fatigue, memory loss, … Read more
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On 21 June 2013, in United States v. Eller, the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals denied a government appeal of a military judge’s decision to grant a challenge for cause based on a court-martial panel member’s knowledge of President Obama’s influential comments about sexual assault as well as her opinion about whether verbal consent … Read more
On May 7, 2013, President Obama stated, “[t]he bottom line is: I have no tolerance for this…I expect consequences…So I don’t just want more speeches or awareness programs or training, but ultimately folks look the other way. If we find out somebody’s engaging in this, they’ve got to be held accountable — prosecuted, stripped of … Read more
According to the Stars and Stripes, Navy Judge Commander Marcus Fulton recently ruled during two pretrial hearings in court martials, U.S. v. Johnson and U.S. v. Fuentes, that President Obama’s public comments in May 2013 would unduly influence panel members and/or military judge sitting on the court-martials to discharge the Sailors accused of sexual assault. … Read more
Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA) is now available in all services. The Army just implemented TERA last week on 10 June 2013. TERA is designed to allow those servicemembers with over 15 years of service, being denied continued service based on the centralized board process, to retire early instead of receiving an involuntary separation. The … Read more
If you were separated or retired because of a disability, you may be under the impression that you are stuck with the rating percentage that you were given. This is not necessarily true. In fact, two different boards have been specifically set up to review disability ratings. In 2009, the Physical Disability Board of Review … Read more
In March I posted a blog talking about how sexual assault in the military is all over the news these days. Well, this continues to be true as top military leaders resist proposals by some Senators that sexual assaults should no longer be handled by the military chain of command. One of the bills introduced … Read more
If you have been titled by the military police, NCIS or CID you know what a pain this can be. It shows up every time a background check is done and it seems to follow you everywhere. It does not take a lot to be titled, in fact, all that is needed is “credible information” … Read more
Last week on May 23, 2013, after hearing my oral argument, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) ruled in favor of my client. At my client’s original court-martial in 2008, the Government lost one of the exhibits submitted for sentencing. This exhibit is sometimes nicknamed a “good soldier book” because it is … Read more
It depends. As an enlisted accused, you have three different options regarding who will hear your court-martial, a military judge, an officer panel or an enlisted panel (in which at least one-third of the members will be enlisted). As an officer accused, you can choose between a military judge and an officer panel. This is … Read more