Grant T. Swinger

Thomas D. White, Jr.

April 16, 2014

Overview of the Armed Forces

Topics Discussed in this Hour

• Military services and their respective missions;

• Address command structures and levels of

personnel;

• Statutes governing active-duty status and

eligibility for military legal assistance;

• Overview of the UCMJ;

Goals of this Presentation

• Better understanding of the military services;

• Where their military-connected clients fit into

those services;

• What legal rights and legal assistance services are

available to military personnel and their

dependents; and

• An improved basic understanding of military

justice and legal assistance in the US Armed

Forces.

U.S. Armed Forces

Organization: The Separate Services

Department of Defense (DOD) Department of the Army: U.S. Army Department of the Air Force: U.S. Air Force Department of the Navy

U.S. Navy U.S. Marine Corps U.S. Coast Guard*

*Operates under the Department of Homeland Security During

Peacetime

Original appointments in the grades of second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and captain in the Regular Army, Regular Air Force, and Regular Marine Corps and in the grades of ensign, lieutenant (junior grade), and lieutenant in the Regular Navy shall be made by the President alone. 10 U.S.C.A. § 531 (West)

To become an officer of a reserve component a person must be appointed as a Reserve of an armed force in a grade corresponding to a grade authorized for the regular component of the armed force concerned and, except as provided in paragraph (2), subscribe to the oath prescribed by section 3331 of title 5. In addition, to become an officer of the Army National Guard of the United States or the Air National Guard of the United States, he must first be appointed to, and be federally recognized in, the same grade in the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard, as the case may be. 10 U.S.C.A. § 12201 (West)

Personnel: Commissioned Officers

• The Secretary concerned may accept original enlistments in the Regular Army, Regular Navy, Regular Air Force, Regular Marine Corps, or Regular Coast Guard, as the case may be, of qualified, effective, and able-bodied persons who are not less than seventeen years of age nor more than forty-two years of age. 10 U.S.C.A. § 505 (West)

• To become an enlisted member of a reserve component a person must be enlisted as a Reserve of an armed force and subscribe to the oath prescribed by section 502 of this title, or be transferred to that component according to law. In addition, to become an enlisted member of the Army National Guard of the United States or the Air National Guard of the United States, he must meet the requirements of section 12107 of this title. 10 U.S.C.A. § 12102 (West)

Personnel: Enlisted Personnel

Civil Issues and Service Members

Legal Assistance Regulations

• USAF: Air Force Instruction 51-504, Legal

Assistance, Notary, and Preventive Law Programs,

27 Oct. 2013.

• USCG: Commandant Instruction 5801.4E, Legal

Assistance Program, 26 Oct. 2005.

• USN & USMC: JAGMAN, Chapter VII, Legal

Assistance

• USA: AR 27-3, The Army Legal Assistance Program,

RAR 13 Sep. 2011 (21 Feb. 1996)

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)

50 U.S.C. App. §§501-597b Provides certain protections from civil actions against servicemembers who are called to Active Duty. Allows for termination of leases and provides relief from certain

contractual obligations. Stays civil proceedings, protects against default judgments, and

tolls statutes of limitations in actions by or against servicemembers

Not extended to child custody proceedings and modification of

child custody arrangements. See In re Marriage of Grantham 698 N.W.2.d 140 (2005)

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)

• 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301-4335

Protects servicemembers’ and veterans’ civilian employment rights.

Undercertain conditions, USERRA requires employers to put individuals back to work in their civilian jobs after military service.

USERRA also protects servicemembers from discrimination in the workplace based on their military service or affiliation

Considerations Employment discrimination against veterans

continues to be pervasive and USERRA

Claims are often difficult to prove. In 2012,

1,430 USERRA discrimination claims were

filed, a 60 percent increase since 2001.

The Uniform Code of Military

Justice (UCMJ)

• The Punitive Articles of the UCMJ criminalizes and severely punishes behavior that would be perfectly normal and possibly even encouraged in civilian society.

• Example: Article 99 Misbehavior before the enemy

• Any member of the armed forces who before or in the presence of the enemy—

• (1)runs away;

• ***

• (5)is guilty of cowardly conduct;

• ***

• shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.

• 10 U.S.C. § 899

How The UCMJ Is Different

Military courts have exclusive authority over purely military Crimes such as: Mutiny

Sedition

Failure to obey an order

Insubordination Most crimes violate both civilian and military law (robbery, assault, murder, etc.)

A military member can't be tried for the same misconduct by both a military court and another federal court. He can be tried for the same misconduct by both a military court and a state court.

Jurisdiction Under the UCMJ

Considerations Civilian court authority is usually based on the

location of the crime. The crime must have

occurred within the boundaries of the state.

Military court authority is based on the status of

the offender. If he's an active service member, the

UCMJ applies no matter where the crime occurs.

(1) Members of a regular component of the armed forces, including those awaiting discharge after expiration of their terms of enlistment; volunteers from the time of their muster or acceptance into the armed forces; inductees from the time of their actual induction into the armed forces; and other persons lawfully called or ordered into, or to duty in or for training in, the Armed forces, from the dates when they are required by the terms of the call or order to obey it. *** (3) Members of a reserve component while on inactive-duty training, but in the case of members of the Army

National Guard of the United States or the Air National Guard of the United States only when in Federal

Service.

(4) Retired members of a regular component of the armed forces who are entitled to pay. (5) Retired members of a reserve component who are receiving hospitalization from an armed force. *** (8) Members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Public Health Service, and other organizations, when assigned to and serving with the armed forces. (9) Prisoners of war in custody of the armed forces. (10) In time of declared war or a contingency operation, persons serving with or accompanying an armed force in the field. ***

10 U.S.C.A. § 802 (West)

Who is Subject to the UCMJ?

(a) Subject to section 843 of this title (article 43), a person who is in a status in which the person is subject to

this chapter and who committed an offense against this chapter while formerly in a status in which the person

was subject to this chapter is not relieved from amenability to the jurisdiction of this chapter for that offense by

reason of a termination of that person's former status.

(b) Each person discharged from the armed forces who is later charged with having fraudulently obtained his

discharge is, subject to section 843 of this title (article 43), subject to trial by court-martial on that charge and

is after apprehension subject to this chapter while in the custody of the armed forces for that trial. Upon

conviction of that charge he is subject to trial by court-martial for all offenses under this chapter committed

before the fraudulent discharge.

(c) No person who has deserted from the armed forces may be relieved from amenability to the jurisdiction of

this chapter by virtue of a separation from any later period of service.

(d) A member of a reserve component who is subject to this chapter is not, by virtue of the termination of a

period of active duty or inactive-duty training, relieved from amenability to the jurisdiction of this chapter for an

offense against this chapter committed during such period of active duty or inactive-duty training.

10 U.S.C.A. § 803 (West)

UCMJ Jurisdiction Continued