Public Interest

Honoring The JAG Corps

Yesterday was Memorial Day. Remember the military lawyers and legal staff killed in duty.

By  
on

If public interest law is about dedication to the greater good, no one embodies that spirit more than the members of the JAG Corps. These military lawyers and legal staff don’t just give up private-practice salaries for their public-focused work; they also deploy to combat zones and risk their lives in order to provide legal advice in an environment that can be chaotic. And that risk is real.

Yesterday was Memorial Day, originally established on the heels of the Civil War as Decoration Day. On the first “official” Decoration Day — May 30, 1868 — people were encouraged to leave flowers on the graves of soldiers who had died in the War. Over the years, elements of the day changed — it was codified by Congress, became Memorial Day rather than Decoration Day, and was moved from May 30 to the third Monday in May — but its essential purpose remained the same: “to pay tribute to individuals who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to the United States and their families.”

Among those who have made the ultimate sacrifice are members of the JAG Corps. Military lawyers and non-lawyer members of the JAG Corps have been killed in major U.S. military actions from World War II to the Vietnam War to our more recent engagements in the middle east. In fact, six JAG officers died in the 2000s in Iraq and Afghanistan:

In November 2003, Sharon Swartworth and Cornell Gilmore, both of whom enlisted and rose through the ranks to become top non-commissioned officers in the JAG Corps, were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter they were riding in was shot down over Tikrit, Iraq.

In February 2004, Michael Merila, a paralegal in the JAG Corps, was killed when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Tal Afar, Iraq.

In April 2005, Sascha Struble, a paralegal in the JAG Corps, was killed when his helicopter crashed near Ghazni, Afghanistan.

In January 2006, Michael Martinez, a military lawyer in the JAG Corps, was killed when his helicopter crashed near Tal Afar, Iraq.

Sponsored

And in May 2007, Coty Phelps, a paralegal in the JAG Corps, was killed when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Iskandariya, Iraq.

Based on their job descriptions, military lawyers and paralegals may seem to have essentially administrative jobs, but over the course of the Iraq war the military used them more and more for on-the-spot (and on-the-ground) advice in combat situations. This sort of JAG advice could touch on a broad range of issues — military justice, environmental law, proper use of appropriated money, and the actual conduct of war, among other things — and was designed to help the military operate as lawfully as possible in incredibly difficult situations. And that’s just the attorneys; according to the Army’s website, JAG paralegals can help with troop-level legal issues like “powers of attorney, wills, and separation decrees.”

In 2007, there were undoubtedly a lot of situations calling for JAG advice, as the United States averaged 172,000 “boots on the ground” in Iraq and Afghanistan each month. With only about 10,000 boots on the ground now, fewer JAG Corps members are placed at risk — but that risk is still real for those JAG Corps members deployed in combat zones. And with the United States pursuing “a more aggressive range of military operations against the Taliban in recent months” in Afghanistan and increased “calls for US troops to return to a combat role in Iraq,” the JAG Corps may be becoming a more dangerous place again.

So let’s take a moment to honor those JAG Corps members who were killed in action or in the line of duty, and to acknowledge those who are serving today.

Sponsored

Sam Wright is a dyed-in-the-wool, bleeding-heart public interest lawyer who has spent his career exclusively in nonprofits and government. If you have ideas, questions, kudos, or complaints about his column or public interest law in general, send him an email at [email protected].

Topics

, ,