PERSONAL ONE-ON-ONE LEGAL COUNSELING

PRIOR ACTIVE DUTY JAG COLONEL

PENTAGON HQDA EXPERIENCE   FORMER HRC COMMAND JUDGE ADVOCATE

Officer Wins at ABCMR with New Strategy After Previous Denial

An outstanding young Captain received a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand for Driving Under the Influence (DUI). He appealed to the Department of the Army Suitability Evaluation Board (DASEB). His DASEB appeal was denied. He then appealed to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR). His ABCMR appeal was also denied.

He then engaged Stockdale Army Law to advise, assist and war-game. Time was critical. A promotion board was coming. The officer was deploying. New strategy: appeal for the reprimand to be transferred to the OMPF Restricted section. The facts of the case were tricky because the officer previously argued that the DUI charge was false. The new appeal could not include, and would have to work around, that failed argument.

Stockdale Army Law worked with the officer on an immediate basis to craft a new, creative and counterintuitive appeal. It succeeded. This time the ABCMR granted the appeal. A win for the officer, a win for the Army, and a win for Stockdale Army Law.

Sergeant Has Retention Control Point Extended to 2015

A Staff Sergeant convicted by Court-Martial was reduced to Sergeant. Her Retention Control Point (RCP) therefore reverted to the RCP for a Sergeant. DA G-1 said she was ineligible for further active duty service. She was being discharged in four months, instead of in 2015 -- which was the RCP for a Staff Sergeant, her former rank.

Stockdale drafted an Appeal to the ABCMR correctly arguing that DA G-1 used the wrong regulation, and the wrong analysis, and that she could retain the Staff Sergeant RCP under the correct authority. Because her discharge was only months away, Stockdale called ABCMR to discuss her case and request expedited processing. The next day, her Retention Control Point was miraculously extended to 2015 on her ERB. HRC confirmed the new date. She withdrew her Appeal from the ABCMR.

The 2015 Retention Control Point gives her the opportunity to continue serving her country, as well as a twenty-year military pension. An excellent result for the Soldier.

Article 15 and GOMOR Transferred to Restricted Fiche;

Captain Selected for Promotion to Major

An active duty Captain assigned as a Professor at West Point received a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMOR) and Article 15 for sexual harassment. The officer contacted Stockdale Army Law looking for a strategy by which he could be promoted to Major. If he were not promoted, he would be discharged from the Army under Federal law (two-time nonselected Captains are administratively separated). The officer was confident he had much left to contribute to the Army.

Stockdale finessed some difficult factual information and drafted a compelling and persuasive narrative explaining why it would be in the best interest of the Army to transfer the derogatory information to the Restricted section of his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF).

The DASEB granted the officer's appeal. The Article 15 and General Officer Reprimand were removed from the Performance section of his OMPF and transferred to the Restricted section. In the officer's Restricted fiche, the Promotion Selection Board did not see the derogatory information when they considered him for promotion to Major. Other than this derogatory information, the officer's OMPF and OERs were outstanding. The Promotion Board selected him for promotion to Major. This allows an excellent officer to serve for a full 20 years. This was a win for the officer, for the Army, and for Stockdale Army Law.

FTNGD National Guard Lieutenant Retained and Promoted

“You’re discharged in 30 days.” This is what the memorandum said.

An AGR Full-Time National Guard officer expected swift promotion to Captain. The DA Promotion Board selected her. She had the promotion memo in hand. But the Georgia National Guard told her she was not educationally qualified. They would not promote her. In fact, they were discharging her. Her baccalaureate degree, they stated, was awarded after the Selection Board met. A locally filed reprimand complicated matters, but it should never have been a factor regarding her selection by a DA Selection Board.

She contacted Stockdale Army Law and quickly provided all the tangled documentation regarding previous promotion selections, deferments, declinations, her undergraduate education, and assurances from her S-1 that she was submitting all the right paperwork to pin on Captain's bars.

Stockdale distilled the chaos down to a few simple facts: she was selected; she has her degree; retain her; promote her. The local reprimand? Irrelevant. Then, relentless communication with a “lights on” IG at HRC resulted in the officer being retained on active duty. All of this took place in less than 30 days. And finally she was promoted to Captain. The right result.

GOMOR Appeal: Sergeant First Class Has Reprimand Transferred to

Restricted Fiche

An RA Sergeant First Class had a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMOR) placed in the performance section of his OMPF for allegedly maltreating a subordinate. The NCO reportedly ridiculed a Soldier’s medical condition in front of other Soldiers.

Stockdale Army Law argued, correctly, that the NCO was never aware of the Soldier’s medical condition. The Department of the Army Suitability Evaluation Board (DASEB) agreed that the reprimand had served its intended purpose and that it was in the best interest of the Army for the reprimand to be transferred to the NCO’s Restricted fiche.

The Soldier was awarded the Bronze Star, served two tours in Iraq, and has an outstanding record. In his Restricted section, promotion boards will not see the reprimand and the Soldier’s chances for promotion to Master Sergeant are now excellent. The Soldier wins and the Army wins.

Twice Denied by Army Human Resources Command, Army Doctor

Wins Appeal at ABCMR

A Regular Army doctor sought to leave active duty to take a commission in the U.S. Public Health Service. HRC personnel managers advised him that the regulations permitted his transfer to the USPHS and to submit his resignation. He did.

HRC promptly welcomed him to the IRR: "You are now a Reserve commissioned officer." They sent him out one door and brought him right back in through the back door. An individual can only hold one commission at a time. HRC would not release him from the IRR, or from his Reserve commission. The USPHS commission -- and the job waiting for him -- were out.

The officer engaged Stockdale Army Law and requested reconsideration within HRC. An O5 branch chief denied his request and informed the officer there was "no appeal process." This was incorrect and the officer submitted a formal request to the HRC Commander IAW the regulations. The HRC Commander also denied his request, stating that he was "contractually obligated."

Stockdale drafted a persuasive appeal to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records based on the same regulations HRC would not follow. The ABCMR granted the appeal and released the officer from his Reserve commission. The doctor is now a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. This was a long fight and a hard-earned victory.