This post will discuss retirement grade determinations (RGD) for Regular Navy and Marine Corps Officers.  This post addresses the situation in which an officer has earned the right to retire as an officer but may face a RGD. There are certain requirements to retire as an officer that will not be addressed in this post; […]

I take a handful of discharge upgrade cases each year. I am very selective on the cases I take for several reasons: the cases have a long lifespan if they are done right (normally more than 2 years); the chance of success is relatively low if the case does not involve PTSD, homosexuality and a […]

Do you love that video? “Beyond a doubt”!  Not sure who came up with that, but over the years there are known errors at the military’s drug labs – across all services.  False positives, contamination, misplaced or lost samples, and unknown DNA contributors in the urine.  And it shouldn’t be unexpected.  Did you see how […]

I recently wrapped up a Navy Board of Inquiry (board found no misconduct; returned member to duty) where the officer was alleged to have “wrongfully used a prescription drug.”  During the 8months it took to get this case before a board of inquiry, the officer was transferred from his normal position to a temporary assignment, […]

Whether it is a State, Federal, or Military criminal prosecution, the loss of evidence or the failure to preserve favorable evidence can undermine a criminal defendant’s ability to successfully mount a defense.  The police/investigators are the first persons investigating a crime.  They do this, normally, before anyone has been charged and hopefully soon after the […]

The military drug testing laboratories first screen each urine sample using a presumptive immunoassay screening test.  Those samples that test negative for the 9 substances (possibly 10 if a synthetic cannabinoids screening is completed) are discarded and negative results are reported.  Those samples that test positive during the immunoassay screening are retained and tested for […]

1 Korody Law routinely receives calls asking for assistance to appeal a DoD ISCR security clearance denial after a judge has denied the clearance. Because of the legal standard for a DoD security clearance appeal, an applicant normally has an uphill battle to win an appeal. THE BEST OPPORTUNITY TO OBTAIN A FAVORABLE SECURITY CLEARANCE […]

Florida law provides that any portion of a military retirement earned during the course of a marriage is subject to equitable distribution.  That means that even where parties are married for one month, a servicemember may have to give the former spouse a share of a future military retirement. Federal law provides the ceiling for […]

BOIs and Retirement Grade Determinations A reduced paygrade for retirement will reduce your retired pay. 1 Can a retirement eligible officer just retire?If a retirement eligible officer is detached for cause or the subject of a report of misconduct (normally following NJP/Article 15, a civilian conviction, or court-martial), the officer cannot simply submit a retirement […]

Now the government has your DNA profile Forever, and you were never convicted of anything. 1 The United States Supreme Court has said taking DNA is lawful.In Maryland v. King, 569 U.S. 435 (2013), the United States Supreme Court decided that “when officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious […]