Military Law

The SMARTEST thing anyone suspect in a criminal investigation can do is keep his or her mouth shut.  Don’t say anything.  Don’t try to explain how it’s just a big misunderstanding.  And most importantly, don’t ever, ever admit to anything that constitutes an admission or a crime. Some smart JAG with the Army’s appellate defense […]

YOUR CAREER IS ON THE LINE — ACT NOW! A SECOND “RETEST” DOESN’T WIPE OUT A POSITIVE RESULT — and the military will presume you illegally used drugs to strip you of rank, benefits, and your future. Don’t let them steamroll you. You need experienced military defense counsel in your corner *before* you say another

Despite all of the reliability issues at military drug labs over the years, the careers of otherwise honorably serving members of the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard are ended every day based on positive urinalysis results.  The characterization of service for most of these involuntary separated “due to drug abuse” members

I recently wrote about the false positive results being reported by Navy Drug Screening Laboratory Great Lakes.  The military urinalysis program began in 1974 after several studies established there was widespread drug use among the force in the Vietnam era.  I started handling these cases in 2006 and have compiled a list of the false

Any smart divorce lawyer representing a military spouse always seeks to add indemnification language to military retirement pay division orders – the order that divides the servicemember’s military retirement.  The indemnification aims to reimburse the spouse for any reduction in military retirement pay caused by the election of VA disability pay.  The provisions normally provide:

My folder dedicated to false positives and misconduct from the military’s urinalysis drug laboratories just got a few pages thicker.  As noted in this memorandum to the Navy’s Criminal Law Division (Code 20), Navy Drug Screen Laboratory (NDSL) Great Lakes has identified at least three false positives for methamphetamine and amphetamines.  To my knowledge, NDSL

About the author:  Attorney Patrick Korody is a former Navy judge advocate who specialized in Military Justice Litigation.  He is co-author of the book, Court-Martial Advocacy – Trying the Military Case, published by Thomson Reuters.  His law firm, Korody Law PA, handles military law matters worldwide. Old Statute . . . New Technology I recently

A change to the law has occurred that affects the manner in which court orders submitted to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) as part of an application for division of military retired pay pursuant to the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA) must be formatted. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of

When I first joined the Navy JAG, it was common to see courts-martial where the sole charge was a violation of Article 112a, UCMJ, for wrongful drug use.  We called these “single spec pop” cases because the case involved a single specification (charge) based on a positive urinalysis drug test (hence the “pop”).  Over the

I have handled dozens of BAH (basic allowance for housing) fraud (also sometimes called BAH theft) cases over the years.  They come in several varieties including: a) sham marriages (a marriage for the sole purpose of getting BAH or an increase in BAH) b) the member divorces but never updates his dependent application with personnel