Military Law

Unfortunately, actually nailing down military law can be difficult.  There are many sources of military law.  They are, generally, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the Rules for Courts-Martial (RCM), the Manual For Courts-Martial (MCM), the Military Rules of Evidence (MRE), regulations issued by military departments and commanders, and, finally, case law established by […]

10 U.S. Code Section 1102 provides: Medical quality assurance records created by or for the Department of Defense as part of a medical quality assurance program are confidential and privileged.  Because of that, I can’t share many details of my military medical provider adverse privileging action wins; however, I have now won cases in all

In courtrooms across the United States – both state and federal – juries are told to go into jury deliberations room and reach a verdict.  The jury enters the deliberation room and re-appears some time later with a verdict on the charges.  The procedure employed to reach that verdict, however, varies from jury to jury,

This week there was another revelation about military drug labs and military drug testing that undermines the reliability of the system.  I have previously spoken about the employee tampering at the Norfolk Navy Drug Testing Laboratory (NDSL) before it was shut, the false positives at NDSL Great Lakes and San Diego (before it was shut

There has been a lot of press recently about the court-martial for the former Skipper of the USS JOHN S. MCCAIN that occurred at the Washington Navy Yard on May 25, 2018.  The MCCAIN collided with another ship on August 21, 2017 off Singapore, which resulted in the loss of 10 Sailors.  CDR Alfredo Sanchez

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 here.  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

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: