First post

I'm creating this blog as a way to spread some of the knowledge I've picked up as an Army paralegal through 2 deployments and a year of working in the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, New Jersey Army National Guard.

You might ask yourself what exactly an Army paralegal does. Well, that changes from day to day...

In the Military Justice field, I've put together Article 15 packets, drafted separation documents for Active Duty and Enlisted Soldiers, and drafted General Officer Memoranda of Reprimand.

For Legal Assistance, we draft wills, powers of attorney, voluntary acknowledgements of paternity, and prepare tax returns. We also regularly notarize routine documents for soldiers at no fee. We help soldiers draft rebuttals to the findings and recommendations of investigations, and to Financial liability investigations of property loss.

In Afghanistan, I worked as a rule of law paralegal, funding projects to help establish the rule of law in the country. These included building courthouses, providing judges with case management materials, and other projects using commander's emergency response program funds.

During the course of this blog, I'd like to put together brief articles on some of the topics above, as well as some of the things I've learned while obtaining my civilian paralegal certificate from Brookdale Community College.

I'd also like to spread some information about resources available to Soldiers, to include free tax assistance and pro bono attorney referrals. I'd also like to discuss some incentives available to Soldiers, past and future, like the Student Loan Repayment Program.

Finally, as I am a disabled vet, I'd like to help other disabled vets with filing claims and filing for education benefits.

I hope you find the information I post in the future interesting and useful. I'll try to keep my posts from being too dry.

Thanks for reading!

Brian Darling