So, yesterday (2009.1.8) I worked all day at the OSJA and saw one legal assistance client among other things. I love it, it isn’t rocket science but you do have to dig into the weeds of the regulations looking for a way out for your client. Everyone is friendly and many of them I went to Officer Basic with, so it’s kind of like a club. No one is trying bill more than you and there is no pressure to get more work when there is none, just get it done when there is. I can take ten minutes or all day, whatever it requires and country pays the bill. Closed system communism works wonderfully. We write letters on behalf of soldiers to opposes actions that the attorneys across the hall are helping the commanders with and when the day is over we can all go have a beer together and leave the office at the office. There is a lot of griping about stupid commanders (stupid soldiers are a given and don’t rate mentioning), but that usually happens in the halls of the office before the day is out. Last night a bunch of us went out to watch the game and although there was plenty of discussion of where everyone has worked before and his or her complete military history; cases, clients, and work in general were not discussed.
The deputy, sort of like the managing partner, has seen me several times but I don’t know if she has any idea who I am yet. She looks kind of puzzled whenever she sees me, especially when she walked in to my office today expecting it to be empty. I was on the phone to Headquarters Department of the Army, so I couldn’t explain anything. I watched all of my RA (Regular Army) classmates get promoted to Captain yesterday, we thought this was going to happen earlier in the week, but the office delayed it in order to have all the attorneys present. I got to talk to the SJA (Staff Judge Advocate – Senior partner equivalent) for a bit, so he now knows who I am.
Anyway, so today, before I headed down to main post, I checked in on the USAREUR LNO again. She wasn’t in. I mentioned that she didn’t get in until 1130 the other day and asked if that was normal. I was told yes, that she works late due to the time difference with Europe. I nodded my head but didn’t say what I was thinking: Europe is ahead of us. At 1130 EST it is 1730 Central European Time. Combine that with the fact that in my group there were a total of three service members going to Europe out of about 400 going through the CRC: Now that’s the job I want! She should be the USARPAC LNO. This place doesn’t just have the smoke, it’s got the mirrors to boot.
Today for the first time I saw the e-mail thread in which Benning says quite clearly “we won’t ship without these accounting codes and he shouldn’t have ever shipped from Maine” and HRC Saint Louis says “we aren’t adding those accounting codes because they aren’t needed, stop bothering us”. Part of the problem appears to be that everyone is questioning why I was sent through the CRC at all. OTJAG grabbed ahold of that and said they’re requesting a “do over” (they actually used that phrase). Recind the orders and simply make my orders for a straight PCS to Germany (with TDY in route to Benning not because I need to be here but because I am in fact here).
So, at least the Lawyers are winning the logic battle but so far no one is listening:
Benning: The accounting line is wrong, HRC St. Louis must fix it
HRC Saint Louis: There’s no problem with the accounting line and we aren’t going to change it
OTJAG: Actually, we’d like to send him to Germany