Current Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of USATDS

The United States Army Trial Defense Service (USATDS or TDS) is an independent unit within the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army, and is part of the US Army Legal Services Agency. The TDS motto is "Defending Those Who Defend America." The Judge Advocate Generals Corps of the United States Army is composed of Army officers who are also lawyers and who provide legal services to the Army at all levels of command. ...

The Trial Defense Service headquarters is located in Arlington, Virginia, and is headed by a judge advocate colonel. TDS headquarters consists of the Chief of TDS, the Deputy Chief, and a number of supporting attorneys, paralegals, and administrative support staff. Under the Chief of TDS, there are eight Regional Defense Counsels (RDC), each responsible for overseeing defense services within their own geographic region (see below). Each RDC oversees several Senior Defense Counsels (SDC), who are in charge of field offices and are responsible for providing defense services for a specific post, command, or area. Some field offices oversee geographically separated branch offices. Arlington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia (which calls itself a commonwealth), directly across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. By an act of Congress July 9, 1846, the area south of the Potomac was returned to Virginia effective in 1847 As of 2000... Colonel (IPA: or ) is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with the corresponding ranks existing in nearly every country in the world. ...

All active duty TDS attorneys are assigned to the Trial Defense Service with duty at their particular location. This requires each attorney to be attached for administrative purposes to a local unit. Additionally, even though they are part of a separate command, each TDS office depends on its servicing Staff Judge Advocate for logistical support, to include assignment of paralegal specialists and other support personnel.

Although there are over 200 TDS attorneys in the Regular Army, the bulk of TDS is made up of US Army Reserve attorneys and paralegals. The reserve component of the Trial Defense Service consists of the 22nd Legal Support Organization and the 154th Legal Support Organization. The 22nd LSO is responsible for reserve TDS services west of the Mississippi River (except Minnesota), and the 154th LSO is responsible for TDS service east of the Mississippi and in Minnesota, Germany, and Puerto Rico. Both LSOs are divided into teams that are spread throughout their areas of responsibility. The Mississippi River, derived from the old Ojibwe word misi-ziibi meaning great river (gichi-ziibi big river at its headwaters), is the second-longest river in the United States; the longest is the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ...

Mission

TDS provides conflict-free legal services to soldiers who are facing adverse criminal or administrative actions at no cost to the soldier. The various categories of representation fall into three priorities.

• Priority 1: Criminal representation at trials by court-martial is the top priority of TDS and takes precedence over all other actions. TDS counsel make motions, voir dire the panel, offer evidence, examine and cross-examine witnesses, present argument, and negotiate on their client's behalf.
• Priority 2: Assistance with administrative separations (actions to discharge soldiers prior to the end of their service), nonjudicial punishment, and summary courts-martial.
• Priority 3: All other actions, including advising soldiers of their rights as a suspect and responding to letters of reprimand. Priority 3 actions may also be handled by legal assistance attorneys, depending on the availability of TDS.

The former insignia of TDS.

Courts-martial in the United States are adversarial proceedings, as in all United States criminal courts. ... The phrase voir dire derives from Middle French; in modern English it is interpreted to mean speak the truth and generally refers to the process by which prospective jurors are questioned about their backgrounds and potential biases before being invited to sit on a jury. ... Evidence has several meanings as indicated below. ... In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by ones opponent. ... This page is about witnesses in law courts. ... Nonjudicial punishment in the United States military, is a form of military discipline authorized by Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. ... In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a term used to refer to a person, known or unknown, suspected of committing a crime. ...

History

In the Army military justice system, the main decisionmaker is the general court-martial convening authority (GCMCA), usually a division, post, or area commander. Each GCMCA has a Staff Judge Advocate, who serves as the legal advisor to the general. The Staff Judge Advocate also supervises a number of subordinate attorneys assigned to his or her particular unit. Collectively, the attorneys assigned to a particular command are called the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate.

Prior to the late 1970s, the duty of defense counsel was just another assignment within the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, much like the trial counsel (military prosecutor). To some, this created the appearance of a conflict of interest when two opposing counsel worked within the same office. To others, especially some soldier clients, the fact that their defense counsel wore the same unit patch as the prosecuting attorney and worked in the same building created the impression that their attorney was on the general's side and not theirs.

Between 1978 and 1980, the Army Chief of Staff approved an experimental program to determine whether it would be feasible to create a separate command solely for Army defense counsel. The pilot program was deemed a success, and in December 1980, the Trial Defense Service was born.

Because of the limited number of TDS attorneys (even the Army's largest installation, Fort Hood, Texas, only has around 10 TDS attorneys), the TDS organization was originally not large enough to have its own unit patch (Shoulder Sleeve Insignia). For 25 years, the TDS "unit patch" was the Department of the Army Staff Support patch, also worn by members of the US Army Safety Center and the Defense Commissary Agency. However, in August 2006, a distinctive unit patch for TDS was approved for wear. From the Institute of Heraldry's description: "The shield-shaped patch reflects the nature of legal defense work. The sword supporting scales of justice represents the unit’s mission to defend soldiers at courts-martial and separations boards; seeking justice for all soldiers. The sword also signifies that Trial Defense Service personnel are soldiers as well as lawyers. The glory, mullet, and the red border are adapted from the Department of the Army Staff Support patch previously authorized for wear by the Trial Defense Service, and provides a historical link to its organizational heritage." Fort Hood is a census-designated place and US Army base located in Texas. ...

The Southern Iraq TDS branch office.

TDS Regions

Currently, the active component of the Trial Defense Service has attorneys and paralegals stationed in eight geographic regions.

• Region I: Nnortheast United States. Fort Drum, New York, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Fort Eustis, Virginia, Fort Knox, Kentucky, Fort Lee, Virginia, Fort Meade, Maryland, and the Military District of Washington.
• Region II: Southeastern United States. Fort Stewart, Georgia, Fort Benning, Georgia, Fort Gordon, Georgia, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Fort Rucker, Alabama, Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, and Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico.
• Region III: Midwestern United States. Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Fort Riley, Kansas, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Fort Carson, Colorado, and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
• Region IV: Southwestern United States. Fort Hood, Texas, Fort Bliss, Texas, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
• Region V: Pacific region, United States. Fort Irwin, California, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, Fort Lewis, Washington, Fort Wainwright, Alaska, and Fort Richardson, Alaska.
• Region VI: The Far East. Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Taegu, South Korea, Yongsan Garrison, South Korea, and Camp Casey, South Korea.
• Trial Defense Service Europe (formerly Regions VII & VIII). Vicenza, Italy; Kosovo; and Baumholder, Darmstadt, Friedberg, Hanau, Kaiserslautern, Mannheim, Wiesbaden, Bamberg, Katterbach, Kitzingen, Schweinfurt, Vilseck, and Würzburg, Germany.
• Region IX: The Middle East. Offices are located in different locations around Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait.

Unofficial logo of Region IX TDS; Arabic for "Region 9" superimposed over DA Staff Support patch.

Fort Drum is a census-designated place and military reservation located in Jefferson County, New York. ... Aberdeen Proving Ground is a United States Army proving ground located in Harford County, Maryland. ... Fort Belvoir is a census-designated place located in Fairfax County, Virginia. ... Fort Eustis is a military base facility of the United States military located in Newport News, Virginia. ... Fort Knox is a census-designated place on the border of Hardin and Meade Counties in Kentucky that includes the housing for the Fort Knox Army base and the Fort Knox Bullion Depository. ... Fort Lee is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George County, Virginia, United States. ... Fort Meade is a census-designated place located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. ... Military District of Washington Shoulder Sleeve Insignia Military District of Washington Distinctive Unit Insignia The Military District of Washington (MDW), is one of nineteen major commands of the U.S. Army. ... Fort Stewart is a census-designated place and US army base located in Liberty County, Georgia. ... Fort Benning is a base facility of the United States military outside Columbus, Georgia. ... Fort Gordon (formerly known as Camp Gordon) is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps and Signal Center and was once the home of The Provost Marshal General School (Military Police). ... Fort Bragg is a census-designated place and a major United States Army fort, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, USA, near Fayetteville. ... This article refers to the currently operation Army base in South Carolina; for the historical site in Louisiana, see Fort Jackson (Louisiana). ... Fort Rucker is a US Army base located mostly in Dale County, Alabama. ... Hunter Army Airfield is, along with Fort Stewart, a military complex in Georgia, United States. ... Fort Buchanan is a United States Army base located in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. ... Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located between Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee and is home to the 101st Airborne Division. ... Fort Leonard Wood is a census-designated place located in Pulaski County, Missouri. ... Fort Riley is a United States Army installation in northeastern Kansas, near Manhattan and Junction City. ... Fort Sill is a base of the United States Army near Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. ... Fort Carson is a census-designated place and United States Army post located in El Paso County, Colorado, outside of Colorado Springs. ... In 1827, Colonel Henry Leavenworth established a post on the bluffs overlooking the western bank of the Missouri River to protect the fur trade, safeguard commerce on the Santa Fe Trail and maintain the peace among the inhabitants. ... Fort Hood is a census-designated place and US Army base located in Texas. ... Fort Bliss is a census-designated place and United States Army post in El Paso County, Texas, United States. ... The small city of Leesville is the parish seat of Vernon Parish, in the US state of Louisiana. ... Fort Sam Houston is a US Army base in San Antonio, Texas. ... The entrance to the NTC. Fort Irwin Military Reservation, located in Fort Irwin, California, U.S., this military facility is used for live-fire training of brigade-sized forces. ... A Army soldier practices with a M16A2 at Schofield Barracks Schofield Barracks is a United States Army installation (and census-designated place or CDP) located in the City & County of Honolulu and in the Wahiawa District of the island of O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. ... Fort Lewis is a census-designated place and U.S. Army military base located in Pierce County, Washington. ... Fort Wainwright is located in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska. ... Fort Richardson is a United States Army installation in the U.S. state of Alaska, adjacent to the city of Anchorage. ... Chinook helicopters at Camp Humphreys Camp Humphreys is a major United States Army base located in the Pyeongtaek province of South Korea, at . ... Daegu Metropolitan City is the third largest city in South Korea. ... The Yongsan Garrison is a US military base located in Seoul, South Korea. ... Camp Casey, Korea Located in Dongducheon (also Tongduchon), Republic of Korea, Camp Casey (named in 1952 after Major Hugh B. Casey) is one of several US Army bases in South Korea near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). ... Vicenza (population 107,223) is the capital of the province of Vicenza in the Veneto region, northern Italy at the northern base of the Monti Berici, straddling the Bacchiglione. ... For other uses of the name Kosovo, see Kosovo (disambiguation). ... Baumholder is home to the largest concentration of American combat soldiers outside the United States. ... Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hessen in Germany. ... Friedberg is the name of two cities in Germany and one in Austria: Friedberg, Bavaria Friedberg, Hesse Friedberg, Styria This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Hanau is a town in Hesse, Germany with 91,000 inhabitants. ... This is the article about the city, for the district see Kaiserslautern (district)   is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rheinland-Pfalz at the edge of the Palatine Forest (Pfälzer Wald). ... Mannheim is a city in Germany. ... Wiesbaden is a city in central Germany. ... For other meanings, see Bamberg (disambiguation). ... Ansbach, or Anspach, originally Onolzbach, is a town in Bavaria, Germany. ... Kitzingen is a town in Bavaria, capital of the district Kitzingen. ... Schweinfurt is a city in the Unterfranken region of Bavaria in Germany on the right bank of the canalized Main, which is here spanned by several bridges, 27 km North-East of Würzburg. ... Vilseck is a town in northeastern Bavaria, Germany. ... Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. ...

Reputation

Because TDS attorneys must almost always take positions opposing the command, there is a natural rivalry between TDS counsel and their trial counsel counterparts. Since it became a separate command, TDS has been increasingly referred to as "The Dark Side" (a play on the TDS initials, as well as a reference to the antagonists in the Star Wars films), and its patch has similarly been referred to as "The Death Star." Some TDS counsel have played up the stereotype of belonging to the "dark side," going so far as to decorate their offices with the Jolly Roger. Some TDS leaders have tried, unsuccessfully, to quash the stereotypes on both sides as counterproductive -- after all, most JAG captains are just as likely to become TDS attorneys after they complete assignments as trial counsel, and are also likely to return to more senior trial counsel positions when they complete their tours in TDS. All efforts to the contrary, however, the Jolly Roger still flies in TDS offices around the globe. Opening logo to the Star Wars films Star Wars is a science fantasy saga and fictional galaxy created by writer / producer / director George Lucas during the 1970s. ... The Death Star was an enormous military battle station in the fictional Star Wars universe. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A typical Jolly Roger The Jolly Roger is the traditional flag of European and American pirates, envisioned today as a skull over crossed bones on a black field. ...

Sources

[1] [2]

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