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One of the reasons I love being part of the Army's Trial Defense Service (TDS) is the opportunity to make a direct impact on Soldiers' lives at some of their lowest, toughest times. I like to think that the compassion that I and my attorneys have for them is shared by their commanders and the military justice system at large. The last few weeks, however, my faith in the inherent fairness of "the system" and the reasonsed discretion of commanders has been shaken. ...read more
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Day Sixty-One - Another Subject Bites the Dust
September 1, 2010
By: First Lieutenant Patrick Sandys
Well, "hump day" is nearly at its end and this morning marked the end of yet another subject, Fiscal/Contract Law, as well as the beginning of our last month in C'Ville. Its hard to imagine that it has only been two months since we arrived at Ft. Lee, it feels (at least to me) that is has been so much longer, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think my blogs have reflected just how much fun I am having, and I don't think that is going to change when our time here...read more
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Day Fifty-Eight - Another Weekend Not So Off (?)
August 29, 2010
By: First Lieutenant Patrick Sandys
Its Sunday, and normally I wouldn't write another blog posting when there is so little "Army Activity" to cover, but there were two really great questions posted on my last entry, so I figured I'd take a moment, get caught up on the chronology and answer those questions while they're fresh. So... Friday is always a good day, for the obvious reason that you know you're going to get to sleep in the next two days and hopefully recover. However, morning PT is always...read more
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Day Fifty-Five - Minor Surgeries, Aches and Pains (par for the course)
August 26, 2010
By: First Lieutenant Patrick Sandys
All right, some interesting stuff to get through and update everyone on. If you couldn't guess from the heading, this week is grinding along, and seeing as we're now about to finish the 6th week of our training (?), I think it is fair to say that just about everyone is really feeling the constant use of our muscles in PT and our brains in trying to absorb the fire hose of information. Monday was right back to PT and Advocacy week. This morning was our next installation in ruck...read more
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Day Fifty-One - Advocacy Week Continued + a Great Weekend
August 22, 2010
By: First Lieutenant Patrick Sandys
Well... I am sorry that it has taken me so long to write again. This site has been having some technical difficulties, and they apparently continue. I have actually already written this entry, but when I tried to post it, the entire entry was erased and now I'm starting all over again. So, if it appears that I am cutting some corners in the re-telling of past events, please understand that it is because I'm frustrated. If you are interested in learning more about something I gloss...read more
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Day Forty-Six - Advocacy Week and Setting SLRP Straight
August 17, 2010
By: First Lieutenant Patrick Sandys
Ok, so there's been a lot of traffic about the Student Loan Repayment Program in the comment section, and some of the information is correct and some of it isn't. Like always, I appreciate the commentary but in this case people are putting out confusing answers that are slightly contradictory and it would appear that I'll need to clean it up. But first, lets get the experiential portion of the blog out of the way and I'll dedicate the second half to SLRP issues (rest assured...read more
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I can hardly move this morning after a super long run yesterday and then a second workout, P90X style with my Battle Buddy LT Boggs, so what better thing is there to do then sit down and write a blog entry? I left on Tuesday evening, thus I'll begin with Wednesday morning. This was our second official ruck march with our lovely ALICE packs. You had to have a minimum of 20lbs in the pack, but you could add more if you wanted to. The march was only 2-miles long, but when you have a...read more
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Day Thirty-Nine - Sample PT Test And Duty Stations
August 10, 2010
By: First Lieutenant Patrick Sandys
In good Army style, I'm going to place the Bottom Line (of this blog) Up Front. Known by the acronym BLUF, everyone joining the JAG Corps should get used to this style. So, this blog entry will do two things; (1) provide an update about how I just crushed a sample PT Test; AND (2) Discuss Duty Stations. First, today at TAPT we did a "sample PT test" in which we had one minute to do as many push-ups and sit-ups and be critiqued by the 1SG or Chief. I made both my minimums...read more
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All right, it would appear that it is that time again. I hope the relative infrequency of my blogging isn't frustrating anyone? Please rest assured that I am confident you would be MORE frustrated if I were to write every day and spend more time recounting the specifics of the days lessons, versus this more generalized, 30,000 foot view of my experience. Regardless, the last couple days have been very interesting and a fantastic way to end a good week, particularly after last week's...read more
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All right, so this is the longest delay in writing, and its for good reasons, namely I don't have a lot to report. I'll start off by answering one of the questions from my last entry, that is the slightly sarcastic (and appropriately so) questions regarding just how much "studying" we do over the weekend. The answer is A TON (wink wink)... In all seriousness, "studying" is really not an absolute necessity once you reach Charlottesville, at least not studying in the...read more
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