Twitter
Facebook
For the second consecutive year, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command Judge Advocate General’s office has won eight Department of the Army JAG awards.
Four DA-level awards were presented to the 21st TSC’s JAG office in the Judge Advocate General Award for Excellence in Claims Support for fiscal year 2008, and four more awards were presented to the 21st TSC’s JAG office for the Army Chief of Staff Award for Excellence in Legal Assistance for fiscal year 2008.
Four 21st TSC law centers won the award for claims support. They are the Kaiserslautern Legal Services Center, the Mannheim Law Center, the Netherlands Law Center and the Northern Law Center. Four 21st TSC law centers also won the award for legal support. They are the Kaiserslautern Legal Services Center, the Mannheim Law Center, the Netherlands Law Center and the Stuttgart Law Center.
“It’s the quality of people who work here,” said Mark Christensen, chief of client services at the Kaiserslautern Legal Services Center on Kleber Kaserne. “They are the cream of crop. They are devoted, driven and patriotic; it makes our job a lot easier.”
In addition to their regular duties in the legal support and claims offices, they also tackle additional duties such as the tax assistance program and put out preventive law publications. Their work with the Overseas Deployment Training program for Judge Advocate General reservists based in the U.S. who are mobilized to serve in Germany, their work with the Soldiers who belong to the Warrior Transition Unit, and their support of predeployment and reintegration exercises also solidifies their commitment to helping Soldiers within their units.
For an office to run smoothly and efficiently, it’s important that they work together well.
“We can depend on each other,” said Martina Berndt, a claims examiner with 21 years of experience who works at the Kaiserslautern Legal Services Center on Kleber Kaserne. “Basically, one hand knows what the other is doing.”
The Kaiserslautern Legal Services Center sees between 50 and 70 cases a day, and they handle all non-criminal legal issues such as contracts, divorce proceedings, wills, adoption, and credit or debt issues. During tax season, the tax center processes about 2,200 federal returns and 1,400 state returns.
The claims office handles claims made when a Soldier has household goods that may have been damaged while in transit from another duty station or when the Army causes damage such as an Army vehicle gets into an accident on the autobahn.
“We have a very good tracking system,” said Karin Jordan, a claims examiner with 10 years experience who also works at the Kaiserslautern Legal Services Center. “If one person makes a mistake, the other picks it up. We work as a team, and we work well as a team.”
Ms. Jordan could not remember ever losing a claim.
“The awards are just an example of falling into line with 21st TSC’s motto: ‘First in Support!’” said Stephen Smith, chief of Client Services Division, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate for 21st TSC. “When you win this many awards it’s not just a motto, it’s a reality. The 21st TSC sets the standard.”
