Photo By Lt. Col. Arthur Rabin | CPT Hurd (left) advising COL Drummond, the DCE and the Defense Coordinating Officer in...... read more read more
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CLEVELAND, Oh. – Cooperation between local, state and federal agencies guaranteed the safety of visitors, political participants and protestors alike during the recent Republican National Convention (RNC) held here.
Soldiers from the U.S. Army Reserve’s Legal Command (USARLC) were a part of the coordinated effort of civil and military elements and the most recent successful example of Defense Support to Civil Authorities, or DSCA.
DSCA missions coordinate military support with domestic civil authorities, whether as part of law enforcement efforts or a response to natural and man-made disasters. Military assistance is initiated through a formal request by civilian authorities, with the military consistently remaining in a supporting role.
In Cleveland, two judge advocates from USARLC were key players in the DSCA mission by providing legal advice and support to federal and state agencies July 14-23.
“Seeing the efforts that went into the planning for this mission, particularly drawn out over a few months and largely packed into a few days…” provides a keen insight into “…the unique operations tempo under which the Guard has to operate,” said Maj. Daniel W. Dalrymple, an officer with the 139th Legal Operation Detachment, a subordinate element of USARLC.
“This was a big eye opener.”
During the DNC, Dalrymple was “embedded” as a legal advisor with the 437th Military Police Battalion, which served as Ohio National Guard Response Force (NGRF), a part of Joint Taskforce (JTF) Shield. JTF Shield’s overall mission was to support the lead federal agencies and local law enforcement in maintaining the security around the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.
“I was mostly with the Task Force NGRF at an armory in suburban Cleveland during the RNC,” he said. The task force “monitored events in real-time in anticipation of being placed on State Active Duty (SAD) status and responding to requests from local law enforcement to respond to a disturbance.”
Dalrymple joined the Army Reserve after ten years of active duty and had little experience working with the National Guard. He quickly gained a new appreciation for the Guard’s preparation efforts for the DSCA mission. Besides participating in the briefings and rehearsals in the run up to the mission, he reviewed and made suggestions to the operations order, or OPORD, Legal Annex, and the Standards of Conduct memorandum issued to the participating Soldiers.
Dalrymple noted that planners had to consider even the most unpredictable eventualities. Events in the United States and around the world, from assaults on police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge to ISIS attacks on Bastille Day in Nice, France, that occurred in the month leading up to the RNC, made the planning that much more painstaking, he said.
Serving in Cleveland was especially poignant for Dalrymple because his father served in and retired from the Ohio National Guard. “It was something I’d been around throughout my childhood and largely shaped my perception of the military until I had my first exposure to the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps in law school.”
Across the city, Capt. Nicholas Hurd activated from the 9th Legal Operations Detachment in support of United States Army North’s Region V, Defense Coordinating Element (DCE) at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. During the RNC, the DCE’s mission was to deploy to the regional coordination center in Ohio to coordinate Department of Defense Mission Assignment in support of the Lead Federal Agency – in this case the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – Requests for Assistance.
On a typical day working at his legal firm, Hurd handles a variety of legal issues including criminal defense, immigration, business and family law, as well as estate planning. But during the RNC he had to take off his civilian attorney hat and reach back to his deployment experiences in Afghanistan, where he had served on several high profile courts-martial, and his active-duty service at Fort Stewart, Ga, and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, as counsel with a complex litigation team.
“The DSCA missions are an area that Army JAG attorneys rarely get to experience,” Hurd observed. “It is a great challenge to learn this unique and complex area of the law – which combines operational law type experience, but recognizes that these are United States citizens and not an operational environment.”
During the DSCA mission in Cleveland, Hurd served as the legal advisor to the DCE and the Defense Coordinating Officer in Charge, Col. Frederic A. Drummond Jr.
Col. Drummond acknowledged the crucial role played by JAG attorneys during DSCA operations. “In the event of a real crisis, I would want multiple JAGs on my staff so that we could quickly deal with the multitude of incoming legal issues,” said Col. Drummond. He recognized Capt. Hurd’s contributions to the mission, and Hurd’s ability to walk the team through complex legal issues.
While serving in Cleveland, Hurd quickly integrated with the DCE team, which included members of the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force (both Active and Reserve component). He also coordinated with other federal and state agencies, and JAG attorneys from other Army Reserve units, the Ohio National Guard, active Component, and Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) Soldiers from U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and U.S. Army North.
According to Hurd, the legal issues during this mission ran the gamut – everything from Uniform Code of Military Justice to the conduct of operations under Title 10.
Originally from Cleveland, Hurd said “it was great to finally be able to serve in uniform in the Greater Cleveland Area.” Like the National Guard, he found that as an Army Reserve Judge Advocate “it was a dream come true being able to provide support to a national event in the city of Cleveland.”
Hurd also noted that in his opinion “DSCA missions will be a very important area of the law for Reserve JAGs.” Given the unpredictable nature of DSCA emergencies, Hurd said, “who better than a DSCA-trained Army Reserve Judge Advocate to quickly deploy with a team in support of a DSCA mission at a moment’s notice.”
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2016 15:44 |
| Story ID: | 207064 |
| Location: | CLEVELAND, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 351 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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