Photo By Tech. Sgt. Erin Mills | U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Stephanie Heinke, 20th Fighter Wing Judge Advocate law...... read more read more
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SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- In the midst of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic the 20th Fighter Wing Legal Office is maintaining their resiliency and is staying open for business by moving mission essential tasks to a virtual format. Airmen are working from home, conducting meetings and completing work through teleconferences, Facebook, WebEx, email and are even texting to maintain constant communication with their coworkers. Airmen from the legal office have adopted online platforms to support Team Shaw and their families.
The legal office is a one-stop shop for all active-duty, guard, reserve and retired members, as well as their families for assistance with powers of attorney, notary services, basic wills, taxes, living wills and providing referrals for other legal matters such as bankruptcy and soldiers/sailors relief act, etc.
“We still offer most of our support services, but some services that would have happened in person, are now accomplished virtually,” said Master Sgt. Stephanie Heinke, 20th Fighter Wing law office superintendent.
Earlier in the month the center was rapidly accomplishing powers of attorney and wills for deploying members after canceling the in-person appointments due to the pandemic. Even with the current travel ban in effect and deployments having been put on hold the legal office is still getting the necessary documents completed for when the ban is lifted.
“We understand that providing these services can alleviate some of the stress that Airmen are feeling with a pending deployment, on top of everything else that is going on,” said Heinke.
Most of the center’s one-on-one consultations and briefings have moved to online platforms to ensure they are still meeting the needs of their customers. One of those needs is the crucial Article 137 briefing. Article 137 is an article in the Uniform Code of Military Justice that must be explained to enlisted members when they enter active duty or the Reserve and explained again after six months of active duty, when a reservist has completed basic training, or when they reenlist.
“We were getting a ton of inquiries about how we were going to move forward with our Article 137 briefings because previously our briefings had been in person. We knew we couldn’t put a stop to those so I did some digging to see if there were some other ways we could conduct the briefing and as it turns out our Air Force Instruction allows for telephonic briefings in the event that members aren’t able to attend in person,” said Technical Sgt. Amanda Graciano, 20th Fighter Wing noncommissioned officer in charge of the Military Justice legal office. “We deemed that this pandemic and mandatory social distancing was a time that Airmen aren’t able to attend in person briefings and neither can our legal office members so why not setup a line to get these accomplished telephonically? I had my two point of contacts set up the phone lines and we conduct the briefings every Monday. So far it has been working out really well. We’re meeting the requirement and helping out our Airmen as well.”
“We know reenlistments are a priority and we don’t want anyone to be delayed on their enlistment so along with these weekly telecons we’re having Airmen send in their forms to our designated POCs to be signed off after their briefings and sent back quickly so Airmen can complete their reenlistment on time,” said Heinke.
The legal office is also working hard to make sure their internal training doesn’t fall behind or any others by moving their weekly training to an online format and inviting others across the Air Force to join.
“A group of paralegals, Air Force-wide, got together and created a Facebook training page, so each base or individual is able to upload training to the page,” said Heinke. “We’ve determined that there is still a need for training and just because we aren’t going into the office seeing each other doesn’t mean we don’t have upgrade training and proficiency training that needs to be accomplished. They’re also uploading the training to YouTube for those who don’t have Facebook access.”
The Facebook page offers a variety of valuable and necessary training for Airmen in the legal office, but Graciano wanted to offer a more personal approach to the training.
“We were doing our individual office training via WebEx to ensure we’re still completing our monthly training off the career field education and training plan and core tasks and it came to my mind if we're in need of training then the entire Judge Advocate General’s Corps is in need of training,” said Graciano. “Why not open the opportunity up to the JAG core to attend our live trainings. I sent an invite out on the Facebook training page that was made letting everyone know that Shaw AFB Legal Office is doing their training on Wednesdays at 9 a.m. if anyone wants to join. I actually got an overwhelming response with over 30 individuals who wanted to join in on the training which was pretty amazing! We did our first virtual training this past Wednesday and it went really well.”
The Airmen in the legal office are required certain amount hours of training a month, so these avenues for training offer individuals an opportunity to attend training staying on schedule with their upgrade training.
Currently, the main legal office is closed but is still providing services on a case-by-case basis only and can be reached at 803-895-1560.
“We are still here to support you during this critical time. Even if we don’t offer the service you are looking for, we can try and connect you with an individual or agency that can help,” said Heinke. “Procedures have been put in place to ensure social distancing is maintained if a client does need to come into the center for services.”
| Date Taken: | 05.20.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 06.05.2020 16:10 |
| Story ID: | 371569 |
| Location: | SUMTER, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 114 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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