What a Commander Looks for in a Staff Judge Advocate

• Author: Major General George G. Kundahl
• Pages: 04

1. Introductmn

When I took command of the 97th United Stater Army Reserve Command at Fort Meade, Mapland, I expected to spend more time with the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, or the Deputy Chief of Staff far Training, than with any of my other staff officers. I quickly discovered that I spent far more time with my Staff Judge Advocate (SJA). My predecessor had remarked to me that a quarter of his time was devoted to personnel actions, most of them adverse. I found that to be true 8s well. Adverse personnel matters require a commander to consult continuously with his senior legal admnor.

However, the roster of issues requiring legal input le far more extensive than personnel actions. What fallows is a partial list of the matters I worked on with my SJAduring twelve weekend dTil1s.l

* sixty administrative separation boards,* three commander's inquiries on adverse officer evalua-tion reports and noncommissioned officer evaluation reports,* seven Reports of Survey,

. six AR 15-6 investigations,* two letters of reprimand for senior officers,* two civilian labor law disputes,two cases referred to the Criminal Investigation Div~sion Command,

. Imposition of an Article 16 on a senior Active Guard

Reserve noncommisEioned officer,

1 This ande 18 an edited ierbion of Major General KundahYa remarks at The

Judge Adioeste General's Inferserv~ce Cant~nuing Legal Education Training Conference. held a the National War College. Fan IleNsir. V&ihin@an, D C.. on 9 March 1996

* review of five financial disclosure forms. * four standards of conduct problems,

. one major envmnmental Ian problem. and * two letters of commendation.

I learned that the expenenee of other general officer commanders IS

similar when I attended the Senior Officers Legal Orientation Course at The Judge Advocate General's School with other senior leaders of the United States Army Reserve and Army Yational Guard

I have worked with hundreds of attorneys and served far nine yeam as Executive Director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commismon. as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs m the Bush Administration, and BL an Army officer for thirtyfour years, in positions 8s B commander at the colonel and general officer level for nine of the pas wn years These associations with members of the legal profession in a vanetj-of environments hale enabled me to formulate my criteria far mdividuals from whom I accept legal advice

11. Qualltles

A. Good Judgment

Good judgment tops rhe list of the qualities that 1 seek in a mill-tar). attorney This IS the most importam quality that an arrorney. or any of US, can possess. and this quality becomes more imporrant to me with each passing year. Goad judgment IS the ability to offer sen-sible solutions to difficult problems and the capacity to apply generally accepted principles and concepts to ordinar). affairs Good judgment LS not taught in college or neeessanly learned in law school It is. however, found on DA Form 67-6, the United States Army Officer Evaluation Report. Part I\', 'Performance Evaluation-Profeas,on. alism," contains the following, "8 Displays sound judgment."

Intelligence 1s not the same as sound judgment. There are many individuals in our society with IQs of 160 who work for basses with intellects at the 100 levd2 In his recent book, Emotional Inteii~gence,~

Daniel Goleman confirms this tmism with his observation that high intelligence doea not guarantee success in life. Goleman mtes the following example

When ninety-five Harrard students from the classes of the 1940b[that is, at] a time when people with a wider spread of IQ were at Ivy League schools than LS presently the case-were follaaed into middle age, the men with the highest test ICOT~Sin college were not particularly BUC-cessful when compared to their lower.acoring peers interms of salary productivity, or status in ther field. Nor did [those who had the highest test scmesl have the greatest life satisfaction, or the most happiness with friend. ships, family, and romantic relationships?

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