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Where there’s a will ...
Guardsmen getting personal paperwork in order before duty in Afghanistan
By CHUCK CRUMBO
ccrumbo@thestate.com
Spc. John Kiehl was so new to the S.C. National Guard’s 218th Brigade Combat Team he did not have a name tag for his uniform.
But the soldier knew the drill when he met with military lawyers recently while preparing for the unit’s spring deployment to Afghanistan.
Unlike many people his age, the 24-year-old Kiehl already had a will. Still, his legal session provided an opportunity to review his legal documents.
“It was a real smooth experience,” said Kiehl, the married father of two and owner of a pressure-washing service. “There’s no doubt in my mind that anything is going to go wrong.”
That’s what Lt. Col. Tom Eppink, the Guard’s acting state judge advocate, wants to hear.
Making sure a soldier’s legal papers are in order is essential to a successful overseas deployment, Eppink said.
“We don’t want them to have to worry about their families and who’ll take care of them,” Eppink said. “We want them to be able to focus on their jobs.”
A visit with military lawyers is one of many steps 1,600 S.C. troops took as part of the brigade’s three-week-long readiness process, which wrapped up last month at the McCrady Training Center on the eastern edge of Fort Jackson.
Next up for the troops will be two months of training at Camp Shelby, Miss., or Fort Riley, Kan., starting in mid-February. Once that training is finished, they’ll leave for a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan.
However, an advance party of about 200 soldiers — the 1st Battalion, 263rd Armor Regiment in Mullins — expects to leave for Afghanistan next week.
COUNSELING MARRIAGE
As they made their way through McCrady’s 30,000-square-foot Battle Simulation Center, the soldiers carried a manila folder filled with paperwork: insurance forms, ID cards, medical reports.
In sessions with the lawyers, troops checked to see if they had listed the right beneficiaries on insurance policies, and had wills and trusts drawn up. The advice and help was free.
It’s an important step for a soldier, Eppink said. “There’s $500,000 on the table.”
That’s the amount of money soldiers’ survivors could receive if they are killed in action or while training for combat. The federal government provides survivors a $100,000 death payment; another $400,000 is paid by the servicemember’s life insurance.
While that’s a lot of money, it’s still challenging to get some soldiers — particularly the younger ones — to appreciate what’s at stake, Eppink said.
“They still think they’re 10-feet tall and bulletproof.”
To bring the troops down a notch, tales of soldiers who didn’t pay attention to their legal affairs have been offered at recent Guard-sponsored family readiness meetings around the state.
For example, there’s the story of a soldier who got his orders to head overseas before his divorce was finalized. He returned home unscathed, only to die a few weeks later in a traffic crash.
His soon-to-be ex-wife inherited the soldier’s estate because he had not changed his will or beneficiaries.
For soldiers contemplating marriage, the lawyers recommend tying the knot before deploying.
“If you’re serious about it, we strongly advise you to get married,” Eppink said.
That’s because a married Guard member is eligible for extra pay — a housing allowance and family separation pay — when called up for active duty.
For a corporal with dependents, the additional pay could add up to at least $1,100 a month. That’s $876 a month for a housing allowance to live in the Columbia area, and $250 a month in separation pay for serving in a combat zone.
MORE DO’S AND DON’TS
The lawyers try to discourage soldiers from signing one legal paper — a general power of attorney.
Again, there’s a story to make the legal point. It involves a soldier who gave a power of attorney to her boyfriend, figuring it would enable him to take care of her bank account and pay her bills.
But having power of attorney also let him take out loans in her name. When the soldier returned, her boyfriend was gone. In his place were bills she was obligated to pay.
Plenty of remedies exist to help a deployed soldier pay bills without giving someone else a power of attorney, Eppink said.
For married troops, having a joint bank account allows the spouse at home to write checks and handle deposits. Also, many banks offer online services that let customers authorize electronic payments. Many lenders also let customers set up electronic payments.
While deployed, federal law also entitles soldiers to get the interest rate on loans and credit card balances reduced to 6 percent, Eppink said.
The Service Members Civil Relief Act also allows Guard members on active duty to receive a stay in civil lawsuits, break a lease on cars or apartments, and avoid having their families evicted if military duty affects their ability to pay rent.
Another worry of Guard members is whether they still will have their civilian jobs when they get back home.
Under federal law, employers must allow reservists or Guard members to return to work with no loss of seniority, Eppink said.
Employers, though, aren’t obligated to pay the difference in wages between civilian and military pay or provide continued health benefits. But many do.
Occasionally, a soldier runs into a problem with an employer, Eppink said. Usually a phone call or letter from a military lawyer straightens out the matter.
At a meeting with 218th soldiers in North Charleston, military lawyer Joe Dawson stressed it was important for the troops to know the law or at least call the Guard’s legal staff for help.
Some creditors and bosses want to put their own spin on the law, he said.
“Don’t let them tell you what the law is,” Dawson said.
Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.
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