Army flep program 2013

Elena Gonzalez had left Santa Barbara in a rush, with only a few days to spend with her daughter. Gonzalez, who emigrated from a small village in the central Mexico state of Zacatecas at years-old, had seen injustice in her life and how the law did not always provide equal justice for everyone.

So she decided to become a lawyer after witnessing her mother endure domestic violence and to prevent others from falling victim to injustice. Last year, the Army opened the program to enlisted candidates for the first time since Congress authorized the program in Under the FLEP, up to 25 active-duty officers and NCOs are selected each year to attend law school fulltime and tuition-free while retaining their rank, base pay, and allowances.

Gonzalez, now a staff sergeant stationed at the U. Army Medical Department Activity-Bavaria in Vilseck, Germany, recalled one night in , when her mother finally found the courage to call the police for help after years of abuse.

The department told her family that they did not have an interpreter on staff and to come back another time, devastating her mother. She had watched her mother endure domestic abuse as a child until her college years. Finally, in the fall of , her mother could take no more and left to live an hour north of Santa Barbara. She dedicated the achievement to her mother, who never finished grade school and worked long hours to raise Gonzalez and her four siblings. I firmly believe that with the same training and leadership opportunities, they would have performed just as well if not better.

Their quality of life would have also markedly improved. This concession too, then, must be an endorsement of the excellence fostered at the tactical level. In the profession of arms, it is truism that in order to lead one must learn to follow. This truism becomes an incredible asset among peers who have not yet grasped what being a good follower entails.

Taking the initiative as a leader, and leveraging my experience in company-level positions, allowed me to integrate into projects and broadening opportunities throughout my time at the law school.

Being a research assistant for a professor, interning with a judge, and otherwise trading time and labor for mentorship are some of the most rewarding ways to spend a law school career.

Competing commitments of research, teaching, speaking, and activism leave many professors strapped for time. Unlike their undergraduate counterparts, they lack the suite of adjuncts, teaching assistants, and other personnel to assist them. This lack of support puts a premium on capable student assistants. They are in need of assistants who can accurately receive instructions, work with minimal oversight, meet deadlines, and produce excellent work. What makes a great research assistant to a professor?

In essence, what the professorate wants and needs is a quality Executive Officer. As an XO, I learned to adopt the goals of my commander and determine ways to accomplish their mission. There is also an element of hype-man that accompanies every great XO.

These attributes and skills put the former company-grade leaders ahead of their law school peers. They provide a leg up when competing for, and performing in, research assistant positions. I spent a summer conducting research for a professor with a background in public service. His career focused on executive agency and academic focused on good governance. I conducted research, maintained his schedule, and organized his electronic archiving system.

And, learning from the Army, created a comprehensive hand-off with my successor. Taking initiative freed up limited time with mentors for substantive discussions. Selectees will normally attend an institution in their State of legal residency or an institution that will grant in-state tuition rates to out-of-State students.

TJAG will determine which law schools selectees will attend and may direct that selectees apply to additional schools. When considering an applicant's file, the selection board members use the "whole person concept". Historically, officer applicants with 4 years of commissioned service are the most competitive. The online application will consist of the following items:. A copy can be obtained through the S Duties in the administrative and civil law section include reviewing administrative disciplinary hearings, providing guidance to officers assigned as investigators in financial or potential criminal investigations, and drafting opinions on fiscal, environmental, operational, and other legal issues that arise in the garrison environment.

Over the summer I was fortunate enough to experience almost all of these opportunities and contributed in writing over 20 legal reviews for criminal, administrative, and financial investigations.