What’s new from the Military Law Task Force?
On Watch Summer 2018 now online
Veterans And The Trump Resistance,
DoD Updates Instruction On Conscientious Objection,
Updated MLTF Guide To Challenging Military Sexual Violence,
MLTF Update On Transgender Service Ban,
Guidance On Servicemember Dissent,
On Watch 40 Year Retrospective,
Concerns About Ken Burns PBS Vietnam War Series,
Book Review: Dangerous Grounds,
NLG Convention Report
MLTF Member Obituary: Jeffrey Segal
The MLTF is saddened to announce the death of long-time Task Force member Jeff Segal. A long-time Guild activist, Jeff joined...
Trump Trans Ban 2.0
The Trump administration is trying again to block most transgender individuals from serving in the US military. But the policy...
Countering Military Recruitment
By Libby Frank In 2003, in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, our son, who was a senior at the time, approached us about the...
New Military Policy on Harassment
By Kathleen Gilberd | On February 8, 2018, the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness issued a new overarching...
Understanding and Dealing with Defenses, Mitigation, Extenuation and Aggravation for US Military Absence Offenses – Part 1
by James M. Branum Introduction It is easy for attorneys to get into ruts, to assume that we understand everything that we...
On Watch Spring 2018 now online
Veterans And The Trump Resistance,
DoD Updates Instruction On Conscientious Objection,
Updated MLTF Guide To Challenging Military Sexual Violence,
MLTF Update On Transgender Service Ban,
Guidance On Servicemember Dissent,
On Watch 40 Year Retrospective,
Concerns About Ken Burns PBS Vietnam War Series,
Book Review: Dangerous Grounds,
NLG Convention Report
New DoD instruction on harassment
On Thursday, DoD published a new policy covering all forms of harassment: DoD Instruction 1020.03, "Harassment Prevention and...
CLE on Military Law Topics with James M. Branum, Dec. 29, 1-3 pm CST
MLTF and CCA host End of Year CLE on Military Law Topics -- Webcast December 29th, 1-3 pm CST, On demand download after the...
New self-help discharge review resource from Swords to Plowshares
Swords to Plowshares has published a new self-help guide for veterans on discharge review, "Upgrading Your Discharge and...
2017 NLG Convention Report
By Jeff Lake The National Lawyers Guild held its 80th National Convention in Washington, D.C. on August 2-6, 2017. The...
Dangerous Grounds: Antiwar Coffeehouses and Military Dissent in the Vietnam Era
By David L Parsons Published by The University of North Carolina Press Page Count: 176 Publication Year: 2017 Website...
A Note on “The Vietnam War” Documentary series
By Jim Klimaski Got my invitation to the preview of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's new documentary. So I went. The ticket, which...
Department of Defense issues new CO instruction
By Bill Galvin On July 12 the Department of Defense issued a new regulation for the adjudication of conscientious objector...
Veterans #Resist
by Rena Guay Since election day, an anti-Trump movement has arisen and grown, as the president’s unstable, unconstitutional,...
Court blocks Trump ban on transgender servicemembers
Update 3/28/18: In light of recent news of a newly revised trans ban by the Trump administration, we are preparing a new post...
On Watch Fall-Winter 2017, 32-page double issue, now online
Veterans And The Trump Resistance,
DoD Updates Instruction On Conscientious Objection,
Updated MLTF Guide To Challenging Military Sexual Violence,
MLTF Update On Transgender Service Ban,
Guidance On Servicemember Dissent,
On Watch 40 Year Retrospective,
Concerns About Ken Burns PBS Vietnam War Series,
Book Review: Dangerous Grounds,
NLG Convention Report
MLTF’s ‘Challenging Military Sexual Violence’ guide gets update and promotion campaign
MLTF's memo "Challenging Military Sexual Violence: A Guide to Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Policies in the U.S. Armed...
Trump issues policy instruction for ban on transgender troops
In the past few days, several developments have occurred in the ongoing story of President's Trump's reinstatement of the ban...
New guidance on discharge upgrade applications related to mental health, TBI, sexual assault and sexual harassment
The Department of Defense has issued a new guidance on discharge upgrade applications based on mental health conditions,...
Trump initiates Trans service turmoil, but policy remains unchanged for now
On July 26th, President Trump issued via Twitter his decision that transgender personnel would no longer be able to serve in...
On Watch Summer 2017 issue now available
Hazing and Bullying in the Military
New Air Force CO Instruction
DOD Transgender Policies To Be Delayed?
Chelsea Manning Released – Rejoicing Tempered By Reality
Report On GI Rights Hotline Annual Conference
MLTF Contingency Planning For Warfare
In Memory of Teresa Panepinto
MLTF Members Recognized As “Champions Of Justice”
Hazing and Bullying in the Military
Bullying and hazing are extremely serious problems in the military, but DoD and service regulations provide important...
On Watch since 1977: A look back at publishing radical military law
By Kathy Gilberd | Online Feature n July 2017, the Military Law Task Force (which started in 1970,...
Last minute anniversary, or how I got Kathy Gilberd to evaluate 40 years of On Watch articles in two weeks
By Rena Guay I have a rather inconvenient habit of thinking up great ideas that require a lot of work to implement. OK, I...
Report on 2017 GI Rights Hotline Annual Conference
By Anne Cowan The GI Rights Network held a very successful annual meeting on May 18-21 at Stony Point Center, just north of...
In Memory of Teresa Panepinto
Teresa died unexpectedly in a hospital in Oakland on April 3, 2017, with her loving family and a circle of close friends by her bedside. She was 41. We remember her as a fierce advocate for GI Rights and resistance, vets, and justice. Click title to read more.
Enactment of Transgender Recruitment Policies Postponed
Kathy Gilberd, legal worker and longtime GI Rights advocate, looks into the delay on enforcing new trans-friendly recruitment policies, which were enacted in 2016 during the Obama administration.
Military Transgender Policy
Print version (PDF) By Kathy Gilberd Note 1/25/19: Please see our update on this policy following the Supreme Court decision....
New Military Transgender Policy Memo Published
A new MLTF memo on Military Transgender Policy is now available. Written by Kathleen Gilberd, the memo will likely need...
Chelsea Manning criticizes US military’s new transgender policy
In an op-ed published in The Guardian on July 1, recently released whistleblower Chelsea Manning addressed changes in military...
CHELSEA MANNING RELEASED – REJOICING TEMPERED BY REALITY
By David Gespass On May 17, 2017, Chelsea Manning walked out of Fort Leavenworth thanks to the commutation of her sentence by...
New Air Force CO Instruction
by Bill Galvin In April the Air Force issued a new conscientious objector Instruction (AFI 36-3204). While the Summary of...
New memo on Dissent policies published, Military Psychiatric Policies updated
Newly published: A new memo on Military Dissent Policies and an update to Military Psychiatric Policies.
Military Policies on Servicemember Dissent
[download id="3570"] (Use the button to download a PDF version of this content for offline reading/printing.) By David...
On Watch Spring 2017 now available
The Spring 2017 issue of On Watch: Critical Perspectives on Military Law is now available. In this issue: What Does a Trump...
Court-Martial: How Military Justice Has Shaped America from the Revolution to 9/11 and Beyond
Book Review by Mr. Chris Bray, US Army Infantry Sergeant & PhD in History from UCLA. The United States came into existence...
The Injustices of Manning’s Ordeal
For exposing war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pvt. Chelsea Manning suffered nearly seven years in prison, an ordeal...
2017 National Defense Authorization Act Personnel Provisions
On December 23, 2016, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017. Although the Act deals primarily...
What does a Trump administration mean for the GI Rights advocacy community?
President Trump has been and remains so unpredictable in his words and actions that there is much we still don’t know about...
Chelsea Manning’s sentence commuted, NLG responds
We were pleasantly surprised by President Obama's commutation of Chelsea Manning's sentence on January 17, just days before he...
Fall 2016 issue of On Watch now online
The Fall 2016 issue of On Watch (PDF) is now available for the general public. Contents: New Military Transgender Policy 2016...
MLTF supports pardon/commutation for Chelsea Manning
The NLG MLTF sent the following letter to President Obama on December 16. NLG Military Law Task Force to Obama: Pardon Chelsea...
Spring 2016 issue of On Watch now online
The Spring 2016 issue of On Watch is now available for the general public. On Watch Spring 2016 Vol. XXVII No. 2 Contents:...
It is time to abolish draft registration and restore full rights to people of conscience
By Bill Galvin and Maria Santelli, Center on Conscience & War[1] This article was first published first publishing on Feb....
Cushing v. Tetter:[1] Still a Good Tool in the Box
By Alison Carter This article was published in the Spring 2016 issue of On Watch. This article explores a goldmine of...
Hobby Lobby and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act: new arguments for military Conscientious Objectors?[1]
By Deborah Karpatkin and Peter Goldberger This article was published in the Spring 2016 issue of On Watch. Much has been...
Trends in Conscientious Objector Cases
By Maria Santelli, Center on Conscience and War Published in the Spring 2016 issue of On Watch. It’s called the Conscience...
Winter 2016 issue of On Watch now online
The new issue of On Watch is now available for members of MLTF, subscribers and friends. On Watch Winter 2016 Vol. XXVII No. 1...
When the Mother’s Military Status Punishes the Child: Supreme Court Watch on the Feres Doctrine and the Ortiz Case
by Deborah H. Karpatkin Published in the Winter 2016 issue of On Watch. According to a recent decision by the Tenth Circuit in...
The Military After Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT)
By Jeff Lake Published in the Winter 2016 issue of On Watch. As this article is being written, the military’s policy of...
Military Sexual Assault Policy Updates
By Kathleen Gilberd Published in the Winter 2016 issue of On Watch. MLTF Resources on Military Sexual Violence MLTF has an...
Women in Combat: A historical and political analysis of “change” in the U.S. Armed Forces
By Kathy Johnson and David Gespass Published in the Winter 2015 issue of On Watch Despite dramatic changes in social mores and...
MLTF signs statement of solidarity with Okinawan people to stop construction of US military base
Solidarity Statement: Respect the Will of the Okinawan People The people of Okinawa are calling on the international...
Conscientious Objection and Secularism
With the majority of CO applicants today adhering to no religious practice or tradition, how does the military adapt? How do...
December 2014 issue of On Watch now online
The latest issue of MLTF’s quarterly newsletter, On Watch, released to members and subscribers about a month ago, is now...
Adjustment Disorder Discharge
How command rids military of unwanted servicemembers by Kathleen Gilberd Adjustment disorder discharge has become the “go to”...
DoD releases report on sexual assaults. What do the new numbers mean?
The Department of Defense has just released a new report on sexual assault in the military, and Pentagon officials are...
Torture Report Confirms Team Bush War Crimes
News Analysis By MLTF member Marjorie Cohn Reprinted with permission from Truthout.org Reading the 499-page torture report...
New Army command policy reg
The Army has just released a new version of AR 600-20, "Army Command Policy" (PDF). This reg gives commanding officers...
David Gespass to speak on police militarization and misconduct at University of Arkansas Fayetteville
The University of Arkansas Student Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild will present a talk by MLTF member David Gespass on...
New book by MLTF member Marjorie Cohn examines military drones and other targeted killing
The latest book by longtime MLTF member Marjorie Cohn -- who is also past president of the National Lawyers Guild -- is due...
US Government Sanitizes Vietnam War History
News Analysis By MLTF member Marjorie Cohn Reprinted with permission from Truthout.org For many years after the Vietnam...
September 2014 issue of On Watch now online
The latest issue of MLTF’s quarterly newsletter, On Watch, released to members and subscribers about a month ago, is now...
Career Ender: Sexual assault or sexual harassment complaints still prevent advancement
By Jim Klimaski Punishing the transgressor addresses half the problem. Where is meaningful assistance for the...
President Obama declares perpetual war
http://youtu.be/KvRd17vXaXM News Analysis | Marjorie Cohn President Barack Obama escalated the drone war he has conducted for...
Locals have no love for occupying armies, whether in Baghdad or Ferguson
NEWS ANALYSIS After the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, by a white cop, in the middle of a street in broad...
Challenging Military Sexual Violence
A Guide to Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Policies in the US Armed Forces for Servicemembers, MSV Survivors and Their...
Phone number changes for MLTF office
MLTF is discontinuing one of its phone numbers effective September 20. If you are using our old number, 619-233-1701, please...
Op-Ed: Military Sexual Violence rooted in military culture
Curbing Convening Authority Power to Alter Court-Martial Convictions Is No Solution, Is Insufficient and Misses the Point By...
Non-Judicial Punishment: Middle Ground Between Admin Proceedings And Courts-Martial
This material appeared in the June 2014 issue of On Watch (Volume XXV No.2). The PDF version of the issue is available in the...
June 2014 issue of On Watch now online
A new issue of On Watch, MLTF’s quarterly journal and newsletter, is now available to the public.
National Lawyers Guild Submits Comments for Improving Military Justice System to Department of Defense Military Justice Review Group
NEW YORK -- The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) today submitted comments to the Defense Department’s Military Justice Review...
Discharge Upgrade CLE at NYU School of Law on July 22
On Tuesday, July 22, 2014, the Urban Justice Center’s Veteran Advocacy Project (VAP) will be holding a free Discharge Upgrade...
What’s new in Conscientious Objector law?
By Deborah H. Karpatkin The years 2005-2011 saw a number of federal court cases considering habeas corpus applications from...
Report exposes mistreatment of GIs by Fort Hood leadership
Testimonies in 'Fort Hood Report' recount unethical health care practices, disregard of medical advice, violations of policy...
Military Psychiatric Policies and Discharges – An Introduction for Attorneys and Counselors
[download id="3494"] (Use the button to download a PDF version of this memo for offline reading/printing.) By Kathleen Gilberd...
Representing Servicemembers in Involuntary Discharge Proceedings
View, Print & Download This memo is designed for attorneys and counselors assisting enlisted servicemembers in challenging...
Discharge Upgrades
This publication replaces “Discharge Upgrading and Discharge Review: Introductory Materials & Forms for Attorneys and...
Article 138 Complaints: Servicemembers’ Tool for Redress
By Kathleen Gilberd Rev. Date: 2013 [download id="3505"] (Use the button to download a PDF version of this memo for offline...
MLTF’s James Branum interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!
MLTF member (and past co-chair) James M. Branum, an attorney in Oklahoma City, was a guest on Democracy Now! to talk...
Out of Afghanistan
A personal op-ed. I am sitting in my office this Memorial Day pretending to do work, but thinking about the hollowness of the...
Updated Memo: Military Medical Policies
Read online Print (PDF) This is an January 2014 update that replaces the 2007 memo titled Medical Discharge and Retirement....
March 2014 issue of On Watch now online
The latest issue of MLTF’s quarterly newsletter, On Watch, released to members and subscribers about a month ago, is now...
Military Law and the New NDAA
Changes include sexual assault reform, repeal of sodomy ban, numerous other important updates to UCMJ, court-martial...
Military Medical Policies
Download PDF of this content for offline reading This publication updates and replaces the Medical Discharge and...
December issue of On Watch now online
The latest issue of MLTF’s quarterly newsletter, On Watch, released to members and subscribers a month ago, is now available...
MLTF provides GI Rights trainers for Coffee Strong
MLTF will be providing trainers for two GI Rights training workshops at Coffee Strong in December. Coffee Strong is a GI...
Memo Update: Representing Servicemembers in Involuntary Discharge Proceedings
This memo, updated as of Oct. 2013, gives an overview of administrative discharges and procedures for challenging them. It is written for Written for attorneys and counselors, but can also be helpful for servicemembers who are facing involuntary discharge.
MLTF submits clemency request to Manning convening authority
MLTF submitted a letter requesting clemency to the officer authorized to review (and reduce, if he wishes) Chelsea Manning's...
New MLTF memo on Article 138 complaints
Servicemembers can complain about wrongs done to them by their command under Article 138, UCMJ. Although this is a powerful tool, few people know about it. This memo gives an overview of the complaint procedure and discusses some of the differences among the service branches.
September 2013 issue of On Watch now online
The latest issue of MLTF’s quarterly newsletter, On Watch, released to members and subscribers a month ago, is now available...
Vieques: 10 years after U.S. bombing ends, struggle for justice in Puerto Rico continues
By Helen Jaccard and David Swanson Originally published in the September 2013 issue of On Watch, the MLTF quarterly...
Interview with Jeff Paterson, founder of the Private Manning Support Network
This email exchange with Jeff Paterson was conducted by MLTF's Rena Guay on Sept. 4. Paterson is the Project Director of...
Team Manning: How a grassroots crew of war resisters took on the US Army
BY RENA GUAY Thanks to help from the Task Force, I was able to attend the first days of the Manning court-martial, and also...
Fact Sheet: Servicemember Rights under the Military Whistleblowers Protection Act
View, Print, & Download The Military Whistleblower Protection Act of 1988 provides limited protection of lawful...
Marines implement new standards for conscientious objectors
By Bill Galvin In a new version of Marine Corps Order (MCO) 1306.16, issued in June of this year, the Department of the Navy,...
National Lawyers Guild Opposes Military Action Against Syria
On September 5, the national office of the National Lawyers Guild distributed the following news release, written with input...
Manning’s 35 year sentence reveals decline of US justice and journalism
The 35-year sentence given to Bradley Manning for exposing war crimes provides stark contrast to Ellsberg whistleblowing 40 years ago.