Active-duty service members with civil legal issues soon can get help finding a free lawyer through the Missouri attorney general's office.
It's called the Military Assistance Program, and beginning early next year, it's intended to provide free legal services to those on active duty or in the Missouri National Guard.
"I think of our job as, most importantly, protecting and defending the people of Missouri," Attorney General Josh Hawley said at a Monday news conference, "and I think there are no more worthy folks who need protecting and representation than our military service men and women. Our new military assistance team will work to connect service members who have qualifying legal needs to private attorneys from our state who will provide legal guidance and representation - free of charge."
Hawley emphasized the program is for civil cases, not criminal ones, and it will work through private-practice attorneys.
His office will serve as a clearinghouse; although, he expects the work will require at least one employee's full-time attention.
"This program is the first of its kind in Missouri, and once it is fully implemented, it will serve military personnel from across our state," he said.
It also will work with liaison attorneys already assigned to the National Guard's Ike Skelton Training Site and to Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman Air Force Base.
Hawley named an advisory board to create the guidelines for what legal needs will qualify for the program as well as develop strategies for recruiting attorneys.
He encouraged Missouri lawyers to sign up to provide services using the attorney general's website, ago.mo.gov.
"This new program will succeed only if Missouri's lawyers step up to offer their time and their assistance," the attorney general said.
Hawley said he and his staff have been working to develop the program since he took office in January.
He noted military members put their lives on the line, sacrificing time and safety "to ensure that we are safe and protected."
Several of the new board's members spoke at Monday's news conference.
Dr. "Bucky" Buckner, of Springfield, is a surgeon whose 28-year U.S. Army career included six deployments - four in combat situations.
"I've seen the needs of our military members both at home and abroad," he said. "I understand the problems they may have."
He told Hawley the program "is the perfect solution" because it involves the government, military and private industry in a service partnership.
John Comerford, a Naval Academy graduate who now is a partner in a St. Louis law firm, also served on the Missouri Veterans Commission from 2008-12, including as its chairman.
"Members of the military experience a lot of the same legal issues that we experience as civilians," he noted. "The difference is, when you're in the military, you're called on to deploy and fight wars. And things that we (civilians) take for granted can become very difficult - simple things like keeping up with your rent payment, staying in good graces with your landlord, making your car payments and your credit card debts, and other things like that."
David M. Lowe, an attorney in the Fort Leonard Wood area who recently retired as a colonel, served 27 years as a judge advocate in the Army and the Missouri Army National Guard.
"If you're downrange fighting for our country and you're worried about bills or family matters," he said, "or estate planning matters - 'Do I have a will (and) my needs and my family taken care of?' - those are matters we don't want our service members (who are) engaged in combat to be worried about."
He said the program was long overdue.