{"id":10822,"date":"2025-09-06T14:24:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T14:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=10822"},"modified":"2025-09-09T14:25:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T14:25:48","slug":"maryland-national-guard-office-of-the-staff-judge-advocate-hosts-an-all-hands-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2025\/09\/06\/maryland-national-guard-office-of-the-staff-judge-advocate-hosts-an-all-hands-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland National Guard Office of the Staff Judge Advocate Hosts an All-Hands Event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Story by\u00a0Staff Sgt. Alexandra Huettner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EDGEWOOD, Md. – For the second time in recent years, the Maryland National Guard\u2019s legal teams came together for a two-day, all-hands event to strengthen professional knowledge but also deepen relationships between Army and Air legal personnel at multiple locations, September 7-8, 2025.

The joint professional development training brought together Maryland Army National Guard and the Maryland Air National Guard judge advocates, paralegals, and support staff from across the state to focus on interoperability, legal readiness, and real-world application of military legal principles.

The training kicked off at Weide Army Heliport at Aberdeen Proving Ground – South with remarks by Maj. Gen. Janeen L. Birckhead, adjutant general of Maryland, and Brig. Gen. Andrew W. Collins, assistant adjutant general for the Maryland Army National Guard, followed by a facilities tour and a flight in a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

\u201cWe wanted to put the judge advocates and paralegals into the actual setting to really immerse them in the experience of the hangar and the airfield,\u201d said Maryland Army National Guard Capt. Brittany Whitehair, assistant staff judge advocate. \u201cWe got a capabilities tour and facility tour to get an understanding of the aircraft. We do legal reviews all the time for aviation requests so understanding what the Army Aviation team does is important to our success as a team.\u201d

The agenda was crafted with input from both the Army and Air judge advocate general offices, with the intent to not only train and improve within their individual jobs, but also to build relationships across the branches and bases to help improve how the group operates as a team.

\u201cThe goal of the event is to ensure it’s not just about teamwork and fun,\u201d said Maryland Army National Guard Col. Marci Sam, state staff judge advocate for the Maryland National Guard. \u201cIt\u2019s really about interoperability between the Air, the Army, the Joint Staff, and the state staff. Making sure they\u2019ve trained and worked together so that when an emergency happens, the response is quick, it\u2019s coordinated, and there\u2019s already trust and relationships in place.\u201d

Across the Maryland National Guard there is an emphasis on readiness. For the judge advocate teams this means bridging the gap between the Army and the Air Force. Although they do the same job, the language and approach can be very different across branches.

\u201cI think this event has been a great opportunity to understand the Army legal teams better,” said Maryland Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Wendye Rich, law office superintendent for the 175th Wing. \u201cWe got to meet their new paralegal and we\u2019re looking forward to collaborating more closely with them. Working together will give us a chance to compare practices, see what we can learn from each other, and gain a better understanding of what we each do. It\u2019s also a way for us to pick up some of their terminology and approaches, while sharing our own.\u201d

The event, which also took place at Camp Fretterd Military Reservation in Reisterstown, Maryland, provided the opportunity to earn continuing legal education which is a requirement to maintain licensure.

\u201cLawyers are professionals,\u201d said Sam. \u201cJust like a doctor or a psychologist, we are licensed, and with that comes the obligation to ensure our knowledge is current. That\u2019s why continuing legal education is so important. One of the main goals of this event is to provide training on the newest legal developments, so the legal reviews we provide are accurate, relevant, and up to date.\u201d

Leadership emphasized the mission importance of doing their jobs well and working together as it is key to always be ready to serve the state and nation when called upon.

“If we act outside the law or outside ethical standards, we risk losing the trust of the American people and the citizens of Maryland,\u201d said Birckhead. \u201cThat trust is vital, and we cannot afford to lose it. We are part of an ethical organization with high standards. We don\u2019t play politics, but we focus on people and doing what\u2019s best for those we serve. Interoperability between our Army and Air components allows us to continue serving with excellence and carries us forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Story by\u00a0Staff Sgt. Alexandra Huettner EDGEWOOD, Md. – For the second time in recent years, the Maryland National Guard\u2019s legal teams came together for a two-day, all-hands event to strengthen professional knowledge but also deepen relationships between Army and Air legal personnel at multiple locations, September 7-8, 2025. The joint professional development training brought together  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":10835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10822"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10836,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10822\/revisions\/10836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}