Attorney General’s military legal assistance office helps 900 Nevadans in its first year

By WESLEY JUHL LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

8 years ago

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Rod Carlone, U.S. Navy veteran and commander of Las Vegas American Legion Post 8, salutes a crowd of parade watchers while riding in the American Legion Post 8 float in the Veterans Day parade Monday, Nov. 11, 2013, in downtown Las Vegas. (Ronda Churchill/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The American Legion Post 8 float makes it way through the Veterans Day parade Monday, Nov. 11, 2013, in downtown Las Vegas. Ronda Churchill/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Chester Swafford, a WWII, Korea and Vietnam veteran, stands with other veterans at the Henderson Events Plaza amphitheater Saturday morning, Nov. 5, 2016. Elizabeth Page Brumley/Las Vegas Review-Journal

World War II Navy veteran Irene Miller, 95, talks in Las Vegas, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2016, about the Department of Veterans Affairs waiving overpayments that the government tried to collect from her late husband’s pension. (Keith Rogers/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

World War II veteran Whitney Carter, left, and his wife Darlene, share a moment after being greeted by hundreds of supporters after returning from an Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C. at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016. The program flies veterans to D.C., so they can visit the memorials there. Daniel Clark/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Army Korean War veteran Warren Sessler stands at attention after receiving a Purple Heart medal following a veterans meeting in Henderson Aug. 24, 2016, more than 63 years after he was wounded in combat in North Korea. (Keith Rogers/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

A public-private partnership to help active duty military personnel, reservists, National Guard soldiers and veterans in Nevada access legal services helped more than 900 individual in its first year, the state Attorney General’s Office reported Thursday.

The state Office of Military Legal Assistance’s @EASE program is the first of its kind in the nation led by a state attorney general with public and private participation to provide free legal services for qualified service members, veterans and their families.

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt last week received the 2016 Champion of Justice Award by the Las Vegas office of Nevada Legal Services for his work establishing the program.

When the program launched in November 2015, Laxalt said many soldiers don’t qualify for traditional legal aid programs because they live just above the poverty line.

A Judge Advocate General Corps officer can make calls and send letters on a service member’s behalf, but they can’t take the matter to a civilian court. That means even a seemingly minor legal squabble, such as a landlord dispute, can be a big deal.

Veterans who have an honorable or general discharge from service can receive help through the program with wills and powers of attorney.

The report released Thursday by Laxalt’s office included these facts about the state’s military population:

* Nevada is home to an estimated 11,400 active duty military members, 7,620 reserve members, and over 228,000 veterans.

* The state’s active-duty service members represent all five branches of the military, but more than 90 percent are serving in the Air Force.

* Many work in one of the four active military bases in Nevada (Nellis and Creech Air Force bases in the south and the Hawthorne Army Depot Base and Naval Air Station Fallon Navy Base in the north).

For more information about the program, visit nvagomla.nv.gov.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Follow @WesJuhl on Twitter.