Vet News: Navy Legal Services Offices Support Hurricane Katrina Victims

GULFPORT, Miss., September 23, 2005 -- Personnel working at the Navy Legal Services Office at the Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Miss., have teamed up with Task Force Navy Family to provide assistance to Navy families affected by Hurricane Katrina.

TFNF was created in September by order of the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Mike Mullen, to ensure the Navy family is taken care of after such a disaster. Teams such as those working at NLSOs across the nation are already working to support the mission put forth by TFNF.

According to Lt. Brett T. Bowlin, CBC NLSO’s officer in charge, the team of four personnel at his office was working to assist Navy families in need of filing claims and powers of attorney immediately following the hurricane.

"We have something called a holographic power of attorney, which only requires people to fill in the blanks," he said. "This enables parents to expedite the process of moving their children to the safe haven areas by quickly giving temporary legal parental rights to the caregiver."

In addition, Bowlin says the need to assist people with claims who resided on base prior to the hurricane is an immediate priority for the legal team. Anyone residing on base or with personal property, such as an automobile, damaged on a military installation is entitled to file a claim for monetary compensation.

Once these claims are addressed, the NLSO staff directs people to other service providers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an organization designed to assist people without renter’s insurance or homeowner’s insurance. FEMA also may cover losses not fully covered by a family’s insurance policy.

"One of the things we stress in all of our briefs is the importance of renter’s insurance," said Bowlin. "This kind of policy will protect your belongings when something like this happens."

After applying for assistance with FEMA, NLSO personnel encourage Navy families to call the Navy Personnel Support Detachment in Norfolk to initiate travel orders for evacuation and safe haven. The base personnel support detachment (PSD) sends advance per diem electronically to the service member’s bank account.

Individuals and families may also be referred to the American Red Cross for food vouchers. Red Cross representatives are located in the Community Service Support Center (CSSC) with the NLSO.

According to Bowlin, even though NLSO personnel from the region had issues of their own to take care of, they went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure others were taken care of after the hurricane. Since that first day, NLSO Pensacola and Branch Office Gulfport have assisted more than 700 families, to include processing more than 134 claims for damage to vehicles and personal property, and providing legal assistance and powers of attorney to more than 560 personnel.

"We initially set up shop at the warehouse on base where people who had evacuated their homes were staying," said Bowlin. "We had people hand-deliver claims to be processed in Pensacola, Fla., because our FAX machines were down. We now make weekly trips to the John C. Stennis Space Center and Naval Station Pascagoula to help people there. We even had a few people on the staff go out to people’s houses to help those without transportation file their claims."

Since the first few days following the storm, the team has been able to move back into their regular office at the CSSC on base, even employing additional volunteers.

"Everyone on the staff has exemplified the meaning of honor, courage and commitment. Many of them have families they’ve had to move out of the area and their own homes were destroyed, and they’ve been absolutely selfless," said Bowlin. "We’ve also had several people volunteer to help out from the Fleet and Family Support Center here, and we’ve gotten tremendous support from everyone at the tenant commands."

Some of the services offered at NLSOs are claims filing, insurance issues, landlord tenant laws, wills, powers of attorney, and document notarization.

For more information on attaining legal assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, call your local NLSO office.

For Navy Family members who need additional information or assistance, please call the Navy Personnel Command’s Emergency Coordination Center at (877) 414-5358, or visit www.navy.mil

SOURCE: VNIS - American Forces Press Service