by Bradley Parsons and
Kent Brockwell
Staff Writers
Duval County Judge James Ruth extended a tearful thank you last week to Jacksonville’s legal community for its support during his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The Army National Guardsman was the featured speaker at the Jacksonville Bar Association’s monthly luncheon at the Omni on Thursday and thanked his fellow county court judges for taking over his caseload during his year-long deployment on the staff of the Judge Advocate General’s Office in Kuwait.
Ruth thanked the administration at Florida Coastal School of Law for a steady stream of care packages. The school adopted Ruth’s unit.
“They sent so many packages, our tent looked like a Wal-Mart, boxes full of stuff everywhere,” said Ruth. “It got to the point where I had to tell them to stop.”
But Ruth reserved his most heartfelt gratitude for wife Michelline. An attorney, veteran and former JAG officer herself, Michelline understood the sacrifice required of military members, said Ruth. During his call up to active duty, Michelline juggled her career with taking care of their home and 7-year-old daughter Shaina.
Ruth wasn’t the only grateful soldier at the head table — he was flanked on both sides by other citizen soldiers from Jacksonville’s legal community.
Cmdr. Robert Perry, an attorney with Held and Israel law firm, was called up as a member of the Navy Reserve; Cmdr. Matt O’ Keefe, an assistant state attorney, Navy Reserve; Col. Edward Merrigan, an attorney with James C. Rinaman III and Associates, Army Reserve; Maj. Kevin Frein, an assistant state attorney, Army Reserve; and Maj. John Hugus, an Army chaplain who works as a guard at the Duval County Courthouse.
Attorney Edward Mallow, a captain in the Navy Reserve’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, couldn’t attend the meeting because he was called to active duty and was serving as Staff Judge Advocate for the Navy’s Recruiting Command in Millington, Tenn. He sent thanks through JBA President Reginald Luster to his civilian employers, Eraclides, Johns, Hall, Gelman, Eikner and Johannessen.
Clay County Sheriff’s Office adviser James Pinmental, a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve, also could not attend.
Those present to hear Ruth speak echoed his sentiment. All spoke of the sacrifices their family and friends had to make at home. All agreed with Ruth’s tearful final statement.
“If I was asked to do it all again, I’d do it in a second,” he said as he covered his face with his hand.
Maj. John Hugus
As a chaplain, Hugus didn’t carry a weapon. But he was still the best shot in his company. Hugus learned to shoot from his father, a member of the 69th Infantry in World War II. That training might not have helped his military job but it comes in handy in his civilian job. Hugus is working as a guard at the County Courthouse while he waits for a job as a Lutheran pastor to become available.
It’s unlikely that the demands of a civilian church will prove much of a problem to Hugus after his deployment to Kuwait. Hugus helped conduct 23 services a week in a variety of faiths as services were made available for Roman Catholics, Mormons, Christians, Jewish Orthodox and Muslims, among others.
Hugus said his work with chaplains of other denominations was the most rewarding part of his work.
“I really enjoyed the inter-religious work,” he said. “Dealing with people of different faiths was rewarding intellectually and spiritually.”
Also rewarding he said, was close relationship with God that many soldiers discovered.
“In those kind of surroundings, people tend to get back in touch with their religious roots,” said Hugus.
Col. Ed Merrigan
Ed Merrigan saw a side of Baghdad that most people miss.
As the executive officer of the Civil Affairs Battalion serving with the Army’s 1st Cavalry in Baghdad, Merrigan was responsible for getting the lights turned on and the water running.
While armed conflict takes up most of the headlines and news footage coming out of Iraq, Merrigan’s unit worked in relative obscurity.
“We’re assessing projects, talking to engineers, hiring contractors, it’s not a sexy mission,” said Merrigan.
Maybe not sexy, but necessary. Merrigan oversaw more than 2,000 projects in a year-long tour of duty that resulted in the investment of more than $58 million into Baghdad’s infrastructure.
Merrigan remembers bringing an in vitro fertilization machine to a hospital. The technology made it easier for Baghdad women to become pregnant and hadn’t existed in Baghdad before the troops arrived.
Merrigan estimates that “nine out of 10” Iraqis want help in rebuilding their country. It’s frustrating to him that the impression doesn’t come through most of the press coverage.
“It’s really a good mission. We interacted with people every day and they really want our help,” he said.
Cmdr. Robert Perry
While his counterparts took the fight overseas, Robert Perry stayed in the U.S., ensuring military bases across the Southeast were secure against terrorist attack.
Perry made sure bases were operating with uniform security procedures and helped implement tougher base protection safeguards.
“Basically, we’re bringing groups together that had been working separately,” said Perry. “It’s force protection; what do we need to do to prevent an attack?”
Its not enough to simply envision the safeguards, Perry said, adding that the hard work comes when trying to implement them with limited financial resources.
“You need to make the most of the resources you have,” said Perry. “You try to direct your resources to the important areas with the highest risk.”
Security has become a common preoccupation for Perry. He was called to active duty in March of 2001 to run port security for the Navy’s 5th Fleet in the United Arab Emirates. It was an important assignment in the wake of the USS Cole bombing a year earlier in Yemen.
Perry put in place new procedures designed to keep the Navy’s boats secure from similar attacks. The new safeguards called for at-sea escorts and sharpshooters to prevent hostile vessels from approaching the Navy boats.
“We always had rules and security procedures, but this was a new threat,” said Perry. “The ships had not been major targets in the past.”
Perry’s work was tough, but he said he left his wife with the really hard work. She was left with the responsibility to sell their house and take care of their two children.
Capt. Kevin Frein
When Army Reserve Capt. Kevin Frein was called up for a year of active duty, visions of a hot Iraqi desert crossed his mind. But Frein, an assistant State Attorney when not on active duty, never stepped foot in the Middle East.
Frein’s Army reserve unit, the 174th Legal Support Organization, actually spent its active duty tour in Georgia at Hunter Army Airfield and Fort Stewart. Frein’s year of active duty service was spent as a replacement for the active duty component at both bases while they were deployed to the Middle East.
While mobilized, Frein worked as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, mainly prosecuting civilians that committed crimes at either of the two bases. He also worked as an Administrative Law Attorney where he advised field commanders with legality issues that arose in non-criminal justice matters.
Though he never saw the battlefield, Frein said he is proud of his year of active duty but is very proud of the active duty soldiers he was filling in for.
“We were there so others could go forward,” he said. “My call to duty was for a mission here and it was essential that I take my responsibility seriously. I gave my all to fulfill my mission here because it allowed others to go and fulfill their mission over there.
“The men and women I met on active duty are some of the greatest people that I have ever met.”
Cmdr. Matt O’Keefe
As an assistant State Attorney, Matt O’Keefe specializes in prosecuting gun crime cases. But as a SH-60B Seahawk aircraft commander and instructor pilot for the Navy Reserve, Cmdr. O’Keefe hunts down drug traffickers and “narco-terrorists.”
Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, O’Keefe has been called to active duty six separate times. Mainly working on drug interdiction operations, O’Keefe has seen and seized his fair share of illegal drugs. He has been directly involved with the seizure of more than four metric tons of cocaine and the apprehension of more than 30 drug traffickers.
Besides tackling drug runners on the high sea, O’Keefe is also the current executive officer of Mayport’s Helicopter AntiSubmarine Squad Light SIX ZERO where he is responsible for six Seahawks and more than 220 personnel.