Iowa Military Lawyer
Guard and Reserve servicemembers in Iowa carry a burden that active-duty troops rarely face in the same way: the constant tension between military obligations and civilian life, with legal problems that can detonate on either side of that line. Whether it is a Medical Evaluation Board initiated after a training injury at Camp Dodge, an administrative separation action following a deployment, or a criminal charge that puts both a career and a clearance at risk, the legal terrain is different when you wear a uniform. An Iowa military lawyer who has actually served understands that difference in ways a generalist attorney simply cannot replicate.
Citizen Soldier Law was founded specifically to serve servicemembers and veterans, and the firm’s roots are in the National Guard. Attorney Thomas Roughneen and his team carry over a hundred years of combined military service, including experience as active-duty and reserve JAG attorneys. That background is not decoration. It shapes how the firm reads a unit’s separation paperwork, how it prepares a soldier for a Physical Evaluation Board, and how it approaches a criminal defense case where a conviction would end a military career. The attorneys here have been deployed. They have navigated the same systems Iowa soldiers now face.
Iowa is home to approximately 8,000 soldiers in the Iowa Army National Guard, spread across armories from Dubuque to Council Bluffs. These are citizen soldiers in the truest sense: farmers, teachers, first responders, and tradespeople who also answer the call when the state or nation needs them. When legal trouble arrives, they need counsel who speaks both languages.
What Sets Citizen Soldier Law Apart for Iowa Military Cases
Citizen Soldier Law was founded in 2013 with a singular focus: servicemembers who are injured and still serving needed legal representation that understood the military disability system from the inside. A decade-plus of advocacy has produced a team that includes retired JAG attorneys from both the active-duty and reserve side, a retired Army National Guard human resources NCO who has processed the very paperwork clients now receive, and Dr. Alice Tzeng, M.D., a board-certified physician specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Having a physician embedded in the legal team changes how MEB and PEB cases are built. Most law firms cannot tell you the medical difference between a VA rating and a DOD disability determination. This team can, because they have a doctor in the room.
The firm’s practice is national in scope for all military and disability matters, which means Iowa Guard and Reserve members are not being handled by a generalist who occasionally sees a military case. Thomas Roughneen has described the firm’s founding catalyst as the need to supply legal advice to injured servicemembers still serving. That mission has not changed. Client feedback consistently reflects attorneys who are responsive, who understand military culture without it being explained, and who give direct, honest assessments rather than vague reassurances. For an Iowa soldier facing an MEB, a separation board, or a criminal charge that threatens their service, that kind of counsel is not optional, it is essential.
Legal Issues Iowa Guard and Reserve Members Most Commonly Face
- Medical Evaluation Boards (MEB): When an Iowa soldier is found not to meet medical retention standards, the MEB process begins the formal determination of whether they can continue serving. The stakes involve both military retirement eligibility and the disability rating that determines long-term compensation. A soldier who accepts an initial MEB finding without legal review may leave significant benefits unclaimed.
- Physical Evaluation Boards (PEB), Informal and Formal: The PEB, which convenes in a Title 10 active-duty setting regardless of whether the soldier is Guard or Reserve, assigns a disability percentage and determines fitness for duty. Informal board findings can be contested at a formal board hearing. Preparation and advocacy at this stage directly affect retirement and disability pay for the rest of a soldier’s life.
- Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES): IDES links the DOD disability process with the VA rating system. For Iowa Reserve Component members navigating IDES, the process involves multiple agencies and timelines that do not always move in sync. Missing a response deadline or failing to submit medical evidence at the right stage can lock in an unfavorable rating.
- National Guard and Reserve Enlisted Administrative Actions: Administrative separation, reduction in grade, bars to reenlistment, and other adverse enlisted actions can end a Guard career without a court-martial. These proceedings happen at the unit level and often move faster than soldiers expect, leaving little time to prepare a response without help.
- Officer Administrative Actions: Iowa National Guard officers face a distinct set of administrative proceedings including show cause actions, elimination boards, and adverse Officer Evaluation Report appeals. The consequences for officers include loss of commission, forfeiture of retirement eligibility, and civilian career damage when a security clearance is revoked.
- Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC): Iowa veterans who receive both military retirement pay and VA disability compensation may qualify for CRSC, which restores certain retirement pay that would otherwise be offset. CRSC applications require specific documentation linking disabilities to combat or training incidents, and initial denials are common. An appeal handled by counsel familiar with the criteria produces materially better outcomes.
- Criminal Defense Affecting Military Status: A DWI or weapons charge in Iowa civilian court can trigger a security clearance investigation, a mandatory adverse action at the unit level, and potential federal disqualification from firearm possession. Iowa Guard members need defense counsel who understands both the civilian criminal consequences and the parallel military proceedings that will follow.
- Discharge Upgrades and Military Records Corrections: Veterans across Iowa who received characterizations of service that do not reflect the full picture of their service, including cases involving PTSD, TBI, or military sexual trauma, may qualify for discharge upgrades through the Army Discharge Review Board or the Board for Correction of Military Records.
After an MEB Notice or Administrative Action: Practical Guidance for Iowa Soldiers
If you have just received an MEB initiation notice or a unit-level administrative action, the most useful thing you can do immediately is preserve every document in your possession. That means your entire service record, all medical treatment records from both military and civilian providers, any correspondence from your unit leadership, and your deployment history. Iowa soldiers often receive treatment at the Iowa City VA Health Care System, the Des Moines VA Medical Center, or through military medical facilities at Camp Dodge in Johnston. Get copies of those records now, before the process advances. In MEB proceedings, the medical evidence submitted during the initial board stage is foundational, and supplementing it later is harder than building it correctly from the start.
For administrative actions at the unit level, timing matters considerably. Response deadlines in enlisted and officer administrative proceedings are short, sometimes as brief as 72 hours for an initial acknowledgment. If you are served with adverse paperwork, do not sign anything other than an acknowledgment of receipt until you have spoken with counsel. Signing a waiver of board rights or an acceptance of findings without understanding what you are giving up can foreclose options permanently.
Iowa Guard and Reserve members whose cases involve federal disability determinations will ultimately interact with agencies and boards that are not Iowa-specific: the Physical Disability Agency, the Army Review Boards Agency, and the relevant branch Physical Evaluation Board. These are federal administrative forums, and the procedures are the same regardless of whether the soldier is from Waterloo or Wichita. What matters is having counsel who knows how those boards actually operate, not just what the regulations say on paper. The firm handles these proceedings nationally, which means the Iowa soldier is not getting a learning curve.
If a civilian criminal charge in Iowa is intersecting with your military status, contact the National Guard’s JAG office to understand what reporting obligations you have, then seek outside legal counsel for the civilian defense. Your unit JAG may have obligations to the command that limit how fully they can advocate for your personal interests. Private counsel owes you, and only you, that loyalty.
The Specific Weight of Reserve Component Disability Cases
Active-duty soldiers and Reserve Component soldiers move through largely the same MEB and PEB process on paper. In practice, the challenges for Iowa Guard and Reserve members are different in ways that matter. Establishing the service connection for an injury or condition requires showing that it was incurred or aggravated in the line of duty. For a Guard member who drills one weekend a month and deployed twice in ten years, the documentation of when and how a condition began can be contested in ways that simply do not arise for someone who has been continuously active.
Line-of-duty determinations are their own separate administrative process, and a finding of “not in line of duty” can bar the path to disability retirement entirely. Iowa Guard soldiers who are injured during annual training, mobilization, or even inactive-duty training periods need to ensure that line-of-duty investigations are completed correctly and that findings are challenged when the evidence does not support a negative determination. This is a step that happens before the MEB is even initiated, and getting it right sets up everything that follows.
Reserve Component members who are medically separated rather than retired face a different financial outcome than their active-duty counterparts. A separation without disability retirement, or a rating below the threshold that triggers retirement eligibility, means no ongoing monthly benefit. The difference between a 20 percent rating and a 30 percent rating is not just a percentage, it is whether a soldier receives monthly disability retired pay for the rest of their life. Counsel familiar with how ratings are argued and how narrative summaries are written can make that difference in a real case.
Questions Iowa Military Members and Veterans Ask
Can Citizen Soldier Law represent Iowa National Guard members even though the firm is based in New Jersey?
Yes. Military disability proceedings, including MEB, PEB, and IDES, are federal administrative proceedings that are not tied to any specific state. The firm handles these matters nationally. Iowa Guard and Reserve members have worked with the firm regardless of their armory location or where their medical treatment occurred.
What happens if my MEB rates my conditions lower than my VA rating?
The DOD disability rating under IDES is supposed to align with the VA rating for the same conditions, but discrepancies do occur. If the DOD rating is lower, you have the right to request a formal PEB hearing to contest the finding. The formal board gives you the opportunity to appear, present evidence, and have counsel advocate on your behalf. Most soldiers who accept informal findings without review do not realize this option exists or how meaningfully it can change the outcome.
My unit is pushing me toward a chapter separation rather than an MEB. Is that normal?
It is more common than it should be. Administrative separations are faster and simpler for units to process than medical evaluations, and some soldiers are steered toward chapter separations based on misconduct or performance at a time when their underlying medical condition is the real driver of the behavior. If there is any possibility that a medical condition is contributing to the situation, you have the right to be evaluated through the medical retention process before administrative separation proceeds. Accepting a chapter separation without that evaluation can forfeit disability benefits you would otherwise receive.
How does a civilian DWI conviction affect a National Guard security clearance in Iowa?
A DWI conviction triggers a mandatory security clearance review. Depending on the clearance level and the surrounding circumstances, including any history of alcohol-related incidents, the outcome can range from a letter of reprimand to suspension or revocation of the clearance. A revoked clearance often means the soldier cannot fill their MOS position, which sets up the basis for an administrative separation. Handling the civilian DWI case as aggressively as possible, including pursuing diversion programs or reduced charges where Iowa law permits, protects the military career downstream.
What is CRSC and how do I know if I qualify as an Iowa veteran?
Combat-Related Special Compensation is a Department of Defense program that allows certain military retirees to receive both their full military retired pay and VA disability compensation, rather than having one offset the other. To qualify, the disabilities must be linked to combat, hazardous duty, simulated war training, or an instrumentality of war. Iowa veterans who served in deployments to combat zones and have rated disabilities from those deployments are candidates to apply. The application goes to the relevant branch of service, and denials can be appealed with additional documentation.
I received a General discharge instead of Honorable. Can that be upgraded?
Possibly. The Army Discharge Review Board can upgrade characterizations of service within 15 years of discharge for most cases, and the Army Board for Correction of Military Records handles cases beyond that window and can also change the narrative reason for separation. Claims based on PTSD, TBI, military sexual trauma, or other service-related conditions that affected the conduct underlying the discharge have received increased attention in recent years under updated review standards. An attorney familiar with how to frame these petitions can make a material difference in the outcome.
If I disagree with a formal PEB decision, what comes next?
A soldier who disagrees with a formal PEB finding can appeal to the Army Physical Disability Appeal Board (or the equivalent in other branches). Beyond that, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records represents an additional avenue for challenging ratings and findings. These are not automatic processes, and the burden shifts to the servicemember to demonstrate error or injustice in the original determination. Having counsel who has navigated these post-board appeals is essential, because the procedural requirements and evidentiary standards differ from the board hearing itself.
Does a federal felony conviction automatically end a soldier’s Guard career in Iowa?
A federal felony conviction carries automatic consequences for military service, including loss of the right to possess firearms under federal law, which disqualifies a soldier from most military duties. Beyond that, the conviction triggers mandatory administrative review at the unit level. The practical outcome in most cases is separation, though the characterization of that separation and whether a soldier retains any accrued retirement eligibility depends on the specific circumstances and how the administrative proceedings are handled. Early intervention in the civilian criminal case is the most effective way to protect the military career.
Can the firm help with a Department of Veterans Affairs appeal if the VA denied my disability claim?
The firm handles VA appeals as part of its military and disability practice. Iowa veterans who have received denials or inadequate ratings from the VA have several appellate options available, including the Supplemental Claim lane, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and, for complex cases, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The right path depends on the specific denial, the evidence available, and the time elapsed since the original decision.
What should I bring to my first conversation with the firm about an MEB case?
Come with whatever you have. The MEB initiation notice, your most recent physical examination, any narrative summary (NARSUM) that has been prepared, your service treatment records if you have copies, and your VA rating decision if you have one. The more documentation available at the outset, the more specifically counsel can advise you about where the case stands and what the realistic options are. If you do not have records yet, that is fine. Requesting them is one of the first practical steps the firm can walk you through.
Iowa Military Legal Representation Across the State
Citizen Soldier Law’s military and disability practice serves clients across Iowa, from the Des Moines metro and its surrounding communities of Ankeny, Urbandale, West Des Moines, and Johnston, where Camp Dodge is located, through the eastern corridor of Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Marion, and the Dubuque region along the Mississippi River. Soldiers and veterans in the Quad Cities area, including Davenport and Bettendorf, as well as those stationed or residing in Waterloo, Cedar Falls, and the northeast Iowa communities of Decorah and Mason City, can access the firm’s representation for federal military and disability proceedings without regard to distance. The western side of the state, including Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Ames, and Fort Dodge, falls equally within the firm’s national service reach. Iowa Guard members deployed from armories in Boone, Marshalltown, Ottumwa, Burlington, Clinton, and throughout the state’s rural communities have the same access to federal administrative advocacy as any soldier in a major metropolitan area, because the proceedings themselves are federal and the firm’s practice is structured for national representation.
Talk to an Iowa Military Attorney About Your Situation
The decisions made in the early stages of an MEB, a separation board, or a criminal case with military implications are the ones that shape everything that follows. Waiting, or relying on unit JAG counsel whose obligations run in multiple directions, often costs soldiers options they cannot recover. Citizen Soldier Law serves as an Iowa military attorney resource for Guard and Reserve members and veterans who need counsel that understands military law from the inside out, not from a textbook. The firm’s team includes retired JAG lawyers, a physician, and a human resources NCO who have personally navigated the systems Iowa soldiers now face. Call the firm’s office to speak directly with the team about your specific situation and what the realistic path forward looks like for your case.
