Even as they fight in Afghanistan or Iraq, American soldiers sometimes have legal problems at home like everyone else.

Blackmon

They get divorces. They have child custody issues. Contractual conflicts follow them into battle on foreign soil.

It is part of Maj. Robert Blackmon’s job to help.

As a judge advocate general, or military lawyer, Blackmon helps soldiers with their civil and criminal problems, as well as advising Iraqi courts in the ways of modern justice.

Blackmon, 41, is a military brat, having grown up all over the world. But his parents, Bill and Sherry Blackmon, live in Flower Mound, and his mother- and father-in-law, Mickey and Terry Frushour, live in Denton. He calls Denton County home.

His wife, Katy, and his two young daughters live near the Fort Hood military base. The Nov. 5 massacre at the post was hard for him to deal with, being so far from the people he loves, he said. “It was a terrible couple of days.”

He serves with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, in Kirkuk, northern Iraq.

He has served for 14 years in the Army, but this is his first deployment. He is scheduled to return home next month.

Blackmon comes from a family of military men. His father was a career Air Force pilot. His paternal grandfather was a career Navy pilot, and his great-grandfather was a career Navy warrant officer.

Blackmon chose law, and his JAG career is leading him in directions he never imagined. He has standing to practice law in Iraqi civilian courts, and he is helping judges learn about modern forensic techniques and evidence gained from those techniques that is now coming before their benches.

Terrorists who plant roadside bombs or attack coalition forces are tried in civilian courts, Blackmon said. Since the start of 2009, that has been turned over to Iraqi police as part of a gradual coalition withdrawal from the country.

Until recently, Iraqi judges relied on confessions and witness testimony to make their decisions. Now there are three forensic labs in the country, and one of them is near the coalition base in Kirkuk.

Coalition forces trained the technicians, he said, and they are getting up to speed on fingerprint identification, ballistics, DNA and blood analysis, and other forensic techniques to produce more reliable evidence.

But judges had not been trained in those techniques. They have been hesitant to admit evidence that they don’t understand. That’s why last month Blackmon helped give 18 Iraqi judges and lawyers a tour of the crime lab in Erbil, which is about an hour away from Kirkuk, to show them how the evidence is obtained and how it can be effectively used in court.

The more they understand it, the more willing they are to allow it into evidence, Blackmon said.

“The trip up north to their own national lab was a source of pride to them,” he said.

“Iraqi police are eager to get after criminals, and judges are eager to use the new lab techniques. Our job is to offer them as much training and assistance as we can, to show them the new lab and to establish a relationship with them.”

Iraq has a constitution, and civilians now have civil rights when they are tried in Iraqi courts, he said. It is a tribute to the work that coalition forces have done in the past six years, and they will have another year and a half of exposing Iraqis to new concepts before leaving them on their own.

“The future is bright for them. They have a lot of hard work to do, but they are up for it,” Blackmon said. “It is an honor to be here.”

DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885. Her e-mail address is dfielder@dentonrc.com.