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- The United States Army Trial Defense Service (USATDS or TDS) is an independent Field Operating Agency within the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps and falls under the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School. The TDS motto is "Defending Those Who Defend America." A Judge Advocate Colonel heads the Trial Defense Service. The Office of the Chief, TDS, is located in Fort Belvoir in the United States Army Legal Services Agency building. TDS consists of the Chief, TDS, the Deputy Chief, the Operations and Plans Officer, the Chief of the Defense Counsel Assistance Program, the Chief of Complex Litigation, several training attorneys, a Senior Legal Administrator Warrant Officer, a Senior Enlisted Paralegal, administrative staff, and nearly 600 TDS personnel worldwide. Under the Chief of TDS, there are eight Regional Defense Counsel (RDC) responsible for overseeing defense services within a geographic region (see below). Each RDC oversees several Senior Defense Counsel (SDC), who manage field offices with the responsibility of providing defense services for a specific post, command, or area. Regions are also assigned one to two defense investigators. Some field offices oversee geographically separate branch offices. In the USAR, each LOD has a Colonel as commander, LTC as deputy commander, a warrant officer as legal administrator, and a MSG as chief legal NCO. AR 27-10 attaches all TDS attorneys to the Trial Defense Service with duty at a particular installation and requires the commander of the installation or organization and the respective SJA or supporting legal office to provide administrative and logistical support to defense counsel assigned to the installation, regardless of the lack of a command relationship. The bulk of TDS is made up of U.S. Army Reserve attorneys and paralegals. The reserve component of the Trial Defense Service consists of the 16th Legal Operations Detachment, the 22nd Legal Operations Detachment and the 154th Legal Operations Detachment. The 16th LOD is responsible for reserve TDS services east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason–Dixon line, and in Germany; the 22nd LOD is responsible for reserve TDS services west of the Mississippi River, Alaska, Hawaii and South Korea; and the 154th LOD is responsible for TDS service east of the Mississippi and south of the Mason Dixon line, and in Puerto Rico. The LODs are divided into distinct regions that are spread throughout their areas of responsibility. (en)
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