Grissom Airman 'judged' best in Reserve Command Published May 13, 2011 By Tech. Sgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner 434th ARW Public Affairs GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- Indiana is no stranger to most valuable players with the names like Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Larry Bird, and now the Hoosier state can add one more name to the MVP list. Maj. Matt Coakley, 951st Reserve Support Squadron staff judge advocate, was recently selected as Air Force Reserve Command's 2010 Albert M. Kuhfeld Award for Outstanding Judge Advocate. The award recognizes the regular Air Force officer in the grade of major or captain selected as the most outstanding judge advocate of the year based on demonstrated excellence, initiative and devotion to duty. Though Major Coakley is a part of the regular Air Force, he has spent the last three years providing support to Air Force Reserve's 434th Air Refueling Wing and 934th Airlift Wing. "It's a prestigious honor to be recognized above your peers by your supervisors," he said. "It's kind of like a most valuable player award that's given to a winning team, and I have to give all the credit to the legal offices of the 434th [ARW] and 934th [AW]." And just as Mr. Manning precisely directed his team down the field toward a Super Bowl victory, it was the innovative way Major Coakley directed his team toward their own success that was most predominate in his award package. Without precedent, the major decided his teammates, both civilian and military, could reach beyond the Air Force's expectations for paralegals, and he and the other judge advocates trained the paralegals on tasks normally reserved for attorneys such as drafting wills. "Our use of Master Sgt. [Wes] Marion and Tech. Sgt. [Adam] Evans fundamentally changed the concepts of what the JAG Corps has done," elaborated Major Coakley. "We taught them how to draft the wills, now the 7-level paralegal course teaches them that...that's totally changed how paralegals do business in the Air Force." However, it's not just his unique approach in using paralegals that has changed the Air Force and the Air Force Reserve, as the AFRC inspector general named him as the command's best JAG unit compliance inspector. The AFRC inspection teams are largely composed of augmentees from different AFRC bases, and Major Coakley has been an inspector on several inspection teams over the last three years. In that role, he developed the first ever civilian drug-testing program all-purpose checklist. On top of providing legal advice to two wing commanders and over 7,500 Department of Defense servicemembers and civilians, he is also responsible for the second largest JAG recruiting area in the Air Force. In his recruiting role, Major Coakley held 23 events at 11 different law schools, conducting over 100 on-campus interviews and 51 direct appointment accession interviews in 2010 alone. But, it's not just in his professional life that the major excels. He scored excellent on his physical training test and helped the Grissom Airman and Family Readiness office provide excess toys to sick children at local hospitals. And due to his many accomplishments, Major Coakley was recently nominated to be a presidential aide. However, despite all of his accolades and achievements, he said one of the best benefits of his time at Grissom has been learning more about the Air Force Reserve and what it brings to the fight. "I now have a greater respect for what the United States Air Force Reserve does and how much they do," elaborated Major Coakley. "From perspective, you don't realize how much reservists do, how much they have to get done in a small amount of time...they have all the same requirements as the active duty force, just less time to do them in." And, it's that better understanding the major said he would carry with him throughout his career and that would make him a better Air Force leader. "I'll have a better understanding in how to manage my [individual mobilization augmentee] reservists and the commitments to family, civilian employment and their military obligations they are managing to be part of the reserve," he added. And when the JAG MVP moves on to another assignment from Grissom, he said he will miss the atmosphere of the reserve base. "I'll miss the sense of family at this base," he said. "It's got a nice homey feel; I don't think you'll ever capture that atmosphere anywhere else." Major Coakley will now compete against the other major command award winners for the overall Air Force Albert M. Kuhfeld Award, which is named after Maj. General Albert Kuhfeld, who served as the judge advocate general for the Air Force from 1960 to 1964. The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Stay connected with the 434th ARW on Facebook and Twitter. USAF. (U.S. Air Force Graphic by Rosario "Charo" Gutierrez) Photo Details / Download Hi-Res USAF. (U.S. Air Force Graphic by Rosario "Charo" Gutierrez)