The Claims division of the Staff Judge Advocate for the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley joined four other offices by receiving the Claims in Excellence Award for the 10th consecutive year.
Jeff Fleming, chief of the claims division at Fort Riley, said the Fort Riley office primarily has four duties. These include personnel claims, tort claims, medical claims at Irwin Army Community Hospital and collecting money from insurance agencies on claims.
"Not every claims office does all those things," Fleming said. "Maybe one third of the claims offices are judged on all of the criteria."
Fleming said the Fort Riley office is unique because it is one of three offices that has won the award based on judgment in all four categories. The other two are at Fort Polk, Louisiana and Fort Knox, Kentucky. The other two offices that hold the award for 10 years are Monterrey, California, and an office in Japan, but they do not handle medical claims and are not judged on all four criteria.
"We've been judged in all four areas to be top-notch for 10 years in a row," Fleming said. "Only three full-service claims offices worldwide can claim that."
Each year, the staff has to fill out a packet of questions based on the type of claims they process. Because the Fort Riley office processes all of the types of claims, they must answer every question in the packet.
Fleming said it is important to recognize not only the work done in the claims division, but that their excellence is achieved because of a bigger picture at the Department of the Army level.
"We're one small piece of this office," Fleming said. "Not every section in the JAG office is judged by a Department of the Army award. We advise on environmental law, contracts, civilian labor, power of attorneys and support the command when they are conducting investigations. If there were a DA-level award for all the areas, they would win it too, but we are fortunate enough that our area is judged at the DA-level."
Lt. Col. Joe Mackey, deputy Staff Judge Advocate, said this is the best claims office he has worked with in the Army, and he is pleased because the staff accomplishes their mission while displaying this kind of excellence.
"It is a phenomenal accomplishment that they were able to do this for 10 years in a row," Mackey said. "It's a very rare accomplishment and a reflection of just how professional and dedicated the entire team is."
What the award cannot capture is personal dedication.
"What's not reflected in the award is the personal service that they give," Mackey said. "What takes them even beyond the other two offices is their high dedication to customer service. Anyone who goes in there, they go well above and beyond what the Army tells them to do to accomplish their mission. It's rare that every single person in the office has that dedication."
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