JAG award honors Maxwell employee Published June 15, 2010 By Kimberly L. Wright Air University Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- A Maxwell Air Force Base JAG school team member has been recognized with an Air Force-wide award. Ronald Frazier, the chief of paralegal training and curriculum of The Judge Advocate General's School, earned the Harold R. Vague Award as outstanding legal service civilian as part of the 2009 Judge Advocate General Award. He, along with six other JAG award recipients from across the Air Force, will be honored at an awards banquet at the Air Force JAG Corps' Leadership Summit this fall in Orlando, Fla. "Mr. Frazier was selected based on his demonstrated excellence, initiative and devotion to duty with special emphasis given to his development and improvement of paralegal training programs and procedures," said Col. Tonya Hagmaier, commandant of The Judge Advocate General's School. "We're very proud of Mr. Frazier and the work he does for the JAG School and the JAG Corps." His achievements include extensive work in increasing paralegal foundational skill sets and building diagnostic measurements, which helped The JAGs Corps better evaluate and track paralegal development, said Colonel Hagmaier. He also ensured the entire Air Force paralegal training program maintained accreditation through the Community College of the Air Force and maintained its approval with the American Bar Association. A Kincaid, Ill., native, Mr. Frazier has been in his current position for about 18 months. He joined the Air Force after graduating high school, spending his first few years as a unit orderly room specialist. His introduction to the legal office came through working in this support position. "One of my responsibilities was drafting administrative discharge case files," he said. "After the packages were drafted, I would take them over to the base legal office for a JAG to review. After a few months of this, the JAG was apparently pleased with the quality of my work and said, 'How would you like to retrain into the legal service specialist career field?' After thinking it over, I took him up on his offer -- the rest is history." Mr. Frazier spent about 22 years active duty in the Air Force, nearly 18 of which was spent as a paralegal. Upon retiring in 2004, he entered civil service in 2005 as the AETC training manager for the paralegal, chaplain assistant and first sergeant career fields at the Eaker Center for Professional Development. At the Eaker Center, he was named Mid-Level Civilian of the Year for 2007, and was recognized by the AETC inspector general team as an outstanding curriculum development team leader during the 2008 Operational Readiness Inspection. "It's actually quite a humbling experience to receive this sort of recognition," said Mr. Frazier. "To be involved in planning and developing the curriculum to help shape and develop the paralegal graduates to support the mission is a challenging yet very rewarding experience." The Vague award, which started in 1979, recognizes the legal service non-attorney civilian employed by or serving with the JAG Corps based on demonstrated excellence, initiative and devotion to duty, according to the Air Force News Service. Special consideration is given to those individuals who develop or improve systems, programs or procedures that enhance management efficiency or cost-effectiveness for Air Force legal programs. Mr. Frazier is the 31st recipient of the award, which honors Major General Harold R. Vague, the fifth Judge Advocate General of the Air Force.