Navy Legalmen — LN rating — provided legal administrative support to Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) officers, processed legal claims and administrative actions, and supported courts-martial and administrative proceedings at Naval Legal Service Offices (NLSOs), Staff Judge Advocate offices at major commands, and aboard ships with embarked legal officers. LN ratings were assigned to naval station shore commands and large ship billets. Naval legal offices were typically located in older naval station administrative buildings — often WWII-era or Cold War-era construction — where asbestos-containing building materials were incorporated in the original construction. LN ratings working in these older administrative buildings accumulated asbestos exposure from the asbestos-containing floor tile, ceiling materials, and mechanical system insulation in the legal office facility construction.

Navy legal office buildings incorporated asbestos in their construction:

  • Naval Legal Service Office buildings — Naval Legal Service Offices at major fleet concentrations such as Norfolk, San Diego, Jacksonville, and Pearl Harbor were typically located in WWII-era or Cold War-era naval station administrative buildings with asbestos floor tile, asbestos ceiling tile, and asbestos pipe insulation in the mechanical systems of the office buildings. LN ratings working extended duty assignments in these offices were in daily proximity to the asbestos-containing floor and ceiling materials in the administrative building construction
  • Command Staff Judge Advocate office buildings — the Staff Judge Advocate offices at major naval commands were located in the command headquarters buildings, which on older naval stations used WWII-era and Cold War construction with asbestos-containing materials throughout the administrative building stock. LN ratings assigned to these SJA offices accumulated asbestos exposure from the facility construction throughout their legal office shore duty assignments

LN ratings and legal officers aboard ships worked in asbestos-containing spaces:

  • Shipboard administrative and legal spaces — large surface combatants and carriers with embarked JAG officers and LN ratings used shipboard administrative spaces that on WWII-era and Cold War-era vessels had asbestos-containing deck tile, overhead insulation, and construction materials throughout the interior administrative compartment construction

VA Claims for LN Rating Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at naval shore facilities and aboard Navy ships. Legalmen who served in WWII-era or Cold War naval station legal office buildings and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.