After the JAG Corps: Navigating Your Career Progression

As we leave the service, we tend to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what we want to do and what road we want to travel. Jake Pugh shows us that sometimes choosing the best can be found in the road that one has already traversed. He has successfully done that, This is his story.

By any account, Frank "Max" Wood has had a successful and varied legal career. From judicial clerk to active duty Air Force JAG serving in Wyoming, the Philippines, and Texas, to then serving as a prosecutor, U.S. Attorney, Georgia's Chief Administrative Law Judge, and Director of the Office of Hearings and Appeals for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, among others, and continued service in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, it has been a career of public service. In this episode, Max shares his journey .

In this episode, we hear from Adam Torem, a retired U.S. Air Force judge advocate whose intention was to leverage his environmental law experience in the civilian sector, but ended up relying on his other skills and experiences to eventually become a career administrative law judge for the State of Washington.

This week, I talk with Bill Rogers, who has a very diverse legal career: civilian practice, Air Force, Air Force Reserve, government servant, general counsel, advisor, BnB owner/operator, back to private practice, and farmer. In light of that, the title of this podcast is a hat tip to the Grateful Dead.

This week, I catch up with Denise Krepp, who has made a career of filling a niche since she left the Coast Guard in 2002, and a person always willing to take on the fights that need to be fought.

This week, a conversation with former Navy judge advocate Rachel Reddick whose post military career has included a brush with political office, service with Military Commissions Defense Office, a move across country, the California bar exam, a stint as an employment lawyer, and now as an attorney with an Investigations firm.

As a young officer, Jennifer was told that that her job with the Naval Support Group Activity at Fort Meade was not conducive to long-term success for a career in the Navy JAG Corps. Taking the hint, Jennifer started applying for jobs, but having made a good impression on a civilian attorney with whom she often collaborated, Jen landed at the National Security Activity, where she has been for over two decades.

In this episode, Rachel Flannery, U.S. Army Reserve, takes us through her career progression from the Active Component to a career as a National Security Attorney at the Department of Homeland Security, via Georgetown and an LLM, in her goal to "Pivot With Intention."

This week, we hear from former Marine, steelworker, FBI agent, Navy JAG, NCIS special agent, counter-intelligence officer, volunteer, and fisherman, John Smallman. From investigating crimes to prosecuting them, John has had a dynamic and interesting career. Full of great sea stories and laughs, there is no better way to close-out the year than talking to John about his career.

In this episode, we hear from Shelby Hladon whose desire to spend more time with her sons has led to a post-military career as a volunteer, especially when it comes to youth and veterans.

In this episode, Patrick Corteau shares his journey from serving as a judge advocate in the Air Force to securing a position with Greenberg Traurig, in its Minneapolis, MN, office.

In this episode, I talk to Matthew Dursa, former Navy JAG, about his journey in overcoming a tendency to overthink things, which he shares in his new book, “Reading This Book Won’t Help You: Doing the Work Will.” A copy can be purchased on Amazon at https://a.co/d/a8AQUDN.

In this episode, Michael shares how he leveraged his active duty experience as an Air Force judge advocate to teaching in the classroom, both while still serving and after retirement.

As a probationary employee with the Navy Office of General Counsel in 2025, Joe was informed he would likely be laid off as part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to curb the size of the Federal Government. When offered deferred resignation, Joe saw it as an opportunity to join private practice to enable him to return to doing the things he enjoyed doing as a Marine Corps JAG, including Legal Assistance and Litigation. In this episode, Joe takes us through his journey, including waving into the Virginia bar. Joe mentions a few of Slack-type groups that he finds helpful, including:

In this episode, Holly Cook takes us through her career progression from the Army JAG Corps to the American Bar Association where she continues serving and advocating on issues that are in the public interest.

Jerrod Fussnecker is a judge advocate in the Army Reserve and a civil litigation attorney with Collins and Lacy, and the host of the Military Veterans in Law podcast.

In this episode, I talk to Dough Moquet who left the Air Force after 10 years to return home to Connecticut, where he was successfully leveraged his experiences as an Air Force JAG to land his current gig.

In this episode, recently retired Coast Guard Captain Kathleen Duignan talks about her decision to go back to school.

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After almost ten and one-half years serving around the world as an Air Force JAG, Roza Sheffield talks about her career progression to her current position as an associate with Holland & Knight.