Army JAG Personal Statement Forum

[thedude6512]

Hey, not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm applying to Army JAG and have to write a personal statement. I would really appreciate some feedback. The prompt is "State your interest, motivation and objectives in applying for active duty service with the U.S. Army JAG Corps. Do not exceed 4000 characters." I am currently an Army officer trying to switch to the JAG Corps, so I drew heavily on my military leadership experience so far.

Just a heads up, I always make personal statements a little more informal. I try to humanize myself a little bit and make it different from the rest of the pack. One of my friends chided me for this, but I think a personal statement should be somewhat conversational. Let me know if it's too much. And thanks for the input in advance!

As a cadet in law school, my career path promised to be somewhat unconventional.

Graduate student cadets are, after all, somewhat of an anomaly in ROTC training. Likewise, I differed from most other law students, many of whom went on to work in firms or government legal offices. Rather, I commissioned as a second lieutenant and began active duty as an engineer officer in November 2013, which is not exactly a typical career path for a law school graduate. I have gotten bemused looks from several friends and acquaintances about this decision. “Then why did you go to law school?” they ask. Some chuckle when they say this. “I mean, did you want to join the Army, or did you want to be a lawyer?”

I would always smile back and say, “Well, hopefully I can do both.”

Going into law school, I had a good idea of the kind of job I hoped to work. It had to be dynamic, one that presented me with a variety of issues and that routinely forced me to adapt to new situations. Moreover, I wanted to be given a good deal of responsibility early in my career. Above all, however, I wanted a job that challenged me both intellectually and as a leader.

It was the promise of this kind of challenge that initially got me interested in the Army. Being an Army officer presents a broad scope of responsibilities and demands, and few civilian jobs require the same level of physical, mental, and moral fitness. As a company grade engineer officer, I have not been disappointed. On any given day, I may have to take on any number of roles, from physical trainer on the PT field, to project manager at a worksite, to counselor for my Soldiers. Similarly, the mission set that my platoon receives varies immensely, and I have found myself intimately acquainted with the phrase "Adapt and overcome." The job is rarely easy, and that difficulty is one of the reasons I have enjoyed it.

Perhaps counterintuitively, a large part of my appreciation of legal work is that it offers similar challenges to military leadership. Ultimately, both require poise and the ability to utilize novel solutions to solve complex problems, and I look forward to putting the critical thinking and leadership skills I have developed in an operational unit to use in my legal career. After all, whether executing training missions within the confines of Posse Comitatus, working with Soldiers through UCMJ actions, or assembling packets for 15-6 investigations, I have seen firsthand the effects of law on operations. At the operational level, the law is not merely an abstraction, but rather a concrete facet of my planning, mission readiness, and Soldiers’ lives. This perspective will surely serve me well as a judge advocate, as my legal knowledge has been tempered by my leadership experience.

My time as an engineer officer has been invaluable and continues to affirm my reasons for seeking a commission. Being an officer has been a privilege and allowed me to be a leader physically, mentally, and morally. However, the law always been my passion, and I have continued to pursue my legal aspirations while serving. For instance, though I had to postpone the Bar exam several times since graduation, I studied for and took the July 2015 exam in Florida and passed on my first attempt. Furthermore, in lieu of being placed on staff, my battalion commander is allowing me to work with my brigade's legal department when I finish my platoon leader time in December 2015. This placement will be an excellent opportunity to put both my military and legal training to use, and my ultimate goal is to do so on a permanent basis. Becoming a JAG officer offers me that opportunity to work in the two fields I am most passionate about. It would be an honor to serve in such a role.