2020 was a surreal and harrowing year for everyone, to include the several JAGWAR members who contracted COVID-19 or whose longtime ambitions to attend Army schools were dashed by quarantine restrictions. The pandemic even hindered the Order of the JAGWAR itself, compelling the cancellation or postponement of seven scheduled “Triple-R Challenges” across the Army JAG Corps.
But although we’re all eager for 2021’s arrival, let’s end the year with an inspirational success story—one that recognizes a fellow “dual professional” for embodying our Corps’s “Soldier First, Lawyer Always” ethos.
On 13 November 2020, at Camp Gonsalves’s Jungle Warfare Training Center (JWTC) in Okinawa, Japan, MAJ Brent W. Thompson became the very first Army Judge Advocate to graduate from the United States Marine Corps Basic Jungle Skills Course (more colloquially known as “Jungle School”).
Established in 1958 and spanning over 8,900 acres, JWTC is the Defense Department’s oldest and largest jungle training facility. And you won’t find a Jungle School “war story” more badass than that of MAJ Thompson, who spent the final 2.5 days of the course with a broken arm dangling uselessly by his side.
“On rappel day, I had a nasty fall on a hasty rappel and my arm immediately hurt like crazy,” Thompson told us earlier this month. “I could barely lift it anymore.”
Yet he nonetheless conducted a full day and night of jungle patrols, followed by a “Jungle Endurance Course” comprised of 31 obstacles—hasty rappels, rope climbs, water obstacles, and the notorious “Pit and Pond”—over the course of six kilometers.
“After I graduated and got home that evening, my wife drove me to the E.R.,” Thompson said. “Turns out, I’d spent the last 2 ½ days of the course with a broken arm.”
MAJ Thompson—whose wife is a nurse practitioner (and former Army airborne E.R. nurse!)—concedes that his perseverance was “incredibly stupid.” Yet he claims he “was just too stubborn to give up in a course where the average Marine was literally half my age.”
This is probably where you should take a second to head on over to the JAGWAR gift shop, so you can pick up one of our MAJ Thompson action figures. I mean, right?
Left/Center/Right: Jungle School!
The fact that MAJ Thompson—current Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for the 10th Regional Support Group & U.S. Army Okinawa—elected to undertake this challenge was pretty par for the course. Because in addition to boasting unassailable credentials as a legal professional, MAJ Thompson is also an accomplished Soldier.
His story starts in Columbus, Montana, where he was born to a family of fifth generation cattle ranchers. At age 18, Thompson enlisted in the infantry, and served with the 2d Infantry Division until commissioning through an Army “Green to Gold” ROTC Scholarship. He was the Distinguished Honor Graduate at both the Armor Officer Basic Course and the Army Reconnaissance Course, and then—after stints as an anti-armor platoon leader, infantry rifle platoon leader, and scout platoon leader in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment—he obtained his Juris Doctor from the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University through the Army’s Funded Legal Education Program.
Before we detail his legal acumen, though, it’s worth inventorying his achievements as a warfighter—which include successful graduations from the Army’s Ranger, Airborne, Air Assault, and Pathfinder Schools, as well as award of a slew of badges (e.g., the Expert Infantryman’s Badge, the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge, the Norwegian Foot March Badge, and the Combat Action Badge).
Yet these indicia of his proficiency as a Soldier would be meaningless if not complemented by achievements from the other side of our dual profession. Unsurprisingly, MAJ Thompson stacks up as an Army lawyer, too, what with his Master of Laws in International and Operational Law from TJAGLCS, his Master of Arts in Defense and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, his Master of Public Administration from the School of Government at UNC Chapel Hill, and his graduation (with distinction!) from the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College Staff Officers’ Course.
All these scholastic accolades undergird a wildly successful career as a Judge Advocate, which includes assignments as a Chief of Administrative Law (25th ID), as a Brigade Judge Advocate (2IBCT, 25th ID), as a Battalion Judge Advocate (2d BN, 7th SFG(A)), as both a Trial Counsel and Operational Law attorney (3IBCT, 1st AD), and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney.
I mean, when you see it all enumerated like that, isn’t there a part of you that kinda hates him?
Whatev. The fact is, it’s an honor to serve in this man’s Army. He truly brings great credit upon our JAG Corps, and exemplifies the twin imperatives that all JAG Corps attorneys, paralegals, and legal administrators should embrace:
To relentlessly challenge ourselves to be better legal professionals and soldiers, and to thereby always Be Ready.
(With our sincerest gratitude to MAJ Thompson for his support, inspiration, and indulgence.)