Air Force Judge Advocate General's School Podcast

In the latest AFJAGS podcast, Maj Alexxa Pritchett is joined by Capt Joseph Ludmir, a recent graduate of Squadron Officer School (SOS), to provide a first-hand account of the newly redesigned SOS curriculum and experience. Captain Ludmir offers his perspective on the shift from traditional classroom instruction to interactive, hands-on war-gaming exercises. He discusses the physical and mental dem...

In this episode, Maj Alexxa Pritchett is joined by Capt Rachel Book, a graduate of Officer Training School (OTS) class 25-06, to provide a first-hand account of what you can expect during OTS. Captain Book shares her invaluable insights into the entire OTS experience, from the initial impressions of the first week to the day-to-day balance of physical training and academics. She offers practical a...

In this episode Maj Alexxa Pritchett is joined by Maj Aniesha Bell, Chief of Recruiting for the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps, for a look at the various accession programs available to civilians, law students, and current service members, including the Direct Appointment Program (DAP), the Funded Legal Education Program (FLEP), and the Educational Delay program. Major Bell also provides...

The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) directed the military services to make attorneys trained in special education law available for military members and their families. Over the past four years, the Air Force JAG Corps has developed a robust program to train attorneys and provide resources to build the Department of the Air Force’s legal assistance capabilities in this area. In this...

In the 2024 Department of Defense Arctic Strategy, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated about the Arctic, “[t]his increasingly accessible region is becoming a venue for strategic competition, and the United States must stand ready to meet the challenge alongside Allies and partners.” In this episode, Major Laura Wheat interviews Major Keshat Lemberg about the multi-domain legal implications of...

In this episode, Major Laura Wheat closes out the “JAGs on the Job” series by interviewing Colonel Simone Davis and Colonel Corrie Mack about their experiences serving as judge advocates in the United States Air Force, and more specifically, working in operations and international law capacities. In case you missed the first two episodes in this series, go back to Episodes 76 and 80 to hear about...

Happy 75th Anniversary to the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps! In this special edition episode, Major Laura Wheat interviews various key JAG Corps personnel to give brief overviews on some of the major events over the past 75 years, in chronological order. Special guest speakers include: Lieutenant General Charles Plummer, The Judge Advocate General; Major General Rebecca Ve...

In this episode, Major Laura Quaco interviews Colonel Patricia Wiegman-Lenz and Major Sean McDivitt about their experiences serving as judge advocates in the United States Air Force, and more specifically, working in civil law and litigation capacities. Over the coming months, there will be one more episode in this "JAGs on the Job" series, focused on operations and international law. In case you...

In this episode, Major Laura Quaco talks with Lieutenant Colonel Dane Horne and Major Allison Gish about their experiences serving as judge advocates in the United States Air Force, and more specifically, working in military justice and discipline capacities. Over the coming months, there will be two more episodes in this "JAGs on the Job" series--one episode will be focused on civil law and the o...

In this episode, Major Laura Quaco sits down with Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Neil, the Director of Operations for the Office of Special Trial Counsel (OSTC). Lt Col Neil and Maj Quaco discuss the historical background and development of OSTC—a major military justice reform required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022. Historically, commanders have decided whether to purs...

In this episode of the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School Podcast, Major Laura Quaco continues her conversation with Lieutenant Colonel Sandra O’Hern and Dr. Andy Akin, discussing operations and international legal principles related to Russia and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. You can go back to Episode 73 to hear the first part of the conversation in which they discuss Russian history and t...

In this episode of the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School Podcast, Major Laura Quaco is joined by Dr. Andy Akin and Lieutenant Colonel Sandra O’Hern for a conversation about Russian history and the relationship between Russia and Ukraine leading up to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Stay tuned for the next episode to hear the remainder of the conversation in which the host and guests discuss o...

In the words of General Curtis LeMay, the fifth Chief of Staff of the Air Force, “at the very heart of warfare lies doctrine.” In this episode, Major Laura Quaco and Major Victoria Smith sit down with Colonel Richard Major and Lieutenant Colonel Derek Rowe to discuss doctrine. Col Major and Lt Col Rowe are the Vice Commander and Staff Judge Advocate, respectively, at the LeMay Center for Doctrine...

"Space Debris and the Gray Zone” is a continuation of our National Security Law (NSL) Competition series. The NSL competition is a writing competition hosted by AFJAGS and sponsored by The JAG School Foundation. This year’s topic was How National Security Law Impacts America’s Strategic Competition in the Gray Zone. In this episode, Maj Charlie Hedden sat down with the competition winner, Maj Edwi...

This episode is a continuation of our National Security Law Competition (NSL) series. In this episode, Maj Hedden sits down with Capt Matthew Ormsbee to discuss way in which the United States can take advantage of our existing treaty with Taiwan to help prevent Chinese Gray Zone activity in the South China Sea. The NSL competition is a writing competition hosted by AFJAGS and sponsored by The JAG...

In August 2021, the world watched as Kabul, Afghanistan fell into Taliban control. Among those watching were the 775,000 U.S. service members who were deployed to Afghanistan at least once in their career. For many of those men and women, watching the vents in Afghanistan brought back memories that spurred them to seek mental-health treatment. Dr. Levi Cole is an Air Force clinical psychologist, a...

This episode is a continuation of our National Security Law Competition series. Maj Erin Davis sits down with Maj Jessica Tirado to discuss how recent advancements in space technology have opened the door for our strategic competitors to take advantage of gaps in space law. Maj Tirado examines the potential for updating the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) and humanitarian laws to bridge this gap.

This is the second of a two-part interview with Maj Alan Serrano on the First Amendment. In this episode, we discuss Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly, and Freedom of Religion within the military. We tackle some of the most hot-button issues, including the interplay between free speech and the use of social media, how commanders grapples with curtailing certain types of speech, what constitut...

This episode is Part 1 of a two-part interview with Maj Alan Serrano. In this episode, we discuss Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Association and Religion within the military. Interested in learning more about the Air Force JAG Corps? Have questions about our programs or the application process? Please contact us at 1-800-JAG-USAF or airforcejagrecruiting@gmail.com. And don’t forget to check out our...

This episode is the first of a series of interviews with competitors in the National Security Law Competition, a writing competition hosted by The Air Force Judge Advocate General's School and sponsored by The JAG School Foundation. This year’s topic was How National Security Law Impacts America’s Strategic Competition in the Gray Zone. Capt McCaffrey’s paper discussed how our internal responses t...

In this episode, as part of the Great Powers Competition series, Maj Davis and Maj Hedden sit down with Air War College professor Dr. Liz Woodworth and AFJAGS Law Chair Lt Col Charles Gartland to review The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. The Good Earth is a novel set in early 20th century China and describes the life of Wang Lung, a peasant farmer, and the privations his family overcomes while maintain...

In this episode Maj Hedden sits down with Maj Edwin Kisiel to discuss his recent paper, Law as an Instrument to Solve the Orbital Debris Problem, which was published in the Environmental Law Journal in 2021. Maj Kisiel outlines the current environmental laws and the gaps created by the rapid development of space technology and its resulting debris.

In this episode we review A Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich, a novella by Nobel laureate Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. Set in a soviet labor camp in the 1950s, the visceral one-day account of that life was one of the first widely available portraits of life in the Gulag. As such, we review it for what we can learn about our great power competitor Russia by examining this part of that nation’s history...

This is the second of our two-part conversation with Capt Matt Ormsbee about his article titled "Lawcraft: China's Evolving Approach to International Law and the Implications for American National Security," which was published in Fordham Law Review. The article analyzes China's apparent attitudes toward international law, and how that has evolved over the last few decades and what means for the i...

In this episode, we talk with Capt Matt Ormsbee about his article titled "Lawcraft: China's Evolving Approach to International Law and the Implications for American National Security," which was published in Fordham Law Review. The article analyzes China's apparent attitudes toward international law, and how that has evolved over the last few decades and what means for the interests of the United...