Oregon Air National Guardsman To Become Senior National Guard JAG (Photo) - 01/26/18

SALEM, Oregon -- Oregon Air National Guard Brig. Gen. W. Dan Bunch has been selected as the Air National Guard (ANG) Assistant to The Judge Advocate General (JAG), U.S. Air Force. He is scheduled to move to this major general position effective July 2018 as the senior Judge Advocate in the National Guard. Serving part time in the Pentagon, Bunch will be the ANG advisor to The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force. In addition to giving counsel on projects of national significance, he will provide leadership, strategic planning and management of the ANG Judge Advocate program, encompassing more than 440 judge advocates and paralegals at Air National Guard legal offices throughout the nation. "It's an honor to congratulate one of our own and celebrate Dan's selection for this prestigious position," said Maj. Gen. Michael Stencel, Adjutant General, Oregon. "His character, professional skills, and proven leadership are a credit to him, and to us all." Bunch has most recently been serving as the ANG Assistant to the Deputy Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Air Force and a senior member of the Judge Advocate General's ANG Council. He began his military career in 1990 with the U.S. Navy, serving on the island of Guam and then onboard the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), an operational aircraft carrier supporting operations in the first Gulf War and in Bosnia. In 1994, he transferred to the U.S. Air Force where he served as a fighter wing chief of military justice and later as a regional circuit prosecutor handling complex and high profile cases. In 1997, he was named the top junior judge advocate of 11th Air Force. In 1998, he transferred to the Air Force Reserve and then transferred to the Oregon Air National Guard in 2000 as the Staff Judge Advocate of the 173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field. In 2007, he deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, in support of the Law and Order Task Force in which he commanded a joint force of military and civilian legal specialists in an effort to establish an Iraqi judicial system. Returning home, Bunch was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and named as the nation's outstanding Judge Advocate in the Air Reserve component. His career continued with his competitive selection to perform national level duties as the ANG Assistant to the Staff Judge Advocate for Air Force Space Command and Air Combat Command. Bunch received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampden-Sydney College in 1987 and his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Virginia in 1990. In his civilian career, Bunch has worked as a prosecuting attorney, a partner in a law firm, and as county counsel of Klamath County, Oregon. During 2010, Oregon's governor appointed Bunch to the state court's 13th Judicial District in Klamath County, where he is judge having general jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases. Bunch is married to Mary Liz Hamilton. He and his wife reside in Klamath Falls and have three adult children: Ali, Faison, and Pierce.