Major General

Charles J. Dunlap Jr.
Major General Charles J. Dunlap Jr.
Born (1950-06-16) June 16, 1950 (age 73)
AllegianceUnited States United States
Service/branch United States Air Force
Years of service1972–2010 (38 years)
Rank Major general
AwardsSee below

Major General Charles J. Dunlap Jr. (born June 16, 1950) is a retired military officer who served as the Deputy Judge Advocate General at the U.S. Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He retired from this position in February 2010.[1]

As of 2018, Dunlap is executive director of Duke Law School's Centre on Law, Ethics and National Security.

Military career

In his capacity as deputy judge advocate general, Dunlap assisted the Judge Advocate General in the professional oversight of more than 2,200 judge advocates, 350 civilian attorneys, 1,400 enlisted paralegals and 550 civilians assigned worldwide. In addition to overseeing an array of military justice, operational, international and civil law functions, Dunlap provided legal advice to the Air Staff and commanders at all levels.

Dunlap was commissioned through the AFROTC program at St. Joseph's University in May 1972, and was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1975. He has deployed to support various operations in the Middle East and Africa, including Provide Relief, Restore Hope, Vigilant Warrior, Desert Fox, Bright Star, and Enduring Freedom. He has led military-to-military delegations to Uruguay, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Colombia.

Dunlap speaks widely on legal and national security issues, and he is published in Air and Space Power Journal, Peacekeeping & International Relations, Parameters, Proceedings, Military Review, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Air Force Times, the Wake Forest Law Review, the Air Force Law Review, the Tennessee Law Review, the Strategic Review, and the War on the Rocks foreign policy and national security platform,[2] among others. Prior to assuming his current position, General Dunlap served as the staff judge advocate at Headquarters Air Combat Command.

Dunlap is currently a professor at Duke University School of Law, where he teaches courses on national security law and the use of force in international law, among other topics.[3]

Dunlap wrote an essay in 1992 called The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012,[4] presented as a work written by a jailed anti-coup military officer 20 years into the future, in which he asserted that the blurring of the military role of the armed forces into civilian missions might be dangerous to democracy and civilian government. Douglas V. Mastriano's 2001 master's thesis, which was written as a response to Dunlap's essay and which similarly presented itself as a work by a military officer of the future, argued to the contrary; Mastriano claimed that only the military could save the United States from "morally debauched" civilian leaders.[5]

Education

Assignments

Awards and decorations

Judge Advocate Badge
Headquarters Air Force Badge
Personal decorations
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Defense Superior Service Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Width-44 crimson ribbon with a pair of width-2 white stripes on the edges
Legion of Merit with two bronze oak leaf clusters
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Width-44 crimson ribbon with two width-8 white stripes at distance 4 from the edges.
Meritorious Service Medal with four bronze oak leaf clusters
Air Force Commendation Medal
Unit awards
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Joint Meritorious Unit Award with two bronze oak leaf clusters
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with two bronze oak leaf clusters
Air Force Organizational Excellence Award
Campaign and service medals
Bronze star
Width=44 scarlet ribbon with a central width-4 golden yellow stripe, flanked by pairs of width-1 scarlet, white, Old Glory blue, and white stripes
National Defense Service Medal with bronze service star
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Bronze star
Bronze star
Southwest Asia Service Medal with two bronze service stars
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Korea Defense Service Medal
Humanitarian Service Medal
Service, training, and marksmanship awards
Air Force Overseas Short Tour Service Ribbon
Air Force Overseas Long Tour Service Ribbon
Air Force Longevity Service Award with silver and three bronze oak leaf clusters
Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon
Air Force Training Ribbon
Foreign awards
Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)

Other achievements

Effective dates of promotion

Promotions
Insignia Rank Date
Major general May 3, 2006
Brigadier general September 1, 2002
Colonel August 1, 1993
Lieutenant colonel September 1, 1988
Major January 1, 1983
Captain January 20, 1976
First lieutenant June 9, 1975
Second lieutenant May 14, 1972

See also

References

  1. ^ [1] Archived March 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Charles Dunlap, Author". War on the Rocks. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  3. ^ Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., USAF (Ret.)
  4. ^ Charles J. Dunlap Jr. The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012, Parameters, Winter 1992–93, pp. 2–20.
  5. ^ Jaffe, Greg. "Doug Mastriano warned of left-wing 'Hitlerian Putsch' in 2001 paper". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
Sources