Judge Advocate General's Department, U.S. Air Force
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The mission of the Judge Advocate General's Department is to provide professional legal services needed to accomplish the mission of the United States Air Force and maintain the highest degree of effectiveness and readiness. Specific duties and responsibilities in this regard fall primarily on The Judge Advocate General and on Staff Judge Advocates, the senior judge advocates serving on Air Force commanders' staffs worldwide.
History
The United States Air Force became a separate military service in September 1947. On 25 June 1948, Congress established an office of the Judge Advocate General in the United States Air Force. On 8 July 1949, the Air Force Chief of Staff designated 205 attorneys Air Force Judge Advocates. Thus, ironically, there were Air Force Judge Advocates three months before there was an Air Force Judge Advocate General. Following the promulgation of enabling legislation, the Air Force Judge Advocate General's Department was established on 25 January 1949 by Department of the Air Force General Order Number 7 (as amended by General Order 17, 15 May 1949). While this event was clearly the birth of the Department, it really represented an interim step, providing the Air Force authority to administer its military justice system within the existing Air Force structure of the time until other legislation (what became the Uniform Code of Military Justice) could be developed and enacted. The department was originally a part of the Air Force Personnel Branch, but became a separate entity reporting directly to the Air Force Chief of Staff in February 1950. The first Air Force judge advocate general, Major General Reginald C. Harmon, believed it important for Air Force JAGs to remain a part of a functionally interconnected military department. For that reason, the concept of a separate corps was discarded in favor of the department that exists today.