In the fall of 2013, U.S. Army three-star general Dana Chipman faced a disorienting dilemma: He was 55 years old, and his career was over. Chipman, JD '86, had served in the Army for 33 years, a journey that began as a cadet at West Point in the 1970s and culminated in his appointment as the judge advocate general (TJAG), the Army's highest-ranking legal officer. During the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he had advised the Army's top commanders and overseen some of the military's most sensitive criminal cases. He had attained the rank of lieutenant general, a designation held by fewer than 60 other Army officers. And now, having finished his four-year tenure as TJAG, he was done.
The sharp-tongued Gowdy and decorous Chipman may seem like an unlikely match, but the two have developed a close partnership. Gowdy says they speak several times a day. "[Chipman's] very humble, which is a quality that's not often found in Washington. He lets everyone else in the room speak first—and just when you think there's someone in the room who knows more than him, he makes his voice heard. He'd be a lousy politician, because he doesn't brag and try to make everyone see how smart he is in the first 30 seconds you meet him." Full Story»