The stars have aligned for alumnus John Dunn.

Last summer, the United States Senate confirmed him as a brigadier general in the Army Reserve, the first star in the pantheon of generals that ascends through two-star major general, three-star lieutenant general to four-star general.

It is a personal ascent that began in 2001, as a battalion logistics officer in a reserve engineer battalion headquartered in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, while a student at Salmon P. Chase College of Law, and continued through ranks such as battalion commander of a cavalry squadron in Madisonville, Kentucky, battalion commander of a military police battalion in Terre Haute, Indiana, brigade commander of a military police brigade in Nashville, Tennessee, and, immediately prior to his confirmation as a brigadier general, chief of staff of the military police command at Fort Meade, Maryland.

 And all of that has been while attending Chase and graduating in 2003, practicing law with the Reminger firm in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, continuing to serve on the Chase Board of Visitors, having been vice chair and then chair of the Chase Alumni Council, serving as a Chase adjunct professor and a coach of the mock trial team, and, in 2013, receiving the Chase Outstanding Alumnus of the Past Decade Award.  

Now, as a brigadier general, he is deputy commander for operations to the commanding general of the 200th Military Police Command at Fort Meade.

“The 200th Military Police Command is poised to conduct operations around the globe,” he says. “As the deputy commanding general for the command, [my focus] is on the Pacific Theater of Operations, and providing military police support to the theater. These operations include support to the maneuver force commanders for mobility and security support, as well as the planning and [carrying out] of enemy Prisoner of War Operations in the theater, guided by the Geneva Convention.”

Among his various assignments and postings with the Army Reserve, he was deployed from March 2019 to May 2020 as foreign military sales manager with the United States Military Assistance Group in Saudi Arabia.

As the foreign military sales case manager, he assisted the Department of State and the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in administering security assistance to the interior ministry. That included training and cooperating with Saudi security forces in counterterrorism and infrastructure protection.

While helping to provide security in Saudi Arabia or planning for POWs in the Pacific region of operations are definitely long ways from practicing law in Fort Mitchell and Cincinnati as co-chair of the Reminger Trucking and Commercial Transportation Law Practice Group, there are cross-overs.

“The analytical and logic skills associated with the practice law apply equally to leading a large organization in the Army Reserve,” he says. “From my early days in the military, the discipline and initiative required to accomplish whatever mission your unit is tasked with also applies to the practice of law. Both careers demand dedication to the profession and to adapt as the circumstances develop and transform,” Brig. Gen. Dunn says.

To combine his attention in law and military takes the proverbial team. “The support of my family, along with the partners and support staff at Reminger, has allowed me to foster both a practice of law while continuing to serve our nation in the Army Reserve. Both endeavors are demanding in the realm of time, as well as mental capacity. A strong network of support and cooperation affords the opportunity to maintain both.”

Postings

 Where Brigadier General John Dunn serves now and previously in the Army Reserve:

• 200th Military Police Command, Fort Meade, Maryland, brigadier general, deputy commanding general – operations, June 2024-present.

• 200th Military Police Command, Fort Meade, chief of staff, August 2022-June 2024.              

• 290th Military Police Brigade, Nashville, Tennessee, brigade commander, June 2020- August 2022.

• United States Military Assistance Group, foreign military sales manager, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, March 2019-May 2020.

• 76th Operational Response Command, emergency preparedness liaison officer, Frankfort, Kentucky, July 2018-February 2019.

• National Defense University, National War College, Washington, D.C., July 2017-June 2018.

• 76th Operational Response Command, emergency preparedness liaison officer, Frankfort, November 2016-June 2017.

• 159th Military Police Battalion, Terre Haute, Indiana, battalion, commander, October 2014-October 2016.

• 3rd Brigade of the 95th Division, Lexington, Kentucky, brigade operations officer, September 2013-September 2014.

• 2-398th Cavalry Squadron, Madisonville, Kentucky, battalion commander, September 2012-September 2013.

• 478th Engineer Battalion, Fort Thomas, Kentucky, battalion logistics officer, September 2001-January 2005.