“In the military, you have
to grow your own talent,” Gunn says. “It takes at least 20 years to grow a general. T ere’s only one way to do so: Recruit them as an entry-level attorney and develop them. You can’t lateral-in a lieuten- ant colonel. You must nurture your own talent.” Gray says that in his
“AS A LAWYER, YOU’RE ALREADY SOMEWHAT OF AN OUTSIDER IN THE NAVY, WHETHER YOU ARE A MAN OR A WOMAN, AND YOU HAVE TO WORK HARD TO UNDERSTAND THE NAVY ITSELF AND ITS CAPABILITIES, AND THE CAPABILITIES OF OUR ENEMIES.” – REAR ADM. NANETTE M. DERENZI
28-year military legal career, which began in 1969, he does not remember any situation or incident that he could identify as based on racism or discrimination. “I saw myself as competing for the best job I could get
within the Army, and I saw my responsibility as that of putting myself in a position to be competitive. If I wasn’t selected for a particular position, I would know that it wouldn’t have been because of my race,” he says. Still, Gray is somewhat disappointed that other African
26
American attorneys have not yet achieved the military rank that he did, even though thousands have entered the ranks of JAGs over the years, usually right out of law school or early in their careers. He does not know why there appears to have been a ceiling on African American JAG offi cers’ accomplishments, other than the “extremely competitive” nature of the selection process for a very few high positions. “Being the only black fl ag offi cer in the history of the
Army JAG is a distinction that I would gladly lose,” Gray says. “I stood on the shoulders of many others before me. I just came along at the right time. One would think that in that time, in 15 years, there would have been other African Americans worthy of being promoted to general [in the JAG Corps].” Retired Air Force Col. Linda Strite Murnane, who
served four terms as a trial judge in the Air Force JAG Corps, says she felt the sting of sexism, especially early in her career. “T ere was both ‘subtle sexism’ and outright contempt
for women in the military during my time on active duty. T ere were many opportunities that were not open to women during my time in the military,” says Murnane, who retired in 2004. “As for whether I served as a role model,” Murnane says,
“I think some would say that is so, and others would say that I was too vocal about the glass ceiling, the doors closed to women, and other issues of principle. I say this because
of a discussion I had with one of the most senior women serving in the JAG Department during her career. I asked for her assistance in something that I thought she should tackle, given her senior status among all women in the JAG Department. Her response was, ‘I don’t think of myself as a woman. I am a JAG and an offi cer.’” Murnane says that she never forgot that she was a
woman in the military, with all its history of stereotyped attitudes toward women and outright exclusion from some assignments. “I always thought of myself as a JAG, and an offi cer, and
a woman,” Murnane says. “It seemed that in terms of being a role model for someone who might want to be a general offi cer, I would have had to overlook the fact that I was a woman—which I was not willing or able to do.” DeRenzi, the Navy JAG leader, knows that women start-
ing their careers in the JAG Corps look up to her, and she believes she has a duty to mentor them—but she extends that duty to mentoring any junior offi cer, regardless of gender, willing to work hard for the Navy and their clients. “When I came up through the ranks as a young offi cer,
there was no one in the Navy whom I knew who looked like me,” DeRenzi says. “But that didn’t aff ect my ability to fi nd a mentor—I had incredible leaders who believed in my abilities and helped me make the right decisions in my career. I didn’t see any sexism. As a lawyer, you’re already somewhat of an outsider when it comes to integrating on an operational staff , whether you are a man or a woman, and you have to work hard to understand the Navy itself and its capabilities, and the capabilities of our enemies, to advise on operational law matters. “I don’t think of myself as a pioneer in the Navy JAG
Corps,” she says. “T ere were women in the Navy before me who blazed those trails. T e path was already smoothed for me. T e Navy gave me every opportunity to succeed. Merit is what counts. T ey don’t care what you look like.” D&B
DIVERSITY & THE BAR® MAY/JUNE 2012
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