The Judge Advocate General of the United States Air Force, Lieutenant General Jack L. Rives, is pleased to announce the creation of new JAG Corps Annual Award, the Joy Dunlap Family Service Award. This new award will recognize the JAG Corps family member who, through contributions of his or her time and talents, has made a significant contribution to the strength, health and welfare of the JAG Corps family.
This new award was announced at The Judge Advocate General’s Annual Awards banquet on
29 October 2009 in Dallas, Texas. When announced, a surprised Ms. Joy Dunlap joined Lieutenant General Rives on stage and thanked him and the audience for giving her this humbling honor. She received a standing ovation from the over 650 guests in attendance. Guests included active duty, guard and reserve members of the Air Force and their family members.
The Joy Dunlap Family Service Award is the first Judge Advocate General Corps award named for a family member. Ms. Dunlap is the wife of Major General Charles Dunlap, Deputy Staff Judge Advocate of the United States Air Force.
Ms. Dunlap is the founder of JA Spouse Connection, a voluntary family support and information network created to assist the family members of the JAG Corps. The purpose of JA Spouse Connection is to inform and encourage interested spouses to better connect with the Air Force, the JAG Corps family, their service members and each other. Ms. Dunlap also writes an independent Spouse Connection e-mail, that gives more than 500 spouses monthly information on new programs and benefits for military spouses.
At the Corps’ annual KEYSTONE Leadership Summit, JA Spouse Connection hosts events for spouses to include town hall meetings with senior leaders and seminars to share resources in the areas of child and spouse education, career development, dealing with deployments, and other military life issues. Ms. Dunlap and her husband open their home three times a year to host a reception for new attorneys entering the Corps. She personally greets each new JAG to our Corps and establishes contact with their spouses.
In her professional life, Ms. Dunlap is the Deputy Director of Government Relations for the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). In that position, she is a dedicated advocate for military families focusing on quality life initiatives including spouse employment support and special needs family issues. Prior to accepting her position at MOAA, Ms. Dunlap, an award-winning writer, reporter and broadcaster, built a successful two-decade career in communication, sales and marketing that included serving as Circulation Marketing Director for the Omaha World-Herald, and Vice President, Radio Operations for the National Association of Broadcasters.
