NY Daily News has an interesting profile on Queens Supreme Justice Randall Eng, who’s also an Army colonel after years of service in Army reserves and doing JAG work:
Eng joined the National Guard in 1970 as a way to stay in law school at St. John’s University and out of the draft.
“This was about the same time as President Bush, but I stayed,” he said. “I enjoyed the camaraderie, I enjoyed the service and I thought I could make a contribution.”
Eng has since spent about two months a year in uniform and has been called up to help with a range of circumstances – from presiding in dozens of courts-martial to the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800. [….]
By the end of this month, Eng will be forced to retire from the Army Reserve. Until then, he will travel to armories in Harlem, the upper East Side and Valhalla, Westchester County, to advise his fellow reservists.
A judge since 1983, Eng inherited a sense of service from his father, an immigrant from China who later became a B-17 gunner who flew numerous missions during World War II.
“No one does it for the money,” Eng said in his chambers, decorated with American flags and framed testimonials to three decades of military service.
“You do it out of patriotism. You do it out of commitment. You do it out of a sense of duty and responsibility.”
Missing out on the Chocolate Show – darn it.
I’ve been watching much “Joan of Arcadia” on CBS – gosh, that show is deep stuff.
“JAG” can annoy me somewhat – I don’t always agree with its politics (when it is discernible); and its presentation of litigation is kind of lousy (the defense attorney on Friday night made what I thought was a sanctimonious closing statement, even quoting… G.K. Chesterton. Huh?). But, I like the way recognizable character actors and guest stars keep popping up and their new JAG is a cute actor (I liked his previous work as a stern but strong leader guest-star role on “Enterprise” and lead roles other sci-fi stuff).
Yet another work week awaits. Oh well.