Merrill Lynch for five months. Brown joined the Prince George's County land use and zoning law firm Gibbs & Haller in 2000, after having been elected to the Maryland General Assembly. JAG Corps Brown continued his military service transferring from the Army's Aviation Branch to the Judge Advocate General's Corps as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) in the United States Army Reserve. Brown began his service as a JAG with attending the JAG School at the University of Virginia and then the 10th LSO in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, where he held numerous assignments, including in the areas of international law and claims law. Brown ultimately attained the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve before reaching the point of mandatory retirement for a colonel with 30 years of commissioned service in July 2014. His assignments included commander of the 153rd Legal Support Organization in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where, in addition to supporting deploying service members and their families with legal services, he mobilized eighteen soldiers to Fort Hood, Texas, in support of the III Corps' Operation New Dawn mission to Iraq. Prior to his tenure with the 153rd LSO, Brown was the staff judge advocate for the 353rd Civil Affairs Command headquartered at Fort Wadsworth, New York. In 2004, Brown, then a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Brown served in Baghdad, Fallujah, Kirkuk, and Basra with the 353rd Civil Affairs Command as senior consultant to the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration. Brown received the Bronze Star for his distinguished service in Iraq. Maryland House of Delegates Brown's political career began in 1998, when he was elected to serve in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing the 25th district in Prince George's County. Brown ran on a Democratic Party ticket with Senator Ulysses Currie, Delegate Dereck Davis, and Delegate Melony Griffith. He served two terms in the Maryland House of Delegates and rose to several positions of leadership. During his first term, Brown served on the House Economic Matters Committee. He was appointed vice chair of the Judiciary Committee in 2003. In 2004, Speaker of the House Michael E. Busch appointed Brown to the position of majority whip, the fourth-ranking position in the House. Lieutenant governor of Maryland In 2006, Brown was elected lieutenant governor on a ticket with Martin O'Malley, the former mayor of Baltimore. The pair