Student Advisory Committee at Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. Since Harvard did not offer ROTC at the time, in his second year, Brown enrolled in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program at MIT and earned a two-year scholarship. In 1984, Brown graduated with an A.B. cum laude, and as a Distinguished Military Graduate. Military career Upon graduation, Brown received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He served on active duty for five years. He graduated first in his flight class at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and received his aeronautical rating as an Army aviator. He also completed airborne training, receiving both the Basic Parachutist Badge and the Air Assault Badge. During his time on active duty, Brown served as a helicopter pilot with the Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division in Europe. During that period of active duty, Brown held positions as platoon leader for a target acquisition, reconnaissance and surveillance platoon, executive officer of a general support aviation company, a battalion logistics officer, and the flight operations officer for Task Force 23. Law school and legal career After completing his active duty service, Brown returned to graduate school, entering Harvard Law School in 1989 and earning his JD degree. He attended Harvard Law School at the same time as future President Barack Obama, Artur Davis and actor Hill Harper. Brown was a member of the Board of Student Advisers. His third-year paper, written under the supervision of Professor Charles Ogletree, analyzed the scope of the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable search and seizure in the military. Brown was chair of the Membership Committee of the Black Law Students Association. Brown graduated from Harvard Law, with a Juris Doctor in 1992. After graduating from law school, Brown completed a two-year clerkship for Chief Judge Eugene Sullivan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. In 1994, he joined the Washington, D.C. office of the international law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering (now WilmerHale). Brown practiced law with the late John Payton, a renowned civil rights attorney and former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Stephen H. Sachs, who was the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland from 1967 to 1970 and was the 40th Attorney General of Maryland. In 1998, Brown received Wilmer's Pro Bono Publico Award for his work in representing indigent clients. In 1999, Brown worked for