 Brown has said the rescue efforts of Army National Guard during the Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 impressed him . He joined the Massachusetts Army National Guard when he was 19 , receiving his basic training at Fort Dix , New Jersey , and attending Reserve Officers ' Training Corps ( ROTC ) classes at the campus of Northeastern University . He was trained in infantry , quartermaster , and airborne duties , and in 1994 he joined the Judge Advocate General 's Corps ( JAG ) . He was active in the Guard for 35 years rising to the rank of colonel . As the Army National Guard 's head defense attorney in New England , Brown defended Guard members who had disciplinary difficulties such as positive drug tests , and provided estate planning and real estate advice to those who are about to deploy to war zones . He spent ten days to two weeks with the Guard in Kazakhstan and a week in Paraguay . 
