Columbia Judicial Circuit District Attorney Bobby Christine has been promoted to become the first major general in the reserve component of the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps since the corps’ creation in 1775.
Christine has served in the U.S. Army and Army National Guard Reserves for a combined 37 years.
Both the U.S. Senate and President Joe Biden confirmed the nomination, making the extra star on Christine’s uniform official.
On some weekends, Christine will joke with friends after turning down social invitations, saying, “I would love to go fishing, but I have to go play Army this weekend.”
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In reality, Christine is everything but a weekend warrior, and his role as a JAG dovetails perfectly with his day job of prosecuting criminals. The announcement of his promotion in the military came on the same day Christine’s office successfully prosecuted a conviction and a life-without-parole sentence for murderer Anthony Burns.
Christine, who joined the Army at age 17, spent his first decade in the service as a combat soldier in Kuwait and Iraq. He became a uniformed military lawyer in the late 1990s and has served all over the world, including in some Eastern Bloc countries he cannot name because of national security reasons.
Climbing the ranks in the Army, Christine found himself doing everything from advising battlefield commanders on the rules of engagement, negotiating contracts on behalf of the government as well as prosecuting and defending soldiers at trial.
Along the way, he prosecuted some of the first courts-martial tried in Iraq in 2003.
Christine distinguished himself later by becoming one of the first Army National Guard JAGs to be heavily involved in the legal aspects of cyber operations.
After serving as the senior lawyer in the Georgia National Guard, Christine was selected for promotion to what was then the only brigadier general slot for a JAG in the U.S. Army National Guard. With service at the Pentagon and Washington, D.C., he has been responsible for helping coordinate the efforts of thousands of Army National Guard judge advocate general officers, warrant officers, paralegal noncommissioned officers, junior enlisted personnel and civilians across America and its territories.
Christine says the historic promotion is “a very humbling experience.”
“The opportunity to serve and support soldiers doing the heavy lifting everyday on behalf of America is a blessing,” Christine said.
Christine, a father of three, points out that his family has sacrificed so that he could pursue his dream of service and he gives them the credit for being the foundation of his purpose in life.
“Nobody says ‘thank you for your service’ to my wife at the gas station. I’ve been away on duty when my children would have preferred me being at their side during important life events,” Christine said.
Christine’s children say that despite his heavy schedule, he always has put his family first, even taking red-eye flights to attend school musicals and sporting events, sliding into his seat in the nick of time as the curtain rose. Both of Christine’s two daughters have become educators and his son is following in his father’s footsteps with a career in the military.
Angelina Moore, Christine’s eldest daughter, says that her father’s guidance led her to pursue her masters degree in education.
“I am so incredibly proud of him. We are successful because we learned from him that if you are going to do something, then give it your all and work hard until you succeed. He got that from his father, and he passed it along to us,” Moore said.
Prior to becoming the district attorney for Columbia County, Christine also served as a U.S. attorney and chief magistrate for Columbia County. Christine has also been a victims’ advocate and was part of the successful lobbying campaign to end the statute of limitations on child molestation in Georgia.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
