Grady's Bio

I was raised in the Blue Ridge foothills west of Walhalla, South Carolina, just a couple miles up the road from the Stumphouse Tunnel. I am an Eagle Scout from Troop 45. I graduated from Walhalla High School and attended Clemson University for a year--Go Tigers! While at Clemson I received a nomination to attend the Air Force Academy, so I headed west to Colorado.

I spent four years in Colorado Springs marching to lunch, studying math, and flying sailplanes. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics. I completed initial jet training at Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training in Texas and was selected to fly the single-seat, single-engine F-16. I completed Lead In Fighter Pilot training in New Mexico and initial F-16 training in Florida in 1990, just in time to deploy for Desert Storm.

I served for twelve years as a fighter pilot--nine on active duty and three in the Air National Guard. I was designated a Weapons and Tactics Instructor and Mission Commander. After I completed my law degree, I was accepted into the JAG Corps (military attorneys) and spent the rest of my military career as a JAG. In 2018 I retired, after more than 34 years of continuous service, at the rank of Colonel. During my military career I had multiple deployments all over the world supporting wars, contingency operations and training events. I did two flying combat tours of duty in Iraq and one ground combat tour in Afghanistan, for a total of about two years deployed and participating in armed combat operations. I was awarded the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, four Air Medals, the Air Force Combat Action Medal, and Combat Readiness Medal, among other decorations. My Army brethren also saw fit to award me their Combat Action Badge for actively engaging "the enemy" during ground combat operations in Afghanistan. More about that here:

Outside the Wire article from Citizen Airman magazine.

To complete my educational history, in addition to the BS in Math from the Air Force Academy, I have a Masters degree in Strategic Studies from the Air War College and a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta.

In 2010 I received the Harmon Award, which the JAG Corps uses to recognize "the most outstanding JAG in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard."

In 2007 I led an effort to establish a legal assistance clinic in a homeless shelter in Atlanta. I think it was the first time that had ever been done locally. Many homeless clients have small issues that are not necessarily the work of a lawyer--things like not being able to get a social security card. Some have larger issues like old unresolved minor criminal offenses. I learned a lot and helped folks that needed it. It was some of the most rewarding legal work I have done. 

I maintain a daily meditation practice and am a somewhat serious Buddhist (philosophically as opposed to dogmatically), having taken refuge at Kopan Monastery in Nepal in 2017.