A.J. Chegwidden This is Me

 View all 7 references Web References

1. 1. Welcome to The JAG Archive ~ The most comprehensive JAG related Web site on the Internet.

   www.jagarchive.com/timeline.ht - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/11/2008   Last Visited: 2/11/2008

   AJ is born. (Reasonable guesstimate based on info from 'Soul Searching'. He could have been born a year or two earlier than that though.)
   ...
   AJ graduates high school where he was a star pitcher. He is drafted in the second round by the Cleveland Indians, but passes on a career in baseball to attend the Naval Academy. (Info about high school from 'The Mission'.
   ...
   AJ graduates from the Academy as an ensign and joins the SEALs, where he is sent to Vietnam. (Date is guesstimate based on earlier assumptions.)
   
   Harm, Sr. serves his first tour of Vietnam on board the USS Hornet, according to third season episode 'Ghost Ship'.
   ...
   AJ is a young lieutenant in the SEALs in Vietnam. ('Soul Searching') (This is where the 'guesstimate' of his birth year came from. AJ says he was a young lieutenant. That could mean either a lieutenant, j.g. or a full lieutenant, as both are referred to the same way. Because of the 'age issue' addressed earlier, the assumption was made that he was a lieutenant, j.g. That is an automatic rank he would have gotten after two years.)
   
   AJ marries Marcella, the daughter of the mayor of Naples. (Again - a guesstimate. AJ tells Mac in 'Adrift, Part 1' that he was 24 and sober when he married Marcella, so in keeping with the assumption that he had just made lieutenant, j.g. in 1968 at age 24, then this would also have been the year he married Marcella.)
   ...
   Most likely when AJ made full lieutenant (Again assuming he was a lieutenant, j.g. in 1968 - Krennick tells Harm in 'Smoked' that AJ rose rapidly through the ranks. He would have had to spend a minimum of two years as a lieutenant, j.g. before making full lieutenant, so assumptions were made from her comments that he was promoted at the earliest opportunity based on his stellar service record in Vietnam - Navy Cross, Bronze Star, Purple Heart.)
   ...
   AJ's daughter, Francesca, is born. (In 'Going After Francesca', which aired in September 1998, Marcella tells AJ that she has kept Francesca safe for 26 years, which could mean since her birth or since the divorce.)
   ...
   Sometime in this time frame, Marcella divorces AJ.
   ...
   AJ leaves the SEALs and transfers to Surface Warfare, serving aboard the Farragut. (In 'With Intent to Die', AJ tells Harm he left the SEALs after Vietnam, which ended in 1973, so we assume he left within a year of the ending of that conflict.)
   ...
   AJ is promoted to lieutenant commander. (Another guesstimate - he would have to have spent about five years as a full lieutenant before being eligible for promotion to lieutenant commander, so the assumption is again made that he was promoted as soon as he became eligible because of Krennick's comments on his career.)
   ...
   It was somewhere in this time frame that AJ most likely commanded the destroyer.
   ...
   AJ is promoted to commander. (Another guesstimate that assumes that AJ was promoted as soon as he became eligible.)
   ...
   In this time frame, AJ gave up his destroyer command, transferred out of Surface Warfare, and went to law school.
   ...
   In July, AJ defended Corporal Farmer on murder charges. Farmer was found guilty and sentenced to death. Mac would later handle his appeal.
   
   In September, according to the certificate on the wall in his office at the set, AJ made admiral then. This is not canon and is not possible according to canon, since it was stated on the show that the admiral was a commander at the time he defended Corporal Farmer. He still needed to make captain first.
   ...
   AJ is promoted three times - from commander to captain to rear admiral, lower half to rear admiral, upper half. During this time frame, he served as head of JAG in the Pacific. AJ would have been promoted to a two-star admiral when he was reassigned from JAG in the Pacific to become the JAG.
   
   Rear Admiral AJ Chegwidden becomes the new Judge Advocate General. ('Smoked')
   ...
   Rear Admiral (upper half) A.J. Chegwidden becomes the Judge Advocate General of the Navy, after serving as the head of JAG-Pacific (presumably in Pearl Harbor). ('Smoked')

2. 2. Moonlit Jazz ~ just another play for today ~: 03_10

   jazz.walelia.com/2003_10_01_ar - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/22/2003   Last Visited: 6/29/2005

   A.J. Chegwidden, head of the Judge Advocate Corps on JAG.

3. 3. JAG Timeline

   maconjag.mandgweb.com/id212.ht - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/25/2004   Last Visited: 1/23/2007

   1944 - AJ is born (reasonable guesstimate based on info from 'Soul Searching.' He could have been born a year or two earlier than that though) 1962 - AJ graduates high school where he was a star pitcher. He is drafted in the second round by the Cleveland Indians, but passes on a career in baseball to attend the Naval Academy. (Info about high school from "The Mission"; date is guesstimate based on year of birth and entering Academy at age 18.) 1963 - October 25, Harm is born (The Prisoner) - Sturgis was probably born this year as well, assuming he's the same age as Harm. 1966 - AJ graduates from the Academy as an ensign and joins the SEALs, where he is sent to Vietnam. (Date is guesstimate based on earlier assumptions.)
   ...
   1968 - AJ was a young lieutenant in the SEALs in Vietnam. (Soul Searching) (This is where I got my 'guesstimate' of his birth year. AJ says he was a young lieutenant. That could mean either a lieutenant junior grade or a full lieutenant, as both are referred to the same way. Because of the 'age issue' addressed earlier, I chose to assume he meant he was a lieutenant junior grade. That is an automatic rank he would have gotten after two years.) - AJ marries Marcella, the daughter of the mayor of Naples. (Again - a guesstimate.
   ...
   1970 - Most likely when AJ made full lieutenant (again assuming he was a lieutenant j.g. in 1968 - Krennick tells Rabb in "Smoked" that AJ rose rapidly through the ranks. He would have had to spend a minimum of two years as a lieutenant j.g. before making full lieutenant, so I assume from her comments that he was promoted at the earliest opportunity based on his stellar service record in Vietnam - Navy Cross, Bronze Star, Purple Heart.) 1972 - AJ's daughter Francesca is born. (In "Going After Francesca," aired in September 1998, Marcella tells AJ that she has kept Francesca safe for 26 years.) 1972-1978 - Sometime in this time frame, Marcella divorces AJ. She marries Vittorio Paretti in 1978. (In "Going After Francesca," aired in September 1998, Marcella refers to Vittorio as her husband of 20 years.) 1973-1974 - AJ leaves the SEALs and transfers to Surface Warfare, serving aboard the Farragut. (In "With Intent to Die," AJ tells Rabb he left the SEALs after Vietnam, which ended in 1973, so we assume he left within a year of the ending of that conflict.) 1975 - AJ is promoted to Lt. Commander. (Another guesstimate - he would have to have spent about 5 years as a full lieutenant before being eligible for promotion to Lt. Commander, so I assume he was promoted as soon as he became eligible because of Krennick's comments on his career.) - Sturgis is twelve, takes a bicycle without permission and has to clean the Chapel floor with a toothbrush as punishment. (Answered Prayers) 1975-1981 - It was somewhere in this time frame that AJ most likely commanded the destroyer. Destroyer captains are generally Lt. Commanders. 1979 - Harm is 16 and runs away to Vietnam (Déjà vu). (However, this could be in 1978 because Harm said that he went to look for his father, "the summer I turned 16." His birthday is in October, so if he meant the summer before, it would be 1978; if he meant the summer after, it would be 1979.) 1980 - Harm Sr. is transferred to a Russian Siberian Gulag from which he later escaped. (Gypsy Eyes, aired, 1998-09-22)
   ...
   - AJ is promoted to Commander. (Another guesstimate that assumes that AJ was promoted as soon as he became eligible.) 1981-1987 - In this time frame, AJ gave up his destroyer command, transferred out of Surface Warfare, and went to law school.
   ...
   1987 - July, AJ defended Corporal Farmer on murder charges.
   ...
   - September, According to the certificate on the wall in his office at the set, AJ made Admiral then. This is not canon and is not possible according to canon, since AJ was stated on the show as being a Commander at the time he defended Corporal Farmer. He still needed to be made a Captain first. 1987 - 1996 - AJ is promoted three times - from Commander to Captain to Rear Admiral Lower Half to Rear Admiral Upper Half. During this time frame, he served as head of JAG in the Pacific. AJ would have been promoted to a two-star Admiral when he was reassigned from JAG in the Pacific to become the JAG, which happened in "Smoked," which aired on March 20, 1996.
   ...
   - Rear Admiral (upper half) A.J. Chegwidden becomes the Judge Advocate General of the Navy, after serving as the head of JAG-Pacific (presumably in Pearl Harbor). (Smoked, aired 1996-03-20)
   ...
   1998 - January, AJ is put on the short list for DCNO when his mentor, Admiral Clancy, is killed.