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Portrait headshot photograph of Greg Manz smiling in his U.S. Navy attire outfit as he is in front of a United States of America flag & U.S. Navy flag background
Photo: Public Affairs Office of U.S. Army Installation Management Command
“I didn’t expect to stay 20 years,” says Navy attorney Greg Manz ’01. “You take it tour by tour, and each opportunity opens a new door.”

Charting New Courses

Greg Manz ’01 turned his quest for adventure into a distinguished Navy legal career
by Nicole Gull McElroy ’00
Greg Manz ’01 is an attorney and senior strategist in the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG Corps) of the Navy, the legal branch of the military responsible for providing legal advice, defending service members, advising on the law of war and international law and handling various legal matters within the military.

It’s a career path he didn’t anticipate. At Bucknell, Manz majored in chemistry, and when he began considering law school, patent law emerged as a way he could leverage his scientific background. He pictured a conventional trajectory for himself, perhaps spending years at a firm, living in one or maybe two different cities.

But upon graduation from Fordham School of Law, “I decided I wanted a bit of adventure, and the Navy seemed like a way to find it,” he says.

Indeed, his Navy career has enabled him to live in four countries, including a seven-month deployment to Iraq. He has held diverse roles: advising on Iraqi detainee operations, working with a four-star admiral, serving as senior defense counsel for the Middle East region and acting as senior attorney on an aircraft carrier and defense attorney in the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.

These roles haven’t only enhanced Manz’s career, but have also provided him with tremendous life experiences. In 2020, he and his family were relocated to Italy, where he became the senior attorney at a naval air station in Sicily. “My team was responsible for advising on the complex array of Department of Defense and Navy COVID-19 policies and their intersection with Italian laws and directives, including travel, masking and vaccination,” he says. The following year, he helped oversee the evacuation of 3,000 people from Afghanistan to Europe and then to safety in the U.S.

“It’s been a rewarding career,” he says. “I’ve enjoyed being part of a team and contributing to something bigger than myself. The Navy JAG Corps offers varied opportunities, all supporting the American people and the national security interests of the United States.”

Although his career veered from his major, Manz credits his liberal arts education with giving him a strong foundation. “The most surprising thing has been the diversity of the legal landscape that I’ve been able to support,” he says. “It underscores how well my Bucknell education prepared me for the twists and turns of my career.”