MAJOR GENERAL
AL DOHRMANN
New Adjutant General
Is a Lawyer and Soldier
(North Dakota National Guard photo)
By Andrea Winkjer Collin
North Dakota’s new commander of the
state’s 4,000 soldiers and airmen has spent
the past 23 years as a lawyer and soldier.
In a change of command ceremony on
December 13, Deputy Adjutant General
Brigadier General Al Dohrmann was
promoted to the rank of Major General
and became North Dakota’s 21st adjutant
general.
In this position, he leads the North Dakota
National Guard’s mission of providing
professional, reliable homeland response and
serving the United States during operations
overseas. He is also the director of North
Dakota’s Department of Emergency Services,
which includes the divisions of Homeland
Security and State Radio Communications.
Dohrmann is not the first lawyer to become
North Dakota’s adjutant general. Others
include William DeVoy, the state’s first
adjutant general, who served from 1889
to 1891. Major General Heber Edwards,
the state’s longest serving adjutant general,
graduated from the University of North
Dakota School of Law in 1920 and served
from 1937 to 1962. And, Major General C.
Emerson Murray, a 1950 University of North
Dakota of Law graduate, headed North
Dakota’s Legislative Council from 1951 to
1975, and was adjutant general from 1975
to 1984.
A native of LeSueur, Minnesota, Dohrmann
said a desire to learn to fly helicopters was
8
THE GAVEL
the impetus for him to join ROTC while
a student at Mankato (Minnesota) State
University. He graduated with a degree in
law enforcement in 1983.
“After six years overseas, I knew my time as
a field soldier was probably done,” he said “I
was ready to move on to the next chapter of
my life, including marriage and family.”
Following this, he entered active duty in the
infantry. “At the time, the infantry was the
last of my interests, but I grew to like it,”
Dohrmann recalled.
Dohrmann then began pursuing another
dream of being a prosecutor by entering the
University of North Dakota School of Law
in 1990. A year later, he was back in the
military, accepting a part-time position as a
captain in the North Dakota National Guard
at the 141st Combat Engineer Battalion in
Valley City.
Six years overseas
He then went overseas, serving three years
leading rifle, anti-tank and scout platoons
and being an executive officer for the 1st
Battalion 48th Infantry, 3rd Armored
Division in Geinhausen, Germany. He then
transferred to Okinawa, Japan, for another
three years, where he was the signal officer in
the First Battalion 1st Special Forces Group
(Airborne).
A third-year law internship with the Grand
Forks County States Attorney gave him the
opportunity to prosecute seven jury trials.
This affirmed his interest in prosecution
and he remained there for his first year as a
lawyer. He then moved to the Cass County
States Attorney’s office in Fargo in 1994,
where he prosecuted four more years.
The Dohrmann family assists Governor Jack Dalrymple in the promotion ceremony of
Major General Dohrmann on December 13, 2015. Pictured from left are Dalrymple, Becky
Dohrmann, Gabe, Ted, Meghan and Will. (North Dakota National Guard photo)