Brigadier General Hess served as the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant and the Director, Judge Advocate Division at Headquarters Marine Corps under the 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps, General “Chuck” Krulak.

General Hess was commissioned in 1969 through the NROTC program at Cornell University after receiving a B.A. degree in English. He also holds a J.D. degree, cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo (1978): a certificate, with honors, from Graduate Course, The Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army (1982): and an M.A. degree, with distinction, from the U.S. Naval War College (1990).

General Hess began his career as an infantry officer and has served in all four Marine divisions as well as the 1st Marine Brigade. He served as an infantry commander with 1st Battalion, 7th Marines and 2d Battalion, 5th Marines in the Republic of Vietnam from June 1970 to February 1971. After completing the Amphibious Warfare School in 1975, he was selected for the Excess Leave Program to study law.

Completing the Naval Justice School in 1978, General Hess then served as a trial counsel and chief defense counsel at the 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California. Following the Graduate Course at the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s School in 1982, he served as an administrative law officer and Manpower plans and policy officer at Headquarters Marine Corps. Assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1984, General Hess served as a legislative affairs officer at the Pentagon with responsibility for Intelligence; Command, Control and Communications; and Special Operations Forces. Transferred to Okinawa, Japan in 1986, General Hess served as Circuit Military Judge, Keystone Judicial Circuit. Reassigned to Hawaii in 1987, he served as Staff Judge Advocate and Law Center Director for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade and Marine Corps Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, until his assignment to the Naval War College in 1989.

Upon graduation from the Naval War College in 1990, General Hess served as the head of Headquarters Marine Corps Administrative and Civil Law Branch. During the Gulf War, he was responsible for the legal problems presented by conscientious objectors in the service and Marine Corp’s first Reserve mobilization since the Korea War. In 1991, he was assigned to the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy Director, Appellate Government Division. In that position, General Hess had the opportunity to argue several significant military justice cases before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and oversee two Court-martial appeals argued in the Supreme Court. From 1994 to 1996, General Hess was the Circuit Military Judge Sierra Judicial Circuit located at Camp Pendleton, California.

After his retirement on January 1, 2002, General Hess moved to the Western Slope of Colorado and practices law as a trial lawyer in Garfield, Eagle, and Pitkin Counties. General Hess was an attorney at the Law Offices of Thomas D. Silverman and now has his own practice at 110 8th, Street Glenwood Springs, Co. 81601.

General Hess’ medals and decorations include: the Legion of Merit with two gold stars; Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V;” Defense Meritorious Service Medal; Meritorious Service Medal; Navy Commendation Medal; and the Combat Action Ribbon.

General Hess has been admitted to practice in Colorado, New York and the District of Columbia and before U.S. Supreme Court, The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.