2023 Men of the Year: Douglas D. Hansen

Last edited 2:52 p.m., Aug. 24, 2023 [Editor's note: More information has been added to the In His Words box.]

Douglas D. Hansen’s first military case was a test of his resolve. He met the challenge and today calls the case his proudest accomplishment.

Hansen says a member of the military was accused of repeatedly raping his ex-wife and stealing from the military. While the individual’s unit pushed to bury the investigation, Hansen dug deeper and discovered two additional rape survivors. He says he took time to earn their trust and give them confidence to pursue the case.

“After five separate trial settings, threats from the accused and pushback from military commanders, a court-martial convicted the member of 17 of the 18 total charges,” Hansen says, noting a 35-year sentence was handed down. “The scars, both psychological and physical, remain, but the victims received justice and peace.”

Hansen, a Monett native, prosecuted the case while serving in the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps 2013-18 under active duty. He still serves today under air reserve command. Hansen says he’s advised hundreds of commanders, held military members accountable through prosecution and led over 200 attorneys and support staff to provide legal services to an estimated 100,000 military members, dependents and retirees.

“As the chief of military justice, I controlled the criminal prosecution docket at one of the busiest installations of the USAF,” he says, noting he conducted 16 courts-martial, an 800% increase over his predecessor.

Hansen was awarded a Commendation Medal and two Meritorious Service Medals.

His leadership responsibilities continued in reserves, where he served the Central District of California as an assistant U.S. attorney, 2018-20.

While serving as a deputy staff judge advocate, he led 125 military members and pushed for the prosecution of 33 courts-martial, including the Air Force’s first multivictim human trafficking case near the U.S.-Mexico border.

In 2021, Hansen was awarded the U.S. Air Force Outstanding Air Reserve Component Attorney of the Year.

Over the last year, Hansen has served as chief of aviation and accident investigations at the largest Air Force Major Command. He’s advised on all aircraft accident investigations regarding over $400 million in damaged and destroyed Air Force assets.

In January, he returned to the area to open Paladin Law LLC, a firm specializing in military, federal, business and immigration matters. Hansen says he also provides pro bono services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Additionally supporting causes close to him, he founded Emily’s Light Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Inc. in 2016 in honor of his fiancee who died from the disease. The nonprofit has awarded $20,000 in scholarships to encourage kids with cystic fibrosis to pursue higher education. Hansen says he earned his MBA from the University of California-Los Angeles to help him grow the organization.

He also is the financial officer and founder of Afghan Allies Education Foundation, which helps Afghan refugees receive education in the U.S., and he personally sponsors scholarships for students from his hometown.

Education proved to be a game-changer in his own life. After growing up in a poor farming community and without the resources to attend college, Hansen says Central Methodist University offered him a full-tuition scholarship.

“The entire trajectory of my life changed with that scholarship, and the cycle of generational poverty afflicting my family was broken,” he says.