Major Ernesto P. Hernandez, III (USAF, Ret.)

Ernesto is the Founder and Chairman of Wounded Paw Project, a nonprofit that focuses on the rehabilitation of rescue and shelter dogs. He established the first national animal abuse hotline that allows people to report animal abuse to law enforcement anonymously.

He serves as an advisory board member of the American Veterans Center, is member of the 2024 Army-Navy Game Planning Committee, and member of the National Press Club. He previously served as the National Adjutant and Chief Executive Officer of the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH).

Ernesto P. Hernandez III is also the Executive Director to the American GI Forum (AGIF). AGIF is a congressional-chartered Veteran Service and Family Organization dedicated to addressing problems of discrimination and inequities endured by veterans and their families. AGIF not only promotes veterans’ rights, but we also advocate for education, civil rights, and socio-economic equality. AGIF’s reach is over 2 million people and growing.

Ernesto had a distinguished career in the United States Air Force, graduating from the United States Air Force Academy in 1994, with a B.S. in management and holds a master’s degree in business administration.

Over the course of his military career, he held numerous command and staff positions. Assignments included being one of only fifty DOD Officers detailed to the Department of State (DOS) as Senior Military Advisor to the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs; Senior Military Advisor to the DOS Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and Office of Iraqi Affairs; and the sole DOD officer as Senior Counter Narcotics Officer assigned to the Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. He also served as a Division Chief at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, providing expert advice on nuclear stockpiles and weapons of mass destruction.

He was also selected as a Term Member on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is a member of International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a member of the Council on Emerging National Security Affairs (CENSA), recipient of an American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, a Termezzo Young Leader, Atlantik-B-brücke e.v., and alum of the Aspen Institute Socrates Society.

Ernesto served multiple tours in the Middle East in a wide range of assignments. He was wounded on March 26, 2008, when he used his own body to shield and protect the occupants of an open bunker from indirect fire from mortars and rockets at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Phoenix, Iraq earning him the Purple Heart.