Distinguished Service Cross

He served in Iraq twice before. He was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions as a squad leader here. He didn’t have to come back.

But Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Nein is back, on his third deployment in Iraq, his fourth overseas this decade. The first was in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2001.

Only the Medal of Honor trumps the DSC among awards for valor in battle. Nein was the first Guard member to receive the award and only the fourth service member during the Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The DSC was an upgrade from the Silver Star Medal that Nein was originally awarded for his actions as a squad leader with the Kentucky National Guard’s 617th Military Police Company during a March 20, 2005, ambush.

Nein and the National Guard’s Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester – the first woman awarded the Silver Star for direct combat action against an enemy – led a counterattack that saw 27 insurgents killed, seven captured and no deaths in their unit. Two Soldiers were wounded.

Nein still leads in Iraq, where he’s now serving with the Kentucky National Guard’s 223rd Military Police Company.

Five years of change

“I probably didn’t have to be here this time, but I don’t think that I would have missed it,” Nein said. “I feel honored to be a part of this.”

This time, he is a platoon sergeant providing escorts for the 18th Military Police Brigade’s Iraqi Police Transitional Team.

Nein has seen five years of change firsthand. He first deployed here with the initial liberation force in 2003. He was back in 2005.

“I’ve seen a huge difference from 2005 to where we are now,” he said. “I can remember thinking in 2005, looking back at 2003, how much different it was.

“I can’t believe we’ve come as far as we have as far as getting their economy going. The violence is down greatly. It’s unbelievable how much different it is. They have come in five years in the democracy that they have what took us 232 years to get to.

“That’s what I don’t think people see – the great life that we live in the United States.

People look at that and think that it’s always been that way. It wasn’t. Forty, 50 years ago we were still fighting the civil rights movement. We have fought for 232 years to get to where we’re at. Yet in five years [Iraqis] have gone from a dictatorship to the ability to vote for who they want.”

Essential

Nein said the National Guard has played an essential role in Iraq’s transformation. One example is his own unit’s mission. “We’re helping transform the Iraqi police to be a more relevant force and a more professional force,” he said. “We’re out there every day evaluating their leaders, evaluating their recruits, evaluating their police stations to make sure that they’re up to par so that we can hand this mission over to them and they can take control.”

From Clark County, Ind., Nein enlisted in the National Guard in 1996. “I wanted to give something back to the people that have given me so much,” he said.

He has strong feelings about the Guard. “It’s one of the best assets the United States Army has,” he said. “It’s a relevant and ready force. We have gone in the last five years from a great force to an outstanding force. We can pick up and be anywhere in the world and accomplish a mission just like any other unit in the United States and perform to the equivalent level. I can’t say enough about the Guard.”

Despite Nein’s intense Guard pride, he sees all servicemembers here as a joint team. “I don’t see National Guard,” he said. “I don’t see Reserve Soldiers, and I don’t see active-duty Soldiers, because we’re all doing the same mission and we’re keeping up the great professionalism … meeting every bit of the same standards across the board.”

But Nein said the National Guard is unique because the Citizen-Soldier or -Airman who balances family, a civilian career and the Guard is unique.

Unique

“We’ve got Soldiers that just aren’t Soldiers – this isn’t all they’ve ever done,” Nein said. “We might have guys that have been in the National Guard for 20 years and have three and four deployments and have a lot of world experience, but they also have other careers that they’re able to expand on in the Guard.”

Nein sees the benefit of those civilian-acquired skills in his own unit. “I’ve got guys that are in law enforcement. I’ve got welders. I’ve got college students.”

Nein’s unit includes some stop-loss Soldiers. “They didn’t complain one bit,” he said. “They said, ‘This is my job, and this is what I’m going to go do.’ And that’s the heart of a U.S. Soldier, and that’s the heart of the United States citizen.”

When Nein looks at his own unit, he sees a microcosm of the Guard, a mosaic built from different life experiences and shared Soldier skills that gives the unit an ability to adapt to change.

“I see the best of the best,” he said. “I see the typical U.S. citizen who stands up to come here and leaves – just like with an active duty Soldier – their homeland to come and make a better place in the world without a complaint.”

Before this latest deployment, Nein took a leave of absence from the paper products company where he’s worked two decades to go full time with the Guard as a training NCO.

Continuous improvement

Here on the ground, after-action reviews are a key part of how Nein leads, seeking ways for himself and his Soldiers to improve. “Even if it’s just a standard escort mission that we do a thousand times while we’re here, every day’s going to be different, and every day we’ve got to try and make it better, and that’s how I look at every mission,” he said.

Out on escort missions, Nein thinks like his enemy. “I’m looking for how, if I was a bad guy, how I would kill me, the entire time out there,” he said. “I’m looking for where I would put an improvised explosive device; where I would set up an ambush; how I would do it if I was the bad guy.”

He passes that mentality along to his Soldiers as they scan for threats. “Don’t look at the actual object,” he tells them, referring to IED placement. “Look past it. Look at how you would set it up in the area – and you’ll see it way before you would ever if you were just looking for an inanimate object.”

He hopes other Soldiers will look at the day his unit was ambushed for lessons. “What did we do right?” he said. “Why were we able to survive something that we shouldn’t have been able to survive?

“I didn’t make up any of the tactics that we used. We took everything that the Army taught and that Soldiers before me had used and we developed it and we implemented it from Day 1. Anytime that a technique, tactic and procedure could have been better, we worked on it.

“It’s not what I did that made the day go right. It’s what the people before me did, that taught me and mentored me on battle tactics and TTPs and just doing the right thing each and every day. Because if you do that – the right training, the right leadership and the right equipment – there’s nothing that we can’t accomplish.”

Nein has been married for 19 years. The couple has two children.

“If it wasn’t for a good support channel, as far as my family being able to support me to allow me to go do these things, then I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Nein said. “My ability to do my job and not worry about what’s going on at home is because I have a great family and a great wife.”

March 20, 2005, might have ended differently for Nein and his squad, who were outnumbered five to one. Every day he serves here, Nein still faces risk.

“This is my job,” he said. “This is what I chose to do, and it’s what I’ll continue to strive to do. I love what I do.”

Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy of the National Guard Bureau contributed.

DVIDS
By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart

Gen. Cart Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe, awards Staff Sgt. Erich R. Phillips, mortar platoon sergeant for Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), the Distinguished Service Cross, Sept. 15, 2008, in Vicenza, Italy, for actions performed in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan Aug. 22, 2007. Photo by Staff Sgt. Brandon Aird

Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips, mortar platoon sergeant for Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, also known as “The Rock,” was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross Sept. 15, 2008, in Vicenza, Italy for his actions Aug. 22, 2007, at Ranch House in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan.

The DSC is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the Army, and only the fifth awarded to a servicemember during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Before dawn on Aug. 22, 2007, 60 to 80 Taliban extremists moved into position to launch a three-pronged attack against Ranch House. Video footage posted on an extremist website showed Taliban rehearsing over a detailed map of Ranch House’s fighting positions.

“Their plan was to overrun our forward operating base,” said Phillips, who is from Eastpoint, Fla.

When the Taliban attacked Ranch House, 22 American Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team were living at the base. They worked side-by-side with the Afghan National Army in one of the most rugged and remote NATO bases in Afghanistan.

RUDE AWAKENING
Every defended position was bombarded with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades simultaneously, said Phillips.

“I woke up to RPG’s slamming into my building,” recalled Phillips.

The Taliban, whom breached the Afghan perimeter, quickly over took an ANA and Afghan Security Guards (private security firm) weapons and ammo cache, which they unleashed on the U.S. Soldiers.

“At this point all communication was lost with Post 3 and Post 4,” said Phillips. Phillips didn’t know it yet, but Post 3 was destroyed and Pfc. Jeddah Deloria was trapped underneath the collapsed fighting position. The other wounded Soldiers from Post 3 had retreated to Post 2.

PHILLIPS REACTS
Phillips organized defenses around the tactical operations center, which was being hit by RPG’s, machine guns and small-arms fire. The 22 Soldiers were outnumbered three to one.

Phillips seeing that the TOC risked being overrun began positioning Soldiers in a defensive perimeter and relayed information to 1st Lt. Matthew Ferrara, platoon leader, who was on the radio calling for artillery and close air support.

The effective enemy fire destroyed the TOC’s radio antennas mounted on the roof, which left the platoon with no communication for five minutes.

Ferrara moved the TOC outside and with a dismounted radio, re-established communications.

RELIEF EFFORT TO POST TWO
After learning Post 2 had numerous causalities, Phillips grabbed Sgt. Kyle Dirkintis, the platoon medic, and attempted to assault up the mountain toward Post 2. Phillip’s Soldiers used hand grenades and small-arms fire to help cover his and Dirkintis’ movement.

While bounding toward Post 2, Phillips and Dirkintis were pinned down by enemy fire at a set of wooden structures, which were Post 2′s living quarters.

“At this point, Soldiers at Post 2 yelled down to me that two enemy fighters were on the other end of the building I was taking cover on,” said Phillips.

Phillips, only three meters away from the enemy, rolled two hand grenades over the top of the living quarters.

MEDIC BADLY INJURED
“Once the explosion went off doc (Dirkintis) realized how bad we were taking fire and he came from behind cover to fire and was shot in the chest,” explained Phillips.

Dirkintis coughing up blood and suffering from a collapsed lung was unable to stand up. Phillips coordinated with Post 2 to provide cover fire while he dragged Dirkintis down the hill. Upon reaching the mortar pit, Phillips started to perform first aid and was assisted by another Soldier.

Phillips directed the Soldier to provide first aid while he continued to fire small arms and direct another Soldier’s grenades toward Taliban positions until an Air Force A-10 Warthog began strafing the base.

“The first gun run went southeast to west behind the aid station right into the back of the TOC, and the second came from the south to the north down the center of the FOB,” said Phillips.

POST THREE RELIEVED
The Warthog helped repel the advancing Taliban and enabled Phillips to lead a team of Soldiers to recover Deloria who had been alone at Post 3 for two and a half hours.

“Once I climbed the ladder to Post 3 I could see the post had taken severe damage and had fallen on top of Deloria,” said Phillips. “Deloria had attempted to blow all four claymore mines. He even applied first aid to himself and was holding his weapon when I found him. I tried to carry Deloria back down to the causality collection point, but he said ‘I want to walk sergeant’.”

Once back to the causality collection point, Phillips began preparing Soldiers for evacuation and helped evacuate all of the wounded. Once the quick reaction force arrived, Phillips led the Soldiers to retake the lost section of the base.

By fighting’s end, half of the U.S. Soldiers would be wounded and one ANA and ASG would be killed. No Soldiers were killed in the two and half hour firefight and the base was not overrun.

“I just tried to maintain the front line,” said Phillips. “The other Soldiers deserve just as much recognition as me.”

MORE BATTLES FOR HERO
Phillips would go on to fight in an ambush near Aranus and the battle of Wanat – the two largest battles the 173rd ABCT saw in Afghanistan during their deployment – which resulted in 14 Chosen Company Soldiers killed in action.

Phillips, who also was awarded the Purple Heart, is scheduled to leave Chosen Company and become a ranger instructor at 6th Ranger Training Battalion.

US Army
By Staff Sgt. Brandon Aird, 173rd ABCT Public Affairs

“I was asleep in my bunk,” said Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips, the company’s mortar section sergeant. “I woke up to [rocket-propelled grenades] slamming into the side of my building. Then two soldiers ran in and said: ‘Sergeant, we’re under attack.’ ”

Phillips, on his fourth deployment to Southwest Asia, had already figured that out.

It was about 5 a.m. and enemy forces were trying to overrun the platoon-size element stationed at the Ranch House, a rudimentary outpost built on a mountain side 7,000 feet above sea level in Nuristan province, Afghanistan.

“That was exactly their intention,” Phillips said Monday. “We didn’t allow them. We fought hard.”

Stars and Stripes
By Kent Harris

Distinguished Service Cross – the Army’s second highest award for valor in combat

Photo by Hector Pacheco.

The deep boom of an explosion shook the ground and awoke Staff Sgt. Christopher Waiters from sleep on April 5, 2007. The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Soldier had bedded down seconds before at the end of a nine-hour guard-duty shift in Old Baqubah.

A vehicle-borne improvised explosive device had detonated on a street nearby, engulfing a Bradley Fighting Vehicle and its crew in flames,

That insurgent attack led to the events that culminated in Waiters’ receiving a Distinguished Service Cross, only the 17th awarded since the war on terrorism began and the first to a Fort Lewis-based Soldier.

The DSC is the Army’s second highest award given for “extraordinary heroism … while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing or foreign force,” according to the Army regulation that governs military awards, AR 600-8-22. The regulation states, “The act or acts of heroism must have been so notable and have involved risk of life so extraordinary as to set the individual apart from his or her comrades.”

Waiters arrived at Fort Lewis Monday from his new duty station, Fort Wainwright, Alaska, to receive the award from Army Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, in a Thursday ceremony at Soldiers Field House. Waiters visited Monday with reporters at I Corps headquarters to recall the day 18 months ago when he put the lives of fellow Soldiers above his own.

Prep for the worst

“Hey, Voodoo, let’s go,” Waiters struggled from sleep, responding to his nickname shouted by fellow medic, Sgt. Joseph Miller.

Waiters was a specialist and senior line medic attached to A Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment in April, back in Iraq less than a month after R&R leave.

His battalion, Sykes Regulars, had moved in March to Diyala Province from Baghdad while he was on leave in the states. The initial 5-20 Inf. Bn. mission was to clear the date palm groves that enveloped the provincial capital of Baqubah.

Waiters readied his medical evacuation Stryker vehicle for casualties on the ride to the site of the burning Bradley.

“In the war on terror,” he said, “there are no little wounds. It’s all big stuff. You’re thinking the worst-case scenario. We train our medics that way.”

The MEV drove in tandem with Attack 5, company executive officer, 1st Lt. Timothy Price. The medic from Lacey pulled out his burn kits, with special gauze, blankets, dressings, Vaseline.

“We pulled around the corner,” Waiters said, “and the whole street’s on fire. Folks everywhere. People are running. People are shooting.”

The Stryker vehicles pulled up to form a makeshift security perimeter next to a soccer field about 80 meters from the burning Bradley, Price facing west and the MEV east. Both started firing at enemy gunmen. Waiters saw two “trying to hook quick right on me” and engaged them with his M-4 rifle. But his mind was on the Soldiers trapped in a BFV across the field. He turned to Miller.

“I’m leaving,” he said to his friend.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Miller said.

“I gotta go,” Waiters said. He remembered his friend again warning him as he dropped the ramp of his Stryker and sprinted into the chaos.

“You might not come back,” he heard Miller’s voice behind him.

“All I could think of was burning truck, casualties, American Soldiers injured,” Waiters said.

“Awesome thing to behold”

Price said the after-action-review process determined that the Bradley had been targeted because it straddled a main north-south avenue of approach for the insurgents. As dramatic as the explosion was, the VBIED had only triggered a complex, three-sided ambush.

“It happened so quick,” Price said. He was talking to Miller as he pulled up to the site in his Stryker, together formulating a plan for suppressing enemy gunmen from multiple directions while getting to the casualties as quickly as possible.

“By this time, Doc was already out of the Stryker, dismounted like a flash and was gone,” Price said. “It was already happening. There was a moment of disbelief. All of the sudden, there he goes, bullets flying down the road. It was one of those surreal moments. Hell, he’s about 10 steps ahead of me, already en route to the casualty. It was a pretty awesome thing to behold.”

As Waiters dashed into the open street, an insurgent truck came at him through the smoke with its gunner firing. A U.S. .50-caliber machine gun made short work of the vehicle. Waiters dodged the wreckage and sprinted the rest of the 80 meters to the burning Bradley.

“When I got about halfway down the road, you start thinking about things,” he said. “What am I doing? I’m not going to lie to you. I was scared as hell. But part of me just said keep going. I thought, ‘I’m already in hell, Might as well keep going.’”

He attracted small arms fire from all directions as he pulled the first American crewman out of the vehicle. Waiters helped him regain his breath in smoke-filled lungs, then wrapped his burned hand. When another Bradley rolled up to help with security, he loaded the wounded Soldier on board and went back to the burning one.

Waiters saw the gunner’s hand snake out of the turret. Despite the flames, he went through the top, grabbed him and pulled out the gunner. He shielded his body as he dragged him to the same Bradley that helped with the first casualty, getting him to precious oxygen.

No one left behind

As he gasped for breath, he told Waiters of a third crewman in the crippled Bradley. Without hesitation, the medic turned heel and went back to the vehicle, now almost completely in flames. He tried to get into the turret again, but this time it was hopeless.

“I couldn’t because of all the diesel fuel burning up there,” Waiters said. “I ran around to the back, kicked open the escape hatch and climbed in.”

He saw the arm of the third crewman, but when he grasped it, he realized there was no way the Soldier could have survived. He stepped out to catch his breath and assess, then tried to accomplish his recovery mission of the body.

Suddenly, .25 mm. rounds began cooking off and bouncing around the inside of the vehicle.

“I couldn’t breath and I lost sight of the Soldier,” he said.

He struggled to breathe and see. With his clothes charred and the bottoms of his boots melted, he ran back to his vehicle to get a body bag. He returned once more, climbed into the troop compartment and pulled out the deceased crewman.

Soon afterward, another medical team arrived to take control of the scene and Waiters, Miller and crew sped the casualties to the nearest forward operating base for medevac.

Nobody should have lived

Another medic on the scene, Sgt. Jeffrey Anello, said he was shocked when he surveyed the wreckage.

“Seeing the Bradley smoldering and knowing he was able to retrieve two of the Soldiers in it alive, it was amazing,” Anello said. “By the looks of it, nobody should have been alive. We’re very proud of Sgt. Waiters, serving alongside him for three-and-a-half years. It sets a standard for us, of putting others before yourself, to do your job.”

His former XO said he was awed by Waiters actions that day, but not surprised.

“This wasn’t the first time Doc Waiters put himself in harm’s way to help his boys out,” Price said. “He and Doc Miller went on hundreds of patrols. The guys were always glad to have Doc Waiters and Doc Miller along because they knew they’d do whatever it took to get our guys back.”

Though he has only a single Purple Heart, Waiters survived a number of near misses.

“He got hit in the head once in Buhriz in the helmet, got nicked in the shoulder on patrol with us one night north of Baqubah, had a water bottle shot out from his face earlier in the deployment, and got nicked in the wrist in Old Baqubah,” Price said. “This guy has been in harm’s way many times before this happened. He’s being modest when he says he was just doing his job. The guy is a true hero for what he did.”

United States Army
BY Don Kramer

Also being covered at Argghhh!

Distinguished Service Cross

Do you want to know what a hero is? Then read about CWO5 Cooper and marvel.

A 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) Soldier will be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during a ceremony at 2 p.m. July 11 at the Personnel Processing Center, Bldg. 7162, on Fort Campbell, Ky.

Chief Warrant Officer 5 David F. Cooper is being awarded the DSC for extraordinary heroism when he selflessly chose to fly as a single attack helicopter at low levels over an active firefight to draw enemy fire away from United States Special Operations ground forces on the scene. He acted with complete disregard for his own safety as he single handedly took aerial action against an armed and numerically superior enemy during a combat engagement in central Iraq in 2006.

The DSC is the Army’s second highest award for combat valor and is awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States during military operations. This is the eleventh DSC to be awarded for actions in Iraq since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. To date, Cooper is the only aviator to receive the DSC non-posthumously for actions in support of the War on Terror.

Adm. Eric T. Olson, Commander, United States Special Operations Command, and Lt. Gen. Robert W. Wagner, Commander, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, will preside over the ceremony and present the awards.

Special Operations Command

His bio is here [PDF file] but you should see his list of medals:

His awards and decorations include the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Star Medals, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Air Medals for valor, four Air Medals, Army Commendation Medal for valor, two Army Commendation Medals, three Army Achievement Medals, Army Good Conduct Medal, two National Defense Service Medals, three Southwest Asia Service Medals, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Award, Global War on Terrorism Service Award, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Saudi Arabia Liberation Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal, the Combat Action Badge and the Master Army Aviator Badge.

Story via Blackfive and Guidons, Guidons!

Distinguished Service Cross

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Army News Service, May 1, 2008) – A 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Soldier was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during a ceremony here Wednesday for valorous actions during Operation Enduring Freedom.

A 20-year veteran, Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor, formerly a senior medic on a 2nd Battalion, 7th SFG (A) Operational Detachment Alpha, was presented the award while he stood before family, friends, and fellow Soldiers.

“For the men who were with him that day, Master Sergeant O’Connor is a savior,” said Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of United States Special Operations Command, who presented the award to O’Connor.

“For all Americans, he is a hero, and for all members of special operations across the services, he is a source of enormous pride,” he said.

O’Connor was instrumental in keeping his team alive during an intense battle with more than 250 Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan on June 22, 2006. While making a temporary stop during a patrol, his team and their attached Afghan National Army soldiers were attacked from all sides with small-arms fire, heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, recoilless rifles and mortars.

During the 17 1/2 hours of sustained combat that followed, O’Connor and his team fought off wave after wave of Taliban attackers from a group of small compounds, fighting for their lives against insurgents who were intent on killing or capturing the beleaguered defenders. Much of the combat was so close that the defenders of the compounds could hear cursing and taunting from the enemies who swarmed the perimeter.

After hearing two Soldiers were wounded at another location, O’Connor removed his body armor and low-crawled under heavy machine gun fire to treat and extract his wounded comrades. O’Connor then carried a wounded Soldier back to a safer area, again passing through intense fire. One teammate commented that as he was crawling, machine gun fire “mowed the grass” around him.

“I don’t think that what I did was particularly brave,” said O’Connor. “My friend needed help and I had the opportunity to help him, so I did. I think I’m lucky to get this sort of recognition; there are so many other Soldiers who do similarly brave things overseas and are happy with just a pat on the back when they get home.”

O’Connor is the second Soldier to be awarded the DSC for actions taken in Operation Enduring Freedom. The first was a 5th Special Forces Group Soldier, Maj. Mark Mitchell in 2003. Before Mitchell there had been none since the Vietnam War. The DSC is the second highest award for valor, surpassed only by the Medal of Honor.

“I’ve never been more honored, but this medal belongs to my whole team,” said O’Connor.

“Every member was watching out for the other, inspiring each other, and for some, sacrificing for each other. We all fought hard, and it could just as easily be any one of them standing up here getting it pinned on; every one of them is a hero,” he said.

United States Army
BY Sgt. Daniel Love

Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor, right, 7th Special Forces Group (A) Operational Detachment Alpha, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of United States Special Operations Command, during a ceremony at Bank Hall, Fort Bragg, N.C., April 30 for heroic actions during Operation Enduring Freedom. Photo by Sgt. Daniel Love

Master Sergeant Brendan W. O’Connor was born the “Irish fifth” to a large family of six children at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. After his father’s service and death in combat in the Republic of Vietnam, his family settled in Moorestown, New Jersey.

MSG O’Connor enlisted in the United States Army Reserves (USAR) and enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Valley Forge Military Junior College at Wayne, Pennsylvania in 1978. He joined the 11th Special Forces Group, USAR in September 1979 and was commissioned in 1980 into the USAR and served as the Executive Officer of Operational Detachment Alpha Team (ODA) 1132 until 1985. Between 1985 and 1987 he served as a Rifle Platoon Leader and Rifle Company Commander in the 3d Battalion, 18 th Infantry, 187 th Separate Infantry Brigade, USAR. In 1987 he returned to the 11th Special Forces Group and assumed command of ODA 1125.

In 1994 he resigned his commission and enlisted in the Active Army. In 1996 he was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group and ODA 765 as a medical sergeant. In 2002 he was assigned to the Joint Special Operations Medical Training Battalion (JSOMTB), United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. In 2005 he returned to ODA 765 where he served as a medical sergeant and the Operations Sergeant until November 2007. Currently he is assigned to the 7th Group Surgeon’s Office as the Senior Enlisted Medical Advisor.

MSG O’Connor’s military and civilian education includes: 101st Air Assault Course, Army Airborne Course, Infantry Officer’s Basic Course, Pathfinder Course, Special Forces Detachment Officer Qualification Course, SERE High Risk, Ranger Course, Infantry Officer Advanced Course, Norwegian Winter Mountain Course, the 10th SF Group Command Language Program (Russian), Special Forces Medical Sergeant’s Course, Instructor Training Course, Small Group Instructor Course and the Static Line Jumpmaster Course. He graduated from Campbell University with a Bachelor of Science in Health Science and a concentration in History.

Awards include: Bronze Star Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and the Army Achievement Medal. His decorations and badges include: Special Forces Tab, Ranger Tab, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, Pathfinder Badge and Parachutist badges from Germany, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. In 2004 he was recognized as the JSOMTB’s Special Operations Combat Medic Course Instructor of the Year. In 2006 he was recognized as the Special Operations Command’s Medic of the Year.

MSG O’Connor is married to the former Miss Margaret Elizabeth Garvey (Meg) of Chevy Chase, Maryland. Meg is a columnist writing for the Fayetteville News and Observer. Together they have been blessed by the gifts of children: Master Ryan Killian O’Connor, Master Colin Garvey O’Connor, Miss Darby Elizabeth O’Connor and Master Dillon Wright O’Connor. They reside in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He is preceded by his parents LTC Mortimer Lenane O’Connor of New York, New York and Elizabeth Celeste Wright O’Connor of Newton, New Jersey. He has brothers, Sean Lenane O’Connor of Westbury, New York, Brian Wright O’Connor of Cambridge, Massachusetts and Michael Wright O’Connor of Burlington, New Jersey. He also has sisters; Miss Siobhan Wright O’Connor of Montclair, New Jersey and the former Miss Elizabeth Wright O’Connor (Foglino) of New York, New York.

Special Operations Command-PDF file