Photo By Lori Stewart | Maj. Gen. Julius Parker, Jr. read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
IN MEMORIAM: MAJOR GENERAL JULIUS PARKER, JR.
14 APRIL 1935–3 APRIL 2024
Born in New Braunfels, Texas, on 14 April 1935, Julius Parker embarked on his military career immediately upon graduation from high school. He participated in the Reserve Officers Training Corps program at Prairie View A&M University and, upon graduation in 1955 with degrees in biology and chemistry, he was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry.
After serving eight years in infantry assignments in the United States and Korea, Parker transferred to the newly established MI Branch. Through the 1960s, he completed assignments with the 207th MI Detachment, 66th MI Group, U.S. Army Europe; the U.S. Army Continental Command; and as chief of the Ground Surveillance Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. He also had a one-year deployment to South Vietnam as a senior district advisor.
In 1972, then Lt. Col. Parker returned to Europe to serve as the first commander of the 165th MI Battalion, 66th MI Group, after which he spent five months as G-2, 3d Armored Division, before attending the Army War College. He was assigned in 1977 to Korea, where he organized and integrated four independent intelligence units to form the Army’s first multi-discipline brigade-level Combat Electronic Warfare and Intelligence (CEWI) organization—the 501st MI Group—forerunner of the modern MI brigade structure. He commanded the 501st until July 1979. During his following assignments as deputy chief of staff for intelligence (DCSI) for U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) (1980-1981) and DCSI for U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army (1981-1984), General Parker directly participated in or supervised the conversion/activation of fourteen of the Army’s eighteen CEWI battalions and four of the seven MI brigades.
After a year as deputy director for operations, plans and training at the Defense Intelligence Agency, General Parker culminated his career as commanding general, U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School (USAICS), at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. His four-year tenure revolved around his commitment that “the technical revolution” would drive change in training, doctrine, and force modernization. Recognizing MI soldiers would need a level of technical expertise not previously required, under his leadership, USAICS began incorporating state-of-the-art technology—automated aids, embedded software training, and computer-assisted training—into classrooms. The center also began the use of laboratory modeling and simulations to validate MI organizational and operational concepts and friendly and enemy capabilities. An Advanced Technology Office stood up to pursue state-of-the-art MI technologies, like meteorological sensors, a common ground-based jammer, a heliborne common jammer and SIGINT system, and advanced special electronic mission aircraft. In addition, USAICS developed the requirements and obtained approval for the acquisition of the Army’s first unmanned aerial vehicle. General Parker also directed doctrinal products be revised to reflect the impacts of new technologies on both friendly and enemy capabilities as well as on how intelligence personnel conducted their tasks in joint and combined operations.
Certainly, one of General Parker’s greatest contributions to Army intelligence was the establishment of the MI Corps under the U.S. Army Regimental System in 1987. As the first chief of the MI Corps, General Parker oversaw the activation of the MI Corps at worldwide ceremonies. He gave the MI Corps his personal motto, “Always Out Front,” unfurled the new MI Corps flag, and helped design and then unveiled the new MI regimental insignia for wear by all Army intelligence personnel. A year later, he organized the MI Hall of Fame and presided over the very first ceremony, in which eighty-eight members were inducted.
When General Parker retired in 1989, he summed up the last years of his career: “The privilege to command, lead, care for, and manage the officers, soldiers, and civilians of the Military Intelligence Corps for over four years, has truly been a rich and rewarding experience for which I am most grateful.” In 1990, General Parker was inducted into the MI Hall of Fame he helped create, recognizing his enduring contributions to the history of the MI Corps.
New issues of This Week in MI History are published each week. To report story errors, ask questions, or be added to our distribution list, please contact: TR-ICoE-Command-Historian@army.mil.
| Date Taken: | 05.24.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.24.2024 16:38 |
| Story ID: | 472257 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 732 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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