Photo By Lori Stewart | CSM John P. O'Connor (US Army, Retired), 2003 MI Hall of Fame Inductee, passed away on...... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
IN MEMORIAM
Command Sergeant Major John P. O'Connor
May 8, 1943—January 25, 2025
Philadelphia native John “JP” O’Connor had just graduated Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, when he chose to enlist in the U.S. Army. In February 1965, he graduated from the Army Intelligence School at Fort Holabird, Maryland, as an MI coordinator. After completing the airborne qualification course at Fort Benning, Georgia, O’Connor arrived at his first assignment with the 526th Intelligence Corps Detachment in the Ryukyu Islands. A year later, he returned to the States to serve as an intelligence analyst with the 801st Intelligence Detachment, 6th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
In November 1967, O’Connor completed Officers Candidate School. Commissioned an Infantry officer, he served first as plans officer for the 22d Field Army Support Command, Fort Lee (now Fort Gregg-Adams), Virginia, and then as a reconnaissance platoon leader in Vietnam. During his year-long tour, he received a Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal for his personal leadership during two separate enemy attacks on his platoon. Promoted to captain, O’Connor then led the 257th Replacement Company in Okinawa until April 1972.
At this time, O’Connor reverted to his MI enlisted rank of specialist five. Over the next two years, he served in the 101st Airborne Division, successively as a senior interrogator with the 101st MI Company, NCOIC of the division G-2’s Analysis and Production Section, and Intelligence NCO, 2d Squadron, 17th Cavalry. During this time, he was instrumental in developing the division’s Aggressor Assistance Team to inject realism into training exercises.
For the rest of his career, O’Connor alternated between assignments at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School (USAICS), Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and various units in Korea, including 1st Signal Brigade (1977–1978); U.S. Element of the Combined Field Army, Republic of Korea (1980–1981); and as command sergeant major of 3d MI Battalion (Aerial Exploitation) (1987–1988). He also graduated from the Sergeants Major Academy in 1986 and remained to validate and teach the Operations and Intelligence Course for a year.
Some of CSM O’Connor’s greatest contributions to Army intelligence came during his assignments at USAICS. As senior faculty advisor to the Advanced and Basic NCO courses, he provided inspiration and mentorship to countless soldiers of all intelligence disciplines. As course developer and primary instructor for the NCO Advance Course, he made the course more relevant and challenging, focusing on leadership and professionalism.
Then, on Jun. 17, 1988, CSM O’Connor became the second commandant of the Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) at Fort Huachuca, a position he held for nearly five years. Almost immediately upon taking command, he began to oversee an eighteen-month-long effort to transfer all MI NCO training at the U.S. Army Intelligence School at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, to the NCOA at Fort Huachuca as part of the 1988 Base Realignment and Closure Act decisions. To enhance relevancy, he incorporated a doctrinal foundation into all the courses and, to encourage individual thinking, he championed the emerging concept of small group instruction. He also added weapons qualification, a new physical training program, and an instructor progression program. Under his leadership, the academy passed three accreditation inspections by higher headquarters. Finally, with classrooms initially scattered throughout a dilapidated World War II cantonment area, he began co-locating classrooms into a smaller footprint, which would lead to their eventual consolidation into a dedicated facility for the NCOA in July 1993. By that time, CSM O’Connor had moved on to his final assignment as command sergeant major of the U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Huachuca.
When CSM O’Connor retired in October 1994, he left a legacy of genuine care and advocacy for his soldiers and personal mentorship that increased morale, generated high promotion and reenlistment rates, and produced multiple winners of soldier and instructor competitions.
CSM O'Connor was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 2003.
| Date Taken: | 04.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.18.2025 16:02 |
| Story ID: | 495694 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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