I know you know, but for the rest of us:
news.soc.mil
U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES
COMMAND (AIRBORNE)
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE
FORT BRAGG, NC 28310 / (910) 4326005
/ news.soc.mil
As of 20 APR 08
MASTER SERGEANT BRENDAN W. O’CONNOR
Awarded Distinguished Service Cross
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 DetachmentAlpha
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: 101 st 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 10 th 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.
DE
OPPRESSO LIBER |
