John (Jack) Arthur Ordway, Jr. 

August 11, 1946 - June 1, 2020 

Married to Erna for 52 years. They had one daughter- Mickey. Two Grandchildren and 7 Great Grandchildren. Jack also has 2 sisters and 3 brothers. Jack spent his whole adult life in service to his country. Jack gave us a detailed account of his outstanding career which we have included here. 

I did not have a typical Army career. 

I enlisted in Sep 1964, did Basic Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then went to Czechoslovak language training at the Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey, California. Following specialized training with the National Security Agency at Ft Meade, Maryland, I was assigned to Germany in 1966 as a Voice Intercept Operator stationed with Detachments along the West German-Czechoslovakian border. That was where Dave Heller was stationed with me in August 1968 when the Warsaw Pact (mostly Russians) invaded Czechoslovakia with 400,000 troops overnight. 

When I left Germany in 1969, after a brief stint as an instructor at Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, Texas, I became an Interrogator of Enemy POWs going to Vietnam in 1971. In Vietnam as an Interrogator I was stationed with three different units, all in I Corps, 517th MI Company, 1st Brigade, Fifth Infantry Division in

Quang Tri; 635th MI Company, 23d Infantry Division (Americal) in Chu Lai; and when most of the division stood down and returned to the US, Team 2, 196thInfantry Brigade in Da Nang. 

In May of 1972 I was assigned to Psychological Operations, first with the 1st PSYOPS Battalion at JFK Center at Ft Bragg, NC as an Interrogator and Intelligence Analyst, and then in January 1974 with the 5th PSYOP Battalion (a 65 Person Cadre only unit under the DCSOPS USAREUR) at Boeblingen, Germany near Stuttgart as the S-2. In June of 1975 the 5th PSYOP Battalion was disbanded and I was assigned to the 18th MI Battalion, 66th MI Group in Munich where I was the Battalion S-2 (Intelligence) until 1979 when we returned to the US. 

July of 1979 I reported to the US Army Intelligence Center and School at Fort Huachuca, Arizona as the Chief Instructor for the Interrogation of Enemy POW course and then became the Security Manager for the Intelligence Center and School. 

In 1981 I went to Korea as the Executive Officer for the C2/J2 Plans and Operations Division (combined US and Korean staff) in Yongsan in Seoul. 

I returned to Ft Huachuca in 1982 and worked in the Directorate of Combat Developments until 30 November 1984 when I retired as the Acting Sergeant Major (though I was only a Master Sergeant). 

Total military time served, 20 years, 2 months and 16 days. 

I entered Civil Service in September 1985 and was in various positions in the Directorate of Combat Developments, US Army Intelligence and Center and School until June 2000 when Erna and I came to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Combat Developments TRADOC which then became part of the ARCIC (Army Capabilities Integration Center) of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command as the Deputy Chief of C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) Directorate, first at Fort Monroe, Virginia and then moving with the command to Ft Eustis, Virginia in 2011. I will retire from Civil Service as the Chief Tasking Officer for the US Army Training and Doctrine Command 31 October 2019. 

Total Civil Service time 34 years 1 month and 9 days. 

Total Service… 54 years, 3 months and 25 days