COL Dan Williams

Army | Public Affairs Officer

Dates of Service: Sep 1983 - Oct 2013

RETIRED

83% Complete

6 Endorsements

63 Contacts

Influence Score: 9,075
6,231 out of 866,655 Veterans

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Commissioning Source: OCS, Jun 1986

Recent Activity -

Bio

Retired after 30 years as an officer in the US Army with the last 14.5 years as a public affairs officer in the U.S. Army. I was the PAO for GEN Martin Dempsey at TRADOC (2009-2010), Chief of Public and Congressional Affairs for GEN Ann Dunwoody at Army Materiel Command (2011-2012), and have two tours of duty in Iraq, most recently as PAO for LTG Dubik in MNSTC-I. Raised in Penn Yan, NY, graduated from Penn Yan Academy, earned a bachelor's degree in Bible and Theology from Baptist Bible College, Clarks Summit, PA, before enlisting in the U.S. Army. Graduated from Officer Candidate School as a 2nd Lieutenant and rose to the rank of Colonel before retiring in October 2013. Earned a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College in 2009. Media Director for City of Cleveland, OH.

Military Experiences

Feb 1995 - Mar 1999

Operations Officer Observer Controller

Grizzly Team | Hohenfels, Germany

Served multiple roles as an Observer Controller: Operations Officer OC; Fire Support Team Chief OC; and Chief of Operations for all rotations at Hohenfels for Battalion and Brigade sized operations. Lead these teams as the Chief of Operations during the build-up of operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Operations in Kosovo.

Oct 1992 - Apr 1994

Battery Commander

Alpha Battery 3rd Battalion, 1st Field Artillery Regiment | Fort Cavazos, TX

Battery Commander of 105 mm Direct Support Firing Battery for 3rd BCT, the first digital brigade in the Army. Participated in two NTC rotations. At end of my command performed 100% inventory with zero loses and everything accounted for.

Feb 1991 - Oct 1992

Battalion Fire Support Officer

4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery Regiment | Fort Johnson, LA

Fire Support Officer in support of 5-6 Infantry Regiment. Participated in two NTC rotations as the FSO for 5-6 Infantry.

Jan 1987 - May 1990

Platoon Leader

2nd BN, 82nd FA | Friedberg, Germany

Fire Support Officer, Platoon Leader with A Battery, 2-82 FA; Special Weapons Officer, Chemical Supervisor Course; XO Service Battery 2-82 FA: held over 55 additional duties. Selected as the Best Fire Direction Team in the 3rd Armored Division Artillery, chosen as the first platoon to fire copperhead rounds in Europe. As the Special Weapons Platoon Leader served also as the Battalion S2 (Intelligence Officer) and during the DA IG Nuclear Inspection in March 1990, attained a closed-book zero-deficiency inspection report.

Deployments

(1 year, 8 months)

Apr 2007 - May 2008

Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)

Public Affairs Director for Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq. Led a 10 person team of joint military and civilian public affairs professionals, one Iraqi interpreter, and three civilian trainers who assisted in training the public affairs leaders within the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, and military forces command.

Dec 2003 - May 2004

Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)

1 Endorsement

Media Relations Director for the CJTF-& and then Multinational Forces iraq. Responsible for 16 member international media team tracking media operation across Iraq with major areas of interest in Operation Intelligence, Logistics, Personnel, Weapons, Equipment, and Technology. Developed the communications plan for the 1st Abu Ghraib Courts Marshal.