Sergeant Jordan O’Reilly

Jordan’s motivation to enter the military to serve his country was plain and simple: he wanted to be part of the Global War on Terror. As a senior at Williams College in Massachusetts in 2008, seven years after the start of the Global War on Terror, he realized that there was no outcry on campus to address the terrorism issue. That led him to enroll in a class called “Terrorism and National Security.”

After graduating, he joined the Army and reported to basic training. He set aside plans to work on Wall Street and instead joined the 75th Ranger Regiment doing things he never imagined: jumping out of planes, completing ranger school and sitting face-to-face with terrorists. The Army exposed passions he never knew he had.

During his three deployments to Afghanistan, Jordan had many experiences which reinforced his passion for combatting terrorism, and he knew that his fight would continue long after he left the Army.

Jordan plans to learn Arabic and will use his master’s degree in international security policy to continue working in government service in the intelligence community. He is motivated to help Washington decision-makers act based on the best intelligence analysis available. He plans on a career in which he can apply an understanding of how intelligence on paper translates into actions on the ground to combat the terrorist threats facing our nation.