Command Sergeant Major
CSM John E. Brenci
CSM John Brenci entered the Army in October of 1984 as an infantryman. He spent the next three years at Fort Benning, Ga., and Aschaffenberg, Germany, before reclassifying into the public affairs career management field. He graduated from the Defense Information School's Basic Journalist Course at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind., in 1988.
He has been the command sergeant major for the American Forces Network – Korea since May of 2007. Prior to this assignment, he served for four years as the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg public affairs sergeant major. During that time, he deployed to Iraq with XVIII Airborne Corps and served as the Multi-National Corps – Iraq public affairs sergeant major. He has held a variety of other positions in public affairs, including Basic Journalist Course instructor at DINFOS (Fort Benjamin Harrison), 1st Corps Support Command public affairs noncommissioned officer-in-charge, associate editor of SOLDIERS magazine, 2nd Infantry Division public affairs chief, and the U.S. Army Aviation Center and Fort Rucker public affairs chief, to name a few. In 2006, he was selected as one of the first five command sergeant major designees in the history of public affairs.
He is a graduate of the editor's course, public affairs supervisor course, joint public affairs supervisor course, senior enlisted public affairs course and the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy (Class 53), among others.
CSM Brenci holds a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from the University of the State of New York and a master's degree in public administration from Troy State University – both of which he earned while on active duty.
His awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (four oak leaf clusters), Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal (two oak leaf clusters), Army Achievement Medal (one oak leaf cluster), National Defense Service Medal (one bronze service star), Iraq Campaign Medal (two bronze service stars), Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal (one bronze service star), Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge, the Parachutist Badge, the Air Assault Badge, Romanian Parachutist Badge, German Parachutist Badge and the Australian Parachutist Badge.