Colonel Conrad W. Ponder, Jr. was commissioned as a Signal Corps Officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School Class 1-72, 20 January 1972. His first duty assignment was as Assistant Deputy Installation Coordinator, Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC), 7th Signal Brigade, Coleman Barracks, Sandhofen, Germany. | His subsequent duty assignments include: System Control Officer (Brigade) and Telephone Digital Communications Officer, Headquarters, 7th Signal Brigade, Coleman Barracks, Sandhofen, Germany; Public Transportation Officer, Public Communications Officer and Assistant Public Administration Officer, 310th Civil Affairs Group, Chamblee, Georgia; System Control Officer, 335th Signal Group, East Point, Georgia; Communications & Electronics Operations/Plans Officer, U.S. Army Information Systems Command (USAISC), Fort Dix, New Jersey; Operations Officer, 501st Signal Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Communications & Electronics Action Officer and Information Systems Officer, Communications & Electronics Operations/Plans Officer, Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Command Liaison Officer, 335th Theater Signal Command, East Point, Georgia; Battalion Commander, 324th Signal Battalion, Fort Gordon, Georgia; Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC) Officer, 335th Signal Command, East Point, Georgia; Chief, Unit Training Division, 81st Army Reserve Command (ARCOM), East Point, Georgia; Brigade Logistics Officer (S-4), 359th Signal Brigade, Fort Gordon, Georgia; Deputy Chief of Staff, Information Management, 335th Theater Signal Command, East Point, Georgia; Commander, 1st Simulation Exercise Group, 1st Brigade, 87th Division (Exercise), Birmingham, Alabama.