Lieutenant Colonel John W. Collins, Jr., was commissioned an Air Defense Artillery Officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School Class 3-78, 8 August 1978. His first assignment was as Firing Platoon Leader, D Battery, 1st Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery, Kwachon, South Korea. He branch transferred to the Ordnance Corps in 1981 and attained the Logistics functional area designation in 1988. | His subsequent duty assignments include: Platoon Leader, 101st Airborne Division-Air Assault, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Battalion Logistics Officer, 101st Ordnance Battalion, Heilbronn, Germany; Company Commander, 20th Ordnance Company, Hohenfels, Germany; Executive Officer, Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, Charlestown, Indiana; Major Command Staff Officer, U.S. Army Central Ammunition Office-Pacific, Fort Shafter, Hawaii; Battalion Operations Officer, 29th Area Support Group, Germersheim, Germany; Battalion Executive Officer, 6th Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), Turkey and Iraq; Commander, 4th Combat Equipment Company, Germersheim, Germany; Maintenance Operations Officer, U.S. Army Combat Equipment Group-Europe, Mannheim, Germany; Logistics Officer, 21st Theater Army Area Command, Kaiserslautern, Germany; Logistics Officer, U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command, Fort Lee, Virginia. | His military awards include: Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal w/ 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal w// 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Achievement Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Army Superior Unit Award Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal w/1 bronze star, Korean Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal with one bronze star, Armed Forces Service Medal w/ Bronze Star, Humanitarian Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Development Ribbon w/2 numerical devices, Army Overseas Ribbon w/6 numerical devices, NATO Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal, New York State Conspicuous Service Cross with two Gold and one Silver devices, New York State Conspicuous Service Star with two Silver devices, New Jersey State Meritorious Service Medal, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, and the Department of Defense Cold War Certificate. His civilian awards include The George Washington Freedom Foundation Medal, Marquis Who’s Who in America, Marquis Who’s Who in the World and the Linda Ward Gupta Award for Excellence in Teaching. | Lieutenant Colonel Collins retired 1 February 1998 and served as the Acting Chair, Department of Education, Leadership, Management and Policy in the College of Education and Human Services at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.