Gen. John N. Abrams

General (Retired) John N. Abrams passed away at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on August 20th at the age of 71. General Abrams dedicated his life to his family, faith, and service through more than 36 years in the United States Army. His life was one of service, courage, generosity, and graciousness.

General Abrams enlisted on January 16, 1966 and was commissioned through Armor OCS on February 3, 1967 through Company F-2. He immediately joined 2d Squadron - 1st Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood for its pre-deployment training. His combat assignments with the Squadron from 1967-1969 in the Republic of Vietnam included service as the 3d Platoon Leader for B Troop, the XO for A Troop, and commanding A Troop, C Troop, and the Squadron’s Provisional Rifle Company (Blues).

His assignments, responsibilities and experiences include serving the United States Department of Defense and the United States Army spanning more than 36 years of service with fourteen years of service in operational assignments with US allies in Vietnam, Germany, Hungary, Bosnia, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. General Abrams served as a national military strategist for the Department of the Army with strategic planning responsibility for the US commitment to the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia regions. Additionally, he was the Department of the Army’s mobilization lead to design, develop, and facilitate interagency coordination and authorization to mobilize over 300,000 soldiers and units for Army Reserve and National Guard forces to meet the requirements for CINC Central Command for Desert Shield/Desert Storm. General Abrams was assigned to the United States Army’s Training and Doctrine Command where he served more than five years to transform the United States Army to meet the changing needs for military forces and capabilities in support of the national military strategy.

General Abrams led the Army’s transformation with a strategy to design and develop integrated solutions tailored to human and organizational absorption factors that include: doctrine; organizational design; leader and soldier knowledge and skills development; technology integration based on operational requirements; training strategies and capabilities to meet individual and unit readiness needs for employment to assigned roles and missions; infrastructure and facilities to support and sustain readiness needs prior to deployment and support operational requirements when operating in forward operational areas.

In August 2004, General Abrams founded Abrams Learning and Information Systems Inc. with a clear purpose and vision to provide government and commercial clients organizational effectiveness improvement solutions through business engineering and workforce development. General Abrams also proudly served as the Vice Chairman and Lead Independent Director for the Armed Forces Benefit Association Board.

General Abrams received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bowling Green University, and holds a Master of Science in Public Administration from Shippensburg University. His decorations include Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Silver Star (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Legion of Merit (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Bronze Star Medal with “V” Device, Bronze Star Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters), Air Medals, Army Commendation Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Army Achievement Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), and Army Staff Identification Badge. He was inducted into the Officer Candidate Hall of Fame in 2001. General Abrams was the recipient of the first Honorary ROCK of the Year Annual Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement in 2001.

In his personal life, General Abrams was an avid skier and cyclist. He was a proud member of the Bryce Resort community as well as serving as the President of the Board. He was an active member in the Catholic Church, serving as a Eucharistic Minister for five years and on the committee that began the first Eucharistic Adoration program at Queen of Apostles Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

General Abrams was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He enjoyed teaching the grandchildren how to ski, fish, kayak, lake swim, and even zip line. He genuinely cared for the people in his life – soldiers, colleagues, family members, community members, and friends. He was known for having a kind and generous heart, and believing the best in all of those around him.

General Abrams is survived by his wife, Cecelia R. Bosico; his two daughters, Noël Naylor and Elizabeth Bauernshub; two sons-in-law, Nathan Naylor and Chris Bauernshub; five grandchildren, Natalie, Katelyn, Nathaniel, Brayden, and Brooke; his five siblings, Noël Bradley, Creighton Abrams III (GEN, Ret), Jeanne Daly, Elizabeth Doyle, and Robert Abrams (GEN); and his beloved dog.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of General Abrams to the Army Emergency Relief (https://www.aerhq.org/) or Patriot Paws Service Dogs (http://patriotpaws.org/).

The family would like to express their appreciation to the outstanding team of nurses, doctors, staff, and technicians at Walter Reed in the Neurology, Radiology, Oncology, Internal Medicine, and the Emergency Room departments. As well as a special thank you to the team at 4 West who cared for General Abrams several times over the last few months as well as during his final days. The team on 4 West became more like family to the Abrams and the care General Abrams was provided was “Second to None.”