Gregory Thomas "Greg" Shanahan's Obituary
Gregory Thomas Shanahan Obituary August 2017Gregory Thomas Shanahan passed to heaven from Sapulpa on Friday, August 25, 2017.Visitation will be from 12:00 Noon to 8:00 PM on Wednesday, August 30 at Floral Haven Funeral Home, 6500 South 129th East Avenue, Broken Arrow, OK. The family will receive visitors from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.A memorial service will be held at 1:00 PM on Thursday, August 31, 2017 at Kirk of the Hills, 4102 East 61st Street, Tulsa, OK. A graveside service will be conducted at the Floral Haven Cemetery immediately following, with a reception to follow at that location.Greg was born January 26, 1973 in Oklahoma City, OK to Michael and Susann Shanahan. Sapulpa OK became his hometown in August 1974. Greg finished Sapulpa High School in May 1991 and promptly joined the United States Army in June 1991.Greg’s interest in the military began with a desire to serve people. He determined he could help the vulnerable by being part of the United States Army, and he began doing that immediately.After successfully completing Airborne training at Ft. Benning, GA, he was recruited to serve at Ft. Myer, VA as a member of the elite Charlie Company, 3rd US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), serving for seven years at Arlington National Cemetery.When he returned to Oklahoma from active duty in 1998, he promptly joined the U.S. Army Reserve and began working as part of the 486th Civil Affairs Battalion based in Tulsa. Civil Affairs units are a field commander’s link to the civil authorities in that commander’s area of operations.His Civil Affairs unit had a primary mission of executing civil information management, humanitarian assistance, population and resource control and support to civilian administration. These tasks included identifying non-governmental and international organizations operating in the battlespace, handling refugees, civilians on the battlefield, and determining protected areas such as schools, churches/temples/mosques and hospitals, roads and power plants.Greg was deployed to Iraq twice, 2003-2004 and 2006-2007, to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, training, leading and supervising teams of 20 – 40 soldiers on 120 combat missions focused on Civil Military Operations, with an interest in building relationships with tribes and local family leaders in areas covering as many as 1000 square miles.From January 2010 through January 2012, Greg served as Senior Instructor and Task Force Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge with the 1st Training Brigade, US Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne), FT. Bragg, NC, training more than 1300 civilians, soldiers, sailors and airmen as they prepared for deployment to areas including Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. He developed training exercises which remain part of the current course instruction for this Special Warfare Training Group.Greg also served as a civilian employee of the Department of the Army, assigned to direct research operations of 20 social scientists and analysts in Afghanistan 2013-2014.Greg retired in 2015 as a Senior Operations Sergeant Major after more than 24 years of service.At the time of his passing Greg was a Branch Manager for United Rentals, working in the Tulsa Area, and was named Top Performing Branch Manager in 2016 for the South Region consisting of 1100 employees.Greg and Monica married on June 17, 2000, and are raising their three children, Emilie, Max and Duke, in Tulsa.Greg is survived by his wife, Monica, three children, Emilie, Max and Duke, his parents, Michael and Susann Shanahan of Sapulpa, a brother, Matthew, of Naples Florida, and sister, Rebekah Jackson, of Stillwater Oklahoma.Visitation will be 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM, with the family receiving friends from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, August 30th, Floral Haven Funeral Home.Funeral Service will be 1:00 PM, August 31st, Kirk of the Hills Church, Tulsa with committal service to follow at Floral Haven Memorial Gardens, Broken Arrow.
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