Military Science

John DickinsonLTC Clemence “Carl” Oborski

Title: Professor
Department: Military Science
Office Phone: (309) 298-1161
Email: CC-oborski@wiu.edu

LTC Clemence “Carl” Oborski assumed the Western Illinois University, “Leatherneck” Battalion, on 1 August, 2021. Prior to his arrival at WIU, LTC Oborski commanded the 21st Brigade Engineer Battalion, 3d Brigade (Rakkasans), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky from August 15, 2019, until 14 June 2021.

He was previously stationed in Washington, D.C. from September 2016 to July 2019 where he spent 12 months as the Secretary of the General Staff for the Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following 21 months in the Pentagon as the Speechwriter for the Secretary of the Army.

From January 2015 to September 2016, then Major Oborski served his key developmental assignments as Battalion Operations Officer and then Executive Officer for the 4th Engineer Battalion at Fort Carson, Colorado. Prior to arriving at Fort Carson, he spent 15 months in the Office of the Chief of Engineers at the Pentagon.

As a captain, LTC Oborski served as the Operations Officer, Directorate of Public Works and then Garrison Executive Officer at U.S. Army Garrison Schweinfurt, Germany. He commanded the 887th Engineer Support Company at Fort Campbell deploying to Balad, Iraq, in 2009 with the 37th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Airborne) from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Prior to command, he served as the S3 planner in the 326th Engineer Battalion at Fort Campbell deploying to Mosul, Iraq, in 2007. In 2005 while waiting to attend the Engineer Captains Career Course, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast; he was among the first six captains sent by the U.S. Army Engineer School to the affected region to serve as liaisons between military elements, the Corps of Engineers, and other recovery and relief agencies.

LTC Oborski’s initial duty assignment was 1st Engineer Battalion at Fort Riley, Kansas. Deployed to Iraq in August 2003, his platoon was attached to 1-504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Fallujah for 6 months before returning to Ar Ramadi in support of the “Magnificent Bastards” of 2d Battalion, 4th Marines for the remainder of the deployment.

LTC Oborski is a graduate of the Command & General Staff Officer College, the Engineer Captains Career Course and the Engineer Officer Basic Course. He holds a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where he commissioned through the ROTC program. His awards include the Bronze Star Medal (1OLC), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (4OLC), Army Commendation Medal (2OLC), and the Army Achievement Medal (2OLC). He is authorized to wear the Combat Action, Parachutist, and Air Assault badges.

He is married to Kimberly Sheaffer, an associate director for Starcom, a global advertising and media company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Their son “CJ” turns 8 this September.