Sergeant Major Joseph Edward Brauch, Jr. was born at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He qualified for the prestigious 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta organization, where he served for more than 16 years as a team member, team sergeant, master breacher, instructor/trainer, operator training course noncommissioned officer in charge and sergeant major and unit breaching sergeant major. After retiring from active duty, he served as a security consultant at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a counter-surveillance consultant for U.S. Embassies worldwide, the program manager for the Center for National Response and as the Deputy Chief of the Joint Special Operations Command; Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Branch.

Sergeant Major Brauch contributed greatly to the research, development, testing, and evaluation effort of numerous cutting edge technologies, which migrated into equipment capabilities. He was also heavily involved in the refinement of the U.S. Special Operations Command Counter-proliferation Analysis and Planning System, which has evolved to become one of the Nation’s premier leading CBRN planning tools. Additionally, as the senior training program manager and site facility manager for the Center of National Response in West Virginia, he was responsible for the scenario development, event execution and overall safety of CBRN training conducted from 2000-2002.

He was awarded the Honorable Order of the Dragon Award in April 2012 and was inducted into the U.S. Special Operations Command, Commando Hall of Honor in April 2014.

Sergeant Major Joseph Edward Brauch, Jr. passed away on 11 April 2012.