Christopher Holshek

Christopher Holshek served in the United States Army and achieved the rank of Colonel.

Mr. Holshek is an international peace and security consultant and civil-military director at Narrative Strategies. In his 30 years as a U.S. Army Civil Affairs officer, his assignments included: command of the first Civil Affairs battalion deployed to Iraq; Chief of Civil-Military Coordination for the UN Mission in Liberia; and European Command Military Representative at the U.S. Agency for International Development. He continues to serve as Vice President of the Civil Affairs Association.

He has been a senior civil-military advisor for the NATO “Resilient Civilians in Hybrid and Population-Centric Warfare” and Grey Zone projects. For his services then and since, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command inducted him as a Distinguished Member of the Civil Affairs Regiment in 2017.

Mr. Holshek has also harnessed his extraordinary experiences worldwide as a writer. In addition to his contributions to U.S. Army, Joint, NATO, and UN civil-military policy and doctrine, he has published in Foreign Policy, The Huffington Post, Sicherheit & Frieden, and the Modern War Institute.

The impetus of Mr. Holshek’s civic work with the American Legion Riders of Orange County, New York is in his book: Travels with Harley – Journeys in Search of Personal and National Identity. With the County Youth Bureau and others, his National Service Ride project helps local schools mobilize youth to better themselves, their community, and their country through service-learning under the New York State’s Seal of Civic Readiness Program.

Another initiative, starting in 2024, will enable high school seniors and young veterans to escort senior veterans on Hudson Valley Honor Flight missions, helping to pass the baton of leadership from one generation of Americans to the next.

Mr. Holshek and his wife, Rosa Zorzo, who works for the UN Refugee Agency, reside on the Hudson River in New Windsor, not far from his birthplace in Cornwall. Through his network of veteran and service organizations, he facilitated an effective response to the needs of the Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery communities during the July 2023 flood disaster.

Mr. Holshek’s commitment to his neighbors, other veterans, his country, and our youth is extraordinary and unwavering.