The Indiana State Police welcome back Trooper Patrick O’Keefe after a year-long deployment with the National Guard in the Middle East. Trooper O’Keefe is assigned to the Bremen Post in Marshall County and joined the state police in 2011.
O’Keefe, a Bremen native, has been a member of the Indiana Army National Guard for 11 years. He started his military career in the infantry before completing the Indiana University Army ROTC program and becoming a commissioned officer.
In 2012 O’Keefe was selected to attend flight training school at Ft. Rucker in Alabama. He completed the 18 month long course before returning to work for the state police in 2013.
In February 2015 O’Keefe received his first overseas deployment order. The Army first lieutenant left for the Middle East in April and spent the next nine months piloting the Army’s UH60 Blackhawk helicopter. O’Keefe commented that he added about 300 hours of flight time to his record while he was deployed.
When asked, O’Keefe said he wouldn’t miss the days in the desert when it was 130 degrees and he was flying a multimillion dollar helicopter with no air conditioning, but he would miss the excitement of the missions. It’s nice to leave that high stress environment behind and return home to decompress with my wife and daughter, commented O’Keefe.
Since O’Keefe’s return to ISP, he has spent the last two weeks re-training with dozens of department members and re-certifying in a variety of areas. He is expected to resume road patrol duties in the next few days.
