Lt. Col. Oliver Karp is the commander of the U.S. Army New York City Recruiting Battalion with an area of responsibility which encompasses over 1,700 dense miles, and 34 Recruiting Stations in New York City, Long Island and Westchester New York – serving a population of over 13 million New Yorkers.
A native of New York City, Karp attended Brooklyn Tech High School in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Maritime Operations and Technology and a US Coast Guard Unlimited Tonnage Deck Officer license. After commissioning and training as a Second Lieutenant in the Transportation Corps, he was assigned as a Transportation Platoon Leader in the 506th Regimental Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. He served in Baghdad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and later as Deputy G9, 101st Airborne Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom. After redeploying, Karp was assigned to the Engineer Captains Career Course in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and the Civil Affairs Qualification Course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
After branch qualification, Karp was assigned to the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion where he served as a Civil Affairs Team Leader in Jordan and Lebanon, and as a Civil Military Operations Chief in Yemen between. After attending graduate school at the National Defense University College of International Security Studies, Karp assumed command of Bravo Company, 97th Civil Affairs Battalion, training Special Operations Forces in Korea, serving as the rotational Civil Affairs Officer for 1/1 Special Forces Group, Okinawa, and providing oversight of seven Civil Affairs Teams deployed across Pacific Command from 2016-2018.
After Civil Affairs Company Command, Karp served in Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) as the J39 Civil Affairs Branch Chief, deploying as commander of SOC-FWD Jordan in 2018. He later served as Deputy to the Special Operations Task Force 5 Commander in Beirut Lebanon in 2019, and as the deputy Commander’s Action Group Director for COMSOCCENT in Tampa, Florida in 2022.
Karp recently was the Battalion Commander, U.S. Army Milwaukie Recruiting Battalion, United States Army Recruiting Command and previously completed a two-year overseas tour as the Assistant Chief of Staff G9, Civil Affairs Director, for the Second Infantry, Combined US-ROK Division at Camp Humphreys, Republic of Korea.