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Military Awards

Col. Tom Thomas

By Holly Latimer  24 August 2003

Staff Writer  The Daily Citizen

After many travels, including a tour in Vietnam, many honors and 34 years of service, Col. Tom Thomas of Searcy recently retired from the Army National Guard. He is one of only four Arkansans inducted into the Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Ga., and the only Arkansas Army National Guard officer to hold the honor.

For a person with a distinguished career in the military, Thomas said there was really no exact reason that he enlisted.

"There was not any one single thing," he said. "It was either school or the service. There was no one compelling thing that drove me to the military."

Thomas said after he graduated from high school in 1966, he worked to attend Arkansas State University. During his time at the university, Thomas said two years of ROTC were required.

"I disliked and despised the one time a week I had to put on a uniform," he said "I went from one extreme to another."

Thomas' career in the U.S. Army began Feb. 14, 1969, when he enlisted as a private. By December of that year, Thomas had achieved the rank of sergeant.

Thomas soon applied for officer candidate school after a talk with a finance officer who told him that if he "re-upped" and agreed to enlist for six more years, he would be given a $10,000 bonus and 30 days free leave. After he completed officer candidate school as a second lieutenant, he would be under a new contract.

"Money was the motivator to go," he said.

At OCS, he was assigned to the infantry branch at Fort Benning, Ga. He received the Green Shaft Award given by his fellow classmates to the person who had drawn the worst assignment for a second lieutenant.

However, his assignment to Fort Polk, La., turned out to be a premiere assignment for Thomas. He trained soldiers in weapons proficiency and became an expert with an M-16 rifle, M60 machine gun, hand grenade, light anti-tank weapon, 45-caliber automatic pistol and 50-caliber machine gun.

This training was helpful to him in his next assignment: Vietnam. There, he served as a recon patrol leader.

"I went to Vietnam for one year and came home," he said.

After his tour in Vietnam and his discharge from active service, Thomas joined the Army National Guard after a stint as a loan officer at a northeast Arkansas bank.

"It was an opportunity to come to Searcy and go back into the uniform," he said. "I moved to Searcy in August 1975 and was with the Gunslingers for 12 years."

He then moved to the 39th brigade at Ricks Armory in Little Rock.

"I have been commuting to Little Rock since 1986. That is one thing I will not miss is driving back and forth to Little Rock," he said.

Thomas said he felt fortunate to have his job.

"I read a survey where 78 percent of people did not like their job. I feel really fortunate," he said. "I thoroughly enjoyed my career. I enjoyed being a soldier,."

As a part of his job, Thomas said he was given the opportunity to travel across the United States and around the world as well as to meet many famous people, including current Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell.

"In April 1992, I presented brigade knives to Gen. Colin Powell," he said.

Although he has met many people and traveled many places, Thomas said there are several things that stand out in his mind. One thing is patriotism. He said that patriotism is much higher now than when he began his career.

One memory he had was of a woman who did not want to be seated by a soldier on an airline flight.

"A World War II soldier said that he would be honored to sit by a soldier," Thomas said.

The veteran and the woman traded seats.

"The public patriotism makes you feel a lot better," he said. "It has gone from one extreme to another in 30 years."

Another is that God has looked out for him during his years of service.

"I think I probably need to be a little more thankful to God for taking care of me," he said.

Thomas also said that although his earned many medals and honors, those that are worn on a uniform are not the best to receive.

"The best medal is a live man's smile," he said.

Over the span of his career in the Guard, Thomas has served in all leadership positions at the company level and the battalion level. He also served as an executive officer, a post commander, director of maintenance and as state training officer.

While a full-time officer in the Guard, he was given command over the combat support company, 2-153rd infantry. During his year as commander, the company went from being ranked 31 out 35 companies to being ranked No. 1. The company also garnered four out of five awards available to it. Thomas received the award for being outstanding company commander.

During his tenure as post commander for Camp Robinson, the unit received a superior unit award from the National Guard Bureau.

General Bill Wofford at the 39th brigade said he has known Thomas for over 26 years.

"He and I worked together for over a quarter century," Wofford said. "He is dependable, reliable and takes care of his soldiers and the people who work for him."

Attorney General Mike Beebe, a friend of Thomas, agreed with Wofford.

"He is a soldier's soldier," Beebe said. "He cares about his troops. He took care of his people. He is a professional soldier and a first-class man."

Although his troops have earned several awards, Thomas himself has also racked up several honors including a Bronze Star for valor and oak leaf cluster, a meritorious service medal with four oak leaf clusters, air medal, Army commendation medal for valor and eight oak leaf clusters, Vietnam service ribbon, Vietnam campaign ribbon with three campaign stars, Republic of Vietnam gallantry cross with palm, Army achievement medal, Army Reserve components achievement medal, Army Reserve components overseas training ribbon, Armed Forces Reserve medal, military outstanding volunteer service medal, good conduct medal, National Defense service medal with bronze service star, Army service ribbon, valor unit citation, six state ribbons, combat infantryman badge, expert infantryman's badge, airborne jump silver wings, pathfinders badge and air assault badge. He is also a graduate of the rappellmaster course.

Now that his retirement has come, Thomas said he would spend time rebuilding.

"All my life in the military, all my training, is geared around the end state of destroying," he said. "At this stage, I want to do some rebuilding in a humanitarian role. It is a period of time to payback. How I do it is between me and the guy upstairs."