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Four combat deployments, a role in the White House, numerous decorations.
For Lieutenant Colonel Reggie Thomas III, a career with the United States Marine Corps has produced a list of experiences beyond what he imagined.
Currently, he is the commanding officer for the headquarters and service battalion at First Marine Logistics Group (MLG) at Camp Pendleton in California. The headquarters and service battalion provides command and control, administration, communications, food service, and services to the MLG.
Nearly 25 years in the military prepared him for the assignment.
Thomas split time between Severna Park and Severn during his childhood. He graduated from Key School in Annapolis in 2000 and joined the Navy. After three years, he wanted to make an academic change and became a Marine.
He completed logistics officer school and was assigned to Camp Schwab in Okinawa, Japan, as the motor transport platoon commander in 2008. Thomas held several other titles and deployed to the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia in support of multiple theater security cooperation efforts.
In support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Thomas began his first combat tour in Afghanistan in 2012. That was the first of four combat deployments: to Afghanistan in 2012 and 2014, and to Iraq and Syria in 2016.
“I had a very wise senior enlisted leader who told me, ‘Whenever you get an opportunity to deploy, that’s what you should do. Because that’s why you joined the military,’” Thomas said. “The Marine Corps (emblem) is the eagle, globe and anchor — not the eagle, couch and anchor.”
Between those deployments, in 2013, he served as the deputy officer-in-charge of Georgian Liaison Team 13 and foreign security force advisor to a Republic of Georgia Army infantry battalion. He deployed to the Republic of Georgia, Germany, and completed a second combat tour in Afghanistan.
“I’ve been in environments where the risk is high and the probability of success is low,” Thomas said. “There could be rockets firing or gunfire in your direction.
“Training is what you rely on when you have fear,” he said. “You have to make sure you’re ready for what’s on hand and what you’re being called to do.”
While in Afghanistan, Thomas partnered with the Republic of Georgia Army and made some of his closest friends.
“I not only saw the power of American patriotism but also universal justice and security cooperation,” he said. “Working with a foreign nation, I saw the Republic of Georgia was willing to fight on a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mission without being a NATO partner.”
He reported to the Pentagon in 2015 was reassigned to MacDill Air Force Base in Florida in 2016 and deployed forward to Kuwait, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates as the executive officer and operations officer for Joint Special Operations Forces Support Detachment-Kuwait.
As a major, Thomas returned to the Pentagon after combat in 2016 and resumed his previous sponsorship and section head positions.
After a stint in Okinawa, Japan, Thomas started a joint assignment at the White House as the Marine Corps military aide to the president of the United States.
Each branch provides a military aide to the president. From 2022 to early 2024, Thomas served as the Marine Corps military aide to President Joe Biden.
“I was truly humbled and honored that I would ever be nominated,” Thomas said. “We worked with the president daily. That’s our boss.”
One of Thomas’ fondest memories from the White House was formed during Christmas in 2022 when the president and first lady called forward deployed units, which are forces close to potential conflict zones or areas of interest.
“It’s a significant production that requires detailed planning and execution, but that is so worth it,” Thomas said, explaining the call process. “Forward deployed units are not just out for a picnic; they are out for a mission. We are trying to call the ship in the middle of wherever and they can be in the middle of operations. Our schedule is tight, and we are trying to reach ships in the Mediterranean, Poland, Iraq. They might not all answer the phone.”
Working with other communications staff and the United States Department of Defense, Thomas and the White House team ran a rehearsal and hoped the satellite communications would go smoothly.
Biden added a special touch: after talking to service members from Delaware – which he represented for 36 years in the U.S. Senate – he called their family members too.
“Just learning that service members were getting a call from their commander in chief when forward deployed on holiday was super inspiring,” Thomas said. “Seeing the care and thoughtfulness was so cool.”
That is just one of many moments that Thomas treasures from his time in the White House, as he was only the second Black U.S. Marine Corps presidential military aide.
“That’s significant for me, not because only I could have done it, but it shows progress and diversity,” Thomas said. “There was a time when they didn’t allow female aides. I feel privileged to have the opportunity.”
Every Marine is a marksman first. As commanding officer at the headquarters and service battalion at MLG at Camp Pendleton, Thomas spends much of his time with Marines as they practice their rifle marksmanship skills and combat training.
He also handles communications and logistical operations, arranges vehicles for transportation, and coordinates with an expeditionary kitchen.
“If you have ever seen the show ‘M*A*S*H,’ with people eating under the big green tents, we have the ability to do that on a larger scale for 780 people,” he said.
The battalion formed last January. When Thomas arrived, he was responsible for 300 Marines. By August, he had 1,027.
Over the years, he developed his style as a “servant leader.”
“I’m not asking anyone to do anything that I have not done or that I am not willing to do myself,” he said. “In the Marine Corps, you take care of your subordinates first, always. Senior Marines serve the junior Marines and will eat after the junior Marines … It builds a lot of trust and confidence because Marines realize how much you care for them.”
Confidence in his training has allowed him to be a freefall parachutist.
“Static is like (the preferred method in) World War II — the parachute is automatically deployed for you by the system … you can’t steer as much,” he said. “Freefall, you deploy your own parachute.”
Marines get four weeks of training before jumping out of an aircraft. Like combat, parachuting requires that Thomas rely on his training when fear arises.
“It’s extremely fun and rewarding, and it ties into my mission as a logistics officer with air delivery operations and airdropping supplies,” he said.
Having earned several ribbons and medals, traveled the world and served in the White House, Thomas feels fortunate. But he is grateful for one thing above all: his family. Like many service members, he has missed a lot of birthdays, weddings and other life milestones. When he deployed, family members always sent letters, cards and care packages. His wife and his parents, Reggie and Valerie Thomas of Severna Park, have always provided support.
“I am most honored and grateful for my wife, Ana, and we have a son, Hensley,” Thomas said. “The fact that she has to see me leave early in the morning, come home late, run the household in my absence and raise our child — or together when I am here — it’s awesome to see the resilience of military families.
“Your family doesn’t get the ribbons,” he said. “Every time we had to move, my wife had to apply for new jobs, go on more interviews, move away from family and friends, and establish a new household. I would not be able to serve without her being such a big supporter.”
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