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Tomas Flores

Osseo Senior High

Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, TX from May 1988 to Oct 1991.

Combat in Iraq.

Headquarters, Service Battery, 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC from Oct 1991 to Feb 1994.

Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC, from Mar 1994 to Dec 1994.

Expeditionary Force to Haiti.

Military Intelligence Detachment, 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Panzer Kaserne, Germany from Dec 1994 to May 1996.

Expeditionary Force to Bosnia.

Headquarters, Service and D Companies, 313th Military Intelligence Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, TX, from Oct 1996 to Aug 1999.

Company D, 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 513th Military Intelligence Brigade, United States Army South, Fort Buchanan, PR from Sep1999 to June 2000.

209th Military Intelligence Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team (1st Stryker BCT), 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, WA, from Jun 2000 to Feb 2003.

Expeditionary Force with Joint Special Operations Task Force-Crisis Response Element to Qatar, Oman, and Djibouti

J2, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, Camp Smith and Hickam AFB, HI from Mar 2003 to Jul 2007.

Combat with COIC, C2, Multi-National Force Iraq to BIAP, Iraq

Headquarters, Headquarters Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC, from Aug 2007 to Jul 2011.

Combat with CJTF-82 in Afghanistan 2007-08

Combat with CJTF-82 in Afghanistan 2009-10

Retired from Active Federal Service after 24 consecutive years of service in the US Army 1 Jul 2011

Legion of Merit

Bronze Star Medal

Defense Meritorious Service Medal (2 OLC)

Meritorious Service Medal

Joint Service Commendation Medal (2 OLC)

Army Commendation Medal (5 OLC)

Joint Service Achievement Medal (1 OLC)

Army Achievement Medal (5 OLC)

Army Good Conduct Medal (3rd Award)

National Service Defense Medal (with Bronze Service Star)

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (with 2 Bronze Service Stars)

Southwest Asia Service Medal (with 2 Bronze Service Stars)

Iraq Campaign Medal (with 2 Bronze Service Stars)

Afghanistan Campaign Medal (with 2 Bronze Service Stars)

Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal

Armed Forces Service Medal

Global War on Terrorism Service Medal

Army Service Ribbon

Overseas Service Ribbon (7th Award)

Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon (2nd Award)

Kuwait Liberation Medal – Saudi Arabia

Kuwait Liberation Medal – Kuwait

North American Treaty Organization Medal - Bosnia

North American Treaty Organization Medal - Afghanistan

Joint Meritorious Unit Citation (with 10 OLC)

Meritorious Unit Citation (with 2 OLC)

Army Superior Unit Award (with 2 OLC)

Combat Action Badge

Airborne Badge

Air Assault Badge

German Airborne Badge

Greek Airborne Badge

Irish Airborne Badge

Thai Airborne Badge

Driver-W Badge

Official photo of CW4 Tomas Flores taken at Ft Bragg, NC in October 2007 in preparation for deployment to join the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan.

Narrative

Four days after graduating from Osseo Senior High Tom left for Basic Training, Advanced Individual Training, and Airborne school. In 1988, Tom was assigned as an Intelligence Analyst in the S2, HHC, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. By August of 1990, he was promoted to Sergeant and in October deployed for combat operations in OPERATION DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. After returning from Iraq, he was reassigned to the S2, HSB, 1st-319th AFAR, 82nd Airborne Division until 1993. In October he was promoted to Staff Sergeant and moved to G2 Operations as the Senior Intelligence Analyst and deployed to Haiti, aboard the Merchant ship Cape Diamond, for OPERATION UPHOLD DEMOCRACY. In December 1994, Tom moved to Germany to work in the Intelligence Detachment of the 1-10th Special Forces Group on Panzer Kaserne. In 1995 he deployed as an Intelligence Analyst with ODA members of Company B to provide direct intelligence support for Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations for the Combined Joint Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) in Brindisi, Italy for OPERATIONS PROVIDE PROMISE. By December he deployed again with the first group of Americans to Bosnia for OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR providing direct intelligence support to Special Operations Coordination and Control Element (SOCCE)–020. In the spring of 1996, Tom attended Warrant Officer Candidate School, graduated in July and was assigned as an All-Source Intelligence Technician to the ACE, Company D, 313th MI BN, 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. In 1999, he was reassigned to Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico to work as the Central America and Caribbean Team Chief in the J2, Company D (FWD), 202d MI BN, 513th MI Brigade until 2000 when he volunteered for assignment to a unit developing under a new concept know as an Interim Brigade. The unit would later become known as the Stryker Brigade. While assigned to the 209th MI Co, 3rd Brigade (Stryker), 2d Infantry Division at Fort Lewis Tom developed the structure and operations for the ISR Analysis Platoon before volunteering to deploy in support of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM. During the 8-month deployment he would provide intelligence to CENTCOMs Joint Combined Special Operations Task Force - Crisis Response Element (JCSOTF- CRE) in Qatar, Oman, and Djibouti. In 2003, Tom moved to Hawaii and worked in the J2 Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (formerly known as JTF Full Accounting) on Hickam Air Force Base. As the Officer in Charge and Senior Military Analyst for the Vietnam Analysis Section he would develop unilateral and bilateral investigation leads for missing servicemembers, conduct interviews and site surveys on location in Vietnam. In 2006, for the next 14 months, he deployed to MNF-I Iraq as part of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM where he earned the Combat Action Badge during an engagement with the enemy on 22 December 2006, after which he returned to Hawaii before reassignment back to Ft Bragg. In late 2007, he was assigned to the 82d Airborne Division and proceeded to Afghanistan where the unit was already servicing. In Afghanistan he became the OIC for the CJTF-82 Combined Joint Intelligence Inter-Agency Support Element (JIIASE) Intelligence Production Section supporting OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM X until mid2008. A year later he would return to Afghanistan, for another 14 months, to serve as the OIC for the CJTF-82 Joint Intelligence Support Element (JISE) Fusion Cell supporting OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM VIII. Tomas Flores retired as a Chief Warrant Officer 4, a senior All Source Intelligence Technician, in the Military Intelligence Corps having completed 24 years of continuous active federal service in the Regular Army, accumulated over 5 years of deployed time during 2 operational and 5 combat deployments, successfully and safely completed 60 airborne jumps (an landings) from aircraft, and helped resolve 50 Missing in Action (MIA) cases for service members lost as a result of the Vietnam War.