Colonel Tom Brooks

Col. Tom Brooks received his commission as an Infantry officer from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003, where he also received a BA in psychology. Following his initial training at Ft. Benning, GA he was assigned to 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment (1-4 INF), Joint Multinational Readiness Cente in Hohenfels, Germany. In 1-4 INF Col. Brooks served as a rifle platoon leader and a support platoon leader.  During this tour he deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Following a two-year tour in Germany, Col. Brooks deployed, again to Afghanistan, for a tour as an operations officer and team leader for a transition team, working alongside the Afghan Border Police in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

Upon the completion of his second deployment, Col. Brooks attended the Maneuver Captain’s Career Course in Ft. Benning, GA. He was then assigned to 1st BN, 504th Parachute Infantry Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division in Ft. Bragg (Ft. Liberty), NC. During this tour he commanded a headquarters company and a rifle company, which included a tour to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2011 Col. Brooks was selected to become a Foreign Area Officer (FAO) with a regional concentration in Sub-Saharan Africa.

As part of FAO training, Col. Brooks attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA and received a Maters of Arts in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School. Following a tour at the US Embassy in Lomé, Togo, Col. Brooks was assigned to US Embassy – Yaoundé, Cameroon where he served as the Chief, Office of Security Cooperation. Col. Brooks subsequently served as a career manager and executive officer at US Army Human Resources Command in Ft. Knox, KY. He was then assigned to US Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) in 2017, where he served as a Branch Chief in the International Operations Division (G5), as well as Executive Officer to the USAREUR-AF G5.  Col. Brooks also served in the USAREUR-AF Commander’s Initiative Group.

Col. Brooks’ military education includes: Infantry Officer Basic Course, Airborne School, Jumpmaster School, Ranger School, the Maneuver Captain’s Career Course, Naval Staff College, and the Army’s Defense Strategy Course. Most recently, Col. Brooks is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College (George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Fellow).