Company A, 2nd Battalion, 172nd Armor (1983 to 1985) 1st Battalion, 172nd Armor (1992 to 1995) 86th Armored Brigade (1997 to 2000) Vermont National Guard (August, 2012 to March, 2013)
Major General (Vermont) Thomas E. Drew (born August 8, 1950) was the adjutant general of the State of Vermont. In this post he served as the senior uniformed military officer in the state, and was responsible for the organization, training and equipping of the 4,000 members of the Vermont Army and Air National Guard. As adjutant general, he also served as inspector general, quartermaster general and head of the State Military Department, including veterans affairs.
Biography
Thomas Edwin Drew was born in Proctor, Vermont, on August 8, 1950.[1] He was raised in Florence, attended school in Florence, Pittsford and Brandon and graduated from the University of Vermont in 1972.[2]
Upon retirement, Drew served as executive director of Old Homestead Community Center, a Castleton, Vermont nonprofit that provides essential services to seniors and children.[4] After four years in this role, he became executive director of the Addison County branch of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP).[5]
Subsequent military career
In 2006, Drew returned to military service as deputy adjutant general with a state commission as a brigadier general.[6] Drew served as deputy adjutant general until 2009, when he was voluntarily recalled to active duty as a colonel.[7][8] He deployed to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom as deputy commander of the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain).[9][10] During the deployment Drew reached age 60, the mandatory age for retirement from the military, but remained in Afghanistan and continued to serve.[11] Upon redeploying from Afghanistan Drew returned to the military's Retired Reserve and resumed his state duties as deputy adjutant general.[12]
In 2012 Michael Dubie was appointed as deputy commander of United States Northern Command.[13] Upon Dubie's August 3, 2012, resignation as Vermont's adjutant general to assume his new duties, Drew succeeded him as adjutant general.[14] Drew was subsequently promoted to major general (Vermont), and served out the remainder of Dubie's term.[15]
Drew was not a candidate for a full term in 2013.[16] On February 21, 2013, the Vermont General Assembly elected Steven A. Cray as Drew's successor.[17] (In Vermont, the adjutant general is elected for a two-year term in secret balloting by a combined meeting of the Vermont House of Representatives and Vermont State Senate. At the time, elections took place in February of each odd-numbered year.)[18] Cray took over from Drew in a ceremony on March 1, 2013, and Drew retired.[19]
Michael Dubie, Peter Shumlin, Drew, Command Sergeant Major Forest Glodgett prepare for Transfer of Authority where Drew succeeded Dubie as Adjutant General. Photo by James Greene, Vermont National Guard.
Drew salutes Scott Doyon of Clinton, Maine after presenting Bronze Star Medal, Oct. 21, 2010.
References
^Vermont Birth Records, 1909-2008, entry for Thomas Edwin Drew, accessed August 3, 2012
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