Colonel Claude Ray Smithson was commissioned an Infantry Officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School Class 492, 25 September 1945. His first duty assignment was as Instructor, Infantry Reconnaisance School, Camp Fannin, Texas. | His subsequent duty assignments include: Platoon Leader, Infantry Replacement Training Center, Camp Robinson, Little Rock, Arkansas; Athletic Officer, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Ord, Monterrey, California; Chief, Security Courier Station, XXIV Corps, Seoul, Korea; Executive Officer, Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry, Gifu, Japan; Instructor, Team A, Officer Candidate School, Army General School, Fort Riley, Kansas; Instructor, Intelligence School, Army General School, Fort Riley, Kansas; Regimental S2, 29th Infantry Regiment, Okinawa, RyuKentuckyus Islands; Commanding Officer, 451st Strategic Intelligence Detachment, Fort McPherson, Georgia; Counterintelligence Case Adjudicator, G2 Section, Third U.S. Army, Fort McPherson, Georgia; Special Assignment as Senior Representative of Commanding General, Third U.S. Army in directing and adjudicating counterintelligence checks of sufficient Cuban Brigade members to allow the induction of 5000 such members into the U.S. Army, as directed by President John F. Kennedy, Miami, Florida; Student, Military Intelligence Officer Advance Course, Fort Holabird, Baltimore, Maryland; Commanding Officer, B Company, 301st Army Security Agency (7th Inf Div), Camp Casey, Korea; S3 (Operations Officer), 321st Army Security Agency Battalion, I Corps, Uijonbu, Korea; Counterintelligence Case Officer, G2 Section, Third U.S. Army, Fort McPherson, Georgia; Assistant Chief, Personnel Security Branch, G2 Section, Third U.S. Army, Fort McPherson; Intelligence Staff Officer, 513th Intelligence Corps Group-Headquarters U.S. Army Europe; Chief, Communications Security Officer G2 Division, Headquarters U.S. Army Europe; Chief, Personnel Security Branch, Intelligence Division, Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe; Chief, Personnel Security Branch, Personnel Security Division, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence (OACSI) Department of the Army, Washington, D.C.; Chief, Personnel Security Division, OACSI, DA, Washington, D.C.; Chief, Counterintelligence Division, G2 Section, Headquarters, U.S. Army, Vietnam, Long Binh; Special Assistant to Deputy Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Third U.S. Army, Fort McPherson; Team Administrator, Reserve Training Evaluator Team, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Project Officer (Operation Red Tag), Office of Deputy Chief, Reserve Forces, Third U.S. Army, Fort McPherson, Georgia.