Colonel Thomas J. DeVine was commissioned as an Adjutant General Corps officer upon graduation from Officer Candidate School Class #5-81, 10 November 1981. He subsequently branch transferred to the Transportation Corps and, when it was established, the Aviation Corps. His first duty assignment was as an Attack Section Leader and Attack Platoon Leader, 503rd Attack Helicopter Battalion, Hanau, West Germany. | His subsequent assignments included Company Commander and Battalion S-4, 1st Battalion (Attack), 1st Aviation Regiment, Fort Riley, Kansas, including service in Operations DESERT SHIELD / DESERT STORM, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait; Battalion Executive Officer, 3d Battalion (Attack), 227th Aviation Regiment, and Brigade S3, 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Hanau, Germany; Deputy Chief of Forces Training Division, Seventh Army Training Command, Grafenwoehr, Germany; Aide-de¬Camp to the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, United States Army Europe, Heidelberg, Germany; Missile Systems Integrator, Headquarters, Department of the Army, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, The Pentagon Commander, 1st Battalion (Attack), 3rd Aviation Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia; Apache Force Integration Staff Officer, Headquarters Department of the Army, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Programs, The Pentagon and Deputy Director of the Army Safety Office, Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army, Washington, D.C.; Commander, 2nd Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Republic of Korea and his most recent assignment as the United States Forces Korea Deputy J5 at Yongsan Garrison, Seoul, Republic of Korea. | His military education and training includes: the Aviation Officers Advanced Course, the Army Command and General Staff College, the United States Army War College and the Senior Joint and Combined Warfighting School, Joint Forces Staff College. Colonel DeVine holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado and a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the Army War College. His advanced aircraft qualifications include the AH-1 Cobra, UH-60 Blackhawk and AH-64A Apache. He holds lifetime memberships in the Association of the United States Army and the Army Aviation Association of America. | Colonel DeVine's awards and decorations include: the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit w/ Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal w/3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal with 4/ Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Achievement Medal w/ Oak Leaf Cluster, Order of Saint Michael (Bronze), Valorous Unit Award and the Senior Aviators Badge. | Colonel DeVine has been an outspoken advocate and proponent of Army Aviation for more than 25 years. His passion for his chosen career and his significant accomplishments have substantially contributed to the continued success and effective promotion of Army Aviation. DeVine has been a well known leader within the Aviation community, having commanded at every level - from platoon leader to brigade commander - and in diverse theaters such as Europe, the Middle East, the Republic of Korea and CONUS. Throughout his long and distinguished career, Colonel DeVine has both directly and indirectly served Army Aviation while serving in key staff positions such as the Missile Systems Integrator and the Apache Systems Integrator in the Army G8. In each and every assignment, Tom has excelled, highlighting the depth and breadth of talent of Army Aviators and establishing a reputation for excellence that is second to none. | Colonel Tom DeVine is a talented leader, a tough warfighter and a proven combat veteran. During his career, he actively sought tough and challenging Aviation assignments, eventually serving with five different divisions – Armored Division, 3rd Armored Division, J. Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division and 2nd Infantry Division, including a combat tour with 1 Infantry Division in Operation Desert Storm. At every opportunity, Tom sought leadership positions that allowed him to share his knowledge of and passion for Army Aviation. Tom's units routinely led the Army with the highest readiness rates, the most cost effective Flying Hour Programs, and the highest number of qualified air crews. Each of Tom's units became role models of success, including his battalion command in which his unit, 1-3 Aviation (Attack), won AAAA's Aviation Unit of the Year. Tom DeVine has also led the Army in its transformation efforts – by jointly forming the Army's first MultiFunctional Aviation Brigade from 2nd Aviation Brigade, 6th Cavalry Brigade arid 17th Aviation Brigade in the Republic of Korea. This massive undertaking ensured the aviation units located in the Republic of Korea remained current and relevant without sacrificing the high readiness required by units and crews stationed on the Korean peninsula. Tom's leadership extended beyond his command and training of his units. Throughout his career, his mentorship and training of his subordinates has resulted in the retention and promotion of tremendous leaders and highly talented officers and noncommissioned officers. As evidence of his skill, eight field grade officers who served in branch qualifying positions during his command tours have been selected as Battalion Commanders and two have been selected as Brigade Commanders. Simply stated, Tom's reputation for excellence and leadership attracted talented Aviation officers and noncommissioned officers who wanted to learn from the best. These stalwart leaders will go on to lead and serve at the highest levels of the Army Aviation influencing generations of future leaders because of Tom's remarkable leadership. | Colonel Tom DeVine is well known and respected within the Departments of the Army and Defense for his knowledge and expertise of Aviation platforms and programs. In two different assignments to the Army Staff, Tom served as the Missile Systems Integrator and the Apache Systems Integrator in the Army G8. While serving in this position, he gained a reputation as an original thinker with an ability to devise and organize operational requirements at the Service-level into strategies that defined the way ahead for senior decision makers. As the Missile Systems Integrator lie was responsible for synchronizing, developing, fielding and sustaining the family of HELLFIRE anti-armor missiles, several air-to-air missiles, 2.75 inch aerial rockets and all other armed helicopter munitions. During his tenure, the HELLFIRE missile program was facing dramatic cuts as a result of unfocused mission requirements and uncoordinated and conflicting guidance. In fact, the viability of the entire program was threatened. Toni prepared multiple written responses to inaccurate assessments by the Government Accountability Office, identified hard and fast requirements and established a viable strategy for the execution of the program. His preparation allowed the Army to defend the HELLFIRE program from a devastating budget reduction which would have left the Army dramatically short of its warfighting requirements. His no-nonsense approach to the budget process returned substantial dividends to the Apache program, realizing great advances in Hellfire missile and rocket research and development. While serving as the Apache Systems Integrator, Torn was the driving force in every major decision concerning Army Aviation and the attack helicopter fleet. He is best known for his Herculean efforts in 2000 when budget constraints threatened the radical reduction of the Second Generation Forward Looking Infrared Radar program. Tom spearheaded the defense of this critical program, resulting in hill funding of requirements. No one could have known that 18 months later Army Aviation would be fully engaged in combat, with a high demand for the capabilities and high fidelity of Second Generation FloridaIR. Tom's remarkable foresight, meticulous preparation and detailed staff work ensured that at least some units went to war equipped with this highly desirable technology. It is often the case that hardworking nameless, faceless staff officers at Department of the Army toil endlessly on behalf of the Soldiers and Aviators in the field, working to ensure our warriors have the most lethal, most capable, most survivable equipment possible. We acknowledge that Tom DeVine is one of those heroes and that his efforts substantially contributed to the success of our attack aviation units. | For two and a half decades, Colonel Tom DeVine has made his mark on the Army and Army Aviation. He has been a wonderful proponent for Aviation and its programs. His superb leadership and astute management skills have directly and substantially contributed to the future success of Army Aviation and its leaders. We recognize Colonel Tom DeVine as being one of the best of his generation and an outstanding candidate for inclusion into the OCS Hall of Fame.