The Vietnam War was well underway when Thomas Messina graduated from high school in St. Louis in 1968. He soon enrolled at Forest Park Junior College to pursue his education followed by his enlistment in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1971. This was a decision, he discovered, that resulted in a rewarding military career spanning nearly four decades.
"My lottery number was coming up, and I thought if I were going to be sent to Vietnam, I wanted to have some control over what I would do in the military," he said.
Messina completed his basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington, followed by training as an armorer at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Uniformed service would become a dual focus since he was also accepted for the police academy.
"I became a patrol officer with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and trained part-time with the Army Reserve," he said. "My police duties influenced my military career because I decided to join the 485th Military Intelligence Unit in St. Louis and was trained to interrogate prisoners of war."
Special recognition came for the young staff sergeant in 1983, when he was among a group of St. Louis area residents selected to receive the St. Louis Globe Democrat Outstanding Achievement Award for contributions to the community.
The soldier attended courses at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, ascending the enlisted ranks and eventually becoming his detachment's first sergeant. In his role as a senior investigator, he attended the All-Source Intelligence Analyst School at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, acquiring a higher- level understanding of operations within the intelligence community.
"I was the first sergeant for seven years, but after successfully completing a number of correspondence courses and based upon all the experience I had acquired throughout my military career, I submitted my packet to become a warrant officer," he said.
In 1987, having been an enlisted soldier for 16 years, Messina's packet was approved, and he was commissioned a Chief Warrant Officer 2. The married father of two sons continued to serve as a police officer in St. Louis while performing military tours that included counterdrug operations with U.S. Customs in El Centro, California.
"An important aspect of my military career was continuing education and training," he said.
"I completed training courses as a team chief at the Joint Military Attaché School in Cocoa Beach, Florida. That," he continued, "allowed me to assist the Defense Intelligence Agency prepare U.S. military attachés for overseas assignments with their respective embassies."
Throughout the next several years, he remained with his unit in St. Louis and received training as a counterintelligence agent. His courses included instruction on full motion video and imagery, which would be of great benefit in upcoming assignments.
He retired from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in 2000 and spent the next 10 years on active duty with the U.S. Army. He went on to finish two tours with the U.S. Army Human Resources Command in St. Louis as a counter intelligence security specialist.
"My time on active duty also included a tour with the US TRANSCOM (Transportation Command) Headquarters at Scott Air Force Base as the counter-intelligence staff officer and watch officer," Messina said. "The command oversaw movement of personnel and equipment throughout the world, and I helped maintain safe movement of people and aircraft into and from Africa."
Perhaps the most memorable and rewarding moment of his career was assignment to the Aerospace Targeting and Analysis Center and the Counter Terrorism Airborne Analysis Center within the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in St. Louis. In this capacity, he helped protect soldiers on the ground in foreign combat zones.
"There were six big-screen televisions in the center where I worked, and we reviewed real-time video and photographs from four Predator drones," Messina said. "The drones were operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we analyzed photographs and footage to detect any anomalies on routes that were to be traveled by our troops."
If anomalies were detected, such as an object that appeared to move over a period of time, a robot was dispatched to determine if the threat might be an improvised explosive device or other explosive. On other occasions, if a hostile target was confirmed, authorization might be granted to engage and neutralize the threat.
There were also times, he recalled, when quick reactionary forces were deployed to capture identified threats, who might be interrogated for information on planned attacks or other potential dangers for U.S. forces.
"Out of my four years of working there, I believe we had about 150 (enemy) kills and 150 captures," he said.
After reaching 62 years of age in 2010, Messina retired at the rank of Chief Warrant Officer Four with more than 39 years of total military service. He returned to Scott Air Force Base as a contractor, before retiring permanently in 2014.
The veteran has, for many years, volunteered as chaplain for Rollo- Calcaterra American Legion Post 15 in the historic Italian district of St. Louis known as "The Hill." His military service, he said, has left him with the gratification he was able to pursue a lifelong interest and serve his country.
"Since I was a little kid, I wanted to become a police officer, and I was able to achieve that," he said. "Intelligence work in the military went right along with the work I was doing in the police force, providing me opportunities to identify information that protected our forces on the ground overseas.
"It was so satisfying to know that when we captured and retrieved intel from Taliban and Al-Quaeda forces, we were helping save lives and, amazingly, we were able to accomplish it from offices here in the U.S.," he said.
Jeremy P. Amick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America.