Col. Shannon N. Thompson is a Distinguished Military Graduate from Vanderbilt University, where he was commissioned as an Armor Officer in May 2002.
He served with the 1st Squadron 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Carson, Colorado, and deployed twice with the Brave Rifles; once as a Platoon Leader in Bandit Troop and once as the Executive Officer for Dragon Company. He was next assigned to 1/4 CAV, 4 IBCT, 1 ID at Fort Riley, Kansas, where he took command of Apache Troop and deployed as part of Operation OIF 09-11.
Col. Thompson was designated as a FA51 Acquisition Officer in 2010 and served as the Assistant Product Manager for the THAAD Ground Components, the Assistant TCM for TCM AAMDC at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and as an Acquisition Proponency Officer in both the Army DACM Office and the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center.
His previous assignment was as Commander, DCMA Albuquerque, which oversaw contractor compliance for government contracts across southern Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas.
Col. Thompson is a graduate of the Armor Officer Basic, Captain’s Career Courses, Intermediate Level Education Program, and DAU PMT 401. He holds a Master of
Business Administration from the University of Colorado and a Master of Strategic Studies from the US Army War College.
His awards include the Bronze Star (with Valor device), the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with 1 oak leaf cluster), the Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 oak leaf clusters), the Army Commendation Medal (with 2 oak leaf clusters), the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the national Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Combat Action Badge and the Parachutist Badge.
Col. Thompson and his wife Jamie are both from Anchorage, Alaska, and have three sons, Wyatt, Jack and Colt.