| VFW Connections |
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After his grandfather (who served in WWII) encouraged Tom to look into the VFW, Tom joined as a member of VFW Post 1503 in 1993, prior to the expansion of the current building. He was elected through the post officer ranks, eventually serving as the Commander of Post 1503 from 2020-2022.
Tom has volunteered at bingo for many years, especially for the pull tab floor sales, and worked at the post’s holiday parties. He completed his initiation into the Military Order of the Cooties with Tom Gimble in 1994. He has also been the Seam Squirrel for the MOC and a District Officer for the VFW. Tom plans to remain active in service to the VFW. He also wants to support his wife, Kelli, as our current VFW Auxiliary President and her leadership roles supporting the Virginia State VFW Auxiliary.
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Tom was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, a small town on the Ohio border. When he was still young, he moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, with his parents and two older sisters. (As the baby of the family, he notes he got away with a lot more than his sisters, although they were all close in age.) As Tom’s uncle worked for the Teamsters, Tom’s father was also able to find employment with the organization as a truck driver. His mother worked different jobs as a hairdresser. During his childhood, Tom’s family enjoyed visiting Fort De Soto Park on the Gulf of Mexico almost every weekend.
Although Tom showed intellectual aptitude, he found he was generally bored in school and didn’t like being placed in classes with students who were older than him. He enjoyed history and literature the most. Tom pursued many artistic endeavors in middle school and high school. During junior high, he participated with the school’s choral ensemble program, even making it to the All-County Chorus, and also played the drums. In high school, Tom was an actor, taking roles like the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, and participating in the drama club until 11th grade. He graduated from St. Petersburg High School in the smallest class from the area high schools with 421 students. During this time, he worked a part-time job at Publix. It was here he was introduced to his coworker, Kelli, who quickly became his girlfriend.
After graduating from high school, Tom knew he wasn’t ready for college. Originally, Tom tried to get in contact with recruiters for the Air Force and Navy, as his own father briefly served in the Navy, but the Air Force didn’t have availability for positions and the prospect of spending months aboard a ship started to seem a bit less appealing. However, the local Army recruiter quickly processed his paperwork and Tom was off to Infantry training at Fort Benning, Georgia, leaving his family and girlfriend behind. He was also selected for one of the first training teams for the brand-new Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
About ¾ of the way through his time at Fort Benning, the recruits had a Family Day for Easter. His mom, dad, and Kelli came for his very welcomed break. It was during an overnight pass that Tom visited Kelli and proposed in secret. They married while he was on leave in June of 1987 with many of their family members on hand to celebrate with them.
After his initial Army training was complete, Tom was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, with the 1st Calvary Division. From there, he traveled to Germany for the Exercise Reforger, an event designed to prepare NATO troops in the shadow of the Cold War. For 45 days, he was cold and wet in the fall-season fields. Without knowing where they were going, he rode in the back of the Bradley and then exited with his dismount squad when they were given the command. He fondly remembers crossing the Rhine River in Zodiac boats during the exercise. When he returned to Texas, Tom completed Air Assault School. Tom and Kelli also welcomed their oldest son in September of 1988. When it was time for Tom to reenlist, he decided he wanted to go from mechanized to light Infantry. In the Spring of 1989, he reenlisted to go to Airborne School.
His next PCS was to Fort Bragg and Tom was assigned to the 82nd Airborne, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He spent time on the range, participated in field and tactical exercises, worked with equipment, and spent lots of time doing physical training. He was promoted to SGT as they prepared for a deployment. In August of 1990, he was sent to the Gulf War for his first combat operation, spending a month in Iraq before moving into Saudi Arabia. Due to the lack of infrastructure, Tom could only make one phone call home until his return to Fort Bragg in April of 1991.
When recruiters for the Old Guard—the Army’s unit for ceremonies and presidential escorts—came to the 82nd, Tom was selected to attend the briefing, as he met the height requirement. Although he originally didn’t think he would be eligible to join the group, the Regimental Sergeant Major told him he should apply. He was accepted for the assignment and he moved to Fort Meyer, Virginia, in January of 1992. Although the hours were long, Tom loved his time serving at Arlington National Cemetery, known as the "Gardens of Stone,” to honor those who have served our nation. It was also during this time that his second son, Justin, was born.
In October of 1995, Tom was placed on duty as a recruiter in Fredericksburg and served in the position until the beginning of 2000. The hours as a recruiter were intense, mirroring the mantra "8:00 to 8:00; don’t be late!” His time in this role was extended, due to two back surgeries resulting from his many jumps and the strenuous demands from years of physical training.
He was medically reclassified and went to Fort Huachuca in Arizona where he studied to be an intelligence analyst. From there, he spent a year at Camp Stanley in Uijeongbu, South Korea. It was a hardship tour, which meant Kelli and his children were unable to join him. Tom was promoted to the role of Platoon Sergeant during this time.
Although he received orders to a military intelligence unit in Fort Meade, Maryland, the Levitt family hoped to remain closer to the Northern Virginia area where they had purchased a townhome. He reached out to fellow VFW member John Dodge—then in the personnel command—to see if there were any available positions in closer roles. While on PCS leave, Tom’s orders to the Pentagon were issued.
In June of 2001, Tom reported for duty at the Pentagon. It was only a few months later when he left from his overnight shift at 6 AM on September 11. Although the day shift NCO arrived for work, the swing shift NCO was unable to reach the Pentagon after American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the west side of the building. Tom returned to the Pentagon later that afternoon to cover the essential mid-shift position and to relieve the day shift NCO, although the building was still on fire due to the attack. From there, he helped to stand up the Crisis Action Team and ensured essential briefings were able to continue. His military contract was extended until August of 2006 on the Army staff. Tom served as the NCOIC and project manager for an intelligence SCIF.
From 2006-2009, Tom and his family enjoyed a PCS in Valencia, Spain. He was the senior enlisted Advisor for a US contingency assigned to NATO at the Spanish headquarters. He was also promoted to a Master Sergeant there.
When he retired after returning from Spain, the Levitt family returned to their home in Woodbridge. Tom took a role as a government contractor working on instructional system design in support of overseas operations. He traveled to Afghanistan twice and Korea once as a contractor.
Tom now serves as an instructor focusing on technical training. He has also devoted a significant amount of time serving the VFW in various roles—including as our Post 1503 Commander, during his post-Army life.
- Tom’s birthplace of Sharon, PA, is the home of the original Quaker Steak & Lube.
- Although Tom was not a fan of diagraming sentences in his English classes, he loved reading Edgar Allan Poe. His favorite story was "The Tell-Tale Heart” and he credits Poe’s work for his interest in reading.
- The Publix motto is "where shopping is a pleasure.” Not only did this become true for Tom when he met his coworker, Kelli, but her cousin also met her husband there. Both couples are still married.
- Tom’s parents had no idea about his proposal to Kelli during their Family Day visit. He planned everything secretly, dressed in his civilian clothes, and visited Kelli at her rental townhouse for the trip. Tom and Kelli kept their engagement secret for several weeks, but eventually told their families when they needed to start planning for the wedding just a few months later. While they were surprised, they were happy for the couple. The wedding went fairly smoothly, although it was unexpectedly moved up by a week when Tom’s training schedule was changed, only a week away from Tom’s 19th birthday.
- After Tom completed his training and moved to Fort Hood, Kelli joined him several months later. She was just in time for Thanksgiving and brought the frozen turkey with her as her carry-on luggage!
- While at Fort Bragg, Tom says he was in "pretty good shape,” running five miles a day on top of his already rigorous physical training.
- Although Tom was able to be present during the birth of his first son, both he and Kelli had contracted a mysterious illness. Tom had gone to work that morning but was sent to a doctor because of the severity of his sickness. When he returned home, Kelli wasn’t there. Not knowing she also had to see a doctor, he tried to get some sleep at home. Eventually, Kelli was able to contact him and told him it was time to deliver the baby. After 19 hours of labor, Tommy was born. Due to his jaundice, Tommy had to be in an incubator for about a week, which gave Kelli and Tom some time to recover from the whole ordeal.
- Because his uniform had to be perfect for the Old Guard, Tom knows all sorts of great cleaning tricks, including some lighter fluid to remove mud on his dress pants and using a bench grinder to buff his brass.
