He later received a Master of Science degree in information technology from the Naval Postgraduate School.

[6] Thomas started off as a carrier aviator in the E-2C Hawkeye; he rose quickly to serve as commanding officer of VAW-117 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

[6] Thomas served as the commander of Carrier Strike Group 5 for a time, deploying on USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) out of Yokosuka, Japan.

[6][7][8] While in that role he took the opportunity to stress "Freedom of Navigation Operations" when his weaker allies couldn't.

[10] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government.