Tom Burgess will be our guest speaker at this year’s Veteran’s Day event.
Tom graduated Syracuse University with a major in marketing. After graduation, he joined the Air Force (for 23 years.) Most of his first 5 years of service were spent aboard the E-3B AWACS. As a result of that service, he and his crew were chosen as the primary strike controller on the first night of Desert Storm. After his Iraq engagement, he spent 3 years as a counter-drug officer and an Associate Professor at the Air Force Academy. After the Academy, he spent 10 years flying on the E-8C Joint-STARS filling roles as Instructor/Evaluator, Mission Crew Commander, and Test Engineer. During his tenure on Joint-STARS, he flew missions in the Middle East supporting coalition ground forces for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan).
After retiring from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel, he went to work for Northrop Grumman as a systems Engineer working on the aircraft he flew on during active duty. He later decided to leave Northrop Grumman and take a leap of faith to open his own business. He continues to operate Christian Brothers Automotive repair facility in Cumming.