Raymond A. Thomas

Lieutenant General Raymond A. Thomas III is a senior officer in the United States Army and current commander of Joint Special Operations Command.

He has participated in numerous combat operations, such as; Operation Just Cause in 1989, Gulf War in 1991, and since 2001 the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every year between 2001 and 2013 (minus his time in Iraq with the First Armored Division in 2007) Thomas deployed to Afghanistan as part of various special operations units.

Military career
Thomas graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1980. Thomas was a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment. He was also a troop commander, squadron operations officer, unit executive officer and squadron commander within Delta Force.

Thomas crossed over from the special operations realm into the conventional warfare realm when he was selected by Lieutenant General Mark P. Hertling, then-commander of the First Armored Division, to be his deputy commander during the Iraq War, from 2007 to 2008. During that tour the division worked alongside Arabs and Kurds and despite the difficult relationship between the ethnic groups Thomas was praised by Hertling for "his ability to quickly fuse intelligence" adding, "He helped us fight better." After his tenure in the First Armored Division came to an end Thomas returned to Special Operations. From 2010 until 2012 Thomas served as the deputy commander of Joint Special Operations Command. As a major general, Thomas was in charge of all U.S. and NATO special forces in Afghanistan from 2012 until 2013. Every year between 2001 and 2013 (minus his time in Iraq with the First Armored Division in 2007) Thomas deployed to Afghanistan as part of various special operations units.

After commanding all US and NATO SOF units in Afghanistan Thomas was promoted to lieutenant general and was reassigned the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia where he served as the Associate Director of the Central Intelligence Agency for Military Affairs. In August 2014, Thomas replaced Joseph Votel as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, Votel was promoted to four-star general and replaced Admiral McRaven as the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.