San Marcos Academy Welcomes Former Marine
and Iraqi War Veteran as Teacher, Coach
Her middle school math and keyboarding students call her Ms. Thom. To her cross
country and swim teams, she is known as Coach. Triathletes know her as an Ironman after her
successful completion of the 140.6 mile Ironman Florida
triathlon in 2009. Fellow midshipmen at Annapolis
knew her as a Division-I swimmer. And the Marines . .
. they called her Lieutenant—and later Captain—as she
led them in bridge-building missions and reconstruction
efforts through war-torn Iraq.
These days, Adrien Thom seems perfectly content to be known as a member of the
faculty and coach at San Marcos Academy. “This is a position that combines all I have prepared
for throughout my life,” Thom said “When you step back and look at the whole picture, I just
couldn’t have been groomed for doing anything else.”
Academy parents and administrators agree that Thom is a perfect fit for the school’s
academic, athletic and leadership programs.
“She’s just full of life,” said Debbie Chandler, whose 7th grade daughter, Kelsey, runs on
the middle school cross country team. “She is lively and energetic, and she loves her students.
She praises and encourages and motivates them as a coach, and she knows how to get the best
out of her athletes. Kelsey loves Coach Thom as a coach and as a teacher—she is strict with
them, but really fair. There seems to be nothing she can’t do—she’s just phenomenal.”
President John Garrison added, “Adrien Thom brings an incredible story of personal
courage and dedication to her teaching and coaching duties at the Academy. Our students who
know her background feel privileged to have her as their coach, teacher, and leader. They work
hard because they do not want to let her down by giving anything less than their best effort.”
Thom grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, where she attended private Christian schools, similar to
the Academy, and discovered the allure of athletic competition.
“I was swimming competitively from a pretty young age,” Thom said. “My dad
competed in triathlons, so I entered those, too--I was ranked fourth in the nation at age nine
among Ironkids. My parents encouraged my brother and me to get involved in swimming and
triathlons so we’d have something to keep us busy before and after school.”
Although her family traveled frequently, Thom said it was a little surprising when her
parents decided to move to Seoul, Korea, for two years in order to be on hand for the 1988
Summer Olympics. “I attended the Seoul International School for my sixth grade year. I had a
great time in Korea and have good memories of watching the games and meeting Olympic
athletes like swimmer Janet Evans.”
Thom and her family returned to Lafayette, where she attended the Episcopal School of
Acadiana and graduated from St. Thomas More Catholic High
School. She and her brother started the swim team at the school,
and by her senior year, Thom was qualifying for state meets as
the swim team captain. She received a swimming scholarship to
Florida State, but the involvement of family friends, Colonel
Charles Kazilek and Colonel George Everette “Bud” Day, a
Medal of Honor recipient and former POW in North Vietnam,
influenced the change in direction of her life. Kazilek and Day suggested that she consider the
Naval Academy, and with their influential recommendations, Thom was accepted into the
Academy’s Preparatory School. She was swim team captain and was then appointed to the
United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. She competed for Navy’s swim team all four of her
undergraduate years.
When graduation arrived, Thom opted to serve in the Marine Corps rather than the Navy.
“I had a lot of Marine Corps influence from the other midshipmen and instructors around me,
and I felt that was the best fit for me. I wanted something with high physical expectations and
also liked the idea of a smaller community which the Marines offered.”
Thom was assigned to basic training at Quantico, Virginia, where she was selected as one
of a handful of class commanders.
For her first duty assignment, she was sent to Japan to plan and complete engineering
projects and humanitarian operations in places like Guadalcanal, East Timor and Australia. She
also served as a swim instructor for the Marines and as a swim coach for children of Marines on
the base. She was in Japan in 2001 when the September 11 attacks took place. “We basically
went into lock down at that time,” Thom said. “We weren’t allowed to leave the base, as there
were many potential threats in the region.”
When her tour in Japan was over, she planned to spend some leave time in Seattle,
Washington, and arrived there in December of 2002. But it wasn’t long before she received a call
from the Marines. “They asked me what size desert camouflage utilities I wore, and I knew what
that meant.” She reported to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for training, and by the end of
January, 2003, she was in Kuwait, with the 8th Engineer Support Battalion.
“One evening,” Thom recalled, “the Colonel pulled me in and said I was being assigned
to work with Assault Bridge Company Bravo.” This platoon eventually covered 400 miles,
completing bridge-building missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom I.
With that assignment, Thom became one of the first female Marines attached to a ground
combat unit on the forward edge of a battle area. It was, in fact, counter to Marine Corps
protocol that prohibited women from taking part in direct ground combat operations.
“We were on the front lines, but there was no one else available then to put in my
position,” Thom explained. “I didn't want to give up my command to a male just because I'm a
female. I know I'm just as capable.”
As they moved toward Baghdad, Thom’s unit lived out of their vehicles, often short of
food, and built bridges, including the longest floating bridge erected since the Vietnam War
days, known as Pearl 3. “We had arrived at the location outside of An Numinayah [about 50
miles from Baghdad, on the Tigris River] at about 5 p.m. and as night descended, we built the
bridge in the dark using night vision goggles and infrared lights,” Thom said. “Despite the
extreme circumstances, we finished it that night; it was a successful operation.” Thom described
this task as a “defining moment” in her life.
Another highlight followed shortly thereafter, when Thom was entrusted to lead a 15Marine team through 90 miles of known hostile territory to complete an avenue of advance for
the ground assault on Baghdad. The team arrived on the
outskirts of Baghdad the day before American troops
began their assault on the city. “We were tasked to
deliver critical bridge parts needed to complete an avenue
of advance at Nar Diyalah,” Thom said. “It was a
frightening time. People were asking us how we managed to make it safely—they couldn’t
believe we had actually done it. There were incoming rounds, injuries and casualties, lots of
moving parts, and critical decisions being made each moment. We were exhausted and hungry;
that day was pretty incredible.”
For the remainder of her tour, Thom’s unit continued through Iraq clearing roads and
doing other projects. “I remember spending my 28th birthday standing in the middle of a field full
of unexploded ordnance,” Thom said. After returning to Camp Lejeune for another year of
training, Thom was re-deployed to Iraq with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. “We occupied
and reinforced bases of operation at Kalsu, Iskandariyah and Mahmudiyah,” Thom said. Mortar
and rocket attacks were frequent. “At Kalsu, I felt like a hamster in a cage,” she said.
The assignment did allow some opportunities to work with youngsters again, however, as
Thom was charged with acquiring resources and financial aid from the U.S. Embassy to provide
humanitarian assistance to schools in the local communities. “We received school supplies and
sports equipment to outfit the schools in an attempt to give back to the area we had occupied and
damaged in the past,” Thom explained.
Eight months later, her second tour ended, and Thom returned home. “It was Feb. 28,
2005. “ Thom recalled. “I got off the bus, was promoted to captain at the next formation, and
received my terminal leave papers shortly thereafter.” Having put in her time with the Marines,
Thom said she was ready to move on.
After a brief coaching stint in North Carolina, Thom arrived in Kyle, Texas, to coach club
swimming, triathlon and substitute teach in the Hays CISD. She also decided to start working
toward one of her lifelong goals: completing an Ironman triathlon.
After a year of training, she went to Panama City for the 2009 Ironman Florida race,
consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. “This was something I had
always wanted to do, and I finished the race,” Thom said. “But afterward, I lost my focus for a
while. Whenever you finish a big life goal, you feel a little lost at first—I had to restructure my
life goals and figure out where to go from there.”
Thom said she realized how much she missed coaching and teaching. “I had really loved
substitute teaching in Hays and being a coach of the Hays Swim Club,” Thom said. One of the
athletes she had coached there was Zane Shirley, whose mother, Belle Shirley-Howell, teaches at
the Academy. Shirley-Howell told Thom about an open teaching position at the school and
encouraged her to come out and apply.
“Adrien's moral compass and work ethic is what draws people to her,” Shirley-Howell
said. “She has a smile that lights up a room and bold
voice that can hug or scold as needed. She knows how
to back up and try again. She knows how to apologize,
she knows how to stand firm when no one else is.
These are the ideals of SMA—to stand up for what is
right in a world that thinks truth is negotiable.”
Kate Robbins, director of human resources, said she saw the same special qualities in
Thom when she came for her interview in the summer of 2010. “I am delighted that we could
hire her,” Robbins said.
In addition to her assignments as middle school math and keyboarding teacher, Thom
serves as coach of the cross country team, which completed their successful season in midOctober. “We had ten runners in middle and high school,” Thom said. “There was an incredible
interest level, and the kids showed a lot of improvement.”
Another area in which Thom has offered her services is with Academy’s voluntary
JROTC program, where she tutors the female cadets in the proper way to wear their uniforms
and keep their hair pinned up.
“Ms. Thom is an invaluable resource for our JROTC program as the role model of a
professional female officer,” LTC Larry Revell, the senior Army instructor said. “Her proven
leadership in combat, in athletic endeavors and in the classroom instills a sense of awe in our
students and motivates them to achieve higher levels of accomplishment.”
The next challenge for Thom is coaching the Academy swim team. “I take swimming
very seriously,” she explained. “It’s such a solid part of my background.”
The Academy has been without a swim coach for the last few years, so Thom said she is
looking forward to re-building the program and encouraging students to join the team. No doubt
encouraged by what Athletic Director Toby Wade calls Thom’s “contagious energy and
enthusiasm,” she drew close to 30 students for the first team meeting.
“She can be very tough, but she never stops encouraging the kids when trying to get more
out of them,” Wade said. “I think that her experience and personality will pull more students into
the swim program.”
For someone who has lived all over the world and come through two tours of combat
duty on the front lines in Iraq, Thom said she is content to stay put at the Academy for the
foreseeable future. “I really love this area, and I feel so comfortable here,” Thom said. “This is
my home.”