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Tom Kratman is a political refugee
and defector from the People's Republic of Massachusetts. The mechanism of his defection was enlisting into the Army
in 1974 at age 17. This
deeply distressed his high school (Boston Latin, founded 1635)
as they thought he had "higher and better things"
ahead of him. He served two years as an enlisted grunt with
the 101st Airborne and another year and a half with the 193rd
Infantry Brigade in
Panama
, getting 2 years of college done in the process (when he
wasn't in the field he was taking courses). At that point the
Army gave Kratman a scholarship and sent him off to
Boston
College
to finish his degree and obtain a commission.
Tom graduated, cum laude, in
1980 and returned to the Army as an infantry officer. Tom
served another three year tour in
Panama
, then more schooling at Benning, then four+ years, mostly
commanding companies, with the 24th Infantry Division near
Savannah
,
Georgia
. Fun times then ceased for a bit while he did two years in
Recruiting Command.
Saddam Hussein (PBUH) saved Tom
from recruiting by invading
Kuwait
. He has been told that he was the only captain to actually
escape from USAREC for the war. Tom arranged a transfer to
Special Operations Command and went through the active part of
the campaign with 5th Special Forces. He continued slurping at
the Army trough until it became painfully clear that the
bottom had dropped out of the militantly and violently
aggressive anti-communism market and that he was not going to
like the rather PC direction the Army (which was, arguably,
the only thing he ever selflessly loved) was heading in.
Among other things, Tom wears a
Combat Infantry Badge and the Ranger Tab.
Tom got out in 92 and went to
law school. He hated it but was far too pig headed to quit. He
became a lawyer in 95 and quickly realized that what he had
felt about law school was but a pale shadow of true hate.
He stayed in the Reserves and took every tour he could
to avoid practicing law. And when the reserves had nothing
interesting there was MPRI
("white-collar-mercenaries-R-us")
Tom, a Lieutenant Colonel,
returned to the Army for the war.
Sadly, he turned up with a rather bad heart condition.
No more war for him…sigh.
Thus, instead of happy times with troops he ended up as
Director, Rule of Law for the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and
Stability Operation Institute (which only goes to show that
God has an odd sense of humor.
He retired from the Army last December.
Tom writes for Baen and has two
books out. A
State of Disobedience came out in December of 2003.
Watch on the Rhine, another Legacy of the
Aldenata book done with John Ringo, was published in August of
2005. Yellow
Eyes, a further PosVerse book is in the editorial queue.
Tom's married to a (really
beautiful) girl from rural western Panama. Yolanda and he have
3 children and 3 grandchildren.
He also has a son, Sergeant Kratman, from a previous
marriage. Yoli and Tom make their home in Blacksburg, VA. |
