BAUMHOLDER, Germany — The morning Sgt. David Thomson graduated from Shippensburg University, his car was packed for a nine-month deployment he barely had time to prepare for.
Though he did not walk across the stage for his graduation because of a mix‑up related to his deployment preparations, his family still drove in from New York to celebrate. From the stands he watched the graduation, including his girlfriend walking across the stage, while his mind was already turning to a different checklist.
“Did I pack everything for nine months?” he remembers thinking. “I didn’t have much time to pack.”
Thomson, a public affairs specialist with the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 109th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, had spent the previous week bouncing between finals, family plans and last‑minute packing. The shift from celebration to mobilization on the same day was abrupt but it fit him.
He is someone who can step from one world into another without losing his footing, who sees change not as disruption but as an opportunity to prepare for whatever comes next.
That willingness to step into the unknown has carried him through the past several months. Thomson, currently deployed here in support of U.S. Special Operations Command Europe, uses that adaptability alongside his creative mind. While deployed with SOCEUR, photography and videography of special operations are major aspects of his job.
His creative roots run deep. Painting and sculpting have always been part of his life and as a kid he spent his summers in classrooms, taking fine art classes while his friends were at the pool. Even now, that artistic lens shapes how he works in public affairs and helps the Army tell its story.
“I have such a different view on things,” Thomson said. “Sometimes everybody else will be thinking or doing something similar and I just have a completely different idea of how things are going. Hopefully, I can bring a different kind of view into telling the Army story.”
But creativity is only one side of him. The other is the competitor who pushes himself, studies obsessively and refuses to be average.
Aside from his creative interests, Thomson loves to stay active. He runs a marathon every two weeks, not always in organized races, but as a regular habit. It is how he clears his mind and stays outside.
That drive to test himself led him to the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 2023 Best Warrior Competition, an experience he describes with a mix of intensity and humor.
“It kinda felt like the Hunger Games a little bit,” he said. “Everyone’s kind and friendly, but we’re just ruthlessly competing with each other.”
When Thomson learned he had been selected for the competition, he prepared the only way he knew how, with full intent and focus. While others might have skimmed a study guide, he dove in. He spent hours listening to podcasts and watching board‑prep videos, pressing pause to take notes on regulations and doctrine.
The board ended up being his strongest event. In front of a panel of senior noncommissioned officers, he fielded questions on leadership, Army doctrine and regulations. It is the kind of high‑pressure setting that rattles even the most confident Soldiers.
“I listened to so many podcasts and YouTube videos about board prep,” Thomson said. “I really like diving into how we do a lot of things in the Army. Until that point, I didn’t know why a lot of things functioned the way they did.”
The competition did more than test him. It changed how he approaches everything else. The same study, prepare, execute mindset helped him complete Air Assault School and later teach classes back home. Experiences like Best Warrior, he said, taught him to be ready before he needs to be. It is a lesson he keeps relearning.
If there is a single thread that ties Thomson’s Army and personal stories together, it is preparedness.
“The Army likes to throw you in different situations,” he said. “Oftentimes, people find themselves not prepared. You think you’re not going to do something, but then you spend 18 hours in a place and you don’t have enough water, you don’t have enough food, you don’t have a charged phone. You don’t have a pen and paper.”
He has been that Soldier once or twice. He has no intention of letting it happen again.
On missions, he is the one with extra gear. When a teammate showed up to a field assignment without water, he handed over a bottle and a blunt reminder to hydrate. When another forgot memory cards and batteries, Thomson had spares ready in his ruck.
“I love packing my ruck, packing the car,” Thomson said. “All these little complexities in life, if you just prepare ahead and think ahead and plan ahead, it really helps.”
That attention to detail goes beyond field problems. He treats travel days and college deadlines the same way, with planning documents, backups and contingencies in advance. He jokes that Soldiers have an edge over “regular college kids” because the Army forces them to think ahead.
“Proper planning prevents poor performance,” Thomson said. “A lot of our generation doesn’t plan ahead.”
For him, planning ahead is not just about missions. It is about life. His motivation, he said, comes from a place most people his age do not talk about openly. Ultimately, Thomson is working for a future family he has not met yet. He wants to set them up for success and already thinks about how to be a better father.
He traces that mindset back to how he was raised, in a family that emphasized faith, values and character. Following a set of morals and ethics, he said, is as important to him as physical fitness or career goals.
Since deploying to Europe in December, Thomson has publicly released dozens of images, videos and news stories capturing the efforts of U.S. special operations forces and showing what it means to serve. He has covered sniper training, cyber simulations, Green Berets on deep strike and drone exercises, and led a small team documenting an airborne exercise.
Outside of work, he refuses to let nine months overseas disappear into routine.
“Wasting time,” Thomson said, when asked what worries him most. “We have so much time here, and I want things to show for it, after setting aside my life for nine months.”
He is constantly reviewing how he spends that time, adjusting his habits and goals. One week it is refining his training plan, another it is reworking his graduate school application materials or sketching out a new design idea.
His favorite part of being an Army public affairs specialist is when he is doing the gritty parts of the job in the mud, mountains or cold. He likes being with combat arms Soldiers, especially when they realize the public affairs guy can keep up.
“I like when I can be faster and stronger than some of the combat arms people,” he said, laughing. “When they see me with a big ruck and a camera and they’re like, ‘Oh, the camera guy can do it. Why can’t you do it?’”
Those shared hardships are the moments that make him feel most connected to the Soldier he wants to be, when he is cold, wet and tired, carrying a ruck and a camera, doing the same hard work as the Soldiers he is there to photograph. Sometimes they even turn the lens on him, snapping unflattering photos in the rain or mud and sending them back to him later.
Thomson does not mind. It means he is right where he wants to be.
“I like the idea of living a strenuous life, being a little gritty,” Thomson said. “I don’t want to be like everybody else. I hope to teach people to have some critical thinking in life. Don’t just go with what the crowd does. Do things a little different.”