Message from the Director

About your Veteran Services Officer

Tom served enlisted and as an officer in the Unites States Marine Corps and retired as a CWO4. His service spanned 30 years as a Utilities Electrician to an Engineer Utilities Officer with duties as an operations planner, company commander, and a maintenance and logistics officer.  During his career, Tom had multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He also spent time on the DMZ in South Korea and participated in operations in the Philippines and Thailand.  Tom served aboard the USS Belleau Wood and USS Tarawa.

 His duty assignments included: 

  • Boot Camp – San Diego, CA
  • Engineer School for basic and advanced MOS training -- Camp Lejeune, NC
  • The Basic School officer training and other advance training -- Quantico, VA
  • 2nd LAAM BN, MACS-1, and MWSS 371 -- MCAS Yuma, AZ
  • 7th Engineer Support Bn, 9th Communications Bn, and 1rd Maintenance Bn -- Camp Pendleton, CA
  • 7th Communications Bn, 9th Engineer Support Bn and Camp HQ -- Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan
  • 3rd Maintenance Battalion -- Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan  
  • Depot HQ, Facilities Maintenance -- MCRD San Diego, CA  
Thomas Franks

Home Life

Tom has a rich family history of military service. Tom’s dad served in the Marine Corps, a Vietnam Veteran, for over 30 years achieving the highest enlisted rank.  His brother has 30-years of service as a mustang officer in the Coast Guard and a son who served as a Marine officer for 6 years with service in Afghanistan.  Tom was born on a Marine Corps installation and raised on Marine Corps installations throughout the country.  Tom attended and graduated at NAU with a bachelors in Business and Management.   After completing his military service, Tom became a licensed Skilled Nursing Home Administrator.  He has resided in Kootenai County since 2016, and has children and grandchildren.  Tom loves spending time with his family and participating in the community.  He also enjoys pretty much anything outside to include fishing, boating, site-seeing, being a “foody”, concerts, sporting events, and sharing sea stories with his fellow veterans.  

A Word from the VSO

Our team is committed to being advocates for the Veteran and his/her family members.  We are committed to giving outstanding service and assistance. Our office excels at providing information and assistance in preparation of VA Claims paperwork.  We can answer your questions on VA Benefits and direct you to resources that can help you successfully navigate through the Department of Veterans Affairs. We are all Veterans in the VSO Office.  We speak your language. Outside of VA related issues, we can often help point veterans and families the right direct with other veteran related issues. We cannot solve all your problems but we will always do what we can!  Best of all, our services are FREE.  So give us (Tom and Jessica) a call, drop-by and/or visit us.  We are here for you!