Command Sergeant Major Michelle L. Thompson serves as the Senior Enlisted Advisor (SEA) to the Deputy Adjutant General – Army (DAG-Army) for the State of Texas. As the Senior Enlisted Advisor, CSM Thompson assists and advises the DAG-Army in exercising and executing their command responsibilities and advises on all enlisted Army matters. The SEA-Army, also works with the Chief of the Joint Staff to prepare the state for contingency operations in either a federal or state emergency, to include manmade or natural disasters, and federal military mobilizations.
CSM Thompson enlisted in the United States Army as a Combat Signal Specialist in 1991. She attended Basic Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Throughout her career she trained in multiple military occupational specialties, to include 68W, 25U, 92Y, and 91C. CSM Thompson served in the Montana Army National Guard before joining the Texas Army National Guard as a traditional Guard Soldier in 1997. In 2005, CSM Thompson deployed with the 36th Infantry Division to Iraq. Upon her return, she served as the Senior BNCOC Instructor for the 136th Regional Training Institute at Camp Mabry, Texas, until she returned to Iraq in 2009. Following deployment, she has served in a variety of positions, to include First Sergeant, C Company, 949th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB); Command Sergeant Major, 949th Brigade Support Battalion; and Command Sergeant Major, 36th Sustainment Brigade Special Troops Battalion. While serving as the Special Troops Battalion CSM, she concurrently assisted in standing up the 372d Combat Service Support Battalion in Dallas, Texas. Following that assignment, CSM Thompson was selected as the Command Sergeant Major, 36th Sustainment Brigade where she served from October 2017-May 2020. She has worked in-parallel as a trauma nurse and an Emergency Preparedness team member in her civilian career. Prior to her selection as SEA-Army, CSM Thompson served simultaneously as the Senior Enlisted Leader, 71st Troop Command and J3 Sergeant Major, Joint Force Headquarters-Texas where she assisted in coordinating with the Texas Division of Emergency Management and other local agencies to resource the Texas National Guard’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Civil Disturbance response operations at the National Capitol and Texas Capitol, Winter Weather Response, and the initial Texas border response of 2021.