"Bright Sunshine in battle fatigues" 1st Sgt. Micchicco Thompson at home taking care of Soldiers at the LA-RFO. Photo by Spec. Larry Gleeson, LA-RFO. Back to Features

Combat-Tested Sparkle
Dragnet-tagged 1st Sergeant lives up to her enlightening name
By Dave Harris, public affairs specialist, Louisiana Recovery Field Office

With her name and rank taken from the no-nonsense "Just-the-facts, Ma’am" Dragnet series, Sgt. 1st  Class Micchicco A. Thompson locked and loaded her weapon in the combat zone in Iraq.

As the only female enlisted Soldier from her unit on this mission, she pointed her weapon out the Humvee, her eyes peeled for improvised explosive devices – IEDs.

This symbol of authority is a blend of super-sized inner strength, resolve, confidence and heart in a small package. Now the first sergeant in the Louisiana Recovery Field Office, Thompson recalled her combat duty as dental hygienist.

“We were providing dental and medical care for the villagers. After 45 minutes to an hour, people surrounded us,” Thompson said. “They were appreciative, and I hated to, but I had to tell them to get off of me. I was shouting, ‘Back off, back off!’ It was dangerous, and my training had instilled in me that children can kill you too – trust no one – and that includes women and children. It was scary.

"In that village, there were MPs in every area of the building where we worked. Then we’d drive back and pray that there was no IED out there. I felt really proud of myself as the only enlisted Soldier to go out and do that."

Thompson received the Bronze Star for her time there.

What’s the "Dragnet Connection"?

“My aunt was watching Dragnet one night, and they had a woman on the show named Micchicco, and so I was given her name,” she said. But if she fulfills her goal of reaching the grade of sergeant major, the highest enlisted grade, she’ll end up outranking Dragnet’s Sgt. Joe Friday.

Some think her aunt was prophetic in choosing the name Micchicco. Thompson met a Japanese woman who knew the meaning: Bright Sunshine.  Each day, reliably exuberant, Thompson makes her whirlwind rounds in the LA-RFO spreading her contagious sparkle with her customary uplifting “Hi, how are you doing?” Here, one can readily discern the infectious warmth of her trademark mile-wide smile the meaning of her name, which presents a stunning contrast to her sobering battlefield vigil.

If anyone ever has a bad day in the Army, Thompson will tell you she never does. “I don’t make it bad – people may make the military bad for themselves; it’s how you make it bad; you make it happen. If you have a bad attitude about your boss or place of work, it’s going to be bad for you.”

“The Army has been great,” she said. “It has allowed me to get a degree and to achieve my goals,” among which was, as a stepping stone, E-8, first sergeant, sporting a diamond in her insignia of rank.

“My brother and I were the only ones in our family to join the military. He is 10-11 years older than I, and I follow his footsteps. He was in combat, and so was I.”

A first sergeant is like a parent to her Soldiers, making sure they are safely and amply fed, bedded down, paid, disciplined and motivated.

“I make sure the Soldier’s lodging and travel is taken care of, along with safety briefings when they first come aboard,” she said. The accident rate is less than 5 percent, meaning we’re not having that many accidents. We’re getting results because they’re listening to what I’m putting out.

“Triggering in my mind at all times I have the words, ‘be safe,’ and I’m always telling the Soldiers to stay aware of their surroundings – ‘change to make yourself adapt to what’s happening out there.’”

Besides a parent’s obvious concerns for the physical well-being of those in her charge, a first sergeant has to have a mom or dad’s instinct for some of the less tangible insights of a counselor or therapist of sorts.

Thompson said she must assume this role if she encounters a troubled young Soldier.

“I’d do my best to seek help for you,” she’ll tell him or her. “We can find help from what we call the Army of One Source. If I speak to the Soldier and I feel this person needs more assistance, I can’t judge, but as a first sergeant and as a fellow human being, I can get this person the right kind of help, and they’ll make that decision.”

Thompson said she tries to instill integrity and respect by example.

“I have to be a person of integrity first before the Soldier will believe and trust in me. If I’m not straight up or honest, Soldiers will not take my leadership seriously. When you have integrity among both Soldiers and Civilians, people respect you a lot more,” Thompson said.

“This is the first time I have deployed with the Corps of Engineers, and I relate to a lot of mission managers. I get a lot more respect in wearing this uniform as a ‘green-suiter’ if I give the mission managers what they want and when I make things happen when it comes to Soldiers.

“If you earn respect, you’ll get respect – you’ve got to earn it first before you get it.”

Making things happen and meeting and exceeding expectations are recurring themes in Thompson’s demeanor.

“The Corps of Engineers achieves mission results by picking up debris and going to residents’ homes to take care of the leaners and hangers,” she said, referring to precarious storm-damaged trees whose limbs threatened life and property.

 “I try to work to help create a safe, warm environment where people work as a team – Soldiers and Civilians - to make it all come together for the people of New Orleans,” she said.

Deputy commander and executive officer Lt. Col. Jerone Bostick says, “She has a drive fueled by her compassion for Soldiers. As long as she’s been in the first sergeant’s role here, she’s tried to serve the Soldier by running interference for them with any matter that might hinder their performance on this tour. She enables the Soldier to concentrate on performing his or her duties in an exemplary manner.” If the Soldier has an issue, she will “exhaust every possibility” to resolve it.

Thompson has high expectations for herself, her Soldiers, the Corps and the Army, and yet the softer side of her understands the human condition.

“How I see things is in the Bible way – I understand as reality that, as humans we’re not perfect, in the way we do things in life – there are ways things are done correctly; still, there are things that are not always done in the correct way,” she said. “I try not to hold that against anybody; I’ve got to live for me – when it comes to me I make sure I try to do things the proper way, but none of us is perfect. I’m not perfect, and yet I have a strong belief that if you treat people fairly and equally - if you always do good to others – it will come back to you.”

Besides Iraq, Thompson served 14 years and nine months on active duty at Fort Irwin, Calif.; Fort Lee, Va.; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; in Europe: Frankfurt, Augsburg, Hanau, Belgium and Vincennes; and Fort Bragg, N.C. Considering the needs of her daughter, Inia, she left active duty rather than accept an assignment to Korea and joined the Reserve.

The decision resulted in Inia’s eventual enrollment at the University of North Carolina at Pembrook, where she is majoring in teaching and business.

“She is a well-rounded young lady. I raised her in the church. She is both respectable, and respectful to adults, a beautiful person.

Thompson herself achieved a four-year degree while tackling civilian life, she said, never losing her love of the Army.

Why not seek a commission?

“I could have applied for Officer Candidate School, but I was achieving my goals on the enlisted side of the house and getting rank really fast,” she said. I enjoyed working and talking with Soldiers.

“Enlisted Soldiers are the backbone of the Army and that’s where I want to be.”

And she has a description for Soldier and Civilian, herself included, working hard to help New Orleans recover from their ruinous, historic storms:

“You are the elite. I would think that of myself as well,” Thompson said. “We all face what I would call artificial barriers. The word ‘can’t’ is not in my vocabulary….Every human being in their own way – they are elite – there’s something particular and special about them, whether they are old, young, rich, poor, fat or slender, God makes people in their own unique elite or special way.”

As for herself, she said she looks to her grandmother, for whom people had “nothing but kind words.”

She concluded, “My ideal is that after I’m gone, when people hear my name, people will say, ‘She was a beautiful person and had a beautiful soul.’”