W. Thomas Smith, Jr.
P.O. Box 8783 ~ Columbia, S.C. 29202

                         

BIOGRAPHY (this bio is in serious need of updating and editing. For the latest, please contact WTSjr)

W. Thomas Smith, Jr. is an American author, editor, and journalist who has written six books (including two co-authored titles), edited two, contributed to others, and penned countless articles and essays for a variety of national and international magazines and newspapers, including: USA TODAY (national and international editions), George, The New York Post, U.S. News & World Report, BusinessWeek, National Review Online (NRO), The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Orlando Sentinel, The Florida Times-Union, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, The Charlotte Observer, The Washington Times, The State, CBS News, Marine Corps Times, NBA.com, Agencia EFE (the world's largest Spanish-language news wire), The (U.K.) Guardian, The Scripps Howard News Service, MilitaryWeek, Military.com, and many others. 
        Smith is a columnist for Townhall.com, the executive editor of World Defense Review, a contributing editor with NavySEALs.com, a frequent contributor to NRO, and one of the founding writers for NRO's military blog, The Tank (where he posted a series of dispatches from Iraq, March-April 2007 and July-August 2007). He has served on the adjunct faculty at the University of South Carolina (USC) School of Journalism & Mass Communications.

childhood

Smith was born in Columbia, South Carolina - a ninth-generation South Carolinian and the first of four children - to William Thomas "Bill" and Alba Antoinette "Tita" Smith. His father, a Korean War veteran, was president of what became for a time the largest tire dealership in the state. His mother was a homemaker. As a boy, Smith played team sports, was a Boy Scout, and he developed a strong religious faith (was raised a Baptist and became a Presbyterian in adulthood) as well as a passion for hunting, art, poetry, military history, and stories of his native south; all of which would be reflected in his later work. 
                                                                                                                                                
education & military service


Smith graduated from USC in 1982 with a baccalaureate degree in history. He then traveled much of the globe as a rifle squad (infantry) leader with the fighting 5th Marines - the Corps' most decorated regiment. With the Marine Corps, he also served as a paratrooper and a shipboard special weapons security and counter-terrorism instructor. Following the Marines, he served as an Armed Response – Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) – officer in the nuclear industry.
Smith's military skills would later serve him as a civilian journalist reporting from battlefields in the Balkans and the Middle East (He would also cover the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from New York), as well as writing about military issues, national security, and the global war on terrorism. 

                               "Pat Conroy once said that, 'no Southern man is complete without a tenure under military rule.'  I'm quite certain I wouldn't be." 
                                                                           -------- W. Thomas Smith, Jr. in a 2004 interview for Free Times (Columbia, S.C.)

early career and war
In 1995, Smith traveled to the Balkans where he covered the final days of the Bosnian War (weeks before the arrival of U.S. troops), venturing to the front lines, across no-man's land, and spending several days in a Bosnian refugee camp.
        He was "recognized" by the S.C. General Assembly for his coverage.
        Two years later, Smith found himself in the heart of the West Bank covering a spate of clashes in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There, he spent several days living in a PLO camp in Judea. He also patrolled the streets of Hebron with Israeli paratroopers. Both stories were published in a series for a S.C. weekly.
        Smith simultaneously covered local politics and police investigations, lived with and wrote about the homeless, and investigated and exposed weaknesses in public security.
        Also in 1997, Smith was subpoenaed by civil rights attorney Morris Dees' Southern Poverty Law Center to testify against the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina. The subpoena was issued after a series of articles, based on Smith's infiltration of the KKK's state headquarters, was deemed important evidence in what proved to be a watershed civil case (targeting racially motivated "church burnings" across the South). Smith's testimony aired live on Court TV and has since been referenced on PBS's online documentary, Forgotten Fires.
        From 1998-99, Smith served as associate editor of Greater Columbia Business Monthly. He continued to write on a freelance basis.
        During that period, an interview he conducted with retired Gen. William C. Westmoreland appeared in George magazine. The piece was published as a counterpoint to an interview with North Vietnamese Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap. The Giap interview was conducted by John F. Kennedy, Jr., the magazine's founder.
        Smith's and Kennedy's bylines were published together (Contents, George, Nov. 1998).

"going independent"
In early 1999, Smith left salaried-journalism to further his independent writing career. for the first few years, his projects included books, articles, essays, reviews, a weekly column, corporate newsletters and annual reports, as well as coordinating appearances for professional athletes on national radio and television programs. He also wrote personal and professional letters over the signatures of Florida Governor Jeb Bush and NBA basketball star Vince Carter, and he was the sole columnist for former head football Coach Lou Holtz's official website during Holtz's inaugural season at USC.
        In 2000, Smith landed his first of six book deals (see BOOKS).
 
the terrorist attacks of 9/11
On September 11, 2001, Smith was watching (on television) as the second airliner crashed into the World Trade Center. Commenting to his family that it was probably the work of Osama bin Laden, he tossed his suitcases in the trunk of his car and drove straight to New York. There he covered (for several newspapers and magazines) the immediate aftermath of the attacks from several points,
including "ground zero" in lower Manhattan.

teaching writers
In addition to writing and reporting, Smith has lectured myriad audiences from writers conferences to Fortune 500 companies to the U.S. armed forces, and he coaches writers of all skill levels. He has taught magazine feature writing, breaking into national print, public opinion and propaganda, and reporting at USC, and he is slated to begin a course on breaking into national print at the Buckley School of Written Expression.

recent work
Smith has been interviewed by numerous regional and national newspapers and magazines (including The Writer, Writer's Digest, Women's Day, Slate, The New York Post, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jewish World Review, The Florida Times-Union, USA TODAY, and many others); FOX NEWS Channel's "Big Story," E! Entertainment Television's True Hollywood Story Investigates, NBC, CBS, and ABC television affiliates; and several nationally syndicated and international radio programs, including the BBC, NPR, Bill Bennett's "Morning in America," and The Jim Bohannon Show. Excerpts of an interview with Smith (by writer Megan McMorris) appear in the ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing by Timothy Harper (New York: St. Martins Press. September 2003). 
        Smith's articles have appeared on the front pages of USA TODAY and The Washington Times, and he has contributed to cover stories in U.S. News & World Report. Other articles and essays - primarily those published in World Defense Review, MilitaryWeek, National Review Online (NRO), and Townhall.com related to military issues and the war on terror - are often re-published in other media, including ABC NEWS's Daily Terrorism Report, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies website, the U.S. Department of Defense's official websites, and the U.S. House Armed Services Committee website.
        Smith is one of the founding contributors to NRO's military blog, The Tank.

War in Iraq
From late March through early April 2007, Smith reported from Iraq, updating frequently on National Review Online's military blog, The Tank. During his time in country, he was attached to the London-based private security company, ArmorGroup. 
        In July 2007, Smith returned to Iraq where he was embedded with U.S. forces - the Marines' Regimental Combat Team 2, the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), and the Army's 1st Cavalry Division - serving in Al Anbar Province (along the Syrian border and near Al Taqaddum) and Baghdad.  

                  
Also...
Smith's books have received numerous stellar reviews, and among the awards and accolades received for his articles and essays are several "significant article" picks by MilitaryWeek. 
        Smith has served as a board member with the S.C. Athletic Hall of Fame, a deacon in the Presbyterian Church, and is currently a member of several professional organizations, including the American Society of Journalists & Authors, the National Press Club, the Southeastern Writers Association, the Columbia World Affairs Council, the Columbia Media Club (where he served as boardmember at-large and that organization's first newsletter editor), and he serves on the advisory board of the Southern Literature Council of Charleston.
        Smith serves as an "on call" military technical advisor for FactChasers, an international research service.
        Smith's downtime is spent with family. He’s a Gamecock football fan who also enjoys reading, traveling, hunting, and visits to the Columbia YMCA where he has been referred to as “the fastest man on the speedbag.”