That was a fluke... He convinced the State of Illinois to charter the Nauvoo Legion as part of the Illinois State Militia, he also conned them into appointing him as a Lt. General. As he was legally serving as a Lt. General in an approved state militia he became the highest serving military officer at the time as at the time there were no other Lt. Generals.
Had he not been killed it is possible that he would have been the highest or one of the highest ranking officers in the Mexican War.
Tommy is a Navy veteran of WW2 but currently,there is no way TSM could be anything like that. He is what he is, an old broke dick.
For what it is worth, the Nauvoo Legion relocated to Utah Territory and became the Territorial Militia. Their Cedar City component was part of the Mountain Meadow Massacre.
Today, the Nauvoo Legion is known as the 2/222 Field Artillery of the Utah National Guard, having served several times in Iraq.
Tommy worked hard to get his officer's commission in the US Naval reserve. Very soon after Tommy completed it, Harold B. Lee told Tom: well that's nice, now go resign it. You are going to have more important (church) things to do.
Yes, I am saying that Tommy was a marked man, he was Harold B. Lee's personal plant in the leadership ranks of LDS Inc. Tommy would have been used as Harold B Lee's stooge, except that Lee died a lot sooner than Lee expected. The early hefty head start that Lee gave to Tommy ended up catapulting Tommy to the very top of LDS inc leadership. There is NO substitute for having an industrial strength mentor and an inside shot when a person is playing corporate politics. ..... WHAT, you thought Tommy made it on merit ? Or that he really was chosen of the Lord? Take one look at Gordon BS Hinckley to blow that theory to Hell. It was politics in its most blatant form.
If the truth were fully exposed, everyone of the people who make it into the elite ranks of LDS Inc leadership is beholden to some one or some group higher up that specifically selected them with strings attached as a project, to be their stooge, and it would be openly known who selected who in every instance. Tommy was Harold B Lee's chosen boy. That is the real revelation relative to that matter.
Care to venture any guesses on any other such relationships? Who was it that really pulled Bednar into the upper ranks?
Modern profits have MBAs and worry about ROI. They wear navy blue suits and white shirts with staid ties. They are more concerned with tattoos and homos than with militias and epaulettes.