With his father's consent and then his own, he was destined to become a man among great men. After signing an enlistment contract, his first orders ,on July 16th, would take him to the infamous Perris Island Recruiting Depot , Headquarters Company, where a drill instructor would help him to learn the finer points of becoming a Marine.
Meanwhile, on July 7th 1940, First Marine Air Wing, comprised of a HQ Squadron and the First Marine Air Group was activated under the command of LtCol. Louis E. Woods at Quantico, VA. On August 13th, Thomas was transferred to Quantico Recruiting Depot in Virginia and joined the Base Detachment 1 on September 25th. Private Collins joined the HQ and Service squadron on October 1st, and by October 21st was on his way to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba via the U.S.S.Barnett
By December 16, 1940 grandpa was promoted to PFC TB Collins, Temporary Aviation duty at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After finishing duty at "Gitmo" PFC Collins sailed back to Quantico VA via the U.S.S. Wyoming on April 8, 1941 and went on furlo from May 5th to the 24th. Upon return from furlo, PFC Collins was promoted to Corporal, Special Temporary Aviation duty On June 23rd and 24th, orders were written for Corporal Collins' next assignment. June 24th 1941 was the same day that the famous VMF-121 was activated.
On July 3rd, Corporal Collins headed to Aviation Instrument School in Philadelphia, PA with fellow classmate, Corporal SH Meredith to begin the July 5th course. After completion of the instrument course on September 11th, he continued on to the Marine Barracks Navy Yard in New York, NY to begin another course at the Sperry Gyroscope Company from September 15 to October 21st. Four days later he joined the HQ and Service Squadron 11, 1st MAW at Quantico, VA. Thomas moved with the squadron to San Diego on December 11th. Now known as Marine Air Group 11. It became the Air Defense Group for the San Diego area and provided the nucleus of four air groups headed for combat in the Pacific. On March 6, 1942 Corporal Collins was promoted to Sergeant, Special Aviation Duty, Temporary. On July 1, 1942 Sergeant Collins joined Service Squadron 11, Marine Air Group 11. Rising through the ranks at a respectable clip, Sergeant Collins was again promoted; this time to the rank of Staff Sergeant, Temporary Aviation Duty, (Mechanical) on July 23, 1942. On August 23rd He was again promoted to Technical Staff Sergeant At this point he would have learned the skills necessary to support the VMF-121 repairing airplane radios when it went to Guadalcanal.
