Tom Joyce had a goal of becoming City Manager of Minot sometime, but when the current City Manager, Harold Stewart resigned his position to become the City Manager of Pasco, Washington, Tom was named interim City Manager of Minot, and soon was one of three vying for the position, and it was in October of 2025 that Tom Joyce was chosen as Minot’s City Manager.
On the City of Minot web site is a short history of how Tom Joyce would arrive in Minot:
“Since 2021, Joyce has served as the Deputy to the Garrison Commander at the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Co. In that position, Joyce was responsible for directing administrative, technical, and professional services supporting a population of more than 73,000 at a large, multi-mission military installation.
Joyce’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts in American Government from the University of Virginia in 1986, a Master of Science from Purdue University in 1991, a Master of Military Operational Art and Science from Air Command and Staff College in 2000, and a Master of Strategic Studies from Air War College in 2005.”
“I had worked for the Army in total for about eight and one half years as a civilian” shares Joyce “prior to Fort Carson we (he and his wife Caroline) were in Belgium. When I had retired from the Air Force in 2014 I was curious about local government, and I couldn’t really find a job in San Antonio, so that’s when I went into the Army and worked as civil service.’
Through some friends and recruiters Joyce came across the Assistant City Manager position in Minot. “So, it seems that everyone I meet asks me if I was stationed here” according to Joyce “I was here for three days on TDY and that probably didn’t count because it was in June” Joyce says with a smile. “I had a number if friends who had been stationed here, and I reached out to them and they had nothing by great things to say about the community. Most military members like the people and love the people they work with, but it’s the community piece and was I willing to move here. Well Caroline and I are here and we have been here for a little over 2 years now. I’ve spent my whole life in military communities so I’m very comfortable in a military community. My Dad was retired Army. The opportunity came this past fall when the City Manager position opened up and a few people talked to me and thought I should put my hat in the ring for that and I did and here I am. You know at this point in my career it’s really about giving back. I’m just proud to take everything I’ve learned and try to make things a little bit better.”
When Joyce talks about Minot as a military community he talks about the size of Minot, around 50,000, and the size of the military community, around 12,000 plus, he says you just see a different level of commitment. “Those folks who are born and bred here in Minot understand the importance of the installation militarily, two legs of the nuclear triad, but people here understand how the community itself benefits from having the military community here” says Joyce “it’s a dual benefit. We’re helping them (the people attached to Minot AFB) out, but they’re helping us out. We get to learn something new and meet new people,”
The Air & Space Forces Association was fortunate to connect with Tom Joyce through our current president, Jim Bowman. “I was over the phone talking with Jim and he told me about AFA. I read your article in the Northern Sentry about the Commander’s Choice Award Banquet. I didn’t know about that banquet. I go online to the AFA web site and Caroline had signed me up to be a lifetime member, but I was in the San Antonio chapter. So, the reality is that I had not done anything with the AFA until I started to go to the AFA meetings a couple of months ago (at Rocker’s, the third Tuesday of every month), and like I said before, it’s the time of my life when I am giving back. I love going to the meetings and I love seeing the peers and working to get people in the community involved in the AFA and helping put on these Commander’s Choice Awards, but it’s also great to see the Airmen. It’s just that time when I need to give back as much as I can. Besides AFA I am honored to be an Honorary Commander for the 5th Mission Support Group with Col Seigler.
So according to Tom Joyce when you consider joining a group like the AFA, you reflect on how much you got out of serving in the Air Force, and how important it is to give back.
The most visible event that the David C. Jones Chapter 135 in Minot organize is certainly the Commander’s Choice Awards, and we couldn’t do what we do without volunteers like Tom Joyce. But beyond the Commander’s Choice Awards is an organization that advocates for every Airmen, past & present. And like Tom Joyce, it’s important that we work together and be proud to give back.
