The Stream

Tom Sileo is a Contributing Senior Editor at The Stream. He is an author and award-winning journalist who spent more than eight years working in local and national newsrooms.

On June 4, 2024, St. Martin’s Press published Tom’s second solo effort: I HAVE YOUR BACK: How an American Soldier Became an International Hero. The book tells the heroic story of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, a Distinguished Service Cross recipient who saved a Polish soldier’s life on the battlefield in Afghanistan. Tom wrote his first article for The Stream about Staff Sgt. Ollis back in 2015.

Tom’s first solo book, BE BOLD: How a Marine Corps Hero Broke Barriers for Women at War, was released by Oliver North’s Fidelis Publishing in 2022. The book tells the remarkable true story of Maj. Megan McClung, the highest-ranking female Marine killed in the Iraq war and the first female U.S. Naval Academy graduate in American history to lose her life in combat.

THREE WISE MEN: A Navy SEAL, a Green Beret and How their Marine Brother Became a War’s Sole Survivor, was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2021. THREE WISE MEN, which Tom wrote with U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran Beau Wise, received a starred review from Kirkus and has been featured by Fox News, NBC’s TODAY Show, ABC News, C-SPAN, the New York Post and the Marine Corps Times.

In 2017, Tom co-authored 8 SECONDS OF COURAGE: A Soldier’s Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor (Simon & Schuster) with wounded U.S. Army combat veteran Flo Groberg. He also co-wrote FIRE IN MY EYES: An American Warrior’s Journey from Being Blinded on the Battlefield to Gold Medal Victory (Hachette, 2016) with wounded U.S. Navy combat veteran Brad Snyder and BROTHERS FOREVER: The Enduring Bond Between a Marine and a Navy SEAL that Transcended Their Ultimate Sacrifice (Hachette, 2014) with retired U.S. Marine Col. Tom Manion.

In 2016, Tom received the General Oliver P. Smith Award from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation for an article he wrote for The Stream. Between 2010 and 2012, Tom received three consecutive Military.com blogging awards for his website, The Unknown Soldiers. In 2010, he was awarded a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship by The Fund for American Studies.

Tom, his wife and two daughters live in Delray Beach, Florida. He can be followed on X, Facebook and Amazon.