LaRoe, Thomas, Sgt

Aircraft Maintenance
 
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Current Service Status
USAF Veteran
Current/Last Rank
Sergeant
Current/Last Primary AFSC/MOS
43151A-Aircraft Maintenance Specialist
Current/Last AFSC Group
Aircraft Maintenance
Primary Unit
1967-1967, 99000, 3726th Basic Military Training Squadron (Cadre)
Previously Held AFSC/MOS
99000-Basic Airman
43131A-Aircraft Maintenance Specialist
Service Years
1959 - 1967
Enlisted srcset=
Sergeant

 Official Badges 

US Air Force Honorable Discharge


 Unofficial Badges 

Order Of The Golden Dragon Cold War Medal Journeyman Crew Chief Vietnam Veteran 50th Commemoration

Vietnam 50th Anniversary


 Military Associations and Other Affiliations
Post 552Post 7308, Pleasant Prairie Memorial Post
  2010, American Legion, Post 552 (Vice President) (Somers, Wisconsin) - Chap. Page
  2010, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Post 7308, Pleasant Prairie Memorial Post (Kenosha, Wisconsin) - Chap. Page


 Additional Information
What are you doing now:

Tow TruckI retired in July of 2005 from being a Tow Truck Driver that towed for Law Enforcement in Southern California (local Police Department, California Highway Patrol and Riverside County Sheriff's Department. Right now just now settling in to retired life. I have written several books. One I have published but when it came out on the market it was in October of 2001 right after 911 and It was hard to get it out there to the public. The book that was published is called "DEROS NEVER". It is about a Forward Air Control Pilot and his back seater who were stationed in South Vietnam but getting shot down in one of the two countries we were not suppose to be fighting in (Laos and the other is Cambodia).
I have now learned the computer and am trying to get my book back out there on the market. Getting on the internet with vets have helped a lot. If interested you can e-mail me and I can tell you how to get my book. Since 2000 I have written five books to follow in with the first DEROS NEVER parts 1,2,3,4,5. I have only published one book so far.
I live in Hemet California just an hours drive to the east of Los Angeles. In the foothills of the mountains west of Palm Springs California. So as you can tell I have it all when I want it. Snow in the winter time I go to the mountains. Desert in the summer time I goto Palm Springs. If I want to relax I just stay at home and soak up the sunshine.

Plane 1 HueyPlane 2Eagle
Flag 2Air ForcePOW
The Gadsden Flag

   
Other Comments:

I will enjoy being here in this web site with all you other Air Force veterans and retired personel and those still in the service protecting our country. Thank you
I also wrote a song about the many POW/MIAs that were left behind after the Vietnam War. it is called "Come Along With Me".
Here is how to order my Book "DEROS Never" make out a check for $15.00 and sent to
Thomas LaRoe
1430 Cordova Drive
Hemet,Ca. 92543
If you want to order book "DEROS Never" by email just email me at derosnever@gmail.com and I will get back to you Be sure to send a return address and also of how you want me to Autograph the book to you.

Email me at gglights85@gmail.com or laroe.birddog65@gmail.com or tdlaroe39@yahoo.com

 

BOOK REVIEW BY COLONEL AL MATHESON (NAIL 213)

Tom,

I thought you would be mighty interested in reading this review. This is from the FACNET@yahoogroups.com.

Have a great New Year.

Regards,

Jim Franklin

 

It's fun to end the old year with a new discovery?.....

 

As I read/record/archive materials to preserve our FAC legacy I am sometimes rewarded with an uncommon find. This one is in the form of an obscure book that I have had sitting on my desk for some time. I neglected to review it because the cover and comments suggested a predictable/self serving excursion into the political"plight" of MIA/POWs, a "Fonda" fling at the U.S. Government if you will? I was wrong.

 

The book "DEROS Never" is a fictional account of a .... Yes, 3CB, one of your own.... an 0-1 mechanic assigned to the 21st TASS at Danang, who wrangles a never-to-be-forgotten ride as a Covey Rider only to have it become a routine assignment. The action is swift, authentic and engrossing, with neither patronizing excursions into minutia or shallow diversions from the central theme. Written in the first person, the book takes the rider on a series of FAC engagements in Laos and along the HCMT before finding himself in an E & E situation. When eventually captured near Sam Nuea our Covey Rider turns his focus toward survival and careing for the wounded on both sides to earn the opportunity to save American POWs.

 

This book is NOT a soap box for indignation or inhumanity, but it does address situations such as Lima 85, CIA Drug Ops and "Phoenix...," with the suggestion that the CIA never intended to let Laotian POWs return for fear of disclosing nefarious activities and drug trafficing as a means to fund their covert activities?  I doubt that would be a surprise to anyone of us.

 

So, altogether, "DEROS Never" is a straight forward page tuner, with never a dull moment. It is a well written, concise, focused observation of our world as it was..., and as it might have been?

 

DEROS Never

Author: Thomas LaRoe Book

ISBN"0-971130-0-X

Amazon.com

 

I am giving it a 2 on the FAC list for action and authenticity, BUT I am also giving it a #1 on the readability list.., and I don't do that very often!

Hope you all have a prosperous New Year!

FLY SAFE!

(Movie at 7)

AL Matheson/Nail 213

A brotherhood of a war long past...
Friends from the beginning, Friends to the last.

   

 Remembrance Profiles -  13 Airmen Remembered

 Ribbon Bar


Aircrew Enlisted (Basic)
Maintenance (Basic)
Expert Marksman
Carbine


 
 Enlisted/Officer Basic Training
  1959, Basic Military Training (Lackland AFB, TX), 3726/905
  1959, Basic Military Training (Lackland AFB, TX), 3726/905
  1959, Basic Military Training (Lackland AFB, TX), 3726/905
 Unit Assignments
Training UnitsSheppard Technical Training Center (Staff/Cadre) - Sheppard AFBAir Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC)Air Research and Development Command
6515th Organizational Maintenance Squadron6511th Test Group, ParachuteAir Force Systems Command (AFSC)Special Operations Units
US Air ForceConsolidated Aircraft Maintenance Units2nd Air Division37th Organizational Maintenance Squadron
505th Tactical Control Group21st Tactical Air Support Squadron504th  Tactical Air Support Group20th Tactical Air Support Squadron
Combat Support UnitsAir Force Bases/ InstallationsStrategic Air Command (SAC)22nd Bombardment Wing, Heavy
22nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
  1959-1959, 99000, 3726th Basic Military Training Squadron (Cadre)
  1959-1960, 43131A, Sheppard Technical Training Center (Staff/Cadre) - Sheppard AFB
  1959-1967, 99000, 3726th Basic Military Training Squadron (Cadre)
  1960-1960, 43131A, Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC)
  1960-1963, 43151A, Air Research and Development Command
  1960-1965, 43151A, 6515th Organizational Maintenance Squadron
  1960-1965, 43151A, 6511th Test Group, Parachute
  1963-1965, 43131A, Air Force Systems Command (AFSC)
  1965-1965, 43151A, Detachment 9, 1131st USAF Special Activities Squadron
  1965-1965, 43151A, 6250th Tactical Air Support Group
  1965-1966, 43151A, Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Units
  1965-1966, 43151A, 2nd Air Division
  1965-1966, 37th Organizational Maintenance Squadron
  1965-1966, 43151A, 505th Tactical Control Group
  1965-1966, 43151A, 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron
  1965-1966, 504th Tactical Air Support Group
  1965-1966, 43151A, 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron
  1965-1966, 43151A, 6253rd Combat Support Group
  1966-1967, March Air Force Base
  1966-1967, 43151A, Strategic Air Command (SAC)
  1966-1967, 43151A, 22nd Bombardment Wing, Heavy
  1967-1967, 43151A, 22nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
  1967-1967, 99000, 3726th Basic Military Training Squadron (Cadre)
 Combat and Non-Combat Operations
  1965-1966 Vietnam War/Defense Campaign (1965)
  1965-1968 Operation Steel Tiger
  1965-1973 Operation Tiger Hound
  1965-1973 Operation Arc Light
  1965-1965 Vietnam War/Defense Campaign (1965)/Operation Starlite (Starlight)
  1965-1965 Operation Shining Brass
 My Aircraft/Missiles
C-119 Flying Boxcar  T-28 Trojan  X-15 (Rocket Powered)  U-6 Beaver  
CH/UH-21 Workhorse ( Flying Banana)  T-33 Shooting Star (T-Bird)  F-100 Super Sabre  C-130 Hercules  
B-66 Destroyer  C-123 Provider  O-1/L-19 Bird Dog  T-39 Sabreliner  
C-119 Flying Boxcar  
  1960-1960, C-119 Flying Boxcar
  1960-1962, T-28 Trojan
  1960-1963, X-15 (Rocket Powered)
  1962-1962, U-6 Beaver
  1962-1962, CH/UH-21 Workhorse ( Flying Banana)
  1962-1962, T-33 Shooting Star (T-Bird)
  1962-1963, F-100 Super Sabre
  1963-1963, C-130 Hercules
  1964-1964, B-66 Destroyer
  1965-1965, C-123 Provider
  1965-1966, O-1/L-19 Bird Dog
  1966-1967, T-39 Sabreliner
  2003-2003, C-119 Flying Boxcar
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