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

  1963-1965, 43131A, Air Force Systems Command (AFSC)

Airman 1st Class
From Month/Year
- / 1963
To Month/Year
- / 1965
Unit
Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) Unit Page
Rank
Airman 1st Class
AFSC/MOS
43131A-Aircraft Maintenance Specialist
Base, Station or City
NAF El Centro
State/Country
California
   
 Patch
 Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) Details

Air Force Systems Command (AFSC)
Type
HQ/ Command Element
 
Parent Unit
Major Commands
Strength
Command
Created/Owned By
Not Specified
   

Last Updated: Apr 15, 2009
   
Memories For This Unit

Best Friends
Sam Ward, Lee Halbash, Covely, Robertson, Stringer,

Best Moment
working with the space capsules- Gemini,Mercury and Appolo testing their parachutes for splashdown into the ocean. Back then we used the Salton Sea near Indio California for splashdown. Dropping the capsule from the back of a C-130 aircraft.

   

Worst Moment
Mt T-28 that was photographing the capsule splashdown crashed into the Salton Sea because too low and pilot watching the capsule and not the water .

   
Yearbook
 
My Photos For This Unit
No Available Photos
83 Members Also There at Same Time
Air Force Systems Command (AFSC)

Jenkins, George, MSgt, (1960-1980) 431 43131C Airman 1st Class
Laura, John, A1C, (1962-1966) 431 43151C Airman 1st Class
Schultz, Kenneth Walter, Lt Gen, (1942-1975) 183 1831 Brigadier General
Chilstrom, Kenneth Oscar, Col, (1939-1964) 04 0046 Colonel
Clark, James C., Col, (1965-1991) 2S 2716 Colonel
Christian, Robert, Lt Col, (1961-1981) 203 2035A Lieutenant Colonel
Markalonis, Vincent, Lt Col, (1951-1974) 153 1535B Lieutenant Colonel
Schrimsher, William, Lt Col, (1951-1980) 141 1411 Lieutenant Colonel
Fronkier, Henry, Maj, (1942-1963) 66 00066 Major
Huntington, Leoroy, Maj, (1961-1982) 281 2816 Major
Kuehn, Joseph W., Maj, (1957-1978) 643 6431 Major
Diehl, William Calvin, Lt Col, (1956-1967) 289 2891A Captain
Killpack, Larry Movell, Maj Gen, (1944-1979) 16 16 Captain
Whittaker, Arthur, Maj, (1962-1982) 285 2851A Captain
Francis, John, Lt Col, (1959-1983) 281 2816 First Lieutenant
Houle, Maurice, MSgt, (1956-1978) 732 73270 Master Sergeant
Weathers, Hubert, MSgt, (1951-1974) 702 70270 Master Sergeant
Buckman, Alfred, TSgt, (1957-1977) 702 70250 Staff Sergeant
Sutterfield, Kenneth, SMSgt, (1963-1983) 306 30670 Staff Sergeant
Simons, John, Sgt, (1965-1968) 511 51152 Sergeant
Allen, Ross, A1C, (1963-1967) 304 30454 Airman 1st Class
Cipione, Claymon, A1C, (1960-1964) 687 68750 Airman 1st Class
Cline, Rodger, A1C, (1960-1964) 687 68750 Airman 1st Class
Cole, Gilbert, TSgt, (1954-1974) 273 27350 Airman 1st Class
Griffin, Dave, SSgt, (1962-1966) 303 30353C Airman 1st Class
Hall, Clarence, A1C, (1961-1965) 686 68630 Airman 1st Class
Lau, Dennis, A1C, (1963-1967) 304 30450 Airman 1st Class
Yent, Michael, MSgt, (1964-1985) 271 27150 Airman 1st Class
Mihalo, Michael, A2C, (1962-1966) 315 31550P Airman 2nd Class
ZANES SR, WILLIAM, SSgt, (1963-1967) 432 43230 Airman Basic
Heaton, Donald Haynes, Col, (1941-1969) 01 Colonel
Kalen, Herbert Donald, Col, (1953-1979) 111 Captain
Lee, Kenneth, Sgt, (1964-1968) 111 Sergeant
Bruno, Sam, Col, (1935-1963) [Other Service Rank]
Halvorsen, Gail Seymour, Col, (1944-1974) [Other Service Rank]
Jones, David Mudgett, Maj Gen, (1930-1973) [Other Service Rank]
Friedman, Robert Joseph, Lt Gen, (1935-1970) Major General
Chandler, John Seymoure, Brig Gen, (1943-1972) Colonel
Saavedra, J. A. (Bill), Col, (1944-1977) Lieutenant Colonel
Yeager, Charles Elwood, Brig Gen, (1941-1975) Lieutenant Colonel
Zeh, Theodore George, Col, (1946-1975) Major
Cathey, Carl H., Lt Gen, (1950-1986) Captain
O'Donnell, John F., Brig Gen, (1953-1980) Captain
Patterson, George Kenneth, Brig Gen, (1950-1979) Captain
Landers, Phil, CMSgt, (1958-1981) Staff Sergeant
Garlitz, Bill, MSgt, (1961-1999) Airman 1st Class
Goree, Dennis, A1C, (1962-1965) Airman 1st Class
Aerospace Medical Division

Talbot, John Mayo, Brig Gen, (1939-1973) Colonel
Robinson, Tyrone, Sgt, (1964-1968) Airman 3rd Class
Air Force Civil Engineering Center (AFCEC)

Partin, Ben, CMSgt, (1952-1974) 570 57090 Chief Master Sergeant
Russell, Wayne, SMSgt, (1965-1986) 553 55390 Senior Master Sergeant
Eastern Test Range

Fidiam, Aaron Gregory, TSgt, (1952-1965) 464 46470 Technical Sergeant
Electronic Systems Center

Taft, Gerald, Maj, (1964-1984) 791 7911 First Lieutenant
Electronis Systems Division (ESD/YST)

Adnet, Jacques, Lt Col, (1951-1973) 157 1572 Lieutenant Colonel
Joslyn, Richard, Sgt, (1964-1968) 721 72130 Airman 3rd Class
Foreign Technology Division

Benson, Larry, Col, (1962-1992) 804 8044 First Lieutenant
Yarbrough, Wilbur, A1C, (1962-1966) 206 20650 Airman 1st Class
Hq Systems Command

Guilmette, Richard, SSgt, (1959-1967) 431 43151C Airman 1st Class
Taylor, Chester, Brig Gen, (1952-1982) 882 8824 Brigadier General

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