I 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.
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
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.
When shipped to Vietnam our O-1E aircraft hadn't arrived yet and the airbase we were suppose to go to was mortared so when we got to Saigon my outfit was seperated half went to Bien Hoa airbase and the other half went to Nha Trang airbase. I was sent to Nha Trang and once there was briefed on the do's and don't's of Vietnam. Then again my outfit was split up and 12 of us went to work on 5 special C-123 aircraft while the of the men worked on several C-123 aircraft across the field from us. The C-123 aircraft across the field were the work horses of Vietnam but the C-123 aicraft I worked on were special and top secret. There was no marking on the aircraft at all and they were all grey in color.The only markings on them at all were on the inside of the side door and they were A,B,D,E and F. At the time I was there the CIA ran the planes and they were flown by Chinese Nationalist from Tiawan. Others on the plane were Air Force Air Commando's. I worked on these aircraft for three months waiting for the O-1E's to get into the harbor in Saigon and be unloaded from the ships that brought them there. We ended up calling the special grey birds(C-123's) the Pentagon Grey Birds. Because their parts only came from a stock pile of parts with no serial numbers or part markings linking them to the U.S.Military. (top secret)
Image
C-123 Provider Details
Aircraft/Missile Information
Model Fairchild C-123K Provider Length 78.48 ft | 23.92 m Width 110.01 ft | 33.53 m Height 33.99 ft | 10.36 m Engine(s) 2 x Pratt & Whitney R-2800-99W Double Wasp 18-cylinder radial piston engines generating 2,300hp each; 2 x General Electric J85-GE-17 turbojet engines developing 2,850lbf each. Empty Weight 35,367 lbs | 16,042 kg MTOW 59,525 lbs | 27,000 kg Max Speed 228 mph | 367 km/h | 198 kts Max Range 1,035 miles | 1,666 km Ceiling 28,871 ft | 8,800 m | 5.5 miles Climb Rate 1,150 ft/min Hardpoints 0 Armament None. Accommodations 3 + 62 Operators Cambodia, El Salvador, Laos, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Vietnam (South), Thailand, Venezuela and the United States of America.
I 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).
