Mike Thomas

Born in 1969 in Gig Harbor, Washington

Currently lives in Fairmont, MN

U.S. Air Force Veteran

When Mike Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1988, tensions were high between the United States and the Soviet Union. Both countries were upset over each other’s deployment of medium and short-range nuclear warhead-carrying missiles in Europe.

Following basic training at Lackland AFB in Texas and abbreviated U.S Army training at Fort Dix in New Jersey, Thomas was assigned to Ellsworth AFB near Rapid City, South Dakota.

“I had cross-trained in base law enforcement and had the job of guarding aircraft on the ground at Ellsworth,” he recalled. Now, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) between the U.S. and the Soviet Union had been signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev but had not yet gone into effect. “We had to keep a close eye on these planes since they were fully loaded with armament,” Thomas remembered.

Another battle going on at the time was the “War on Drugs.” Panama had become a center for drug money laundering and a transit point for drug trafficking to the U.S. and Europe. Under the George H.W. Bush administration, the United States military invaded Panama, code named ‘Operation Just Cause.’ Thomas said the Air Force sent him to the South American country as part of the U.S. augmentation forces.

“I never had been so terrified in my life,” Thomas admitted. “We were sent into the jungles to locate make-shift (aircraft) runways and to report on any drug trafficking activities we discovered.” He recalled being sent on four such missions while in Panama.

“After it was over, I was glad to be back home, but at the time, you felt like you were doing something important.” From the jungles of Panama, Thomas was reassigned to RAF Lakenheath AFB in England where he worked once again guarding the U.S. military’s aircraft.

Thomas was injured during his time in the military, and after 7 years of service, had to be discharged. He returned to his Pacific Northwest home and worked in port security along the Seattle waterfront. In 2000, Thomas moved to the Fairmont area where he resides today.