Hero Air Force Lt. Col. Tom Tschuor

 Every day he fights for his country, not on the battlefield, but miles away. The weapons he designs and buys and the improvements he makes to them, help make it safer for people over on the battlefield. Words from the hero, Lt . Col. Tomas Tschuor: “Freedom does not come free.”

 Tomas Tschuor was your average child in Woburn. He moved to the United States from Switzerland at the age of 9, knowing no English but the simple words, “yes” and “no.”

 He gradually grew up and learned not just English but he knew everyone in this town. Tomas always played with the kids on the street and in the town. They enjoyed street hockey and exploring the woods that stretched far behind his home. Tom went to the Tarkey elementary School and the Joyce middle school. Every day he spent the majority of his time outside active, since “there was not much [electronics] at home to play on,” he recalls.

 As a child and even a teenager,  Mr. Tschuor participated in Boy Scouts. He went all the way through until he became an Eagle Scout at age 14, the youngest age. In Boy Scouts he made lifelong friends, who he still keeps in touch with to this very day. “It's unbelievable how a small activity as a child can create such a strong bond between people,” Mr. Tschuor states glassy-eyed.

 Lt. Col. Tschuor was a teenager during the 1980’s. He was young and enrolled in a military air academy high school in Cape Canaveral, Florida. He remembers when President Ronald Reagan was shot. When this happened, Tom felt sad because he knew his country could have suffered a horrible loss.

Also Mr. Tschuor recalls the time the Spaceship Columbia exploded in flight while leaving the atmosphere. He was outside watching when they launched it and saw the horrific event take place in front of him. “The explosion was scary, yet mystifying at the same time,” he says. Again, he felt grief knowing that the country was mourning and people somewhere are dead or hurt. But the explosion and death of people, Tomas says, “made me think of my own mortality. Everyone can die, [and] if there was no death, life would not be as valuable as it is.”

 Tomas Tschuor, also known as T²,  entered the United States Air Force in November of 1991. He is still active military and will have served a total of 20 years this coming November. Tom is the manager of acquisition programming, which is basically the boss who designs and buys weapons. He takes care of about $50 million a year to buy weapons and improve them. Tom loves his job and he enjoys serving his country. His favorite weapon of all time to buy and design are “War-Fighters,” he says.

 As a young child he loved planes and “followed my dream and passion to work with them,” he reminisces. But gradually, he became more accustomed to the solid earth. When he told his parents he was joining the Air Force, they were kind of scared about him being sent away to war but they knew his whole life this was coming.

 When Tom was a teenager he went to the military air academy, which is a boarding school in Florida. He had to share a room about the size of an average kitchen and living room combined with six other boys. After boarding school and learning how to fly, he got a scholarship to Georgia Tech. Soon after he met and married Alice.

 Since he is active military he must move every three years, including his family. “I believe it [joining the Air Force] was the best choice I did that impacted my life the most,” Tschuor states.

 He is retiring in a year and does not know much of what to do after he does. He believes he will be doing exactly what he is doing right now but just as a government civilian (G.S.). Tom explains he will miss the Air Force a lot but has learned that “life is full of changes and you have to adapt to them.”

 Tomas Tschuor learned a lot of life lessons in the Air Force. But the one life lesson he says that made the most “impact” on his life were the core values. These were taught in flight academy and they stand for integrity first (always be truthful), service before self, and excellence in ourselves. This means you always have to think before you say or do something, because if a job is done poorly it could harm or affect other people.

 Along with the core values, he has learned much respect. The days of funeral parades force those thoughts of respect towards those who risk their lives to save others.  Funeral parades are signs of respect toward those who have died in combat. If a person dies in combat and was from Woburn they would fly his or her body to the local Air Force base.

 Then the hearse, the car that carries the coffin, is driven down every street on the base. Everyone on the base must stop whatever they are doing, no matter how important, and walk onto the sidewalks lining the roads. Everyone must be dead silent and salute the flag and the hearse as it is driven by with the family. The local fire department comes and extends its ladders on the fire engines as far as they can reach to create a huge arch. Then they hang an American flag four stories high that the hearse drives under to the burial.

 As Tomas Tschuor looks glassy-eyed he murmurs, “It is a sight to be seen, the entire Air Force base silent. Even the tears of people flow silently with respect for those who have fallen.” 

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