General serves 40 years in AF

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daryl Knee
  • 90th Space Wing Public Affairs
F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. --  The young man steps off of a bus into an unfamiliar fenced-in complex surrounded by armed guards and barbed wire. 

Unsure of what to do next, he casts a hurried glance around. Other young men and women returned his gaze until they hear the scream and roar of what is to be their mentor for the next six weeks. All eyes snap forward as a man dressed in an olive green uniform strides into the scene barely suppressing a torrent of rage upon his new recruits. 

That was 1967 and forty years later, Maj. Gen. Thomas Deppe commands the Twentieth Air Force. His military career began after joining the military as an enlisted member arriving at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, for boot camp. 

"You either were in college, or you got drafted at that time," General Deppe said. "I had just dropped out of college, and in came my draft notice in the mail not too long after." 

Having been convinced by a friend that the Air Force was the way to go, General Deppe proceeded to the recruiting office to sign on the dotted line. 

"I had no plans on staying in the Air Force any longer than what I had to," General Deppe said. "But as time went on and I made staff sergeant in less than four years, I thought, 'Well, why not stay in a little longer?' I already had a job that I liked, why would I quit it when I might get something on the outside I didn't like?" 

That "little longer" became almost 11 years in the enlisted force. 

General Deppe, a technical sergeant at the time, became an Air Force recruiter stationed at Florissant, Mo. One day, the same recruiter that had watched him sign that dotted line walked through the door with a new proposition. 

"My recruiter was working for the local colleges then," General Deppe said. "He came by my office to talk to me about going back to college. I already had some education from before I joined the military and with all my professional training the Air Force gave me, he calculated that I had accrued 108 semester hours." 

General Deppe went to night school for one year and received his bachelor's. Then, he typed his own application for Officer Training School and was accepted in 1977. 

"Nobody's going to come by your house or dorm room and tell you to sign up for classes," General Deppe said. "You have to do it on your own. Go to class and work hard. The opportunities are there. There's no limit to what you can do in the Air Force, and I'm living proof of that." 

General Deppe went into OTS with the same mentality as he went into the enlisted basic military training, to work with others the best he could. 

"It was a great experience to see how people with different backgrounds can come together as a team," he said. "Everything was done as a team. It didn't matter whether it was the marching or folding clothes, teamwork was essential. They taught that in boot camp, and it was reinforced in OTS." 

With his enlisted career behind him, General Deppe earned his commission in November 1977. 

"It was an interesting switch," he said. "I went from having credibility with my job to a brand new lieutenant with no credibility whatsoever." 

General Deppe continued in the officer ranks with the idea of retiring as a captain. In fact, when it came time for him to make captain, 21 years of service would have passed. But in March of 1987, he was promoted to major early. He could have turned down the promotion and went ahead with his plan to retire, but instead he chose to extend his commitment to the Air Force just a little longer. 

"It seems like every time I think about it, I'm committed more and more to the Air Force," General Deppe said. "Every promotion requires you to stay in that position for a certain amount of time. I kept getting promoted, so I stayed in the Air Force." 

General Deppe has been to many places and has held many positions in his vast Air Force career and it hasn't stopped yet. Later this month, he becomes the vice commander for Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. 

"I want to thank all the people at the 90th Space Wing for being a great host to the Twentieth Air Force," he said. "But even though I'm going to be the vice commander for Air Force Space Command, you haven't seen the last of me. I'll be back." 

The exhausted young man lay in his bed that first boot-camp night wondering why in the world he was in this place and what type of choice he had made. As his eyes closed for sleep, one last thought crossed his mind: "I'll work as hard as I can and see where it takes me."