Tom Center

After Tom Center graduated from high school at the age of 17, his mother reluctantly signed for him to join the Navy so he could avoid serving in Vietnam. However, he volunteered for combat duty from 1967 to 1968 with the joint Army-Navy Mobile Riverine Force in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. From 1969 to 1970, he served a second tour of duty in Vietnam, traversing the Cua Viet River in the northern part of South Vietnam, looking for mines. Thirteen years later, he rejoined the military and then received a medical retirement. After serving in Vietnam, Tom graduated from the Los Angeles Police Academy, served as a patrolman and a school resource officer, taught high school, and became a military intelligence instructor and a safety instructor for OSHA and MSHA. He has degrees in law enforcement, sociology, and education.