Veteran Highlight: Don LaRoque

Editor's Note: As many of our readers are aware, the Lincoln-area has a significant population of veterans of the Armed Services. In honor of Veteran's Day this year we are kicking off a what we hope will be a regular series of features highlighting individual veterans and their service.

Don LaRoque served in the Navy submarine service for 14 years as a sonar technician. LaRoque grew up in Great Falls and joined the military a few months out of high school, in 1978.

"I always knew I was going to go into the Navy. I knew in high school. I had relatives in most all the services, but the Navy interested me the most," said LaRoque.

LaRoque went from boot camp in San Diego to submarine school, and then returned to San Diego for "A" School as a sonar technician. He continued to go through electronics and electricity training in San Diego, and then on to "C" School for specialized equipment. From there, he shipped out to Norfolk, Va. to a shipyard as a sonar technician.

"You know in the movies where they always got the guy listening to hear the ping? That was me," LaRoque said, adding, "It was a lot more complicated than that. Or if you watched Hunt for Red October, I was Jonesy."

"It's a big family, really. Especially ... on a submarine, you're a family, you just have 120 brothers. You don't necessarily like them all the time, but you trust them with your life, because if one goes, we all go. There's no messing around about that. It was fun, but it was also harsh. For a new person coming on, it was harsh. And it had to be harsh," LaRoque said.

"My first boat was a fast attack, so we would do weekly ops. So we would go out, you might be out a week, you might be out three weeks. You just never knew. Then we'd do longer deployments up to six months," said LaRoque.

During his career in the Navy, LaRoque was also stationed out of Groton, Conn., where he commissioned his first boat, the Alabama. Later he was on a Trident submarine in Bangor, Wash., which was a missile boat.

"In civilian terms, a fast attack is a hunter-killer. We go out and we actively search for enemy submarines, enemy convoys. We track, we do special ops. We're the hunters," said LaRoque. "The missile boats, you don't want to be found, so you spend your time staying away from everything. You get sent to a certain area and you just patrol. And you drill and you drill and you drill and you patrol."

Some of LaRoque's longer deployments included a six month run all the way around South America, working with other countries along the way. Another run was in the Mediterranean.

"That was basically hunting Soviets," said LaRoque.

After the Cold War ended, LaRoque left the Navy and joined law enforcement back in Montana. He served first as a deputy sheriff in Teton County and then moved to Jefferson County, eventually becoming the undersheriff. When he retired, he moved back to Lincoln, where his parents live and own the Blue Sky Motel.

"I think if you talk to any veteran, it's the stories they can tell. I unfortunately can't tell very many because they're still classified," LaRoque said. "I loved going to sea. I loved being with the guys I was with. The camaraderie of my shipmates. You worked hard, you played hard. I enjoyed all my deployments, but I think the biggest thing that stands out is the friends I made, lifelong friends."

LaRoque said every veteran has his or her own unique story.

"Get to talk to as many veterans as you can because a lot of people think, 'Ah, they're all the same. They all suffer from the same problems.' Every one of us are very different," he said.

LaRoque is a member of the American Legion, which will host the annual Veteran's Day ceremony at the Hooper Park on Nov. 11.