Art Tom:
CLASS OF 1977
St. Cassian SchoolClass of 1977
Montclair, NJ
Lacordaire AcademyClass of 1982
Montclair, NJ
Xavier High SchoolClass of 1981
New york, NY
Nishuane Elementary SchoolClass of 1973
Montclair, NJ
Watchung Elementary SchoolClass of 1972
Montclair, NJ
Art's Story
Life
I grew up in Montclair, New Jersey where I went to public and parochial schools. I went to Xavier High School in Manhattan, then to Fordham University in the Bronx. After graduation I served in the Marines for 3 years, then got out and worked as a paramedic in East Orange and Newark, NJ. After freezing my butt off in the winter of 1988, I tested for the LAPD (just for a goof). To my surprise they offered me a job, which I initially did not take. In February of 1990 I moved to Los Angeles and entered the Los Angeles Police Deparment. I worked a bunch of different jobs there and I am presently a Sergeant. For a number of years I have competed in athletics at the local, national and international level in various events. I was lucky enough to be the national "Toughest Cop Alive" title holder for about 5 years. This got me some local press and also an ESPN interview. Who would have guessed? One of the things I did was compete in the American Gladiators show for charity against the NYPD team. That was interesting! I love my job (especially when I'm on a day off). I can definately see me doing other things after this is over though. Perhaps I'll just retire to the beach and watch the seagulls fly around! I recently ended a long relationship and am learning to shop for food without taking the whole day.
School
my first crush was Eleanor Henderson in kindergarten. We stayed friends until I left the public school sytem after 4th grade. I have no idea where she is now. No teacher inspired me, most of them told my parents that I talked to much in class and had alot of potential, but they never impacted me, probably because they never spent any time with me.
Military
During my freshman year at Fordham I went to talk to the Marine Officer Candidate recruiter. I remember I went with a guy named Genco Delucca. We both got pamphlets and because it was cold out and we had nothing to do but drink and watch tv, applied to the program. I got in and he didnt. So in the summers of 1982 and 1984 I spent 6 wonderful weeks in the most humid and God forsaken place, MCB Quantico. It was actually life changing but not in the Texas Tower, Post Office wanted poster kind of way. I stopped partying for the most part and ...Expand for more
started studying and working out. After graduation I went back to Quantico for Basic Officer Course training. I hated it there but learned a great deal. After the Basic Course I went to Infantry Officer Course, also at Quantico (I thought I would never leave). That was probably the hardest thing I ever did in my life, and it made me realise how hard it is to work long hours in tough conditions. After training I was sent to 1st Battalion, Fifth Marine Regment of the First Marine Division in Camp Pendleton, CA. Wow, I lived in a house in San Clemente a few blocks from the beach (dude!). It was heaven, but there was work to be done. I was assigned a rifle platoon full of malcontents and criminals. Needless to say it was a shock after learning that Marines were hard charging killing machines, eager to do their leader's bidding. Long story not so long I progressed through the politics of a peace time military with varied success. I pissed off some people and made some good friends. I learned alot about myself and realised that I was not cut out for kissing fanny. I'm like my dad in that regard, which makes me very proud. My best experience was being assigned to Camp Headquarters in Okinawa in 1987, where I met the best people still think about them. I took dive classes with a PADI instructor from 9th ESB and met some great people diving all over the island. (To that SSGT from 9th ESB, and you know who you are, I still remember you, just cant remember your name!) I returned to the states in August of 1987 and spent the last year of my active duty time going to Texas for training a couple times (Army Lt Blaessing where are you now?). The last couple months I spent training my Battalion's Super Squad team, made up of new joins, an overweight but motivated corpsman, and a short timer Squad Leader. It was the best bunch of guys I could hope for, and we did really well. We went to Division level and finished second overall. I proved alot of people wrong about me during that competition, which I am still proud about. I left active duty soon after, and regret having sending those highly motivated Marines back to garrision. We had our own squad bay and all we did was train, eat, sleep and go on Liberty. It was alot of fun.
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