Born into a working class family on August 26, 1945, in Munhall, Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh's Steel Valley, Thomas J. Ridge would begin at an early age to show the qualities that would one day make him a model for noncommissioned officers. These Attributes also led him eventually to high public office where he would serve with pride, honor, and distinction in state and national government. Raised in modesty in veterans' public housing in Erie, Pennsylvania, he would rise to prominence in the Republican Party in his home state and then on the national stage. However, before attaining notoriety on the political field he first had to perform with valor in the fields and jungles of Vietnam.

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