Loos Honored As Vet Of The MonthRichard Lee Loos was honored as the Kosciusko County Veteran of the Month Tuesday by the Commissioners.
Loos was born Sept. 14, 1939, in Williamsport, to Alexander and Mildred Loos.
Between his third- and fourth-grade years, his parents moved to Chicago. After his graduation from Lane Technical School in Chicago in 1957, he enrolled at Purdue University, and in 1962 received his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and began his working career at Public Service Indiana at the R.A. Gallagher generating station in New Albany.
In 1963, Loos enlisted in the U.S. Army infantry. In 1964, he attended the artillery and missile officer candidate school at Fort Sill, Okla., receiving a commission as second lieutenant in the artillery.
Being an engineer, he received a branch transfer and attended the Engineer Officer Basic course at Ft. Belvoir Virginian. After completing that, he went to Ft. Benning, Ga., to attend parachute training, earning his wings in May 1964.
He was assigned to the 538th Engineer Battalion Construction at Ft. Knox, Ky. At Ft. Knox, Loos was a platoon leader, operations officer and company commander.
In 1966, the unit was deployed to Thailand, where they were responsible for building an all-weather road from Nakhom Ratchasima (Korat) to Saraburi.
He also was on temporary duty (TDY) for a short time with the 87th Engineer Battalion Construction at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam.
At the end of 1966, Loos left active duty and returned to civilian life and returned to Public Service Indiana in New Albany. In 1969, he left Public Service and returned to Purdue University to pursue a degree in nuclear engineering, receiving a Master of Science degree in 1971.
In December 1970, Loos began working for Bechtel Power Corporation in San Francisco, Calif., as a design engineer on a twin 1000 MW nuclear plan for Philadelphia Electric.
His career with Bechtel lasted almost 40 years and took him through many assignments and many corporate positions, including engineering supervision, engineering management, project management, general manager of an engineering company and vice president over several Bechtel organizations.
Loos’ career included numerous foreign assignments and provided the opportunity to live in four foreign countries: Ukraine, Hong Kong, Egypt and Austria.
In Ukraine, he was the project director of the Shelter Improvement Project, established to build a new, safe confinement over the damaged Unit 4 reactor at Chernobyl.
He has been happily married for the last five years to Karen Schneider (nee Allen), whom he met and fell in love with in 1958.
He has two boys from a previous marriage, Alexander and Nathan. He also has a stepson, David Schneider, and a stepdaughter, Jennifer Rogers. He has six grandchildren all living in the area.
In his leisure time, Loos enjoyed traveling, reading, giving flight instruction and flying his 1948 Stinson.
“I appreciate being recognized for this award and as far as I’m concerned, the military was probably one of the best things that happened to me besides my wife, Karen,” Loos said Tuesday. “Where could a person in their middle 20s be in charge of a construction company in an international setting and then over the course of my career with Bechtel, allowing me to see many, many countries? I’ve visited 65 in my career, and it spans 40 years and, so again, thank you for this award. I appreciate it very much.”
