Coast Guard career
His initial duty assignment was as a deck watch officer on board USCGC Ingham in Norfolk, Virginia, with frequent deployments to ocean station duties in the North Atlantic, and training in Norfolk and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during 1955 to 1957. Thorsen next attended United States Navy Flight Training in Pensacola, Florida, and Corpus Christi, Texas, receiving his Navy Wings of Gold in August 1958. His aviation career began with three years in Argentia, Newfoundland, flying search and rescue missions and operating as the aviation component of International Ice Patrol. Subsequent aviation assignments included Air Stations San Diego, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Corpus Christi, where he served as Commanding Officer from 1975 to 1976.
Thorsen was Coast Guard Aviator #776, Helo Pilot #442 and Ancient Albatross #13 (longest serving aviator.) He accumulated more than 4,000 flight hours, equally divided between rotary and fixed wing operations. He was recognized as the Outstanding Coast Guard Student Pilot in the Naval Air Training Command for 1958. Thorsen was a distinguished graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1977. Non-flying assignments included serving as Commandant of Cadets at the Coast Guard Academy from 1980 to 1983 and two tours at the Coast Guard Headquarters in the Aeronautical Engineering Division; during the latter of the two (1977 to 1980) as Chief of the Division, he headed a small group of aviators to identify the Service wide replacement for the H-52 Sikorsky short range helicopters, successfully achieved contract approval and ultimately production of 96 Aerospatiale HH-65 Dolphin helicopters.
As a captain, Thorsen was Chief of Staff, 5th Coast Guard District when selected for flag rank in 1984. When promoted, he became the first Coast Guard commodore since World War II when the rank was reinstituted for a short period of time for the Navy and Coast Guard. As commodore and then rear admiral, he was assigned as Chief of Research and Development at Coast Guard Headquarters. In 1986, Thorsen received his second star and was assigned to command the Seventh District, headquartered in Miami, Florida, and also to serve as Southeast Coordinator, National Narcotics Border Interdiction System, with operational responsibility for all Coast Guard activity in the southeastern U.S. and Caribbean area. After two years in Florida, Thorsen was ordered to CGHQ as Chief of Law Enforcement and Defense Operations.
In March 1989, he was promoted to vice admiral and assigned as Commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area of the United States Atlantic Maritime Defense Zone (in the Navy) – with responsibility for all Coast Guard operations in the Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes and Western Rivers; territory east of the Rocky Mountains; plus international activities from the North to South Poles and the Middle East. He was in that post until his retirement from the Coast Guard in 1991.
Later work
After retirement from active duty, Thorsen entered the business world, ultimately serving (consecutively) on the boards of six foreign-owned US corporations) as an outside director. He remained active in issues related to the Coast Guard and Academy, and was co-founder of The Foundation for Coast Guard History. In 2003, Thorsen became a member of The Golden Eagles, an honorary association of 200 Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard aviators. He was inducted into the Coast Guard Aviation Association Hall of Honor in 2020, which he considered his crowning achievement. He published articles for the Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute in the 1990s and early 2000s.
