Checkpoints June 2006

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c o n t e n t s June 2006

CO u m n s LET T ERS

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FRO M T HE BO A RD C HA IR 10 SUPT A D D RESSES G RA DS 14

f e a t u re s 24

20 06 JA BA RA AW A RD W IN N ER

Maj. John Vargas, ’96, makes life tougher than ever on the enemy 42 R EC O G N IT IO N R ET U RN S

Rite of passage ismore than another training event 70 M E M O RIA L PA V IL IO N

Long hoped for project becomesreality through the generosity of donors 72

G RA D REFLECTS O N T H E H ERITA G E M A RCH

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Marianne LaRivee, ’80, participates i n M em o r i al

Ceremony with Cadet Wing

O N TH E CO VER: A n artist rendi tion of th e

Memorial Pavilion when completed.

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Vol u m e 35, n u m b er 1

A sso c iat i o n o f G r ad uat es UN IT ED STAT ES AI R FORCE ACAD EM Y

3116 Academy Drive

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U SAF Academy, CO 80840-4475

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Customer Service D SN

Fax

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(719) 472-0300

333-2067

(719) 333-4194

E-mail aog@aogusafa.org Web Site

ww/w.usafa.org

off t he she lf

Presid e nt / C EO : J a m e s A . Shaw , ' 6 7

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W A LD O

CO M M U N ICAT IO N S V ice Pre sid e nt : D ick Rau sch k o lb , ' 7 0

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T RU E B LU E

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H IG H A RT

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T HE C LA SS O F 2006 G RA D UAT ES

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BO O K REV IEW - THE LIG HT O N THE STA R

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LO N G B LU E LIN E

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G RA D FIN ISHES ID ITA RO D

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CO L. (RET ) DEB GRAY, '80, LOO KS BACK

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N EW S O F N O T E

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O N C E UPO N A T IM E - " W A N D ERIN G 104 '

EX EC UT IV E O FFICE

Director of Communication/ Senior Editor: Bob McAllister

Editor/ Photography: Ken Wright Senior Designer: Sarah Wright

C lass N ew s Ed it o r: To m K ro b o t h

Advertising: Kyle Davidson

Web Site; Mat t Kleve & Kyle Davidson BO A RD O F D IRECT O RS

Edward E. Legasey, '67, Board Chair St eve Finch, '65, Vice Chair

C h arles P. G arc ia, '83, Tre asure r

Marianne LaRivee, '80, Secretary Bill Bo ist u re Jr., '67

Mike Christy, '63

Ed Eb e rhart , '68 Ed ie Ed m o nd so n, '92

Mike Flynn, '95 Marty France, '81

Susan J . He lm s, '80

s p o rt s 86

T H REE K IN G S

90

HENNINGS, '88, ELECTED TO HALL OF FA ME

91

BA UG HM A N HO N O RED BY HA LL O F FA M E

Da c k o t t h e b o o k 98

C H A PT ER N EW S

10 2 GO N E BUT N OT FO RGOTT EN 10 9

C LA SS N EW S

Jack N . Kuce ra, '78 G ilb e rt D . M o o k, '6 7 Jo h n T. M o o re , ' 78

Amber D. O'Grady, '96 Alan V. Rogers, '64

Pat Ro se no w, 7 6 D r. Leo n Sm it h -Harriso n , '75

Checkpoints (ISSN 0274-7391) USPS 898-080 is published quarterly in March, June, September and December by the Association of Graduates, U.S. Air Force Academy. (Phone; 719-472-0300, D SN : 333-2067. FAX: 7 19-333-4 194, E-mail;

editor@aogusafa.org.) A portion of your dues pays for your magazine subscription. Additional copies may be purclia.sed tor $2.50 each, plus for $4.05 shipping. Periodicals postage paid at the U.S. Air ForceAcademy, CO and additional mailing offi ces.

POSTMA,STER: Send change of address to Check points, Association of Ciraduates, Doolittle Hall, 3 1 16 Academy Drive, USAF' Academy, CX) 80840-4475.

Opinionsexpre.ssed in thismagazinearethoseot the authors.They do not nece.ssarily reflect theopinions, policy or attitude of the Association of Graduates, its offi cers or the editorial staff . T he appearance of

advertisementsin thispublication docsnot constitute endorsement by the Association of Graduates of the products or services advertised. Copyright, a n

A .ssoci at io n o f G rad uates o f t he U .S. A i r Fo rce

Ac.ademy, June 2006.

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Heritage. It’ssomething everyonehas, 'whether they k now it or not . A t theAir ForceAcademy, heritage grows tall and widelike a healthy Red'wood, with deep rootsand long branchesreaching higher than any other.

Unlike most places, it’s tough to escape thelegacy left by those who

walked beforethemen and women who now call theAcademy t h ei r

home. Statues, memorials, building names ... tributes t o ai r m en an d their accomplishmentsare a deliberate part of the terrazzo scenery.

Likewise, theheritageof theLong Blue Line isalso very much a part of this issueof Checkpoints. What impressesmewhen I read through this issue is that without a conscious eff ort to build an issue so rich w ith stories about

thelineageof our graduatesand cadets, it just sort of happened. I cannot think of any other place where one could fi nd it so easy to compile so many stories about people like Lt. John Haselton, ’70, who stepped forward t o fl y extra combat missions over Vietnam even as he watched fellow aircrew s

lose their livesin an increasingly deadly zone. Tragically, he too lost his life whiledoing everything hecould to stop theadvancing en em y.

A more fortunate combat pilot, but hero nonetheless, is Maj . John

Vargas, ’96. “Vegas,” ashe isknown, was recently aw arded t he C olonel JamesJabaraAward for heroism for hisspectacular actions while fl ying in combat over Afghanistan. I encourageyou to read about this amazing young pilot. It’sastory you won’t forget.

Far from the world’s combat zones are others who are working night

and day to make sure theAir ForceAcademy isand will be look ed t o

as a beacon of character development. Col. (Ret.) Deb Gray, ’80, is one of thosewho haveworked diligently during some of the darkest days

of Academy history to ensure that every day this institution refl ects the idealsit wasfounded upon. Her uniqueperspective is refl ected i n this issue and reading it should give comfort to even the most skeptical.

There are many more great stories for you in this issue, but I ’ll leave th e rest for you to discover on your own. As always, wehope you enjoy each and every page.

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

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We received an immediate and passionate response from readers concerning Prof. Fred Malmstrom’s article The 19 65 USAFA Cheating Scandal. Though not everyone agrees i n their assessment of the provocative article, one thing i s cer

First, while my son isa member of the Classof 2007, I rarely read Checkpoints. But the March issue isan exception. I particularly

m u ch as w e d o .

well remember the collective anguish.

o u r

tai n; our readers love this Academy and what it stands f o r as

enjoyed ''Airborne!," and especially "The1965 Cheating Scandal."

My complimentsto both authors. I wasamember of thefaculty in 1984 during the Physics Department cheating episode an d

I was also particularly moved by C4C Tomczak’s "Returning

The 1965 USAFA Cheating Scandal reviewsan aspect of demy’shistory that isseldom discussed. The issuesraised are important and worth careful consideration.

Unfortunately, the author’sattempts to provide insight through

to USA FA ."

simply untenable. Although he conceded thiswasa group o f

I just read Mr. Malmstrom’sSUPERB account of the 1965

o u r

Fi ne w ork .

a c a

critical analysis fall well short.

His facile dismissal of the White Committee’s “Opinion” i s

“impressively titled men,” heevaluated their conclusion competition between cadetswasa prime contributor

“ t h at

“Honor Scandal,” and I think that terminology is fi tting.

It challenged the Honor Code fundamentally, and it

to th e

cheating atmosphere” as odd.” While making vague allusions to

WayneA. Silkett, LT COL, USArmy (Ret.) DFPS, 1983-1986

n u m e r o u s w ell-k now n st udies” w hich show that dum ber

students cheat more than brighter ones, he cites only an “unpub lished doctoral research” for support. A closer, more objective, review of the social science research concerning the effects of competition and behavior (e.g., Alfi e Kohn or John Darley)

providesextensivesupport for theWhite Committee’s mendations. Every system is perfectly designed to produce t h e r e c o m

results observed and increased emphasis on competition i n cr eases the likelihood of cheating.

Similarly, the author’sdismissal of theWhite Committee’s

recommendation that AOCs be taken out of cadet squadrons unusual” contradicts the scholarly literature concerning adolescent moral development. Thepower assertion he s e e m s t o advocate is far less effective in developing individuals with high moral values than induction (i.e. setting a positive example and as

providing objective feedback and encouragement). At t i m es t r ai n

ingsystemsand philosophieswhich havecreated unnecessarily

adversarial relations between cadets and offi cers have underm ined

our capacity to educate and inspire cadets to become o f fi cer s. W e need to stop blaming cadets for playing the games we creat ed .

Col. (Ret.) David B. Porter, DPhil, Class of 1971 Former Permanent Prof essor and Head of the

Department of Behavioral Sciencesand Leadership

w a s sc a n

dalous conduct .

The articlewas thorough, objective, well-organized, scholarly, and fi nely written, throughout.

As an aside, I noted the citation to Colonel Malham W ak i n , former USAFA chair of the Department of Philosophy an d

Fine Arts. A noble and smart and dignifi ed offi cer i f t h er e ev er

w

a s

o n e .

I can still remember the indoctrination that we received during

First BCT, and thereafter, in the summer of 1966, about w h at

had happened, what had been done about it, and itseffects on theAcademy, e.g., the “second classshuffl e,” which is noted in

the article. Not only didn’t the Academy spare us, it insisted that

w e

know about the dirty laundry that had so recently preceded

u s . . .i n a s

m uch det ail as w as t hen available.

I wassurprised that I could still recall a lot of the det ails of

the badness: the number of cadets involved, the cheaters an d t h e

tolerators, the OSI investigation and arrests, the deat h th reat (s) , the surreptitiousentry at night into Fairchild Hall, the disgusting sale of tests, the lame explanations for the treachery.

Amazing, though not by Academy standards, is that, barely a year after theWhite Report waspublished, theAcademy provided

its incoming fourth classmen with fair, comprehensive, h o n est

information about what the Academy was, and still is, all about , what has since become to be known as “integrity fi rst, ser v i ce before self, excellence in all we do.” D>

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

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L ET T ERS

I’m still amazed at the clarity and sagacity of thosew ords, w ho

ever coined them. Three incredible breaths of clean, refreshing

moral air, in wonderful, rapid succession.

I also remember, very distinctly, in the cold of Winter 1967 , being ordered into our Squadron Assembly Room, on a crisp

and clear Colorado morning, I think it wasaSaturday, t o h ear

of yet another egregious breach of the Honor Code. Forty nine

people involved, as I distantly recall. I could hardly bel ieve w h at I was hearing.

More recently, I had the pleasure to have a conversation w i t h

two of our most distinguished classmatesat our September 2 0 0 5

reunion, purely by happenstance, and each asked me w hat w as

the most important thing about theAcademy, and, without t h e

slightest hesitation, I answered, “the Honor Code.”

Not the slightest doubt about that then or now, nor has there

ever been .

Without the Honor Code, I would never havestayed there.

Thingswere hard enough without having to worry about living

in a den of liars, cheats, and thieves.

And weweren’t even getting shot at ... then.

I really thank and compliment M r. Malmstrom for his w o r k

and research and scholarship in writing thisexceptional art icle.

MikeRyan, Class of 1970

Another, Joe O ’Gorman, became one of the most successful ai rline

executivesof our generation serving ultimately aspresident of three major airlinesand executivevicepresident or senior V P of three others. Moreimportant, hegaveagreat deal back to theAcademy in

terms of his experience, his time and his resources. He played the key

rolein raisingmoney for thedocumentary about prisonersof war,

“Return with Honor.” Joeregularly cameback to theAcademy t o speak to cadetsabout character, honor and integrity, beginning each speech with acandid recital of hisdeparturefrom theAcademy and thereasonsfor it. (Unfortunately, Joedied almost four years ago, but

a video of hisspeech can beviewed in theAthletic H all of Excellence in the theater that carries his name.) Joe took what w as the m ost painful experience of his life and turned it into a strength that he could use to communicate with cadets as few others w ere able. T here

wasalso no moreloyal and devoted supporter of Falcon football than

Joe. But I have to say that Joewas like the othersw ho left that I have

cometo know again. They each took an extremely painful m istak e,

learned from it, and became better men because it. T hese friends

without exception havebecomeoutstanding citizens, ex cel len t fathers, finehusbandsand good men.

I certainly have not kept in touch with all those who lef t , and I can only speak of those I know, but what I have said i s t r u e of them. They spent 42 of the 47 months the rest of w e r e a t u s

theAcademy. I believetheAcademy and theHonor Program had alasting impact on them even though they didn’t graduate.

To dismiss them and their lives out of hand as D r. M al m st rom

I read with interest D r. M almstrom’s article on the 1965 cheat

ing scandal in the March 2006 issueof Checkpoints. It provided detail that I was not aware of even though the scandal o ccu r r ed in the fi nal semester of my senior year. His interpretationsof the causesof the scandal were insightful, yet I am sure al l of us w ho

lived through the period will continue to hold our own particular views on this very painful event.

does in his last paragraph is a disservice to them and what they have given back to theAcademy and to society since 196 5. D r.

Malmstrom says he hopes those who left have “rehabilitated

themselves.” Those I know certainly have, as Dr. Malmstrom would have discovered with very little additional work an d m

What promptsmetowrite, however, isthelast paragraph of his

Bart Holaday, Class of 1965

ness of research for the rest of the article. First, D r. M al m st rom mentionsthat 1965 “turned out to be a pretty good year,” stating that our class had a Medal of Honor winner, a Rhodes Scholar

In reply to Col. Porter’sobservations, my research uncovered a great deal of resentment from retired faculty who experienced t h e

articlewhich by itsoversightscausesme to doubt the thorough

and a Superintendent of theAcademy. But he failsto m e n t i o n

fallout from the recommendations of the 1965 W hite Report. I

very importantly that we also had a Chief of Staff o f t h e A i r

cannot dismiss the fi ndings from any blue-ribbon panel fi ndings

Force, General Mike Ryan, whom we are honoring thisy e a r a s theAcademy’s Distinguished Graduate, not to mention a n u m b er

on theWhiteReport, theEmbrey Report, theCamsReport,

Dick Schlosberg, the 2004 Distinguished Graduate.

scientifi c rigor and follow-on evaluations.

of other General offi cers, astronauts, and business leaders such as

I am particularly troubled, however, by Dr. Malmstrom’s

c o m

-

ments about those who left . H e mentions that “one ex-cadet

o r

theJosephson Report. Their recommendations may or m ay not have been valid, but all these reportssuffered from lack of ev e n

Furthermore, I stand by my fi ndings that—at least at the th ree

major service academies- the dumber students are more likely

hasbeen arrested and jailed for third degreeassault. B u t an o t h er becamea respected civil rightsattorney.” With very little research hewould havediscovered much more. Personally, I haveb een blessed in thelast 15 yearsto get reacquainted with a handful of my classmateswho left in thescandal. They becamesuccessful company presidents, entrepreneurs, and lawyers. Onegot a ROT C

litdeisknown about thosecadetswho left .” Certainly, I found

full colonel aft er yearsof serviceand adistinguished c a r e e r .

I also interviewed of scoresof graduatesat therecent C lass of 1965

commission, fl ew F4s in Vietnam, and retired from the A i r Fo r ce a

6

o r e

objective reporting.

to cheat. I haveover 3,000 responsesfrom my ongoingh o n o r

surveys to academy graduates from the classes of 1959 through 2005. Thelower half of all graduating classesself-admitted sig nifi cantly more academic violations of the honor code.

In responseto Bart Holaday’sobservationsto my statement, “very n o

published information on the bootees. It wasn’t for lack of trying,

C H EC K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

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L ET T ER S

reunion and cameup blank. In retrospect, I ought to have interviewed former varsity football players. Anyway, Bart hasopened u p a fascinating lead for anyonewho wantsto writeabook or doctoral diss e r t a t i o n o n thosecadetswho de parted from the 1965 honor scandal.

Thanksfor all thethoughtful feedback to “The 1965 U SA FA Cheating Scandal.” When I began thisresearch on thehonor system o v e r 20 ye arsago, I started asacynic but ended up asa believer. so m

e

proudly displayed on theAcademy terrazzo, for theApril kill.

Both Volloy and Maaswere similar to Jeff Feinstein i n t h at they were superb combat Phantom jockswhose backseat expertise made killing MiGssomething we counted on during those m i s

n o w

sions fl own at Udorn RTAFB. H ats off to all Phantom G I B S!

Fred “Fredo” Olmsted, Class of 1964

Aircraf t Commander, 13th Tactical Fighter Squadron Udorn R TAF B, 19 70- 19 72

Fred Malmstrom, Class of 1964 Fred,

[To Fred M al mstrom]

Bravo! I read and re-read your fascinating, well researched,

an d

skillfully written article.

Brig. Gen. (Ret.) MarcosE. Kinevan, J.D. Former Permanent Prof essor and Head of theDepartment of Law Fred Malmstrom got it right. Assomeonewho vividly rem em bers the evening of 18 Jan 65 and the ensuing events, I was happy to see his account of the situation published. The White Report clearly missed the real cause(s) of the “scandal.” I have always felt that the cheating was the Academy’s own version of a protest

against the repressivenessof the administration. I t hink that he

correctly pointed out some of theother motivations. I only hope

that this lesson is not lost in evaluating the current problems that face our inst itut in .

Right pilot , wrong bird

The March issue article on MiG Killers states “Dog” Geczy’s kill an

notes, I nowseethat I did haveyou down aspilot, but wrote WSO. So I takethat hit squarely and sincerely apologize. - Darrel Whi tcomb, ’69 Time for “heavy” thinking

While the article ''Sentinels of theAcademy, Part I F w as w ell

written and interesting, it unwittingly revealed a ch r o n i c

problem that hasaffl icted not only theAcademy but th e ent i re

USAF: the marginalization of the Mobility Air Forces. W h il e theAcademy has a number of fi ghter and experimental ai rcraft static display and even one bomber, it hasyet to get a single o n

mobility aircraft.

Now is the ideal time to fi nally give long overdue recogni

tion to workhorses such as the C-47, C-54, C- 130, C- 14 1, and

other combat proven aircraft that have contributed so m uch for many decades. During the Global War on Terrorism, thev a s t majority of air missionshave been mobility, another r e a s o n t o begin planning now for an air mobility park at USAFA. Perhaps the Pikes Peak chapter of theAirlift /Tanker A sso ci at i o n along with other mobility professionalsstationed at the Academy so

DaveHoogerland, Class of 1966

w as m

Ohmy. I dosurely try todoublecheck my data. Ingoingback through my

F-15 [Eagle]. I’m sure he’d besurprised to hear that

since he was the D O of the 78EFS at the time and was fl ying the

could start this process?

Give me the name and address for the “USAFA Air Mobility Park” fund, and I’ll send my contribution.

Phil Bossert, Class of 1982

F-16GJ [Fighting Falcon].

Shane Riza, Class of 1990 You are correct, sir. Lt. Col. Geczys kill was whilefl ying an F-16CJ. - Ed.

the article on "Just In Time Teaching most interesting and i nf or mative. I think it is a fantastic aid to learning, and I am very sorry it didn’t exist when I was at USAFA, struggling to graduate with a 2.03 cumulative GPA . But, the AO G didn’t exist at t h at t i m e

Hats off t o Phant om GIBs

I must make a small, albeit important and respectful, t io n t o

Bet t e r lat e t ha n neve r

I enjoyed the March Checkpointsvery much, as usual, but I found

c o r r ec -

M r. D arrel W hitcomb’s article "M i G Killers,” featured i n

Checkpoints, March 2006.

On my MiG kill missionsfl own asamember of the 13T F S “ Pan

ther Pack,” I was the aircraft commander, not W SO , as the article erroneously stated. My invaluableand indispensableGIBs (to use the

moreappropriateVietnam-eraacronym) who participated in the kills Gapt. Gerald Volloy (March 30, 1972) and Capt. Stuart M aas (April 16, 1972). Stu and I werefl ying Phantom OY 463, w hich is

either, and I do not believe there was hardly any private funding coming to the Academy.

I have been involved in teaching in one way or another, b o t h i n and out of the Air Force, for many years, and have seen d r am at i c changes. But JITT seems revolutionary, and I hope it spreads throughout the USAFA faculty.

Keep up the fi nework on a great publication.

w ere

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

Matt Feiertag, Class of 1964 7

L ET T ERS

On li ne co m m unicat io ns

Many thanksfor the photosfrom Recognition. I fi nally s a w a photo of my daughter—much needed!!!!!

Anonymous

what isdemanded. Of major import wasattendingclassesand having thechanceto comparehisknowledgelevel with what was being taught. Jeff came away with a renewed confi dence, and decided t o

commit to theUSAFA. Jeff had also received an appointment t o W est Point, but the orientation confi rmed that his fi rst choice of U SA FA

wasthecorrect one. Wearevery proud of theway heapproached this decision, and it washisaloneto make. My wifeand I know that he

Many thanks for providing a link on your Web site to our legisla

will look back on thisday and understand that it was the most impor

Your quick action in publicizing the survey and the acco m p an y ing article made a big difference. When weasked you and other

Thanksfor giving us the tour. My wife and I learned about the daily life of a cadet than in any of thesem i n ar s. U SA FA

tive survey about the DoD-proposed TRICARE fee increases.

partners to post the survey for us, we saw an immediate, signifi cant jump in survey respondents.

I cannot emphasize enough how much this boost added t o t h e impact of my testimony before the HASC Personnel Subcommit tee on M arch 29.

tant decision is his life to date.

m

is truly a premier educational institution, and the lessonsJeff will

learn from hismilitary training will sustain him for the rest of h is life. We could not be happier that Jeff has chosen the U SA FA .

Go Falcons! Beat Army! Sink Navy!

I was able to tell the committee that more than 40,000 individu

alshad responded to thesurvey, including 6,500 activeduty, and that 95 percent of all respondentswereopposed to the DoD plan.

As acounter proposal, I offered MOAAslist of 16 waysthe Penta gon can help reducehealth carecostswithout hurting benefi ciaries.

Thisstrong opposition from your membersand ourshelped turn the tide—at least for now—and gives us time for stronger offensivewhen this comes up again. ev e n

a

Wecan be proud that together we areable to makesuch a diff erence for our members, their families, andthemilitary community at large.

o r e

Jerry and Kathy Hutchins LakeForest, Calif .

We Welcome YourThoughts!

Pleasee-mail your lettersto editor@aogusafa.org. Let ters m ust be no

more than 200 words and can pertain to articles found in Check

points, or any other AOG topic. We reservethe right to edit let ters.

Norb RyanJr., ViceAdmiral, USNavy, (Ret.) President, Military Ojj icersAssociation of America [ZoomiEnews] isvery, very good. It makesme more in t o u ch with what isgoing on at theAcademy.

Anonymous

I love ZoomiEnews!!! Just the right length, variety of stories, depth, etc. Thanksfor responding to our request for m o r e an d

diff erent m odes of com m unicat ion .

Holly Emrick Svetz, Classof 1980 Parents thank Academy and AOG

Kathy, myself, and Jeff, our son, havejust arrived hom e from the orientation, and I wanted to let you know what aprofound effect it had on all of us. Wewere all impressed with theprofessional

ism, warmth, and candor of the Air Force offi cers, cadets, civilians

and membersof theAOG. It makes meproud to be an A m er i can and know that people of thiscaliber are defending our f reedom and making selfl esssacrifi ceswithout a request for r ew ar d .

Theorientation presented an unvarnished appraisal of the chal lengesthat theAcademy offersto young people. Asyou know, there

are many myths about the rigors of BCT, and how diffi cult it can b e

to makeit through thefour yearsand graduate. Jeffsdiscussions w ith thecadet heshadowed, and others, gavehim arealistic snapshot of 8

BIRDS OF FEATHER ...

You never knowwhereyou might bump into a fellowAcademy graduate. Charles A. WintermeyerJr., 7 5, a Foreign Se rvic e Officer withthe U.S. State Department inAfghanistan, recently happened upon I Lt. Joe Myhra, ’03, during an overn ight m is sion inthe boonies of Zabul Province inAfghanistan. It t u rn s

out, Myhra is the Chief Engineer of the Provincial Reconst ruct ion

TeaminWintermeyer’s neck of thewoods (or desert).

n , 4 . v-t

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Ascadetsand graduatesof theAcademy, you hold integrity in thehighest regard. Your official ring iscreated w i t h t h at sameintegrity by Jostens, your partner in expressing pride in the United States Air Force Academy.

^iostens

TM

PE R SPE C T I V E

AOG

f

I

f rom the

(BoarcCChair

Fellow graduates and members of the AOG,

On a perfect Colorado aft ernoon, May 12, 2006, AOG and A cad emy leadersheld a ribbon cutting ceremony for the c o n s t r u c t i o n

of theMemorial Pavilion at theAcademy cemetery. Thecerem o n y wasattended by many graduatesand friendsof theAcademy, w h o

joined together to celebrate the turning of thevision for the Pavil

ion into a reality. The need for an enclosed structure to be used to conduct funeral ceremonies had been identifi ed in 1982, al m ost

25 yearsago. But no federal fundswere forthcoming. So the A O G Board several yearsago, under the leadership of Ron Yates ’60,

identifi ed thisneed asahigh priority and raised private funds fromgraduatesand friendsto build thisfacility. C onst ruct ion

for election/selection in odd numbered years.

The fi rst steps in the transition to the new Board structure began at

theBoard meeting on May 13, 2006. An immediateefl Fect of the elec tion wastheelimination of thecategory of Designated D irectors. T his

category was the means by which the CEO was seated on the Board, soJim Shaw wasdeemed to havecompleted histerm asa Designated

Director andceased tobeaBoard member. At themeeting, the Board

discussed thetransition and approved adraft Transition Plan, subj e c t

to independent legal review. The Board selected Holland and H art t o

isplanned to be completewithin ayear, when never again will

conduct that review, whichwasled by CharlieLucy, ’7 1.

rado weather to pay their fi nal respects. I am confi dent that all of

several areas, and theGovernanceCommitteedeveloped r e c o m -

family and friendsbeforced to endurethevagariesof the C olo

you will be pleased and proud of this addition to our Academy, T he results of the referendum on theAOG Bylaws are very clear.

By an overwhelming majority (97 percent), membersvoted t o adopt the Bylawsproposed by theAOG BlueRibbon Council. A n d by acloser margin 52.2 percent voted for a Board sizeof 15 direc tors. You will recall that theBRC wascreated by theA O G Board

of Directorsto recommend a“best practices” governancem o d el for theAssociation. Your votesignalsthat you strongly approved of

their work. For thisvoteto bevalid, aquorum of 25 percent of our memberseligibleto vote (5,819 ballots) wasrequired. W e r eceiv ed 6709 ballots (28.8 percent). Thank you to all who voted.

Thenew Bylawswereef ectiveimmediately upon thecerti fi ca

tion of the election results by theAOG Secretary on May 4, 2006, with theexception of the composition of the Board, w hich w ill undergo a transition between then and July 1, 2007. A t the tim e of the election, thecurrent Board was composed of 18 directors—

9 elected, 6 appointed, 2 appointed to fi ll out unexpired elect ed

terms, and 1 designated. The new Bylawscall for the Board to be 10

composed of up to15 directors, 11elected and 4 appointed. A nd theBylawscall for approximately half of each category to be up

The legal review resulted in the need to revise the draft Plan i n

mendations for those revisionsaswell as some they fel t should be made. The Board met by teleconference on June 11, 2 0 0 6 t o

discuss those recommendations. The Governance Committee t h en

amended the draft Transition Plan to refl ect the Board discussions

and onJune 16 theBoard voted unanimously to approveth e Plan .

Following is a summary of the Plan.

• Elected Directors - Of the 9 elected directors on the Board today, three have terms that continue until June 2009 (Steve Finch, ’65,

Marty France, 81, and MikeFlynn, ’95) and they will co n t i n u e t o

serve until their term expires. Two current directors (A1Rogers, ’64, and

John Moore, ’78) will reach term limitsinJune2007 an d c a n n o t r u n for election then. Threeelected directors(Leon Smith-Harrison, ’75,

Pat Rosenow, ’76, and Edie Edmondson, ’92) have terms that expire in June 2007, and they can run for election. And thefi nal elected director,

Susan Helms,, 80’ announced that shewill step down ft om her elected seat oneyear early inJune2006, dueto her responsibilities as a

n ew

Wing Commander. Thus, to reach 11 elected directors, as many as 8 seatswould be up for election in the next election in M arch 2007.

C H EC K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

PE R SPE C T I V E

TheBylawsset theterm for elected directorsat four years. The draft plan for transition contemplated setting the term for 6 of these seatsat 4 yearsand 2 of them at 2 years, so that t here w ould be 6 directors elected in 2007 and 5 elected in 2009, thereby achieving the“approximately half” desired balance. Fi owever the legal review concluded that the Bylaws did not permit the creation of a two-year term, even during transition, so thedecision wasmadeto elect only 6 directors in 2007, and hold the remaining two elected seat s o p en

until 2009 to get thedesired balance. Thustherewill be a total of 9 elected directorsduring theperiod 2007-2009, and 11 t hereaft er.

• Appointed Directors- With Susan Helmsleavingher el ect ed

seat in June 2006, the fi rst step was to appoint someone to fi ll out the balance of her term. T he Board felt that it was important to

have theCEO as avoting member of the Board, so it unanimously

approvedJimShaw’sappointment to completeSusan’sterm through

June2007. In addition, theBoard will convey itsrecommendation to future Boards that they give great consideration to having the CEO serve in one of the four appointed positions on the Board.

So the current Board now has three directors who have b een

appointed to fi ll out unexpired elected terms (Mike Christy, ’63, Jack Kucera, ’78, and Jim Shaw, ’67). These termsall expire in June 2007 and all are eligible to run for election or stand for appointment by the Board to be seated in July 2007. A nd the Board has six directors (Bill Boisture, ’67, Gil Mook, ’67, T ed

Legasey, ’67, Ed Eberhart, ’68, Charles Garcia, ’83, and A m ber O’Grady, ’96) whose termsexpire in June 2009. To facilitate t h e transition Mook, Legasey, Garcia, and O’Grady have of fered t o relinquish their Board seats in June 2007. This enables B i l l Boisture and Ed Eberhart to continue in their appointed s e a t s

until 2009, leaving two appointed seats for the new Board to fi ll

in 2007 with terms that expire in 2011, thereby achieving t h e desired balance of two appointments each election year.

Thus theTransition Plan establishes a path to have 9 elected and

4 appointed directors, for a total of 13 Board membersfrom 20072009, and 11 elected and 4 appointed for a total of 15 thereaft er.

for the conference and registration procedures are posted on the AOG Web site at www.usafa.org.

Speakingof theWebsite, wehaveasecond round of enhancements

to thesiteunderway, so stay tuned for new featuresand functionality.

On Friday May 12, Major John “Vegas” VargasJr., ’96 w as p re

sented theJabara award for Airmanship. Major Vargasw as cited for heroism and sustained superior performance as an F-16 fl ight com mander and instructor pilot in thefamedTripleNickel Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy. To see hisaccomplishments in more detail go to page24.Asyou knowtheJabaraaward isgivenannually to a gradua t e who ha s madeoutstanding contributionsto thefi eld of airpower.

Pleasejoin mein congratulatingVegasfor hisaccomplishments.

Theclosing datefor thesubmission of information packages from thosemembersseeking nomination to run for election to the Board, or petitioning onto theelection ballot, is 1 August 2006.

Please see the AOG Web site for details.

Pleasejoin mein congratulatingthe879 membersof t he C l^ s

of 2006 who joined the Long Blue Line on May 31, 2006. This, of course, is the fi rst class to have spent all four years at the Academy aft er 9/11/2001. We areproud of them and know that they will se r v e

valiantly in the Global War on Terror. And, I would l i k e t o

welcome the Class of 2010, which reported to theAcademy on June 29. Weknow they will faceadiffi cult summer with many of the

challenging changesto BCT that areplanned, but we are confi dent they havethe “right stuff ” to overcome therigorsand join the Cadet Wing in August.

Finally, I apologize for this issue of Checkpointsbeing published later than planned. I held up thepublication until t h e T r an si t i o n Plan wasapproved so that wecould communicate itsc o n t e n t s t o you in this magazine. Best wishes for a great summer.

T hank s,

Ted Legasey, ’67

TheAOG isundertaking itsfi rst-ever, formal survey of graduates and members. Separatebut similar surveysareunderway for A O G members, graduateswho arenot membersand membersw h o ar e not graduates. Thissurvey isattempting to learn what t h e A O G does that is valued, what we do that is not valued, and what you wish that we would do. If you did not receive a survey (all AO G

graduatemembersarebeing surveyed) by mail or email, y o u m ay

M e m b e r- G r a d u at e

Saunders (scott@coronaresearch.com) at Corona Research. T hey

Survey

contact Rachel Kozlowsky (rachel@coronaresearch.com) o r Sco t t

can provideacomputer link or remail apaper copy at y o u r req u est .

Each member may participateonly once. But pleasedo participate.

Thisisachance for you to affect how your AOG doesb u si n ess.

Another way for you to influence theAOG and learn about what’sgoing on at theAcademy isto attend the G r ad u at e Leadership ConferenceJuly 23-25 at theAcademy. This is t he third year of thisevent, which isco-sponsored by the Academy m

o r e

and the AOG, as an outreach to graduates who are willing t o invest the time to come “up to speed” on the state of theAcademy and the AOG and to share that with fellow graduates. The agenda C H E C K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

This June t he A ssociat io n w ill

be conducting a comprehensive survey of AOG members and

graduates. It 's import ant you t ake t he t ime t o part icipate!

We valueyour input.

11

T h e S ecr et Lif e of

Waldo?. Dufnbsquat

by Don Hall, 76

“P ssst f

55

CMC Waldo F. Dumbsquat awokefrom

his deep sleep atop his SAMI bed. It was the dead of night. A dream

involving swimsuit modelsand icecream quickly evaporated. B en d

ing over him was the unshaven face of his roommate, W ar ren H eels.

“C’mon, Waldo. It’stime for the Spirit Mission! Regs is waiting

for us in the stai rw ell .”

Trying not to disturb the tight sheets and blanket, Waldo carefully

Waldo breathed a sigh of relief.

In the low light, the freshman examined the large portrait. T h e

brush strokesweremasterful, worthy of thegreat daV inci him self .

Thelineswove an intricate pattern. Suspicious, the freshm an and amateur cryptologist studied thework of art closer. I t enigmawrapped in a riddle surrounded by ajigsaw puzzle based

w a s a n

swung off hisbunk. Hepulled aUSAFA sweatshirt and pants over his

on a Sudoku square.

hedid. Black low top tennisshoescompleted theensemble.

M i tchell .

pajamas and yanked a bluewatch cap down over hisears. No, really, “I’m ready. Let’s go!”

Thedooliescrept past thealcovesof sleeping cadetsand slipped

into the stairwell. T he actual stealth was modest at best. Regs put a finger to his lips and motioned for his classmates to follow him .

Taking thestepstwo at a timebrought thedooliesto the quadran

glequickly. Regsstopped and handed hisfriendscamouflagest i ck s.

“I don’t have chapped lips, thanks,” said Waldo.

“Just put it on your face and the back of your hands!” ordered

Regs, just a little frustrated.

“Okay, okay.”

Clinging to theshadowsthe dooliesmade their way t o a M i t ch ell Hall side door. Regsgave the handle a tug. The door opened easily, silently. The other freshmen looked at him, ast o n i sh ed .

“I chocked the door open at dinner with a piece of Shepherd’s Pie,” he explained.

The others nodded knowingly.

Once inside thegreat dining hall, Regsled them past the row s of

tables to the Staff Tower entrance. T he white table cloths caught the

moonlight and appeared likeeerieghostslying in formation.

Regspulled a 37 sheet spirit sign from under hisshirt.

“Waldo, Warren and I will go up and hang thesign. You stay here

and stand watch. Signal with awhistle if trouble is on its way. You know how to whistle, don’t you?Just put your lipstogether and blow.”

“Here’slooking at you, kid,” said Waldo with a big camouflaged thumb up.

Warren and Regs disappeared up the stairs as Waldo dutifully surveyed the dark room.

NVGswould have been nice to have right about now.

Suddenly, the one hair on the back of his neck stood up. There was a presence behind him. Every scary movie he had ev e r

se e n

played through hishead. Frantically, he tried to whistle, b u t h i s lipswere too chapped. Gathering hiscourage, the doolie t u r n ed t o

12

facehisfoe. Looming over himwasBilly Mitchell’sP i ct u r e.

Waldo grabbed Warren’sarm and gestured wildly toward Billy

“Thispainting containsacode! Maybeit holdsthekey to the secret of mystery meat or what thediggersand fillersarereally looking for!”

Warren stared fearfully at thefamousaviator and pondered t h e

novel idea.

Regs peered at the painting.

“That’sno code, Waldo! That’sthe artist’ssignature!”

“ O h . . . never m i nd .”

Dreamsof a book deal and movie rights disappeared as ar m ed men with flashlights burst through the East Doors. Regs pushed

his friends under a t able.

“The KnightsTemplar?” squeaked Waldo.

“More like the Officer in Chargeand the Security Police!” w h i s pered Regs. “We need a diversion to get out theWest D o o r s.”

Waldo had a plan.

“ Give me 76 seconds and then make a break for freedom.”

With that thedoolie, slipping momentarily on apat of butter that had dropped from theceiling, low crawled to theoptional b reak f ast line. Thereheuttered themagicwords Chapel Privilegean d t r a n s formed into Colonel Waldo F. Dumbsquat, aman for all se aso n s .

“Halt! Who goes there?” bellowed the colonel as he stood up.

“Isthat you. Colonel Dumbsquat?” asked theOIC. “Weg o t a

report of a break-in. Sir.”

“Sorry for all the trouble. I couldn’t sleep tonight, so I thought I’d come over and hang a spirit sign.”

“No problem. Colonel. Just lock up when you’re done.”

The security detail departed and the colonel ducked into a food cart. He emerged in his original puny doolie form. H e sm iled trium -

phandy. Hispalshad escaped during hisclever banter w ith the C om

mand Post offi cer. Heproudly lookedat thesign hangingfrom the

Staff Tower. Hisexpression turned to oneof dismay. AFA had been misspelled! A new sign would be needed APSA ... ah, A SA P

Waldo sighed. S

C H EC K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

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AHARD-WORjf,^^ cK >

I N V E ST M E N T ? e 6

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/ tL top 10 1

T market . At the University of Virginia’s Darden

he bull market . The bear market . The job

School of Business, we don’t just teach you how to make and manage solid investments, we’Ube one.

We’re proud to say our program was recently named one of the top 10 “MBAs for your buck”

by Forbes magazine. This distinct ion was earned

through a combination of criteria, including tuition and pre- and post- MBA salaries. It’s nice to know that when you make an investment in a Darden MBA, you are getting an investment that works as hard as you do.

Now if only the rest of the market could be this predictable. www.darden.Virginia.edu/ milit ary

A r e y o u Da r d en mat er ia l ?

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— U NIVERSn Y

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PE R SPE C T IV E

A n O pen L et t er t o

G r ad uat es

w

'ell, it has been 7 months since

I was fortunate enough to be

selected to com m and the U SA F

Academy as its 17th Superintendent. My wife, Debby, and I are both extremely proud to serve and ecstatic to be back in C olorado

aft er 33 years. I must admit, though, my

AOC (and classmates and “M avericks” from

28th squadron) would have never envisioned this! A lot has gone on since the change of command in late October 2005, so it isonly appropriate that I let you know what we’ve been up to; hence, this open letter to you.

I write thisletter from the unique perspec tive of not just being the Supt, but as a 1973 graduate and also as a parent of a 2003 graduate. I have fond memoriesof my cadet experiences—Debby and I relived many as our daughter progressed from basic cadet to second lieutenant—and, now, weget to see every facet of thisAcademy and help it continue on a course of excellence. As you might imagine, we have a great appreciation for keeping grads informed.

My fi rst self-imposed task was to conduct a comprehensive internal assessment of the Academy. It was immediately evident that Lt. Gen. JR Rosa, his leadership team and the entireAcademy had smartly addressed the serioussocial issueswe faced just a few years ago, and I concluded theAcad emy had and isstill making considerable progress. This is key—because (whilewe are still focused on all aspects of respect for human dignity) it allowed me to look well beyond those issues and begin a review and assessment of the entireAcademy ... our training policies, our academics, our fi tness programs, our facilities and more. Given that scope and the importance of our mission, we knew it w ould tak e several m onths to listen, absorb, assess, conclude and refi ne. From the

start , I turned to the entire senior class and

asked their views on what is right about our Academy and what might need a new direc tion—and they responded with many wellreasoned ideas. My overall assessment is now complete, and from it sprang several key conclusions and refi nements for continuing to improve our Academy. Let me share some specifi cs with you.

My fi rst observation is our cadets are most impressive—they are smart, positively motivated and eager to raise their game to whatever high standardswe set. If any of you are having a bad day, just spend an hour with our cadets and you’ll be pumped up! I don’t lose any sleep at all wondering about the caliber of our next generation of lieutenants—wewill be producing outstand ing men and women of character with these n ex t f o u r cl asses.

My second conclusion issimply there is awhole lot of good going on at theAcad emy. Excellence abounds—everywhere.

Our cadets, our esteemed faculty and our no-kidding world-classacademics, our hand picked mentors on the Commandant’sstaff, our athletics and our base support to cadets all shinewith examples of devoted work, national prominence, high spirits and good deeds. Our academic program is nationally recognized: USNews& World Report ranks us #2 in the nation for A eronautics and

Astronautics Engineering programs, and the Princeton Review ratesour professors#1 in the nation for availability to students—and the rest of the departments are simply fi rstrate, too. O ur com m anders, A O Cs and

enlisted trainers are the best from across the

Air Force; many are combat veterans. Intra m urals are al ive and w ell and our intercol

legiate teams are highly competitive—hope you followed our men’sbasketball team this year. Our coaches are genuinely contributing and enhancing our character development efforts through athletics (I’d venturewe are one of thevery few universities that has character development in our coaches’ con tracts). We can and must do better getting a steady stream of our positive accomplish m ents in front of the m edia so others outside

our Academy again realize how strong and capablewe are ... more frequent connections with grads can assist here.

Even with those glowing assessments, there are areas we can continue to improve.

C H E C K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

Our Academy is now over 50 yearsold, still relatively young, but old enough to have a solid base of meaningful traditions. Some of the early traditions have been dropped from theAcademy experience, and we are bringing several back. Some are easy, like reverting to the original Form 0 -96. Others, like Recognition, require careful planning and command oversight so only the positive t r ad i t io n al elem en ts co n t i n u e as w e m ove

forward as an institution. We completed Rec ognition on March 18, and all membersof the Class of 2009 are now upper-class cadets, each proudly wearing their Prop and Wings.

It was indeed a pleasurewatching them come together as a classand demonstrate to all how strong and spirited they are. Awesome!

Speaking of being 50+ years old, our facilities are showing thewear and tear of the temperature extremes, the freeze-thaw-freeze cycles and the 70-knot wind gusts (the Dark Ages have not changed). We have embarked on building a 10-year “Fix USAFA” plan that we’ll take to the Pentagon and the Board of Visitors for consideration and funding.

All told, we have 79 specific areas we are refi ning. Here are a few more to whet your appetite:

Individual commissioning ceremonies for 2006 and beyond—Our Firsties made a compelling case that commissioning ceremo nieswere a proud and important tradition.

We brought back professionally-conducted squadron commissioning ceremonies for the evening of May 30.

40 cadet squadrons—Some personnel and fi nancial barrierscaused us to go to 36 cadet squadronsseveral yearsago. Our dorms are symmetrically designed to handle 40 squadrons and, by doing so, we can standardize the cadet squadron size at 110.

T his w ill also create, over the course of a

year, eight additional squadron commander opportunities for fi rst-class cadets, and a host of additional fl ight commander and other leadership opportunities. Same patches for 37th through 40th squadron.

Cadet Discipline System emphasis in addi tion to Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) options—^T he UCMJ is effec tive for dealing with seriousand repetitive 15

*

off enses. Routine cadet discrepancieslike needing a haircut, sleeping through classand having a bad uniform are best handled by a cadet-run system of demerits, confi nements and restrictions. T herefore, we w ill turn to

the cadet leadership to put more emphasis and focus on training off enses. Form 10sand demerits and restrictionsare coming back.

We stopped short of bringing back tours.

Spirit Missions—Over the years, restric tions have been placed on spirit missions to the point that cadets now require writ ten approval from their AOC. We will give them some clear rules about safety, respect for human dignity, environmen tal constraints, damage to government property ... and some room to run. I fully expected—and I was not disappointed— that it was only a matter of time before the C o m m an d an t ’s o fi ce w as rel o cat ed t o t h e

Terrazzo . . . m ine, too!

Many of the refi nementswe are making can be implemented before the Classof 2010 enterson June 29. One signifi cant area, however, requires more in-depth study: how our honor system supports the Cadet Honor Code. As you can appreciate, we are in the business of producing leadersof character.

Honor and integrity are the foundation. We h ave reach ed th e co n cl u sio n t h at o u r h o n o r 16

system has become too complex—to the point that it can detract from a clear under standing and internalization of what living honorably means. I have decided to take the next 6 months to critically examine the honor systems of all the military academies and several civilian universities, convene a

group of cadets, gradsand civilians, then see how we might tailor our system to comple m en t o u r C od e.

You might get the impression that we are making wholesale changes. I want to emphasizewe are not abandoning the posi tive featuresof the “Agenda for Change,” the Offi cer Development System, the emphasis on the “4-class” system or any of the needed reforms that have taken place in the past 3 years. Wehave our foot on the accelerator concerning sexual assault and harassment, and we continue to stress respect for religion (or no religion). My No. 1 goal is to ensure throughout theAcademy that we have a positive learning environment that has as its foundation genuine respect for human dig nity. We are building on the numerous recent enhancements, and we are moving forward and upward.

I am blessed with a super strong and dedicated leadership team in the cadet area; coincidently they are grads, too. Maj. Gen. Irv Halter, ’77, isour Vice Supt. Brig Gen Sue Desjardins, ’80, isour Gomm. Brig Gen C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

Dana Born, ’83, isour Dean. Dr. (Brig Gen, Retired) H ans M ueh, ’66, is our Athletic

Director. Col “Trapper” Carpenter, ’73,

heads our A dm issions and fellow classm ate,

Johnny Whitaker, leadsour strategic commu nications. We are all proud to serve.

Let me close by mentioning we included theAOG and several small groups of grads in assessing theAcademy and wherewe might alter our course or tweak a policy. We also included the cadetsso they’ll have ownership into the changes—^whilewewon’t please all 4,200 of them , the cadets are on board

with us, and we sense a positive movewith morale. Oncewe have implemented these changes, our objective is to resist changes and move to 4 yearsof stability ... wewant our new cadets to look at the upper class and see their quality of life, and realize the same when they get there several yearsdown the road. In future letters. I’ll let you know how well we are doing.

Take care, stay engaged with our Academy, and G O FA L C O N S!!!

Sincerely

JOH N F. REGN I, Lt. Gen., USAF

PE R SPE C T I V E

gainsand weweremoving forward, and

Su per in t en d en t ’s I n t er v i ew w i t h t h e A O G Int erview by D ick Rauschkol b, 7 0, Vice Pr esident , CoMMUNicAnoNS P h o t o s by K en W r i g h t

Q: What wereyour initial thoughtswhen selected to betheAcademy’ssuperintendent?

A: First of all I was on leave and got a call to see the Chief [of Staff ] two days later to interview for thejob. That is the fi rst time I heard about it so it was a bit of a surprise becausewewere at Air University and enjoying the hard work there. So wewere surprised, and then humbled, because I knew how responsible thisposition isespecially given the recent history of theAcademy. I knew that it was a very, very important posi tion for the Ai r Force.

Q: Onceyou wereselectedf or thej ob did

you hear f rom a lot of graduates on recom mendations on how you shouldfi x theAir ForceAcademy?

A: I heard from a lot of people. As a matter of fact, I counted them, 430 e-mails, many from graduates. Many I knew; some I had never met before. It issafe to say the graduate community is not fearful of putting their

opinion forward! And I will say that many of thesuggestionswere helpful in framing the environment that I wasmoving into.

Q: l am sure when you looked at thisposi tion, you saw what Lt. Gen. John Rosa, Brig.

Gen. Johnny Weida, ’78, and Col. Debra

Gray, ’80, faced and thechallengesthey had.

Would you comment on that?

A: As a grad, I waswatching what was going on and, of course, I knew most of theleadership team as General Rosa and I werestationed together at Kunsan, Brig.

Gen. W eida and I were in A ir Education

and Training Command together, and Brig.

those two issueswere no longer ones that

might consumemeassuperintendent. What that did is it fr eed me—instead of being

singularly focused on thoseissues, I wasable

to look across the entireAir ForceAcademy: the faculty, the athletic department, the commandant, the air basewing, the prep school, thewhole piece. Thiswas complex, so it took 60 days to go through as everything was on the table. First, I brought in the staff

and permanent party and oudined thegoals, objectives and the upcoming assessment.

Gen. [Dana] Born, ’83, and I were Penta

T hen I talk ed to lots of cadets. T he entire fi rst class w as the second audience I held.

outstanding people to lead here and gave them a tough, demanding job to do—and they did it exceedingly well. I’d like to also single out Colonel Deb Gray as well. As a

Basically told them that I am the superin tendent and I am ready to listen—tell me what isgood about theAcademy, and tell me

gon warriorstogether. TheAir Forcepicked

m atter of fact , in Second A ir Force we were

dealingwith thesameissueswith 17 to 24-

year-olds so wewere comparing noteswith Colonel Gray as shewent through this. I will tell you the team that General Rosa had did a

superb job of facing thoseissueshead-on and building a positive plan to move forward.

I was very fortunatewhen I got here a lot of that hard work had already been done and theplanswere rock-solid and well-con ceived and theAcademy was getting positive results. Therewas traction, and theAcademy

environm ent that I was able to w alk into w as

much, much diff erent than what General

Rosa had. Tough, demanding times under a microscope that called for real leadership on many fr onts.

Q: When youfi rst arrived you indicated that

you weregoing to takesometimeto doan assessment of theAcademy. Perhapsyou could tell us what that assessment i nvol ved and

who helped you on that?

A: First I give credit to theVice Superinten dent, Major General Irv Halter, ’77, because he could hold dow n the fort w hich allowed

me to get away fr om the desk and the daily issues, and take time to do a comprehensive assessment of theAcademy. The fi rst things I did was validate in Colonel Gray’s area that theAcademy had in fact made signifi cant progress on the sexual harassment issue, and I also looked at the religious issues. My fi rst conclusion waswe had in fact made positi ve C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

thingsthat you think I need to know about.

They weren’t bashful in responding. I met with many other groups, and 60 days later I had built my personal assessment of the Academy. Next I pulled thesenior staf —the general offi cers, major mission element chiefs, the registrar, air basewing and prep school commander, the command chief and

locked ourselves up for aweek and painstak ingly went through my personal assessment to fi nd out if it w as on or off base, and w e

then turned that into a corporate assessment of theAir ForceAcademy. The underlying key of everything planned was integration.

W e w anted to m ak e sure all those m is

sion elementswereworking together, and the complex schedulewe put together for cadets must be integrated, so it was keenly important to get that corporateview. About 90percent of my assessment was accepted as the corporateview. So it wasn’t everything I said was going to happen. They brought somevery important counterpoints to the table that caused us to tweak and change and modify the original assessment.

Q: Did you use a group of graduates or the

A O G?

Ai Col. (Ret.) Jim Shaw, ’67, was very

instrumental in this; used him as a sounding board. I also pulled in an aff ectionate term of “gray beards” of graduates, started all theway back to 1959. For all you grads in 1959 that is not a negative comment but respect. Also took it on the road and went to graduates 17

PE R SPE C T I V E

who are now four stars, three in particular,

and said hereiswhat I am thinking, tell me what you think?I also took it to peoplelike Brig. Gen. Robert McDermott, one of the original deans here for 12 years. He

w as unable to t ravel here so I w ent t o San

Antonio and spent 4-1/2 hours with him

and walked him through everything. Basi cally, I wanted to reach out to thegraduate community, to the senior staff here, to

cadets, to members of the staff. Air Offi cer

Commandings, enlisted military train ers, lots of different pockets to make sure if we were going to make refi nements and changes that they were right on the money, and comprehensive. Rest assured

thiswasnot a dictatorship or anything

like that. It was let’s fold everyone in and get the views of others so we can work this properly. Ownership and buy-in was and is important.

Q: The battlef or cadet time between the dij f erent mission elements hasalways been a constant source of concern over theyears.

What stepsareyougoing to taketofr eeup

some of the cadet time?

A: I think we re-proved the axiom that if you leave everyone to their own devices, the cadet day will last 36 hours as everyone isvying for more of the cadets’ time. One of the basic conclusions after how m uch

good is going on here, the cadets are really, really strong and they are very bright and m otivated— but w e have overloaded their

academics, respects athletics and intra

murals, all thewhileremembering thisis

a military academy. There is a little risk in there too. We are going to start a little earlier, but the theory is expose our cadets to only relevant and current instruction,

snowstorm under their belts (or should I say under their parkas, hoods up). Next semester,

Wednesday isgoing to bethetimeto really

watch it, because it almost going to be a full blown parade.

Q: What will theacademicday look likenow?

givecadetsenough time to do thethings

A: It is still seven periods long. We have

doing thethingswewant them to do, give them adequate timeto study, ensurethey havetheproper environment to effectively study, makesurethat they go to sleep, get them up. Everyoneisgoing to get up in the

of 50 minutes, it will be 55 minutes and

we want them to do, make sure they are

morning at 0600; we’ll have accountability then mandatory breakfast at 0630. They are going to go to class rested and fed, and prepared for class. We also balanced some things in the military training. We raised a few standards but also pulled back some of the volume, particularly in cadet knowl edge. The knowledge piece had grown

from Contrails, which we all know and love

despite its 256 pages, to also include the Cadet Sight Picture, which is the series of cadet regulations and another 158 pages, then theAirmansManual on top of that.

Cadets are memorizing those as opposed to what they really need to know. Cadet regulations and policies should be on a shelf as reference material, not something that needs to be memorized and regurgitated upon request. They need to know it but not m em orize it . So w e have tak en som e

military things off the table aswell.

day and it is out of balance. Unfortunately many cadets, and too many have told me this to not think it is the majority, stay up past 1 or 2 in the morning to get their homework done. And it is largely because they don’t have enough time during the day to get things done or they are not properly using the allotted time for its intended use.

A: We have. The most exciting thing we

Academic Call to Quarters with squadron commanders, with group staff, with fl ight commanders—the studying isn’t getting done during ACQ and they are fi nding other times to do it—after taps. So what we did, and it was not easy, was take the schedule of calls and readjust it, knowing that every mission element wants more. It wasvery hard to pull back. It took several

of their roles and what they are doing in the Combined Air Operations Center and across theArea of Responsibility; the cadetswere very attentive because they know that in two or threeyears they are probably going to be sitting there doing thesame typesof things.

We have added other basic things. You know, we are marching to the noon meal more frequendy—the cadets even have two during a

Thereareroutinemeetingsgoing on during

18

effortsbeforewegot our point across. We fi nally built a new schedulethat respects

R: But you haveadded some too.

added is, six Saturdaysayear, wearegoing to

have awing-widevideo teleconferencewith

lieutenantsand captainsin Iraq or Afghani

stan. Our fi rst was from AI Udeid, and we

had lieutenantsand captainsexplaining each

C H F. C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

added fi ve m in utes to t he class. I nst ead

academics are going to start at 0700 right

after the 0630 breakfast ... admittedly a little early. Believe it or not the cadets are not complaining about that. The cadets are complaining about the lights out poli cies we will impose at midnight. But it is key that we have lights out so that we can get the cadets in bed and asleep so they can get ready for the demanding day that is i n f ron t of t hem . O ne of our m ot iva

tions of adding 5 minutes to each class, is we will only need 40 M and T day lessons as opposed to 42, so we are able to shave 8 calendar days off the annual academic year. By the way, Annapolis has three weeks less in their academic a year than we have. Four of those saved days we are giving to the commandant, so they don’t have to have classes on Saturday. The

other four days go to the cadets in longer

breaks for Thanksgiving—they’ll come back Monday instead of Sunday. They will get another day for the New Year’s break. Spring Break will be another day.

So there is a little give and take here to balance the scales.

Q: You know a lot of graduates believethat the Honor Codehas becometoo legalistic over the yearsand, whileI suspect thecode will remain thesame, areyou looking at waysthat adminis tration of theHonor Codesystem may change?

A: Absolutely. The one thing we recog nized during the assessment early on was that the H onor Code, which is at the

foundat ion of al l of our character devel

opment, is so important that we really needed to take more time to get into it and study, to understand the value base our new cadets have, what they brought

from society, our training programsand the system that supports the code. We

T

have no intention of changing the Honor

Code, but we are taking a hard look at the honor system. The goal is to get the cadets not t o be concerned about a convol uted

system that we have to support the code, but to have the cadets thinking about

living honorably. Oneof the objectives,

since it routinely takes four months for a case from start to fi nish, is we want to get that under 30 days again. We may have to remove some of the bureaucracy of the system and all the legal reviews that now occur and see if w e can m ak e t hat

a cleaner, simpler system that meets all

of our objectives. In May we convinced

the fi rst of a series of meetings (including grads, cadets from the honor committee,

people in the honor staff, prosfrom the private sector) who aregoing to help us go through the initial stagesof the honor system and our training and refi ne those to really support the code.

Q: How doyou think you get cadets to inter nalize the concept of honor?

A: That is one of the things that we are going to be looking at. We do know that the things that are going on in high school, where for example, cheating is somewhat prevalent—we know that our cadets have at least seen these things going on in high school and some of it might be accepted so we need to look hard at how we can make sure that our training is very, very focused on getting them to think honorably and to internalize the concepts of t he H onor C ode and core values. I w ill

tell you that the Class of 1965 is really interested in producing a training lesson, a professionally done video that we are looking at now. That might fi t right into that training piece, where we can really get at what it means to live honorably and why the Honor Code is so important. We continue to get help from the graduate community on this. This is the key issue that we will be working the next year. The assessment was important. We wanted to balance the scales and that implementa tion is underway. The big one we have to w ork now is honor and w e w ill see if w e

can do a better job of conveying to our cadets the real meaning of honor.

Q: Doyou haveany initial thoughtsabout the Honor Code becoming a developmental system?

A; That isone of the things that we are going to look at but we haven’t drawn any conclusionsyet. You know, we could go from one end of the spectrum of as soon as you are accepted into the cadet wing aft er basic training you are 100 percent under the Honor Code and we have opportunities for probations and other sanctions. Somewhere between theAcceptance Parade to some later point likewhen cadets are committed to the C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

Air Forcewith an active duty service commit ment, we need to understand when cadets

really internalize that code; we don’t know what that isyet, nor when it should be. There are arguments pros and cons on doing it at either end of the spectrum. So it is too soon to drawn any conclusions. We need to really think about and poll the cadetsand under stand the dynamics of it and try to fi gure out what the right answer is.

Q: It is obviousfr om some of the changes that you are making that tradition and 19

1

deal about Recognition, but theRecogni tion decision waseasy; building thecorrect

operational plan was the most important

and challenging piece. In building that plan,

w e turned to the class of 2006 as a leader

ship drill to build it, rather than us dictate it. We told them you are going to write the Op Order. They had the ’03 Op Order as a guide; many aspects they initially repeated

exacdy, wesaid “not so fast”. Only thegood

elements, the professional pieceswill come through. Our objectivewas for ’06 to run it professionally with our supervision, but even more importantly have ’06 teach ’07 and ’08 so they can properly continue this tradition.

Q: How did '07 and ’08 react to Recognition?

VA LOR M Rm st

A: Despite never having experienced one, pretty positively. We fi lled them in and we explained to them the fact that they didn’t have Recognition didn’t make them any

lesser than theother cadetswho havegone

before them. I can’t speak for them but the many I have talked to say that they immedi ately saw the positive elements. They say the Class of ’09 bonded together as a class, much like before, and they understand their upperclass roles in it. They also saw fi rsthand that conducting the program was not easy. It is pretty taxing mentally and physically aswell.

Q: The Ofi cer Development System empha

sizes that thereshould beaf our classsystem.

Doyou seeany changes to that?

A: Again, there is an awful lot of good that General Rosa and his team brought in and it was well thought through and researched.

The answer to that iswe have a development system with lots of different objectives that is still intact and that is the basis of how we do

our training. The “four class” system ishere to stay as we defi nitely need more than just a heritageare very important. What aresome of the key thingsyou aredoing to restoresome of theAcademy’s traditions and heritage?

A: I mentioned this in the open letter to grads. We did turn to theAOG and ask for their assistance in reminding us about the tra ditions that were important to theAcademy from its founding daysall theway forward.

20

Wewant to capture that and include it in Contrails. Wewant every new cadet to under stand our linkswith heritage and traditions back to theearly days. At the same timewe want to continue only those traditions that are professionally done and we are proud of There are some that weprobably don’t want to retain, but otherslike bringing back the Form 0-96 are easy. Everyone has made a big C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

focus on the fourth class. Pinnacle, and I saw

my fi rst one last month, was a good test for each of the classes to validate they are in fact ready to move to the next grade, so wewill keep the four classsystem that was developed before I got here.

Q: What changes can the Class of 2010 expect during Basic Cadet Training?

PE R SPE C T I V E

A: Thiswill all be transparent to them,

becausethey havenever been through Basic Cadet Training and wehavebeen up front with thepreppiesand cadet candidates who visited about being physically fi t and

ready to go. Themajor differencethisyear

over last involves fi tness. About three years

ago Basic Military Training at Lackland

A i r Force Base raised the bar about t hree

notches from a physical training stand

point. Webuilt aphysical readinesstraining program there that has matured and isnow proven. Brig. Gen. Sue Desjardins, ’80, our commandant, went to Lackland and looked

at their training and, asa result, lift ed their entire physical readiness training program

“Beast”, a road trip to the Cheyenne Moun tain Operations Center.

tary side, absolutely. We in-brief cadets

Q: General Rosa tried toget thecadetsout into

who are going on exchange programs, we out brief them as well. So we will get a feel for how effective the programs were.

casualtiesof that wassurvival training. l am

isn’t current. If it isn’t you, are wasting

theoperational Air Forcemoreand oneof the

The military training is irrelevant if it

sureyou haveheardf roma lot of graduatesthat they wereupset over thelossof survival train ing How wouldyou respond tothat?

people’s time and then you have cynicism creep into our world. If you say for three weeksyou are going to do this and then

A: Actually I haven’t heard from too many

have a problem. You need to make sure the training is relevant. So yes, wewill

gradsabout that. I know that in my case

Survival Escape Resistance Evasion training was the most eff ective training I had here and I have heard from cadets they would like to have Combat Survival Training back. I would

it doesn’t meet cadet expectations you h ave feedback t o val idat e our w ork .

Q: What doyou think therelationship between theAOG and theAcademy should be?

liketo get it back becausein thisexpedition ary environment welivein, it isnot just the

A: TheAOG already does an awful lot of

ing, fl exibility, and so forth ... Monday

So I have laid thegroundwork to open a dialog with AETC about possibly bringing back survival training here. We are far from any decisions or studies. The good news is

A lot of those funds end up supporting our character development programs, whether it be the National Character Leadership Sym

mums, but it has three levels of excellence

estatewewalked or E&E’d (escaped and

to reach. G raduat ion standards of Basic

been gobbled up by other users. I’m looking at asequential process. Seeif wecan locally

and there are a lot of other groups, like the Sabre Society, and the Friends of the Library

to substitute for ours in BCT It is safe but

intense with six days a week devoted to

physical fi tness. Threealternating daysof

aerobics and running and then three alter

nating daysof about 15 different exercises for calisthenics, strength building, stretch through Saturday. It not only has mini-

higher than minimum that cadetscan strive Military Training at Lackland and then into the Tech Schools are such that w hen our

rated force w ho w ill need those survival skills.

we should still have access to the sam e real

evaded) on as the Forest Service land has not

conduct Survival, then later see if it makes

new Airmen get to their fi rst operational

sense to also train the escape, resistance and evasion pieces. Of course, if we do conduct

going to havethat program hereaswell. We

our summer plates.

base they are blowing most away on the Air Force physical training test. So we are

dso looked at all the changes the Air Force added to Basic Military Training as they go from 6- 1/ 2 w eeks to 8- 1/ 2 w eeks. W e don’t

have time in our BCT to put all of those new wartime prep training modules in; instead, we will put them in over the fi rst

15 months of a cadet career. Some pieces

will be folded into basic training, others will be in Commandant’s Challenge, Pin nacle and then Global Engagement for the next summer. We are going to lace all that in so all of our cadetswill be exposed to the same training every airmen receives.

Another big change for the 2010 is, unfortunately, right now we don’t have any airmanship orientation programs. Thisyear every basic cadet isgoing to get a fl ight ft om our Air Field here; most will get a soaring

ride. Recognizing thesecond mission of the

Air Force is in the space area, wewill have asa reward for the top squadronsduring

that training, somethingwill haveto fall off Q: Areyou going to do any post assessment

tothesummerprogramsby going back tothe people whowereresponsiblef or training the cadets out i n the real A i r Force?

good work for theAcademy. I am particu larly impressed with itswork in fundraising.

posium, theEalcon HeritageFoundations

that support us. So theAOG isout in ft ont

leading in this area and it is important to us.

It isalso an opportunity to beavehiclefor us to stay connected with the graduate com munity and to get new ideas and opinions on how to do things. As I mentioned earlier, it is an opportunity asa sounding board as we consider waysof the future on how we

want to go. What weareaft er isvery healthy relationshipswith theAOG and I think we are there. AOG President Jim Shaw attends all of our staff meetingsand we have sidebar discussions all the time. He is arranging

A: General Desjardins has already con tacted each wing commander and laid out our objectives for our Operations Non-Commissioned Offi cer and Opera

opportunitiesfor meand Maj. Gen. Halter

for example, the program at Minot Air

factsof what isgoing on. And everywherewe travel we alwaysget new nuggets that we can

tion Air Force summer programs .. . so, Force Base, N .D ., has the same results

as the one at Tyndall AFB, Fla. But yes, we are working hard to make sure all of our assessments are in place, internally at the Academy and then in the external

work we do as well. Assessment is a very

important part of the Academy or any university. It is also an important part of our accreditation process but from a miliC H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

to travel to chaptersacross the country to

explain what wearedoing hereso people

won’t be thinking about, or hearing things

through therumor mill. So wegivethem the think about and the A O G facilitates all of

that for us. We are interested in a good two-

way communication and sounding board for ideas and things.

Q: What would you say to thosegraduateswho want to bring the “BringMeMen"sign back?

2 1

PE R SPE C T I V E

A: Well, right now weare focused on the 79 initiatives that sprang fr om the assessment; implementing itemswe think will move the Academy forward. That’s hard work consum

ing lotsof energy. WhileI can appreciate certain peoplesayingweshould bring the wordsback, simply thetiming isnot right to do something likethat. Themessageit might send would bemisinterpreted by

certain groupsand would create controversy,

and frankly wedon’t need controversy right

now ; it w ouldn’t be in the best interest of the

Academy right now. We need to continue on

the course we are on and not be slowed down

how much good isgoing on at theAir Force

Q: What doyou want to leave with the Academy?

they should becauseweareat thetop of the heap in so many areasright now. So that

was reassuring. How could someone 1,600

milesfrom my old desk in thePentagon, and mixing it up with America’sbest and bright

positive attitudeshere and we are focused on the fumre. I might even say that the media, I

to see the results so we can explain to the

I don’t think I w ill because there are a lot of

A i r Force and m ak e sure t hat w e have the

the board of directors of the A O G have been

useful and supportive. I recognizewe don’t

haveall theanswershereand outsideinputs help. Gradscan provideinsightsand they

right people to make the force structure we are going to have work and there are some very tough decisions that are being made right now. So we are going to wait and see

are doing an absolutely superb job in the generosity department. Not only thosewho

analyze those results and explain that to

their homesareoften graduates, many areon

what theresultslook like. Wearegoing to thecadetsso they know what may or may

not be in their fut ure and at the sam e tim e

I don’t think that being an Academy grad

should necessarily insulate anyone from

that processbecause, what ismore impor

tant we are in the business of producing off icers of character who will perform for the Air Force and they should be able to

hit the road as Second L ieutenants and be

good performers for theAir Force. We will

have to see w hat the results are.

Q: Doyou havea senseyet of your biggest challenge, or perhapsyour biggest disappoint ment at thispoint?

for theAir ForceAcademy for the United

States A ir Force and w hen it is time for us to

leavetheAir Forcewill pick Superintendent # 18 who I’m surewill work just ashard to do theright thing. So wejust happen to have it now; our responsibility is to improve upon

it, and again I found it in excellent shape.

Therewas, and is, alot of good going on in here. Isthat agood dodgefor you?

A: They havealready been abighelp indi vidually and collectively. Certain groupsthat weused for thesounding boardsincluding

those are going to go during 2007. What theAir Force is trying to do is balance the

about me. My wifeand I areworking hard

Q: How can thegraduatecommunity help

that area.

to go through this. Wearegetting smaller.

between now and 2011and themajority of

A: I am Superintendent # 17 and this is not

it and when it istimefor usto leavewehope

you and how doyou want them to do that?

We are going to lose 40,000 authorizations

to work through, they can beabig assist.

think, isdoing abetter job in explaining both sidesof issues. Wecontinueto behopeful in

staff and thecadetshow theForceShaping

policy will affect them. At the same time we are explaining that theAir Force has

inform them, they will bein better positi ons to articulatewhat theAcademy isall about. If

out and we don’t get credit for it. Not that we need credit, but people might not associate theAir ForceAcademy with excellence and

Q: What effect hastheForceShapingpolicy A: With any new program therearegoing to bealot of questionsand wearewaiting

the more we communicate with them and

we do havesome negative media that wehave

good that isgoing on hereday in and day

est have any regretsor disappointments?And

had on cadet morale?

thegood that might havepreceded it. So,

Academy and that was the number one con clusion in my assessment. Therewas so much

with what would surely becomeapublic media debate. Bad timing.

22

A: I never thought about it in those terms.

I was reassured how strong thisplace isand

are able to donate some funds for the com

prehensivecampaign, but volunteering their tim e. T he fam ilies that tak e the cadets into

the faculty and othersare retirees. Cadetscan

to give it to the next male or female 3-star General off icer in better shape than I found

R: That waspretty good.

Q: Doyou haveany fi nal wordsyou would

liketosay to our membership?

A: Just continue to stay connected with us and learn about theAcademy. If you haven’t

been herein awhileI encourageyou to

com e here and see fi rst hand the cal iber of

our young men and women, all 4,200 of

them. AsI mentioned in theletter if you ever arehaving abad day, just push away

fr om your computer, your desk, walk into

be a litde bit “carnivorish” if that is a word, as

aclassroom and listen or mix it up with the cadetsand you will just bepumped up. I

of houseand home. Gradsalso support usin

out and visit and wewill seeyou during your

they can still eat many sponsor familiesout

intercollegiate events in every facet they can.

Those that happen to livehere, those that

aren’t here, can communicatethrough the

local AOG chapters to usand we have aWeb site (www.usafa.edu) they can communicate through. Thegraduate community isalso in agood position to help us get thefactsout.

What wearetrying to do isget out asteady diet of good thingsthat aregoing on at the Academy. If weever smb our toeagain, the

graduateswould be in theposition, across the country, to put that into context with all C H EC K PO I N T S. J U N E 2 0 06

mean there isso much good here. Come on

class reunions. H

i V r ^ vr :^ ' ^ ' - ' ' ^

Yf jf ^ j nr mrtr m,

IN T EGR IT Y Annual gifts to the Air Force Academy Fund at the Sabre Society level provide support to many character programs like Respect & Responsibility. These programs promote value-based leadership principles essential t o leading in t oday's Air Force.

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m

Vargas, '96, earns J a b a ra A w a rd

Fighter pilot makes life t ougher t han ever on t he enemy

by St eve Simon, ' 81

M

aj . John E. Vargas Jr., ’96, is the winner of the 2006 Colonel James Jabara Award for heroism and sustained superior performanceasa fl ight commander and instruc

tor pilot in the 555th Fighter Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy. Maj. Vargas is currently assigned as a weapons school

instructor in the USAF Weapons School at Nellis AFB, N ev.

Piloting the F-16, the fi ghter pilot nicknamed “Vegas” has fl ow n

102 combat sorties, totaling more than 470 hours in Operations Iraqi

Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Joint Forge. He provided cr i t i cal

closeair support and employed ordnanceincluding precision guided munitions on critical targets such as Al Qaeda personnel, equipment, and strongholds. He also safely handled three aircraft emergencies, including a diverted landing to a remote North African airfi eld.

“[Major] Vargas has proven to be an outstanding offi cer and combat fi ghter pilot,” said Brig. Gen. Robert Yates, ’8 1, w ho w as the pilot’swing commander. “Hisimpeccable record show s consis tent dedication to excellence in all aspectsof his military career.”

Proving hismettleand prowessasafi ghter pilot camewith thejob during his combat tours, but one mission in particular refl ected his com m itm ent to the m ission and his com rades in arm s.

Whilefl ying over hostileterritory, then-Capt. Vargasand hiswingman discovered a U.S. convoy under attack. Aft er seeking assist an ce

for the convoy and unable to make radio contact with the convoy itself or pinpoint enemy fi ring locations, he utilized the only option available. Without hesitation, he fl ew directly over the suspected enemy locations at high speed and low altitude while si m u l t an e ously expending fl ares. The enemy stopped engaging the convoy and began shooting at Vargas’ F-16. Tracer rounds streaked past his

aircraft . Thisdiversion allowed theconvoy to get out of its defensive

posture and begin moving away from the ambush.

“Vegas is simply the type of guy you want to go to w ar w i t h ,” said Commander of United States Air Forces in Europe G en .

Robert Foglesong.

Following graduation from theAir ForceWeapons School an d Squadron Offi cer School, he became the Squadron Weapons Offi cer at Aviano AB. Shortly after his arrival, he deployed to

Al Udeid, Qatar, in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom an d Enduring Freedom. Utilizing expertise gained at the w eap o n s school, he was considered an expert on urban close air support mission planning. His instructional efforts ensured t hat t he F15E and F-16 pilots operating out of Al Udeid had the t act i cal expertise to accomplish the mission in an area where t h e r i sk o f collateral damage was exceptionally high.

24

The Look Out: F-16Cfighter pilot Maj . John Vargas of the 555th Fighter Squadron fromAviano Air Base, Italy, scans the sky while flying over the English Channel while heading forthe United Kingdom. (USAF Photo by Master Sgt. John Lasky)

His contributions were by no means limited to the cockpit. H e developed F-16 tactics, techniques, and proceduresfor m issions never before executed, to include urban close air support, co n voy su p p o r t and fi ghter integration with Special Forces operations. H is m ethods

werelargely responsiblefor a44 percent reduction in convoy attacks, as

well asseven highly valued targetsbeing killed or captured.

Maj. Vargasjoins an exclusive group by becoming only t he 44t h

Air Force Academy graduate selected for theJabara Award. Among

the previous winners are such notable graduates as V i et n am W ar heroes Karl Richter,’64, and Steve Ritchie, ’64, and pioneering astronaut Karol Bobko, ’59. Established in 1967, the C o l o n el

JamesJabaraAirmanship Award ispresented to aUSAFA graduate, living or deceased, whose actions directly associated w i t h an aer o spacevehicleset him/her apart from contemporaries.

Theannual award isjointly presented on behalf of theAcademy, the Association of Graduates, and theJabara family. Col. JamesJabara was

thefi rst jet aceand thesecond leadingacein theKorean W ar. I n 195 1, hewon theAir ForceAssociation’smost prestigiousaw ard and in 1957

was recognized as one of the 25 Americans who had contributed th e m ost t o av iat i o n .

Maj . Vargas was presented the award on May 12 with an au d i ence of 4,000 cadets during the noon meal, and was h onored at a dinner hosted by the Association of Graduates that evening. 9

C H EC K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

SE R V I C E Annual gifts to the Air Force Academy Fund at the Sabre Society level provide support to programs and cadet clubs t hat promote

civic responsibility and leadership development like the Falcon Club.

This cadet club works closely in t he

local community with Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of America.

Fo r more info rmat io n o n b eco ming

apart of the Sabre Society contact

GregKnedlerat (719)472-0300or

11

’i

"Yossarian" isthetitle of thisfascinating painting by Greg Smith, '67.

Capt. John Yossarian was the main character in the no ve l " C at ch -22 ."

Following an art survey course as a doolie, he was asked t o paint two paintings and was given his choice of subject matter a nd f re e

By Ken Wright

reign to paint during evenings and weekends. At the e n d o f t h e year his paintings were presented in a show.

Ironically, Smith had not read or seen Catch-22 when h e created the paintings and were later titled by someone else. He

says he just "started with the eyes ... and the rest j ust paint ed itself." He had no idea who the character was, but h e h a d a

sense o f w hat he w ant ed t o c o nv e y.

Over the years the now- advertising executive has had s e a s o n s

of painting," but isnowmore interested inphotography. W e

only imagine the beauty of his latest work.

c a n

Th e pr eser vat i o n A N D C E L E B RAT I O N O F

7 ^7":

H E R I TA G E I S H I G H on th e

il 'A'

list of things many graduates consider of paramount impor

tance when they refl ect on the

n eeds of thei r al m a m ater.

Recording and safeguarding

Academy heritage is one of the many responsibilities of the

Association of Graduates, and

the task isa mighty one. Look

in just about any direction at the Academy and you will fi nd something or someone who

deserves to be remembered. H ow to do it best is m ost often t he

more diff icult question that faces any great undertaking. Quite oft en, simplicity is the winner.

A s such , it daw ned on us

recently that one way we can help to preserve and celebrate our heritage is to share with

you some of the treasures lost

amongst the ubiquitousbeauty

of the Academy; cadet art.

Th ese oft en beaut iful and

frequently funny paintingsand drawingsshow surprising talent and conjure imagesof thegood

days, the bad days, and all the days between that bond cadets.

W hether it w as created as a

way of escaping theharsh rigors of Academy life, or asan assign ment in an elective course, we believe it deserves to be remem

bered, and wehopeyou will

enjoy it as much we have. Bi

26

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EX C E L L E N C E /;

•< /

Annual gifts to the Air Force Academy

Fund at the Sabre Society level provide

support to programs that instill excelj ence in

t,

Building Leaders of Character in the Nation

I

like t he Cadet Commanders' Leadership Enrichment Seminar. This program is

designed to motivate and enhance the

leadership experience of cadet commanders

by developing leadership skills that they can model for t he ent ire Cadet Wing.

For more information on becoming a part of the Sabre Society contact Greg Knedler at

(719) 472-0300 or greg.l<nedler@aogusafa.org.

4 1i

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,

Making it look easy W H EN A N T O I N E H O O D A RRIV ED at theAir ForceAcad emy Prep School in 2001, the road

ahead looked long and full of uncertain ties. Working toward any goal for fi ve

years requires a lot of determination and commitment, but for H ood— now a second lieutenant— it also came with many rewards.

Getting through theAcademy provides

a true test of who you are,” said Hood.

Like every cadet in his class of 879,

academics, athleticsand military train ing offered more than enough to keep

the fi rst-team all-conference basketball

forward constantly on the move.

“You can’t let the little thingsaffect the big picture. You have to be patient and

On theTerrazzo, the economics major also showed intellectual prowess by earning better than an overall 3.0 grade

point average.

N ow that he’s traded in his C l C

shoulder boards for gold lieutenant’s bars, the amiable grad is looking forward to serving as a leader in the personnel career fi eld. Having never been bitten by the “fl ying bug,” Hood

w ants t o use w hat he learned at th e

make the best of each situation,” he said after completing his senior fi nals.

Academy and his natural people skills

past four years. Not only did the men’s

theAir Force’s enlisted corps.

“TheAcademy taught me that anyone can lead, but few are really great leade r s . he said considering the opportuni-

That coolness under pressureshowed both on and off the court during the

basketball teamimprovewith theSugar-

land, Texas native in theline-up, but it did so despitehaving three different head coachesin only four seasons. Though the team was well led by all three coaches,

the transitions also offered H ood and his teammates opportunities to lead.

“We kept getting better, no matter

what the situation,” H ood said, w e c o n -

tinually responded the right way whei

things got tough.”

to make a difference one-on-one with

t ies ahead .

Beforehe heads to hisfi rst assignment

as a personnel offi cer, the Air Force has

asked him to spend another year at the Prep School. This time, though, he’ll work in minority retention, encourag

ing minority students to stick with their Academy dreams as he did.

Just a few minutes spent with this young man makes it diffi cult to

believe he will do anything other than refl ect credit upon theAcademy as he

strives to live up to the legacy of the Long Blue Line.

“I just thank God for the oppor

tunity to come here and for the love

and support of my family,” he said humbly. “If you keep your faith, you can do anything.” B

28

C H E C K P O I N T S, M A R C H 2 0 0 6

R u m sf el d :

Graduates will help secure freedom

By St even D onal d Smit h , A mer ican For ces Pr ess Ser vice

T P

P h o t o s by K en W r i g h t

he U.S. will triumph over murderousextremists

becauseof thedaring and ingenuity of itspeopleand

armed forces, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the Classof 2006 in hisMay 31 commencement

■lliiM BBfc i addressat theU.S.Air ForceAcademy.

30

C H EC K PO I N T S, JU N E 2 0 0 6

said. “These extremists are waging a war against society itself,” he added.

The U.S. armed forces must constantly adapt to meet the terrorist threat, and he pointed to opera tions in Afghanistan as examples.

“From the moment they landed in Afghanistan, our forces began adapting to the circumstances on the ground. They ended up riding horses that had been conditioned to ride through machinegun fi re.”

Some of those forces operating in Afghanistan w ere A i r Force com bat cont roll ers. “A n d th ose

airmen likely thought they would have sooner found themselves riding jet aircraft rather than horses,” he said. “But they joined the American tradition of daring and ingenuity that has defi ned America for generations.”

T he U n it ed Stat es m ust cont i nue t o t ransform

and streamline its military forces to meet future challenges, Rumsfeld stated, people who want change always face resistance, and urged the airmen to challenge inherited assumptions and seek out better approaches.

“I urge you to make that the bedrock of your careers,” he said .

Three members of the DoolittleTokyo Raiders were present for the commencement ceremony.

The raiders were volunteer airmen from the Army Air Forces, predecessor of the Air Force, led by then-Army Lt. Col. James H . “Jimmy” Doolittle, who fl ew a daring mission to bomb Japan just four months after theJapanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

“I remember as a boy the electrifying emotion in our country when America learned what that small band of airmen had done,” Rumsfeld said of the

raiders. “They inspired our country. They gave the

American people the strength to persevere on behalf of h um an f reedom .”

“Violent extremists are trying to terrorize and intimidate free people into submitting to their will, Rumsfeld told the graduating airmen in Colorado

Springs, Colo., “Our country hassent itsfi nest

young men and women in defense of the ideal that people, when faced with paths either leading to tyranny or freedom, will forever choose freedom.”

He said the graduates are well-prepared to meet the terror threat head on. “Everything you folks have done in your life before, what you’ve studied, your experience, your accomplishments, has pre pared you for this moment.”

The war against terror is more than j ust a struggle between opposing sides. The terrorists’

goal is to control or destroy the United States, he

Rumsfeld also spoke about the raiders’ legacy to today’s young airmen.

“That is the force you join today. A force where the improbable can become the norm, where individuals are dedicated to securing our liberties

n o

m at ter w hat th e circum st ances, no m at t er w hat the odds.”

Rumsfeld closed his remarks by thanking the

graduating airmen, the fi rst class to enter theAcad

emy after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, f o r volunteering to defend America.

“You raise your right hands to say, ‘Send me to serve others,”’ he said. “So to each of you, I thank you for what you do. I thank you for all you are. Go

out and makehistory.” B

C H E C K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

31

G r a d u at io n t o r e m e m b e r

BY MIDSHIPMEN CHARLIE MILLER, ’08, WINSTON-SALEM J OURNAL

T

"t helast thing I wanted to do after fi nishing examswas fl y

2,000 miles to another military school and go to four days of receptions, dinners and parades.

But seeing the classof 2006 graduate from the U.S. A i r Fo rce A cad emy in Colorado waswell worth the time and the sleep that I lost .

And seeing my sister commissioned was defi nitely the highlight

of a sum m er that hasn’t even started .

It also provided a fresh perspective on what four years at a m i l i tary school means in the end.

Graduation from any college issomething that should be cherished.

But fi rst-class cadets at the U.S. Air ForceAcademy (and cadets

and midshipmen at other serviceacademies) have something el se

to think about at graduation time. Every graduate receives mission as a second lieutenant or ensign in their respective service, along with their degree, and they join the ranks of o t h er U .S. military offi cers around the world.

Theparades, dinnersand other activities that I attended with my sister w ere fi ne— m ake no m istake about it . From the fl yover by two F-22 Raptorsand a supersonic B-1 bomber at the graduation parade to commissioning ceremonies at the foot of the beautiful m o u n t ai n s of Colorado Springs, thescenesand soundswere incredible. W h at I expected to be a run-of-the-mill graduation speech, however, turned out to be one of the best speeches that I haveheard since Sept. 11.

At the academy’s graduation, the keynote speaker. Secretary a

c o m

of D efense D onald Rumsfeld, noted that the class of 2006, lik e 32

■

PH O T O BY K EN W R I G H T

many recent classes, faces challenges that previous cl asses h av e never faced. His most stirring lines, however, addressed t h e cad et s

and what many of them almost certainly were thinking - t h e

uncertainty of the future and what their role as offi cers w i l l b e.

Most would prefer to livewhen times are calm, when w e can p eace fully go about our lives, he told graduates. “But it is in the diffi cul t times, when the tasks taken on, and the challenges overcom e have the greatest signifi cance,” he said. “In this long war, A m erican forces have accomplished what few have before, indeed, what few have ever even tried before. Our country has sent its fi nest young m en and w om en in defenseof theideal that people, when faced with paths leading to either tyranny or freedom, will forever choose freedom.”

Then the parade caps went in the air, and six F-I 6s f r o m t h e A i r

ForceThunderbirdsperforming squadron fl ew over, startling ev ery

one in the stadium and eliciting a cheer from the graduates. T h e motto of the class of 2006 is Sentio Incendium, “ Feel the Fire.”

Aft er two years at Annapolis, my day-to-day routine seem ed endless at times. My friends and I sometimeswondered what the result w il l be.

But the electric feeling of watching my sister receive her com mission and the satisfaction of watching her graduate f r o m a service academy helped me see what the end result of my four years will be. It’s the beginning of a whole new world, a car eer an d

greater responsibilities. H

(CharlieMiller isa risingj unior at the U.S. Naval Academy.)

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

They’reA m ericancolegestudentsenjoy ing ahiatusfrom therigorsof aca

demia. But, unlike most of their peers on summer break, they’re glimpsing their fu ture 500 feet above the earth .

Thirty-three U.S. Air Force Acad

emy cadetswere at Misawa last week as part of “Operation Air Force,” a

mentoring program to familiarize next

year’ssophomores, juniors and seniors with life after the academy.

M isaw a w ill w elcom e tw o m ore

groupsof about 30 cadetsthissummer

Capt. Mike May, 35th Operations Support Squadron assistant ch ief of wing weapons, was fl ying Rider.

The cadets’ familiarization fl ight also was a training sort ie for t he

pilots involving infrared sensors, ground targetsand sim ulat ed laserguided bombs.

Misawa’s Life Support technicianstrained the cadets on how to strap into the seat, how to eject and how to wear the gear. Essential, especially for fi rst-timers, was a barf bag.

So, how would they feel aft er 75 minutes in a tiny, gravity-defy ing bubble?

“It probably dependson what they had for lunch,” May said. “They’re going to besubmitted to forcesthat they’renot used to feeling. Thezero-G or getting light in theseat isusually thepart that mak es them feel the w orst .”

for about th ree w eeks at a t im e. O ther

Pacifi c Air Forces bases also are partici pating, offi cials said. “ I t ’s to int roduce t he cadets to

what is expected of them as a young offi cer—what a typical day is in the offi ce,” said 1st Lt . Robin Kamio,

35th Operations Group executive offi cer and the 35th Fighter Wing’s Operation Air Force coordinator.

Depending on their year and career interest, cadets are matched with

senior noncom m issioned offi cers

or company-grade offi cers in units throughout the wing.

For some cadets, however, a typical

day “in theoffi ce” will beanything but.

O f the nine seniors at M isaw a,

Chris Ri der and Scott Kumpula are

among the six gunning to be pilots.

On Wednesday, they hitched a ride in the back seat of an F-16D. Suiting

up beforehand in four layers of aviator gear—a 30-minute process—they

were cool under pressure: This was to be their maiden voyage in a fi ghter.

“I’m pretty anxious,” said Rider, a 21-year-old from Orlando, Fla. Not anxious about the fl ight, “just anxious to get up there,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to be a fi ghter pilot.”

That’s the sole aspiration Kumpula can rem em ber, too.

“It just seems like you’re doing something important,” said the 21year-old from Glen Rock, Wyo. Brig. Gen. Sam Angelella—35th Fighter Wing commander and a 1981 academy graduate—said he was taking Kumpula up because “I know I would have appreciated it when I was a cadet.’

Undergrads t aken for st omachchurning t raining flight in an F-16D

Phot o and st ory by Jennifer H. Svan

On Friday, two daysaft er they soared through theclouds, both cadets

answered the million-dollar-question: Yes, indeed, the barf bag was needed. “ It wasn’t the G’s,” Rider said. “ It was when he started weaving in and out, trying to dodge the anti-aircraft fi re, that’s what got me.”

Rider said he was pretty worn out aft erward.

“It wasnothing that I’veever experienced before,” he said, comparing it to

“riding a roller coaster about ahundred timesstraight.”

Kumpulasaid he got sick only once. But it wasfun, he said, and the

35th Fighter Wing Commander Brig.

Gen. Sam Angelelia adj usts his heimet prior to taking CI C Scott Kumpula, back seat , on his first ride in a n F- 16 .

views, once the F-16 rose above the clouds, were amazing.

Neither Rider nor Kumpula emerged from their queasy rides w it h second thoughts about their career path.

“Thisiswhat I’vebeen living for,” Rider said. H

Used withpermissionf rom theStarsand Stripes. © 2006 Starsand Stripes C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

33

Cadet s deploy for real world experience Story and Photos by Capt . Thomas Crosson 386 Air Expedit ionary Wing Public Affairs SUM M ERTIM E FO R UN IVERSITY STUDENTS IS THE CHA NCE TO RELAX A N D UNW IN D A FTER SURVIVING GRUELING SEM ESTERS O F CRA M M ING FO R EXA MS A N D RESEA RCHING TERM PA PERS. SO M E STUDENTS SPEN D THIS TIM E AT HO M E W ITH THEIR PA RENTS, SO M E STUDENTS TRAVEL TO TRO PICA L VA CATIO N SPO TS. SO M E ST UD ENTS G O TO W A R. i t»i

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Previous page: CI C April McDon ald receives a briefing from Capt .

Nineteen Academy juniors and seniors embarked on a unique summer intern

“I wanted to get a feel for what I’ll be doing (upon graduation),” Cl C April

in Southwest Asia to begin a nearly four-

was like to be deployed.”

Cadet McDonald is part of Operation Air Force, which deploys cadets to

week intense, hands-on orientation with

world for four weeks in order to gain a better understanding and aware

Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Free

Anthony Antoline, 386th Expedition ary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. various Air Forces bases around t he

ness of t he Air Force. Above: CI C Matt

Jasinski goes over a vehicle operations checklist with SSgt . Marvin Skinner, 386th Expeditionary Security Forces

Squadron flight chief, prior to heading out on a base defense mission.

program of sortsJune 5 when they arrived the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing at an air base directly involved in supporting

dom and Joint Task Force Horn of Africa.

Every year, through Operation Air Force, Academy upper-classmen visit Air Force bases throughout the world. Last

year marked the fi rst time cadetswere selected for Southw est A sia ai r bases.

While cadets are not permitted within

Iraq or Afghanistan, the locations they’ll

be visiting will be close enough to give them the perspective they’ll need to lead tomorrow’s expeditionary Airmen. The 386th AEW will host two groups of cadets this summer, mentoring a total of 37 st udents.

For one cadet w ho w ill becom e an aircraft m ain tenance offi cer w hen she

graduates in 2007, a fl ightline at an air

base in Southwest Asia is exactly where she wanted to spend her OAF tour.

C H E C K PO I N T S , J U N E 2 0 0 6

M cD onald said . “ I w anted t o see w hat it

During their visit, cadetswill be exposed to avariety of career fi elds, from pilotsand aircraft maintenance to security forcesand contracting, to see fi rst hand how each functi on w orks i n order t o

accomplish theAir Force mission. They’ll also be provided with mission briefi ngs, C- 130 static tours, visits to the local U .S.

Embassy and other area military installa tions, and cultural awareness events.

T his is a phenomenal program. It

g iv es o u r f ut ure offi cers the m ost real ist ic

and intensive picture of what they will

be doing for the next four-plusyearsof

their lives,” said Capt. Aaron Gibson, 386th AEW executive off icer and Opera tion Air Force project off icer. “This is a

great opportunity for our Airmen here to

i nt erface w it h t he cadets t o show of f w hat

they do and to help mold the cadets into

great offi cers.”

W h il e t he cadet s are here, each w ill be

paired up with a company grade offi cer in 35

r

a career fi eld they are interested in learning

he wanted to broaden his awareness about

offi cersduring the duty day to gain insight

talked to plenty of pilotsat theAcademy.

I’ll have the chance to shadow plenty of

more about. They’ll work the same jobs alongside CGOs and noncommissioned

the support-side of the Air Force. “I’ve

and experience about that particular Air Force specialty they’d never receive in a

pilots at UPT,” he added.

Cl C Stephen Boyd, a future intel ligence offi cer, wanted to shadow the

classroom .

Some cadets choose to pair up with a

386th ESFSto gain better insight on what

career fi eld they’ve been selected to join, or hope to join when they enter active duty, while other cadetschosea completely dif

security forces troops do in the fi eld.

“I might be over here right after techni cal school,” he said. “Why not take the

ferent career fi eld t o shadow.

C l C M att Jasinski is one of the 525

m em bers of the C lass of 2007 w ho w ill

opportunity to get a better understanding

of what is going on here?”

Col. Timothy Hale, 386th AEW

c o m

-

attend undergraduatepilot training once they graduate. But rather than embedding

m ander, said he is ecstat ic to host t he cadets and t o offer them the chance to

chose to join up with the 386th Expedi

“This is a great opportunity for them to experience the reality of our Air Force as we fi ght in the Global War on Terror.” B

with a fl ying squadron. Cadet Jasinski tionary Security Forces Squadron.

“I don’t want to be a know-nothing lieutenant on day one (of activeduty),” Cadet Jasinski said while describing why

learn m ore about the A ir Force.

M e m b e r- G r a d u at e

Survey This June t he A ssociat io n

will be conducting a com prehensive survey of AOG members and graduates.

It's important you take t he t ime to part icipate!

valueyour input.

Gra d ua te Lea d ership C

O

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2006 Graduate Leadership Conference TheAcademy and theAssociation of Graduates is planning the third Graduate Leadership Conference July 23-25. The GLCprovides graduates the opportunity to be briefed on today’sAcademy, interact with and voice your concerns to senior leadership and the AOG, and see today’s cadets in action.

TheAcademy senior staff sees this as a chance to inform attendees of progress made over the past year

and the future direction of Academy programs and training. Graduates have a stake in the direction of USAFAand your feedback continues to be important as our Academy moves forward.

Our goal is for attendees to take and share the insights and information learned here with those in their respective spheres of influence, including classmates and other graduates.

Lookfor informationabout the GLConwww.usafa.org in the coming months.

36

C H E C K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

1 A sso c iat i o n o f G r ad uat es

f

U N IT ED STAT ES A I R FO RC E A CA D EM Y

A O G E l ect i o n 2 0 0 7

Submit Your Board Nomination Package by August 1, 2006 The 2006 vote established an AOG Board of up to eleven (11) elected and up t o four (4) appointed directors. As many as six elected positions will beopen in 2007.TheNominating Committeemust proposeaslateof at least 2 qualifi ed candidatesfor each vacancy and isseeking qualifi ed

AOG memberswho arewilling to fulfi ll the requirements of directors. Nominating Committeemembersare: A1Rogers, ’64 (Chair), Gil Mook, ’67, Dave MacChee, ’70, ’V^ic Thuotte, ’73, and Rob Mishev, ’99. Interested members may contact the AOG at aog@aogusafa.org or by calling (719) 472-0300. AOG members may also have their names placed on theballot without review by thenominating commitee by petition of 25 AOG members. You will fi nd complete details on our Web site at www.usafa.org or by e-mailing Gary Howe at gary.howe@aogusafa.org. The

AOG is a Colorado nonprofi t corporation with over $35 million in assets. Dynamic, member-oriented leadership is crucial to our continued Pleaseconsider running for a position on theAOG Board o f D i r ect o r s. su c c e ss.

2007 Nomination Packages for both Nominating Committee and petition candidates

a r e

due to the AOG August 1, 2006;

Ballot s D ist ribut ed

M arch 2007

Ballot Period ends Elect ion Results A n nounced

April 30, 2007 o/a May 14, 2007 July 1, 2007

N ew D irectors A ssum e O ffi ce

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- 5.

B O O K R EV I EW

Normally wepublish onebook reviewper issue, but i n

thepast quarter two bookslanded on our desks that w e

believearewell deserving of your consideration.

The Light

On t he St ar

T h e L i g h t o n THE St ar

By Br igadier Gener al (Ret .) Rober t S. D ot son, ’63

Reviewed by Lt. Col. VanceR. Skarstedt, 79

Department Head, Department of History

A

s agraduate and onewho teacheshistory to our Acad emy cadets, I’m alwayson the lookout for books by fellow graduatesas well as books about theAcademy and theAir Force. Novels

of thistypeareespecially intriguing. Usually

they follow story lines of disillusionment or controversy. Of the more recent efforts, Mark

Pizzimenti’s Victor Padri ni; A Novel of the United StatesAir ForceAcademy ^xs into the disillusioned category. Peoplewereunfairly treated at theAcademy, theAcademy experi encewasdisenchanting, theAcademy itself is afacadethat coverstheinjusticeand incon

sistency that permeates the place, etc. Patrick

A . D avis’s Shattered Blm L ine followed the

controversial approach in itsstory about the Academy being rocked by sexual crimes.

Although Davis came in for some criticism for publishing thisbook on the heelsof the Academy’s recent and painful encounter with sexual assault. Shattered Blue Line used the

Academy asa setting for a mystery and not

awhippingpost for social ills. Mystery is

Davis’sgenre and has madehim aNew York Timesbest-selling author.

Robert S. D otson took a different

approach. Without directly involving the 38

A N ovel

by Robert S. Dotson

Academy, he makesit the core relationship

RightsMovement, the Kennedy assassina

describing theAcademy’sprinciples, he

Vietnam, hostility towards the military,

decision processes. TheAcademy was not the focal point of the story but it sent the Classof ‘63 out in the beginning of the

challengesfaced by ayoung offi cer and pilot asheworkshisway through training,

between most of his characters. W ithout

implies how they influenced his characters’

story, and welcomed it back in the end.

Set between the Classof 1963’sgradu ation and its20'*’ reunion. TheLight on

theStar follows the life experiences of Kevin O’Dea. O’Dea graduated with that era’s optimism and commitment forever symbolized by John F. Kennedy’s com mencement address at ’63’s graduation as well as his inauguration speech: “Ask

tion, growing frustration with the war in

etc. He also details the experiences and

instructor pilot duty, and eventually the cockpit of an F-105 in Vietnam. General D otson w rote th is book as a dedicat ion

to his graduating class and to his father.

H e also dedicates it t o h is cousin w ho

waskilled in Vietnam fl ying asa Misty

FA C . H e chose fi ct ion because he did not

want to choose among his classmates as he w ould have had t o for a non-fi ct ion

history. Hewanted those hegraduated

not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

with to be equally represented and fi ction proved the best vehicle for him to do this.

classmatesstart to encounter many of the changesand controversieshappening in

graduates because the story General Dotson

D otson then describes how O ’D ea and his

American society of the 1960s: the Civil C H EC K PO I N T S, JU N E 2 0 0 6

I recom m end this book to cadets and all

relatesisasapplicableto cadetsgraduat

ing now as it waswhen thegeneral himself

B O O K REV I EW

graduated in 1963. TheAcademy isnot an end in and of itself but a beginning. Even

today, many of my cadetscount down the daysuntil their graduation and no matter how many timeswetell them thereal chal lengebeginsaft er graduation, they shrug

usoff with the arrogance of youth. Dotson describes most of the new challenges they’ll face: Flight school, fi rst Air Force assign ments, marriage, peer relationships, parent

hood and eventually combat. Even though Light en theStarscharacterslived their experiencesaft ill decadeand ahalf beforeI graduated ft om theAcademy, thesimilarities to my own experiencesled meto seethat the

Upside Down

The Misty Pilots and the Sec ret Bat t l e f o r t he H o C h i M i n h Tra i l

namre of the transition ft om cadet to offi cer

istimeless. Cadets today can get an accurate look at their future through this book and

graduatescan seemuch of their own past in

D otson’s characters and their stories. D otson

writes much of thisstory through dialogue.

Thisallows for avery fast and easy read and

doesacrediblejob portraying someof the relational and professional conflictshischar actersencounter. Fi isdescriptions of fl ying and air combat are spellbinding and, along with hishistory, accurate.

Overall, TheLight on the Star is a

refreshing read because it putstheAcad emy in itsproper perspective. Our alma mater does not dominate the story yet the reader knows that in balance, it had

a positive impact on the characters, not through any sentimental nonsense, but because all the guys, even thosewho suf fered greatly during their commissioned ser v i ce, go back for t hei r reunion . T he

friendships, shared experiences, and youth that theAcademy representsto most of its gradsnumber among the most cherished thingsthey possess. Dotson portraysthis through hischaracters’ words and actions and it becomes clear to any cadet or

graduate that readsthis.

All of us who came through the Air

Rick Newman and Don Shepperd Foreword by Senator john McCain

B u r y U s U psi d e D ow n

By Ri ck N ewman and D on Shepper d , ’62

Reviewed by Lt. Col. VanceR. Skarstedt, 79 Department Head, Department of History

W

hat a great read! As one w ho believes

strongly in the “there I was” genre of his torical writing, I find

“Fi nn.” The missionswere kept under wraps due to the fact that many Misty pilots fl ew th ei r m issio n s i n La o s.

One of the authors, Don Shepperd, isan

Bury Us UpsideDown oneof thebest and in

Academy graduateand aveteran pilot of

classmates were punished or kicked out, sweated over academics, and asked many

Young, With theOld Breed, and TheWrong Stuf . Bury Us UpsideDown chronicles thestory of theMisty pilots. Codenamed

Newman, isaveteran war correspondent and editor at USNewsand World Report.

Unlike the previously mentioned sagas,

frustration. Dotson provides a pretty good answer in this book, especially for those

Fi o C hi M inh Trail in the venerable F- l OO

and the policy makers whose decisions

ForceAcademy have mixed feelingsabout it . W hile cadets, we chaffed at the restric

tions, agonized when our friendsand

tim es if the A i r Force w as w ort h all of this

w ho m ade t he A i r Force a career.

the same class as We Were Soldiers Onceand

COM M AN DO SABRE. H is coauthor, Rick

COMMAN DO SABRE, the Misty pilots fl ew secret interdiction missions along the

Shepperd and Newman expand their story to include the pilots, their families,

Super Sabre, or asit wasbetter known, the

impacted their lives. Thebook beginswith

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

39

BO O K REV I EW

a funeral for a Misty pilot lost in 1968

whosepartial remains, discovered 23 years later, are being interred at Arlington in 1992. Present at this ceremony are the

attempting to locate, identify, plot, and coor

dinateair strikesagainst what they found.

Much of Bury Usdealswith those missions,

their planning, thedecision processes, inter

wife; since remarried, the son; asmall boy

personal dynamics among the crew mem

dren of hisown, a sister; forced to again deal with thegrief of losing her brother.

There are also many of the pilot’scom radesfrom the Misty experience including ' theworld famous adventurepilot, Dick

though in that they destroyed thousands of trucks and tons of supplies intended for use against USand ARVN soldiers. Whether or

w hen his fat her died and now w ith ch il

Rutan. As the story continues, Shepperd and Newman take the reader back

through thelife experiencesof agenera tion of aviatorswho would probably not recognize the Air Force today.

Shepperd describesthefi ghter pilot’satti tudeof that eraas“f—k, fi ght or go for your gun.” Pilotswalking into thestag bar at Luke

were greeted with loud choruses of “Hello

A—hole!” Such conduct in today’sAir Force would probably result in lettersof reprimand or article-15sbut during theVietnam years and well into theeighties, fi ghter pilots cussed loudly, smoked frequently, drank heavily, and grew handlebar mustaches. The

A i r Force of the V ietnam era tolerated such

behavior pardy because it seemed an eff ective way for pilots to blow off steam and because

thecontemporary Air Forceleadership had

come up during Korea and World War II

bers, etc. TheMisty record speaksfor itself

not their eff ortsdecisively impacted events on thebattlefi eld isstill being debated by

Vietnam and airpower historians. In relation

to that question. Bury Usbringsto light the amount of eff ort and sacrifi ceit takesto fl y

sustained air com bat and stands as a reason

for theU.S. military to continuerefi ning its employment and assessment of airpower to see if these highly dangerous kinds of mis sions are w orth the risk .

WhileBury Usdoes not attempt to

answer those lofty questions, it does

answ er others t hat m ak e this a g r eat co n

tribution to airpower history. Shepperd and Newman present riveting descrip tionsof theshootdownsand attempted rescuesof famousaviatorslike Bud Day

and Lance Sijan. It also immortalizes the loss and suffering of less known aviators like H oward W illiams whose funeral and

familial anguish begin the book. Many such works that chronicle experiences

when off -duty conduct could get even more

on t he individ ual com batan t’s level are

if ghter-pilot song that calls for them to be buried upside down so theworld can kiss their... well, you get the picture.

vacuum and separating the reader from

raucous. T he title even com es from an old

Thisconduct also promoted an aggressive

self-confi dent culture that Air Force leader

often criticized for telling their story in a

the history he or she is trying to study.

Throughout the book, Shepperd and

Newman incorporate historical context

ship thought was required for these men to

do their mission. With theIntro to Bury Us describing modern avionicsas “something from TheMatrix thejob of fl ying combat in Vietnam, especially the Misty’s mission,

involved morefl ying and fi ghting, than technology. In fact, interdiction along the Ho Chi Minh trail with itsmulti-canopied

cover, defensive techniques of Vietnamese drivers, narrow mountainous roads, and

unpredictableweather (something that came to characterize the Misty view of life), did

not lend itself to technological solutions. To

dodge the excessive amount of Anti-Aircraft Artillery, the Misty pilots had to fl y erratic and unpredictable maneuverswhile still 40

C H EC K PO I N T S, JU N E 2 0 0 6

that is timely and that directly impacts

the pilots and their families. Most of it

dealswith the administration of Lyndon

Johnson since his decisions are what led to

direct U.S. combat operations in Viet nam. Theauthors’ methodology isa great

example of “big picture” history.

I strongly recommend Bury Us. Theseare

two polished writerswho skillfully weave

history and anecdotesto makeacomplete

view of the Misty experience. While there

issomeconsternation regarding thestatus of MIA’s, the rest isan objectivelook at air

warfare and how it aff ects those involved, including families. Whether or not Viet nam w as w orth it is not addressed in an

analytical fashion. Aft er reading about the

Misty pilots’ experiences and sacrifi ce, then considering the outcome of Vietnam, the reader is allowed to decide that for himself

The Misty pilotswho arethesubject of thebook arealso quiet regardingVietnam’s place in history though clear regarding their feelingsabout how thewar waswaged.

Som e of them ret urned to V iet nam in

2000 and attempted to visit crash sites, old targets, battlefi elds, etc. Like many veterans

and family members, walking theground they, or their lost loved onesfought over,

serves to resolve and fi nalize the loss they

suff ered there. Clearly, their trip wasa

moving experience but once a fi ghter pilot

alwaysafi ghter pilot and thelast impres

sion the book describes is their relief that a

AAA site guarding the runway at Ho Chi Minh International airport was not aimed at them. SI

Next step ... M ars?

L

.1 11

The Ev o lut io n o f Fl ig h t

Any one of them has t hat Cha nCe with help fromgraduates like yo u.

Leave a Leg acy, include the Association of Graduates in y OUr will or estate planning.

i Building Leaders

o f C h aract e r f o r t h e N at io n

The Campaign for the Future of the Air Force Academy For more informat ion visit our Web site at www.usaf a.org, click on “ Philant hropy” and t hen “Ways t o Give,” or co nt a ct Jef f M ie lke , ’8 0 ,

at jeff.mielke@aogusafa.org or (719) 472-0300.

Fabled rit e of passage

is mor e t han just

anot her t r aining event

T h e R e t u r n o f Recognit ion B y C l C E d M o n t g o mer y

■scogn|ti|)nwasaturningpoint ineverycadetsAcademy ^^perience. Itsreturnthisyear restoresanimportant t radit ion .

■ I am an English major, with minorsin both philosophy

Hand Russian, and despitewhat would seemto bealarge

amount of education concerning theineffable, I fi nd myself

havingtroublewritingabout what I would probably co n si d er themost important thingto meat theAcademy—Recogni

tion. Toni Morrison oncewrote, “Since why isdiffi cult t o handle, one must takerefugein how” and while I a m n o t by any meanswriting awork of literaturewith thisart icle, I feel that shedescribeswhat perhapsmay be theeasiest w ay to approach what weascadetsor gradsrefer to as something

that can only be experienced, never communicated.

As a member of the Class of 2006, hesitation is unneces

sary when answering the question of whether our tenure

at theAcademy had its challenges. Our classfaced th e

sexual assault scandal head-on while we were four and t h r ee

degrees. Wewatched theAcademy’s training pendulum swing faster than it ever has between thoseyearsand watched asmany who used to be in our classgrew dis heartened with the changesand turned in their ticketsf or what we can only hopewere better things. What wasw o r se , though, wasseeing those classmatesof ourswho grew jaded and bitter at what they felt waslost in those intervening yearswhere the entireAcademy fl oundered and gasped f o r w e

a new start . When we became seniors, we were of course

excited to fi nally be leading theAcademy, but I think t h at theyearsof wear had in someway dampened the excite ment that should comewith the acceptance of command.

A new breath of hope camewhen Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni, ’73, after his assessment of theAcademy,

hinted that hewould not beopposed to bringing RecogniC H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

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don back and in fact felt that it might be a necessary piece of the

cadet experience that wewere lacking. A friend of m ine, C l C David Smalenberger, wasgiven command of all spring training events, and oncehewasgiven initial approval to begin working on a concept of Recognition, I waslucky enough to have hi m ask me to lead the project. Theexperienceof leading an operation that would involve the entire Cadet Wing was a challenge t h at n o n e

of my prior experiencescould match, but it wasa challenge felt I could accomplish well, and so I accepted Dave’sco m m i ssi o n .

Themany detailsof thework in-between accepting thecom m and that wasgiven to me isnothing that belongsin an art icle of th is t h at I

nature. I brainstormed with others already on the staff and quickly

got to work building a team of cadet coursecommandersand cadet NCOsand wetried to spin up aconcept of what wefelt Recogni

tion should be. We modifi ed the plan that was used for my class by adding and deleting courses, but theoverall intent of creating a challenging and worthwhileexperiencefor 2009 never changed.

Whilewewereworking on recreating Recognition, though, I did noticesomething begin to happen in the Cadet Wing around me. Rumors were fl ying about the return of Recognition t o t he

Cadet Wing ranging from the plausible (“I heard that deploying the entire Classof 2009 to JacksValley!”) to t he ridicu lous (“Hey, did you hear that Congressappointed a special com w e’l l b e

mittee to look at the need for Recognition at the Academy an d i s having hearingsnext week?!”). Soon, I was faced with questions by

membersof every class—my own classmatesin the squadron (and especially my squadron commander and training offi cer as they wanted to ensure their four degreeswere ready), my form er basics from the summer, and even my family, who by now are educated in the Academy than I am in some ways.

Even when we were tweaking the details of the fi nal plan for m

o r e

Recognition, I found therewasa large amount of resistance i n

my class at the possibility of giving a poor name to something

we placed so high in our Academy experience. But I h ad f ai t h

in those who I had chosen to be on my team and when M ar ch

16 arrived on the calendar, while we were all scared f o r o u r ow n

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Facing page and above: For more thantwo days cadets f aced challenges that tested their physical strength, as well as t heir ability to work together as a teamand trust one another. (Photos by Ken Wright)

responsibilitiesduring the event, wewere supremely confi dent that nothing but good could come from our eff orts. I t h i n k m o st

of us worked harder than we ever had during our cadet

during those three days, not necessarily because the

c a r e e r s

h o u r s w er e

longer or thephysical requirementsmoredemanding, but because w e

cared more about the success of Recognition than we had

about any event at theAcademy. The result?We had m istak es

happen and identifi ed problemsthat wewould likefi xed f o r n ex t

year, but the pride and motivation I saw in 2009 was enough for to know my team and I had served our purpose.

This is an article that is easy to write from my own perspective and m

e

theperspectiveof my team that helped to bring Recognition back to theAcademy, but it would bewrong of meto spend my en t i re t i m e speaking only of our experience. I now havethememoriesof going

through Recognition and beingthecommander of Recognition, b u t

thefi rst onesareby far themoreimportant. What I think the return f Recognition ultimately did for theAcademy wasgiveall the cadets anew challengeto look forward to that had thepersonal impact and ownership wehad been missing thepast few years.

WhileI cannot speak for any classbut my own, I would say that Recognition helped all cadets in diff erent ways. It gave the Class of 2009 avaluableexperiencethat, whilebeing hated at t he t im e of theactual event, hasgiven rise to a new form of pridean d ow n er ship in theAcademy that I wasbeginning to worry would n o t

o

surface in their class. For 2008 and 2007, 1 believe they were given

experienceof helping bring back an amazing tradition at t h e Academy that helpsensure thisinstitution isforever referred to as a n

“elite,” and saw the good that came out of it in 2009. And as for my class—well, I saw the fi re begin to glow again in many eyes with the

of abig event of our Academy experiencethat will f o rev er help defi neour physical and mental limits, and beyond that , our ret u r n

memories of the spireswe will soon see in our rearview mirrors. B

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

43

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peaks in success!

By U SA FA C ad et W in g P u bl i c A f f a i r s St a f f

44

ach semester, the Cadet Wing experiences many diffi cult challenges t hat are inherent w ith our life at the U .S. A ir Force Academy.

—'y Thecombination of thearduousacademic courseloads, busy - athletic schedules, and constant military duties creates the opporw tunity for cadets to dig deep and stick to their co m m i t m en t s. Year after year we cadetsaccomplish an overwhelming magnitude of responsibilities in each aspect of cadet life. «

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

This semester was no exception. Unlike other semesters, however, the Cadet Wing was tasked with professionally reviving the tradition of Recognition as well as executing a relatively new major training event—Pinnacle.

Despite the additional training that was required to p r ep ar e

2006 Pinnacle Outst anding Squadron

for both major training events, each cadet stepped up to the challenge by demonstrating a solid duty concept. As Recog nition signifi ed the four degrees’ acceptance into t h e C ad et Wing, Pinnacle marked the capability of each of the t h r ee

CS-18 - Squadron Commander: Cl C Stephen Redmond

low er classes t o advan ce i n cad et rank . For t h e C l ass of 2 006 ,

3 '“ Place Squadron

Pinnacle marked their readiness for their fi rst assignments i n the Air Force offi cer corps.

Pinnacle was structured to incorporate all four classes. E ach squadron was broken down into elements that were led by the rising Class of 2007. The Class of 2006 took over the r o l e as ev al uators and observers. Each element, led by their element leader, accomplished challenges scheduled throughout the weekend i n order to exhibit teamwork and leadership.

Throughout the academic week, cadets were tested on regula tions and Force Protection measures by pop-security eval uat ions, storage room inspections, and an evacuation drill. T h e st ar t o f the weekend’s events began with a mandatory dinner i n M i t ch el l Hall followed by time for cadets to clean their rooms f o r t h e next morning’s SAME Probably the most meaningful event of the Pinnacle weekend was the Heritage March on Friday night.

Despite adverse weather conditions, the Heritage March resounding success. Honoring the American heroes buried i n the Academy cemetery was a privilege for cadets and p er m a nent party alike. Everyone stood silently as the solemn rial to our fallen graduates fi lled the dark Colorado night. The ceremony included the playing of Taps, “Amazing Grace” w i t h bagpipes, a 21-gun salute, and a melodic rendition o f t h e t h i r d verse of the Air Force song.

Saturday proved to be a challenge from reveille at 0 52 5 t o the Pinnacle culmination dinner at 1830. Cadets were graded i n v ar i ous exercises, including SAM I, IRI , Pinnacle Culmination Parade, and the exhausting Line Challenge.

The Line Challenge was a diffi cult test for the elements. E ach element completed the Line Challenge as a team; they

CS-10 - Squadron Commander: Cl C Brian Nagle

w

m

i

2 "'* Place Squadron CS-29 - Squadron Commander: Cl C Chris Bugg

2 0 0 6 Pinnac le Top 3 Element Leaders C2 C Ch ris Od e ll, CS-0 1 C2 C To m Ha nso n , CS-0 6

C2C Rob Crespo, CS-3 1

a s a

e m

o

o v e r c a m

e

num erous obst acles on the athlet ic fi elds and fi nished t h e ev en t

w i th a 3 m ile run t o the fi nish li ne at t he C ore Values Ramp.

Cl C Dave Smalenberger, the spring Major Training Events

com m ander, rem ark ed on t he success of Pin nacle, “ I h av e b een

extremely impressed with the performance, professionalism an d leadership that each class has presented. Despite a heavy sched ule, n um erous d ut ies, and th e occasional bl izzard , each cad et

outperformed my expectations. The performance of the C l asses 2009, 2008, 2007, and the graduating Class of 2006 l eav es l i t t l e room for improvement and it will be an excellent leadership challenge for future classes to make the next Major Training Events a true success!” S

Membership

D isc u ssio n Fo r u m !

Your Associat ion has a Membership D isc ussio n Fo ru m . It in c lu d e s d is

cussion t opics such as employment opport unit ies, Academy issues, par ent d iscussion, sports and more ! It 's availab le off t he AOG home page at www.usafa.org . Please t ake a mo ment and visit t he forum, part icipat e, and let us know what you t hink?

The Forum also provides you wit h t he opport unity to assist/ mentor young graduates affected by t he Air Force's Force Shaping Policy.

Previous page: Cadets march in the Pinnacle Culmination Pa ra d e .

(Photo by Joel Strayer)

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

45

En d o w e d

Scholarships

During the summer of his fi nal year, he was the Mission Support Group Commander supporting over 15 summer programs at theAcad emy. In his fi nal semester, he was the 1st Group Director of Standardiza tion and Evaluation ensuring adher ence to Academy regulations.

At Oxford, Colehas been accepted to the Department of Biochemistry wherehewill pursue a Mastersof Sci ence through research.

C1C Louis Nolt ing

Wolfe Scholarship Recipient

T h e A sso c iat io n o f

Graduates is proud to

Cl C Louis Nolting was awarded the Franklin C. Wolfe Fellowship.

Wolfe Fellowship applicants must be outstanding in one of the humanities disciplines and recommended by the

a n n o u n c e t h e w in n e rs

of this year's Endowed Scholarships.

^1

H u m an i t i es D iv i si o n .

With thisopportunity Nolting will pursue a mastersdegree in the history

of the Am erican W est fr om the U niver

C1C Brady O lio

Nutter Scholarship Recipient

Cl C Brady Cillo was awarded the Nutter Trust Scholarship. Two types of Nutter scholarshipsare given, in alternateyears, one to the top graduate

sity of Colorado.

Af ter completing his degree, he will attend undergraduate pilot train ing at Laughlin AFB, Texas.

in the O rder of M erit w ho has not been

C 1 C M ic hae l A . Co le Alberta Bart Holaday Scholarship Recipient M ichael A . C ole was aw arded the

Alberta Bart Holaday Scholarship. The applicant chosen for thisscholarship is the “top” candidate from USAFAs Rhodespool of candidates.

At the Academy, Cadet Cole pursued a broad variety of activities.

Although he majored in biochem istry and minored in Spanish, his academ ic load st ill allow ed hi m to

take extra courses in biology and the humanities. Trying to share this academic experience with others, he

w as an A cadem ic non-com m issioned offi cer and academ ic offi cer for

Cadet Squadron One. 46

awarded another scholarship, and one to the outstanding graduatewho served a minimum of nine monthsactive duty as an enlisted member of any branch of the arm ed services.

Cillo’s major at the Academy was Systems Engineering Management and he anticipates using this back ground throughout hisAi r Force career as a pilot.

To further expand his knowledge base and experience in leading diverse teams, Cillo is pursuing a Masters of Business from the University of Pittsburgh. “By earning a Masters of Business,” he says, he will “acquire a more specialized degree of knowledge on fi nancial and managerial tech niques, which will further solidify my leadership skills as an offi cer of a diverse and changing Air Force.”

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

C 1 C T h e o d o re Ra n d le s Lawson Scholarship Recipient T heodore Ran dl es w as aw arded the G eneral Ri chard L . L aw son Scholar

ship. The scholarship is open to all academic majors and accepted at any university in the United States.

Applicants must demonstrate excel lence in com m unicat ion .

Randles intends to study Ameri can History at the University of

1

Florida in Gainesville. As a history major at the Academy Randles says he “learned about the country that I call home—the country that I serve.

Devoid of his history, an offi cer

stands in defense of t he C onst it ut ion

w ithout a fi rm foundat ion .”

( We got spirit,

how ’bout you

C 1 C N at h a n ie l Ca rd e n Gerhart Scholarship Recipient C l C N athaniel Carden w as aw arded

the General John F. Gerhart Fellow ship at the Paris Institute of Political Sciences or La Sorbonne. Interestingly, his brother and fellow Academy gradu ate Christopher Carden, ’01, earned the same scholarship in 2001.

The Gerhart Scholarship was created because of General John K. G erhart’s desire for cadets to attend

Sciences Polytique in Paris. Sciences Polytique is a highly prestigiousschool in France and is a right of passage for many politicians and government offi cials in their country. France’s current president, Jaques Chirac, is a former student of Sciences Polytique.

Competition is open to seniors in the top 25 percent of their class who have demonstrated strong abilities in the French language, along with leadership, integrity, initiative, imagi nation, and general adaptability.

Gerhart plans on completing a twoyear mastersprogram at Sciences Poly tique, resulting in a Masters in Finance in Strategy from thisgreat school.

Upon completion of the program, hewill join the acquisitionscareer fi eld wherehewill apply the skills gained in Parisright away.

T vel ieJS alot of talesof creativeSpirit Missionsat theAcademy, but the parents

^ko?the“Classof 2009recentlygot our attentionw i t h a sw eet l i t t l e st u n t .

Wdrking together via FamNet, the clever bunch conspired to surprise their cadets with custom printed silver M& M’s, completewith a silver boxes. Imprinted on each treat was the quote “09—Our Time.”

Pulling off the mission required a little help from the USAFA leadership, who agreed to allow a group of parents to surprise the class with the gifts at a manda tory briefi ng given by the Cadet Wing Commander. Remarkably, t h e cad et s w er e indeed taken by surprise when the parents took to the stage at Arnold Hall.

But that wasn’t all the parent plottersdid—the response for donation for the boxes of chocolateswas so great that it allowed for an additional gift —a donation of $2009 to the Rando Fund, aswell as gourmet gift s to the nursing staff at Penrose Hospital where cadet ThomasAvolio is recovering following a rock climbing accident.

Here’s a toast to the parents of the Class of 2009.

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

47

ri b u t e t o a H er o

By Dana C. A rbaugh, ’70 Another Memorial Day has come and gone, and with it we honored all those who havepaid the highest pricef or thef reedoms we share today. I n memory of thoseAmerican patriots, we share this letter fr om Dana C. Arhaugh, ^70, I n the sp ring of 1997, twenty-fi veyears af ter the death of l i t. John Haselton, *70, Arhaugh paid tribute to the man whom he called fr iend, classmate and hero, by writing thisp oignant letter.

My friend and classmate, John Haselton, was killed i n ac t i o n 25 years ago today in the skies above Vietnam. His C essn a 0 - 2 (enemy observation) plane was hit by a shoulder-fi red, h eat seeking missile. I fi nd myself thinking of him not only each May, but also when life’s various problems intrude. H is life, like so many others who died in the service of our country, is worth remembering.

John was from a picturesque lakefront town in far north ern Vermont. Newport, then and now, has only about 5,000 people. While I grew up in Connecticut, my family spent p ar t of each summer on Lake Memphremagog, a short boat ride from John’s house.

I did not know John then, but in June 1966 we were b o t h

headed for the Air Force Academy in Colorado. I met him during the relatively quiet days of in-processing, just before t h e st ar t o f basic cadet training. That was the start of six years of friendship.

Basic cadet training and the entire fi rst year were extremely stressful, regimented and relatively void of any outside so ci al l i f e.

Many of us could barely hold on to pass our academic while enduring the military and physical rigors of cadet life. Som e, likeJohn, were able to not only quickly adjust, but al so ex cel .

Others, like me, had to struggle all four years. While I w o u l d see c o u r se s

48

John each month that fi rst year, we rarely had enough t i m e t o d o anything together. We both looked forward to the few w eeks off we would get the summer after our freshman year.

We had talked about the good fi shing and how peaceful L ak e Memphremagog was in July. The contrast between our just fi nished year in Colorado and the tranquil setting i n V er m o n t w as welcomed. My family and I got to know John and his parents well those few weeks at the lake. The highlight of that when John and I drove to visit “Expo ’67” in Montreal—Canada’s su m

m

e r

w a s

version of a W orld’s Fair.

Our three upper-class years at the Academy were tough, b u t immensely better than our fi rst year. John and I would o ccasi o n ally have some training together. We even had some off-duty time to enjoy Denver and some of the many Colorado attractions.

John graduated in the top fi ve percent of our class an d ach ieved Distinguished Graduate status, the equivalent of Magna C u m L au d e.

The last time my parents saw John was at their cabin o n L ak e Memphremagog just after he graduated from Air Force pilot train ing. He was with his fi ancee, looking for me and my n ew w i f e.

We missed seeing him at that time because we had decided t o v i si t Germany right after I graduated from Air Force navigator training i n C al i f o r n i a.

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

death. Followingmy Vietnamtour of duty, my wifeand I w en t o n

That fall both John and I were assigned to Southeast A si a. H i s

a C-130 assignment in Germany.

squadron’sbilletinglocation wasjust acrossthestreet from my squadron’sbillet at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon. John and I

O ur fi rst vacation back to the United States was to visit my

parentsat their LakeMemphremagogcabin in Vermont. W h ile

would often fl y on the same day and then head over to a surpris

there, we went to visit John’s widowed mother, Edna H aselt on .

She shared with us some of John’s early life and the fact t hat his

ingly niceoffi cer’sclub for agood meal.

The last time I saw John waslate March 1972. We had shared

I know I would miss the beginning of a major enemy o f f en siv e which would start in early April.

remainshad been repatriated and also his last letter (a M others Day card) to her before his death.

John had told her hewasvolunteering to fl y extra m i ssi o n s because some of the planes in his friend’s unit had been shot down. I suspected that he might have been referring to my unit.

n ex t

(within walking distance to John’shouse) along the sout heast-

another meal at the offi cer’s club and I told him how exci ted I w a s w as

about my pendingvacation, slated to begin in afew days. I lookingforward to seeing my wifeback in Denver. Littled i d

John’ssquadron wascalled on to fl y almost continuously f or the few months. My wingof 50 C-130 transport planessoon l o st

Should you ever visit Newport, Vermont, you will And a park tip of LakeMemphremagog. Near thebandstand isalarge

fi ve aircraft (30 crew members killed), two on low-level air drop m i s s i o n s n e a r the small town of An Loc, not too far from Saigon.

Vermont marble memorial to all of the local veterans w ho d ied in

and killed over An Loc. W hen I returned to Tan Son N h ut that

listed under the Vietnam War. Should you ever see it, rem em ber

e r n

On May 11, 1972 (my sister’sbirthday), John wasshot d ow n

our country’swars. John H. Haselton isone of only t w o n a m e s

day from my fl ight, my fi rst stop wasat John’ssquadron b i l l et . H i s fellow pilotstold methat even though they had been u n ab l e t o

that hegavehislifefor afriend. Also remember that l i f e’s v ar i o u s problemsaremanageablewhen you think of heroeslikemy friend

recover his remains, they were certain hewas dead. I w as shock ed

John Haselton. B

and disheart ened .

Theevent that permanently impressed thememory of John

Haselton in my mind occurred a little over two years aft er h is

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Chaney King, aWinged Pig

an d I t ’s al l G ood !!!

A Personal Perspective Chaney King

heThird Annual Chaney King Bike Ride Run w il l be held at th e U .S. A i r Force

Academy on September 9, 2006. The

event memorializes C3C Chaney King,

By Br ig.Gen. (Ret .) Randy Cuber o, ’61 Pr esid ent , Fal co n Fo un dat io n

who was tragically killed in a car accident on January 18, 2003. This year it will fall on a Saturday during an away football game when our beloved Falcons will

beplaying and, hopefully, dominating

the usually nationally ranked Tennessee Volunteers. Preparations for the event were started back in January when we

first requested that the event be placed

on the Academy’s Master Calendar for 50

C H EC K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

2006. The event itself is a most enjoyable activity that includes 15-mile bike riding loops around theAcademy’s exterior roads, and 5k running loops around the

outdoor track stadium, the Field H ouse

and th e soccer st adi um .

All the eventsstart throughout the

morning at different times and are coor

dinated so that they finish up just before 11:30 a.m. All the participants are then

treated to hamburger or teriyaki chicken

lunches while a band plays rock and

bluegrassmusic. Everyone eatsa leisurely lunch and congregatesaround the band in

Ru n i n 2 0 0 5 Early morningstart forthe 15 mile loop aroundtheAcademyat theSecondAnnual Chaney King BikeRide

the stands at the outdoor track stadium.

Around noon, Dennis King, Chaney father, will announce the winners of 70

door prizesthat he and hiscommittee

accumulated for months before the event .

He will then turn the microphone over to one of the managers of Bike Village

right herein Colorado Springsso that the cadet mini-bike races can begin. Cadets

from varioussquadronsvolunteer to ride

Colo. D ennis is a retired executive of the

Unilever Corporation and Janet isa school teacher with many volunteer interests.

Chaney wasa beautiful 20-year-old when she tragically died half way through her

sophomoreyear at theAcademy. Sheloved life, her family and friends, theAcademy and pigs. I am not sure about the origins of Chaney’sattraction to pigsbut she collected them all; stuffed pigs, porcelain

for fi veyear olds. It is hilarious to see the

pigs, wooden pigs and anything that even resemblesa pig. Chaney also possessed

to control their mini bikes on the 14 mile

her dreams regardlessof the obstacles that

tot-bikes that look like they were designed cadets in three or four relays simply trying

track. Aft er all the Squadronshave raced,

the winners within each group have a raceoff for the fi nal prize of “Wing Cham

pion.” Aft er thewinnersare announced to thejoy of their Squadron and Group mates, DennisKing will return to the

podiumand thank everyonefor memorial

izing Chaney King through their partici pation in thisvery special event.

Chaney was the middle child of Dennis and Janet King who reside in Denver,

one of the fi ve prep schools that were associated with our program. Chaney chose Northwestern Prep in Crestline,

Calif. The following year shewasadmitted to theAcademy and wasassigned to the l 4th Cadet Squadron, the Cobras. In her

sophomoreyear shewasreassigned to the 13th Cadet Squadron, the Bulldawgs. At

the time of her fatal accident she served a s w

the Honor Clerk for her Squadron,

as a

m em ber of t he W om en’s L acrosse

Team, and was the founder of a mentoring

the drive and determination to achieve

support group for female cadets. Chaney

stood in her way. When she found out that she was NOT accepted to the United StatesAir Force Academy, she refused to

tion and was most grateful that she was

dation Scholarship to attend a preparatory school for an additional year before reap

succeeded at the Air Force Academy. Her

give up and inquired about a Falcon Foun plying to theAcademy.

W it h the assist ance of her L iaison

Offi cer, this led to her fi rst contact with the Falcon Foundation and we, ultimately, awarded her a scholarship to attend any C H FX K PO I N T S, JU N E 20 0 6

felt indebted to the Falcon Founda

g iv en a second chance to at t end U SA FA .

Chaney stated many times that without Northwestern Prep shewould not have

optimism and love of lifewere continu ously heard by her friendsand family in the expression she used the most in all her

It’s all good!!” As a personal tribute to Chaney, another squadron mate, ChrisWoods, drew a winged-angelic c o n v e r sa t i o n s ,

51

USAFA2005 Women’s LacrosseTeamranas “Chaney’s Ladies” at the Second Annual Chaney King Bike Ride Run in 2005 pig riding a bikewhich we have adopted asour offi

cial logo. And now you know therest of thestory!

T he event is focused on the cadets and their

enjoyment even though the ride/run event is open

to the public. The entry fee contains the overhead cost plus a donation to the Falcon Foundation’s

Scholarship Fund. Last year we had over 250 participants and thisyear we are anticipating 400 participants. Individuals can choose to participate

and/or to sponsor cadet(s) to ride or run free of charge. Last year we received donations to allow approximately 170 cadets to ride/run for free. In

Advertise in Checkpoints magazine Advertisements in Checkpoints magazine support the Association of Graduates and reach an audience of

influential military and business leaders

throughout the country and w orld.

a most unusual and magnanimous gesture, one donation was received to allow the entire 13th

Cadet Squadron, Chaney King’s last squadron, t o ride/ run for free. For more information on this

very special event please go to www.falconfoundation.org and click on “The Chaney King Bike Ride & Run, or go to www.usafa.org and click on “full

story” under thesummary for the2006 Chaney King Bike Ride Run.

TheFalcon Foundation isproud to bethepri

mary sponsor for this uniqueAcademy experience

and is ever thankful for the wonderful cadets that a r e

helped by our scholarships to attain their dream

of comingto theUnited StatesAir ForceAcademy.

We believe, like Chaney, that “It’sall good!! O

52

ll «c tcf r4/7o

For more information, please contact Kyle Davidson at

(719) 472-0300

kyle.daviclson@aogusafa.org

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L I NE

It seems like every day somewhere intheworld anAcademy grad is recognized in the news

for an outstanding achievement or for making our country better than it wasjust yesterday. Here a few fromthe "Long Blue Line" who showed up on our radar screen this past quarter.

Chilton/ 76 , nom inated for 4t h star

Lt . Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, 7 6, w a s

n om i nat ed f or a f our t h st ar an d t o be

the commander in chief of A ir Force

Space Command.

N ow com m ander of the 8th A i r Force

in Barksdale, La., Chilton fl ew aboard

three space shuttle missions, for a total of

A i r Force Stat ion and N A SA .”

Helmsreplaces Brig. Gen. Mark Owen,

’79, who has been commander of the 45th Space Wing since August 2004. He has

been reassigned to the Pentagon.

Helms’ new position is a key role

704 hours in orbit and hasserved in Space Command in prior assignments.

she will oversee the launch of most of

and was nominated for promotion again

and navigational satellites from Cape

Chilton got his third star last summer

just eight months later.

A former fi ghter pilot, Chilton was

selected for NASA’s astronaut program

University since 2000, Gallagher has been promoted to professor of computer

Canaveral A ir Force Station. She also

-

through 1998.

He served on a space shuttle crew

Grads exchange com m and Two grads recently shared a memorable

second-highest civilian leader. Undersecre

tary of theAir Force Ron Sega, ’74.

In his most recent assignment, Chilton

has overseen a command that includes the A ir Force’s B-2 and B-52 bom bers.

He lm s ’8 0 , t o co m m a nd 4 5 ^” SW

Brig. Gen. (Sel.) Susan Helms, ’80, a

former astronaut and veteran of fi vespace

fl ights, is expected to take command of

the45'*’ SpaceWing at Patrick AFB, Fla.,

later this sum m er.

“Having the chance to command the 45th Space Wing will be a true honor

and I look forward to the opportunity to

day together at Laughlin AFB, Texas, a s

Col. Edward M . “Mike” Minahan, ’86,

assumed command of the47th Flying Training Wing from fellow grad Col. Tod D , W olt ers, ’82.

M i nah an w ill com m and m ore than

1,375 military personnel and oversee an

operation that exceeds 105,000 fl ying hours and 90,000 sortieseach year.

Present at the event was 19th Air Force

Commander Maj. Gen. Marc E. Rogers.

Rogers said that under Wolters’ com mand, Laughlin had fl own more hours

and graduated morepilotsthan any other Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training

base in the United States.

C H EC K PO I N T S, JU N E 2 0 0 6

Gallagher, ’78, earns scholarly

University in Ohio.

A faculty member at Cedarville

mercial launch companies. (Courtesy of Florida Today)

with the man who is now the Air Force’s

Mobility Wing.

a promotion and tenure at Cedarville

the Pentagon’s spy, communications

c o m

the vice commander of the 305th A ir

Dr. David Gallagher, ’78, recently received

in national security. As commander

will work closely with NASA and

Minahan comes to Laughlin from

McGuire AFB, N .J, where he was

p ro m ot io n

in 1987 and served in the shuttle and

International Space Station programs

54

work—onceagain!—with the great people at Patrick Air Force Base, Cape Canaveral

a re

science. H e earned h is M .S. from th e A i r

Force Institute of Technology in 1987 and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1995.

Holaday, ’65, receives honorary

d o c t o ra t e

Bart Holaday, ’65, recently received an honorary Doctor of Lettersdegree from the University of North Dakota.

Holaday was honored “in recognition of hisdedication to theglobal economy, his vision for creating social change through

business, and for hiseffortsin providing

scholarship assistance to studentsseeking higher education,” according to UND President Charles E. Kupchella.

Holaday graduated from high school

in Jamestown, N .D ., and attended N ew

Mexico Military Institute for ayear before entering theAir ForceAcademy in 1961.

He received a RhodesScholarship aft er

graduation which took himto Oxford

University in England for threeyears.

From Exeter College, Oxford, heearned a

Arabia, which includes the Embassy and Consulates General in Jeddah and Dhahran. Prior to his assignment to

economics. He also earned a law degree

Riyadh, he served as Director of the Offi ce of Regional and Economic Affairs

foundation called T he Dakota Foundation

the Department of State in Washington, D.C. During that assignment, he played

master’sdegreein politics, philosophy and

and Chief Counsel for Administrative Law

at the Pentagon.

Halbert is a licensed pilot and flight

instructor, having logged approximately 1,500 hours in T-4l s, T-37s, T-38s and sailplanes.

from GeorgeWashington University.

In 1997 Holaday established afamily

in the Bureau of N ear East Affairs of

designed toaddresssocial issuesandenhance

aleading rolein theestablishment and

emy, and graduated with honorsfrom the

nership Initiative.

also earned a Master of Science degree from the National War College in Wash ington, D .C.

human capabilities. Thefoundation funds programsin North Dakotaand New Mexico, and favors small entrepreneurial

implementation of the Middle East Part Grappo has received several Depart

organizationsthat “seek tosolvesocial prob

ment awards, including three Superior

disciplined fi nancial thinking.”

Holaday also established an endowed $800,000 scholarship at theAcademy that sendsone top graduate each year to Exeter College for two yearsof graduatework.

relief and economic recovery during and

lems with new and creative ideas, and with

H onor Awards— for his work on food after the fall of the Soviet Union, for

his leadership role in the 1995 Amman M i dd l e East N or t h A f r ica Econom i c

Summit, and for his work in the USG’s

Halbert graduated with distinction

from the U nited States A ir Force Acad

University of Texas School of Law. He

Kowaiczyk , ’94 , j oins execut ive

s e a rc h f i r m

John H. Kowaiczyk, ’94, hasjoined Allan/Gray Associates, a retained execu tive search fi rm with offi ces in Philadel

He named the scholarship in honor of his mother, Alberta Holaday.

campaign against terrorism fi nancing

phia and LosAngeles. Kowaiczyk will

Philadelphia offi ce. Kowaiczyk will build

Thorson, ’6 7 , unanimously

eral group and individual Meritorious H onor Aw ards.

Halbert appointed as NTSB

m aceut ical i nd ust ries.

co nf irm e d

Eric M . T horson, ’67, has been unani

mously confi rmed by the U.S. Senate to se r v e a s

t he Sm al l Business A dm inist ra-

tion’s Inspector General.

Thorson previously served asspecial assistant to the Republican Leader of the

United States Senate. Earlier in his career,

Thorson was the chief investigator for the Permanent Subcommittee on Investiga t ions i n t he U nit ed States Senate.

The Offi ce of Inspector General is

responsible for conducting independent reviews, audits and investigations of all

SBA programsand participantsin order to prevent fraud and abuse and to recom mend waysto improve theeffi ciency and effectiveness of SBA’s programs and operat ions.

Grappo, ’72, sworn in as A m b a ss a d o r

Gary A. Grappo, ’72, was recently sworn i n

a s

U .S. A m bassador t o t h e Sul t an at e

of Oman by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. H e is a career member of

the Senior Foreign Service of the U. S. Department of State.

From N ovem ber of 2003 t o N ovem ber

of 2005, Mr. Grappo was Deputy Chief

of M ission and M inister Counselor of the

United States Mission in Riyadh, Saudi

in the M iddle East— as well as sev

Ge n e ra l Co u n s e l

serve as senior vice president in their

ageneralist practicewith afocuson the government, aerospaceand biotech/pharKowaiczyk has an M .S. in Strategic

Halbert comes to the Safety Board after 27 years in the United StatesAir

Intelligence from theJoint Military Intelligence College and has completed graduatework in the MBA program at the college of William and Mary. He also served as an intelligence offi cer in the

legal positions. He most recently was

ties included operations intelligence and

The National Transportation Safety Board has appointed Gary L. Halbert, ’78, asthe agency’s new General Counsel.

Force where he held a number of senior D irector, Executive Issues, in Air Force

HeadquartersCommunicationswhere he was responsible for, among other things, strategic and crisis communications.

Earlier positionsincluded Staff Judge Advocate and Legal Counsel to the Com mander, Third Air Force, at Mildenhall

Royal Air Force Base in the United King

dom; Executive Assistant to the Air Force

JudgeAdvocate General; Senior Attorney and Legal Counsel to the Commander

of Barksdale Air Force Base; and Chief Counsel for Information and Privacy Law,

U.S. Air Force where his responsibili

intelligence systems planning. He most

ntly held leadership positionswithin the aerospace industry and the profes r e c e

sional services industry.

“Joining Allan/Gray Associates is a logi cal next step in my career” stated Kowai czyk, “I look forward to playing a major

rolein thegrowth of thefi rm.” B

rt f

Photo courtesy of Les Querry, '60

Once “Vpon a H^i me

•

•

•

Remember all the great stories your classmates shared with one another at your last reunion? Well now is your chance to share some of the most import ant memories of your life with the 25,000 readers of Checkpoints magazine, which includes a large part of the Cadet Wing.

As the Academy and the Association of Graduates celebrate t his inst it ut io n's 50t h anni

versary, the staff of Checkpoints wants to publish your cadet experiences and stories of how your four years at the Academy affected your career a nd lif e .

Althoughwe can't guarantee every submissionwill be published, we hope many of you will take time to share your first-hand account of the Long Blue Line's heritage and history.

Please keep your story between 500- 2,000 words. If you have photos, please include them. Digital copies of photos must be in "jpg" file format, at a resolut ion of no less

t han 300 dots per inch at 7 inches wide.

E-mail your story and photos to editor@aogusafa.org. If you choose to mail your story, please include a digital copy of your story on a CD or floppy disk. If you mail prints, we'll make sure you get them back in the condition they were s e n t .

/i# *

R efl ect i o t s o n 3

A i t> .

H

Falcon Heritage Forum honorswar veterans and inspires cad et s

By M aj . Jef f Sandr ock, ’94

pril 2006: Each of the 36 cadet squadronswelcomed i t s own veteran of the fi rst Gulf War to share experiencesw i th the Cadet Wing in the appropriately-themed Falcon Heri tage Forum, “Heroesof Desert Shield and Desert Storm.”

To no one’s surprise, the Association of Graduates, and par ticularly the Class of ’74 once again stepped up to m ak e al l t h e

A

Veterans of Desert Shield/ Desert Storm were honored during an evening event at Arnold Hall. Gen. (Ret.) Chuck Horner was the keynote speaker and talked to cadets about challenges he faced during the toughest m o m e nt s o f h is c a re e r.

(Photo by Ken Wright)

diff erence bet ween a th ree-star even t and the fi ve-star ev en t t h at

m i ssi o n t o ex ecu t e i t ev en b et t er n ex t t i m e. W e n ow look forw ard

we recently closed the books on.

From the forum’s humble origins in 1996 as an informal gathering of local veterans and a handful of interested cadets, the program has rocketed to new heights in theyears that followed.

Now veterans from all over the nation spend three days i m m er sed with cadets, sharing “there I was” experiences and discussing how

to more opportunities to bring out the best in our cadets through the many other character development events the AOG su p p o r t s.

The reds of 2006 havegraduated, and the golds of 2007 h av e t ak en thestick. As we bring in a new class of basic cadets, the opportunities abound to welcome 2010 to the Long Blue Line. I know I ’l l b e t h ere.

I’ll stand some post with hundreds of othersscattered acro ss t h e Academy, from Doolittle Hall to those Fairchild Hall in-processing stations. I’ll be honored to march out to Jacks Valley, and spend some time with the basic cadets in the newly-added “honor fi resides” that have been folded back into several evenings during Seco n d B east .

I’ll raise my right hand as the cadets and staffers join the newlyaccepted fourth class in taking the Oath of Offi ce in a parade dedicated to them and the promise of their future.

In October, we’ll bring in a new batch of veterans (40 this time—rock on. All Stars!) to share their experiences.

As busy as these days have become for all of us—^AFA grads, ROTC grads, and OTS grads who work at our Academy, t h ese ar e the things we wouldn’t let ourselves miss.

This fall the Falcon Heritage Forum will celebrate i t s t en t h anniversary. I will be honored and privileged to be t h er e.

The Genter for Gharacter Development will be there, ensuring a fi rst-class event is planned and executed. And in an ongoing display of true dedication to developing tomorrow’s leaders o f ch ar act er f o r

t h ei r l esso n s lear n ed can m ak e t h e d i ff eren ce i n t h e important issues

cad et s w i ll f ace n ow an d i n t h ei r career s as o ffi cer s.

The heroes of Desert Shield/Desert Storm we brought i n a r e pilots who scored MiG kills over Iraq. They are the infantry and cavalry commanders who rolled out of Saudi Arabia into Iraq to repel Saddam Hussein’s vaunted Republican Guard from a newlyliberated K uw ait .

These heroes are the aircrews, loadmasters, and cargo h an d l er s who ensured their C-5s and KG-10s were fi t to fl y missions planned, on time and with great confi dence.

They also include the aircraft commander whose KG-135 h i t unexpected turbulence and shed engines one and two o n t ak eo ff a s

... t h e ai r cr ew w h o r ef u sed d eco r at i o n s u n t i l t h e b o o m o p er at o r

on that same mission was awarded the same high distinction they had all earned .

They are the K-9 handlers, the medical superintendents, t h e Special Forces operators, and the F-111 squadron commander who went in with the fi rst wave to knock out Iraqi C o m m an d an d C ont rol . T hese are the heroes of D esert Sh ield and D eser t St o r m

who came to share their stories with today’s cadets

A i r Force offi cers and leaders.

to m o rrow s

When all was said and done, we refl ected on the accomplished

the nation , the A O G w ill add the shine for another fi v e- st ar ev en t .

The AOG will continue to be there: I’m not only a believer i n the outstanding programs our graduate community enables. I ’m

also proud to call myself one of them. SI

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

57

Cadet s w in NSA Cyber Defense Exer cise

Cyber warriors defend Academy network from virt ual at tacks by Amer ica’s crypt ologic or ganizat ion St ory by USAF Public Affair s

T

he National Security Agency announced that the Air Fo r ce Academy is the winner of the agency’s 6th Annual Cyber D efense Exercise.

The exercise ran at the Academy, the NSA’s Maryland head quarters and the nation’s other military service academies.

During the exercise, Maryland-based NSA network special ists and military network specialists formed the Red C el l t eam .

Red Cell challenged cadet Blue Cell teams to defend a cl o sed computer network they designed, built and confi gured at t hei r respective academies. The network soft ware was pre-confi gured with known vulnerabilities, forcing cadet teams to diagnose and remove the vulnerabilities while maintaining their n et w o r k ’s e-mail, instant messaging, fi le sharing, web and several o t h er ser v i ce f eat u r es.

N SA and military specialists graded each team’s ability t o effectively maintain network services while detecting, sponding to, and recovering from network security intrusions r e

or compromises.

Red Cell teams used numerous exploitation techniques read ily available on the internet in their attempts to bring down the respective cadets’ systems, including spyware, e-mail b o m b ar d ment and fake messages trying to get cadets to download m al i patches.” Red Celf s greatest measure of success against the Ai r Force Academy cadets was making the cadets’ Web page Cl o u s

W e love Red C el l .”

O t her serv ice academ ies al so fell v ict i m t o Red C ell t act ics,

say

which sometimes played on the inherent rivalries between t h e

academies, with a little cyber-smack talk. Red Cell m em b er s hacked the West Point team’s web site and changed it t o r ead “ G o Navy, Beat Army,” during the exercise.

But when the cyber-dust settled, NSA evaluators chose the A i r Force Academy team as the winner.

“Developing such skilled young network defenders bodes w el l for the Air Force continuing to lead the way in the n et w o r k secu rity fi eld,” added Captain Butler.

Blue Cell teams each began with 50,000 points. During the ex ercise, those points were either reduced or increased, based on the network attacks they became vulnerable to or were able t o d ef en d themselves against. During the course of the exercise, cad et s w er e required to fi le reports on the status of their network. Po i n t s w er e taken away if their reports were not complete or less t han accurat e.

The Air Force Academy team fi nished with a score of 4 8,42 5 points, almost 2,000 points ahead of the second place fi nisher, the Army’s U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Winners of the previous cyber defense exercises were t h e U .S. Naval Academy in 2005, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy i n 2004, the Air ForceAcademy in 2003 and West Point i n 2 0 0 1

“ I believe one reason behind our success w as a focus o n fu n d a

mental security principles, rather than specifi c tools,” said Capt.

Sean Butler, computer science instructor and offi cer-in-charge o f the Academy’s cadet cyber defense team. “While using advanced information security tools and techniques might buy you a little bit of an advantage at the margins, I suspect it probably co st s y o u even more in added complexity, given inexperienced ad m i n i st r a tors. It’s very diffi cult to defend a network that you don’t fully understand, so our cadets spent a lot of effort making sure they all had at least a basic familiarity with all the components of our network and how they fi t together. The cadets’ eventual n et w o r k design was a very classic, textbook secure network layout without a lot of frills, and it was obviously quite effective.”

Lessons learned during this exercise will help these cad et co m puter science majors after graduation, when they join a se r v i c e whose mission recently expanded to include mastery of not only air and space, but also cyberspace.

and 2002. B

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o r re loic at ing a nyw he re?

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• Colorado Springs hon^ M i i n f o r m at i on

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USA F, Ret , Clas s of 1966

I Foryourfinancial needs

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C H EC K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

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G r ad fi n i sh es I d i t ar o d w i t h fl o u r i sh KNOLMAYER, ’90, FINDS GREATER SENSE OF PURPOSE IN COMPLETING AMAZING FEAT FOR SECOND TIME

A

fter fi nishing last year’s Idi tarod Sled Dog Race, Maj .

(Dr.) Thomas Knolmayer,

,’ 90 , said i t w oul d be h i s one

and only running of the 1,150 mile race across Alaska’s wilderness. But anyone who knows the 38-year-old surgeon st at i oned at El m en dorf A i r Force Base,

A l ask a k n ew b et t er .

After getting the blessing from his wife, Tina, the major threw his name in the hat to compete in the 2006 race.

“I still had all the dogs and they can’t just sit around doing nothing,” he said, refer 60

Story and photos by Tech. Sgt. Keith Brown

ring to his kennel of 21 Alaskan Huskies.

After a good training season of running the sled dogs for three to four hours, four to fi ve nights a week. Doctor Knolmayer felt good about the team this year.

“The dogs are running strong and I have a lot more experience going into this year’s race,” Doctor Knolmayer said. He w as also fort unat e t o have a co-w ork er,

Lt. Col. Michelle Prevost, running half his team with him after work, cutting his training time in half Having one of his strongest dogs healthy this year also helped. Last year.

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

Tomahawk, a 7-year-old lead dog, was inj ured two weeks befo re the Iditarod and had to sit out, but this year he was raring to go.

With an upcoming assignment and having to leaveAlaska, Knolmayer said he knew this

w ould be his last Iditarod. T hat m ade this

year’s racejust that much more special.

That wasn’t the only thing that made it special. This year he ran with a bigger purpose—a 10-year-old girl with cancer was cheering him on.

Katie Powell, the daughter of Senior Master Sgt Chris Powell, a KC-10

i ffe t

Extender boom operator at TravisAir Force Base, Calif., has Ewing’s Sarcoma, a bone cancer. Through the generosity

of several units at Travis, she fulfi lled her

dream of meeting an Iditarod musher and riding on the sled. She was also the major’s personal guest at the start of this year’s Iditarod after riding with him during his last training run.

“The sled ride was great,” Katie said. “It lasted a long time, but seemed like it was only a few minutes.”

Since she had to head home the Monday aft er the start, she planned on using the Internet to track the major’s progress.

“I’ll keep track of him on the com puter,” she said.

The race is a mental and physical chal lenge. The mushers face sleep deprivation and have to spend a large amount of time caring for the dogs.

“When I stop at a checkpoint for several hours, I may get 45 minutes of

sleep aft er spending several hours taking

care of the dogs” Knolmayer said. “If we stop twice a day that ends up being two 45-minute naps.”

Besides the lack of sleep, extreme

w eath er also t ak es its toll w hen the team s

face temperaturesaswarm as40 degrees

and as cold as 4 5 below zero. T he w arm er

temperatures are hard on the dogs and can reduce a dog’s ability to pull long distances, to sitting during daylight hours waiting for the coolet temperatures of the dark Alaska night.

A l ask an H usk ies have t he alm ost unbe

lievable ability to withstand temperatures of 45 degrees below zero for days on end with little affect. Knolmayer was also thrilled when the temperatures were well below zero.

“It’s much easier on the team. They

feel great and just want to keep going,”

h e sai d .

Trail hazards also m ak e t he race a chal

lenge. Stumps in the trail and sharp turns can send a musher into the trees; being on ice in high winds is also a risk.

“At one point, the wind was sending the sled and the dogs sideways across the ice.

All I could do was crawl on my hands and knees trying to get control of the sled and t eam ,” the doctor said .

Previous page: Maj . (Dr.) Thomas Knolmayer and his dog team head to the finish line of the 2006 Iditarod Sled Dog Race, in Nome, Alaska. Doctor Knolmayer finished the 1,150-mile race across Alaska in 11 days, 22 hours and 13 minut es. It was 47 hours fast er

than his time last year. Doctor Knolmayer is chief of surgery at the 3rd Medical Group, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

4^ & 9 Pi i

Right: Maj . (Dr.) Thomas Knolmayer poses

after finishing the 2006 Iditarod Sled Dog

^wEa s

Race in Nome, Alaska. Katie Powell, the girl in the message, is the 10-year-old daughter of Senior Master Sgt. Chris Powell of Travis Air Force Base, Calif. She has Ewing’s Sarcoma, a bone cancer. Her wish t o be a

part of the Iditarod was made possible by seve ra l u nit s at Travis.

C H E C K

Even with all the challenges of the Iditarod trail, Knolmayer set his goals high and found a way to succeed. Aft er

fi nishing the race last year with a respect

able time of 13 days and 22 hours, he

k new h e coul d l ead his t eam t o a bet t er

fi nish this year.

So, as usual, Knolmayer set what seemed to be a goal impossible to meet: fi nish the race in less than 12 days. Wait ing in Nome, his wife and the rest of his supporters tracked his progress online and estimated a Friday fi nish around 4 p.m., a fi nish that would be two hours short of his goal.

Knolmayer crossed the fi nish line at 1:10 pm., meeting his goal of a fi nish under 12 days by just one hour. It was a fi nish that was 47 hours better than last year.

Aft er all the pomp and circumstance of the race, greeting his wife and 15month-old son, Zane, and getting the dogs bedded down, the major fi nished one last task. He posed under the arches at the fi nish line with a poster that said, “We did

it for you, Katie Powell!” SSI

T

he new Airman Battle Uniform is ready for production and will be available in fi scal 2007, said the Air Force deputy chief of staff of personnel.

Many factors were considered in developing the fi nal uniform selection, with the concern for airmen being at the top of the list, said Brig. Gen Robert R. Allardice, ’80.

“We were looking for a uniform that would be easier to m ai nt ain ,” he said. “We wanted to provide a uniform that the Airman w oul dn’t

need to spend a lot of out-of-pocket expensesto maintain.”

tMso, airmen’s feedback throughout the process was benefi cial in adding new pockets on the uniform.

“We listened to the airmen’s request where they wanted pockets to hold small tools and when they wear body armor the existing shirt pock ets are not accessible or usable,” General A llardice said. “ I t w ill have the

four pockets on the front of the shirt, and also a small pencil pocket on the left forearm and two pockets on the lower legs. I n addition, inside

thesidepocketsand insideof thebreast pocketstherew ill be sm aller sewn-in pockets to hold small tools, fl ashlights or cell phones.”

The new uniform design is a pixilated tiger stripew ith four soft

earth tonesconsisting of tan, grey, green and blue. T he A BU w ill have apermanent creaseand will beoffered in 50-50 nylon-cotton blend permanent pressfabric eliminating theneed for winter and sum m er weight uniforms.

Will the new ABU need to be starched and pressed?

“Absolutely not,” he said. “Our uniform requirement i s w e w an t a uniform that you wash, pull it out of the dryer, and w ear it . T his

requirement meetstheeaseand cost effectivenessneedsin maintaining a uniform .”

He speaksfrom personal experience and added that in the long run it will save airmen money on dry cleaning costs.

“I tested this uniform. I wash it, take it right out of the dryer and wear it,” General Allardice said. “We don’t want people putting an iron to it .”

T he fi t of the uniform w as also a concern for airm en .

“We’re making them available in more sizesto fi t the body better,” he said. “We’ve taken the time to produce more sizes and t ailored

A ir m a n B at t le

them for m en and w om en .”

Some other ABU accessory items:

U nif or m f inalized ,

- A tan T-shirt will be worn; Airmen will be required t o m ai n t ai n one tan T-shirt with an Air Force logo on the front and A i r Force

r eady for pr oduct ion

w rit ten on the back .

The look of t oday’s combat-ready Air man is about t o change

- Suede cowhide boots in matching green-gray color; like the desert boot thesewill be polish-free and available in men’s and w om en’s sizes.

- T he word color for the name, U .S. Air Force, and rank is m id

night blue; nametapesand rank insignia background w i l l b e t an

and will be sewn on using a matching tan color thread.

- TheABU adopts the battle dress uniform hat style for primary use

and the fl oppy hat design will be used in some deployed

By M ast er Sgt . M it ch Get t le A ir Fo r c e P r int N ew s

a r e a s .

“T his is the uniform of the future,” General Allardice sai d . “ Ev en

tually when enough of these uniforms are manufactured, w e w i l l phaseout the BDU and desert combat uniforms.”

The current projected mandatory wear date for the new A B U i s fi scal 20 11.

The only thing that needs to be determined is if patchesw ill be

worn and the Air Force chief of staff will make that d et er m i n at i o n so o n .

62

General Allardice said. S

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P E R SP E C T I V E

Fo r m e r V ic e

Co m m and ant lo o ks b ack

at a career t hat began a nd e nd e d at USA FA

H

as it been 26 years since it was me on the steps of the chapel w ith those fi rst w om en to

graduate?It hardly seems pos sible that it has been that long—every day has been an adventure and something to savor. As I retire and watch the next genera tion of men and women enter the ranks of

theAir Force, I thought it important that

you beawareof thejourney begun that I

had the privilege of leading and the journey

ahead that my classmatesand a host of other fi ne men and women will forge

through in theyearsahead.

You should know up front that I have alwayslooked at my most recent tenure at the U.S. Air ForceAcademy as an oppor

tunity to lead and help my almamater lead

the nation on avery tough social issue that is

pervasivein society today. Leadership isabout taking on thetough issuesand working toward viable solutions that are eff ective. W e

did that and I am very proud of my team; thesexual assault response processwas bench-

marked by theAF and implemented Depart ment of Defense-wide in June of 2005.

I feel that every experience I had over the

yearsin theAir Forceprepared mefor this challenge. While my entire 26 year career contributed, I believe that my USAFA

experiencesover theyearsprepared mebest ... from graduating in the mighty “Class of 80” to my experiencesasan Air Offi ce Commanding, Group AOC, Deputy Train

ing Group Commander to then being the

Vice Commandant of Cadets. It wasn’t just about knowing how theAcademy operates but also the perspective I gained on the age group and their issues.

In early 2003 I wason theJoint Staff when I got acall to report to theoffi ceof theSec-

64

The Journey Beg un ... an

opport unity t o lead!

By Col . (Ret .) Debra Dubbe Gr ay, ’80

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

PE R SPE C T I V E

retary of theAir Force, Dr. Roche. As an Air Force offi cer, that might not seem odd, but since I was on theJoint Staff, thiswas odd.

At that meeting therewas a host of senior USAF offi cials and we spent more than four

young peoplesee it. American society has changed since the timeyou and I were

asked me to go to theAcademy as the Vice

they are” on all character issues to help

hoursgoing over what becametheAgenda for Change. Aft er that meeting. Dr. Roche

cadets. Our cadets are a product of this society and they are dealing with many complex issues at a much earlier age. For this reason, we are redesigning our educa tion and training to meet them “where

C om m andant of C adets/ O m budsm an

them truly understand what is expected.

and develop a comprehensive process to

T he root of m ost of t he issues w e are tack

Academy and theAir Force. He also asked

For example, many people think sexual assault equals rape, when, in fact, sexual assault is a range of behaviors from inap propriate touching through rape. Many

respond to sexual assault allegationsat the that I spearhead thechargeto change the

culture that had created the sexual assault “scandal ” of 2003.

Upon my arrival asI began to dig into the i ssu e s

I found that the entire issue of sexual

assault was met with denial by theAcademy’s population and more so by the graduate community. Thiswas largely because people did not want to believe this sort of behav

ior was possible at theAcademy and they also didn’t understand the phenomenon of

non-stranger assault. I am proud to say that aspeoplebecameeducated, they responded

with support. I believe that the issue of sexual assault aswell as the issuessurrounding it (alcohol/substance abuse, domestic/partner violence, lack of accountability, loyalty to

peersover loyalty to thevaluesof theinstitu tion, etc.) are at the heart of the character

development we are trying to achieve in our graduates. Culture takes a long time to change and embed. One thing I knew ■for sure is that my three pagejob descrip tion needed more manpower—at the start it was me and my secretary! Aft er about six months, I recommended theAcademy hire a second vice com mandant and C ol. D ave

LaRivee, ’80, stepped up to the plate. Even with two colonelsworking the day-to-day issues (Dave) and the challenges of develop ing a sexual assault response team aswell as a cultural/climate change plan in both the near- and long-term (me), it became apparent that a larger team of professionals was needed. TheTraining Wing has been integrating processes and refi ning manpower and organizational structure ever since.

To better understand why we have built what we have today, essentially a Student A f fairs D irector in t he V ice C om m an

dant for Strategy and Plans position, you need to understand the landscape as our

ling is that of respect for self and others.

peoplealso think that sexual assault typi

cally involves a stranger. In fact, only about 15 percent of the rapes in this country are perpetrated by strangers, the remaining 85

percent areconsidered non-stranger because thevictim knew the perpetrator in some way. Lastly, many feel thisonly happens to

w omen. W hile it is true that 1 in 4 w om en

will experienceasexual assault in her lifetime, it isalso true that about 8 percent of men will experience thesame', typically by another man before the age of 16. The FBI statistics tell us that sexual assault is the m ost under

is the missing element—such as religion,

gender, national origin, physical attributes,

etc. We see these issues in both the physical and electronic realms. A good book to read if

you want aclearer understanding of todays

culture and some of itschallenges in the uni versity environment isMillennial s’ Rising.

To address the issues, over time I was able

to build an integrated team to focuson the

overall culture in thewing. This includes not only sexual assault, but also a host of other related issues. Today, theAir ForceAcad emy iswell postured for success in dealing with social issues by the interaction and

cooperation of ateam of professionalsthat report direcdy to theViceCommandant for Strategy and Plans/Ombudsman to ensure

proper focus, senseof urgency and oversight.

The Sexual Assault Response Coordinator who leads theAcademy ResponseTeam with aJAG liaison, two victim advocates, and an assistant to handle the tracking of responses and case follow-up is the center of gravity for sexual assault response and prevention.

TheAcademy Counseling Center, made up of professional counselors, psychologists, and clinical experts to deal with the issues

prevalent in theyoung men and women who

the social implications aswell as the fact that many feel they will not be believed. These are

enter USAFA, provides clinical support and a variety of outreach and prevention programs.

A third component of the team are two Defense Equal Opportunity Management

to talk about the issue and w ork to teach and

tionsspecialists from the Military Equal

reported crime in the nation—only about 16

percent areever reported largely becauseof

staggering statisticsand explain why weneed encourage our cadets and graduates to get involved in attacking this problem.

There are other issuesour young people are dealing with today. Al cohol abuse and addiction is avery real problem in todays high school population—not to mention the illegal and recreational drugswe hear so m uch about in the new s. T here is also the

emergence of a new coping behavior known as cutting—self-inflicted injuriesshort of attempted suicide but very dangerous. A new

and growing trend in the2L' century isthe use of the internet for socialization and that

can lead to problems through inappropri ate postings and the longevity of electrons.

Gadets—and each of us—struggle for our place in society. A natural consequence is to rack and stack some people aboveyou and others below. It is thisconsequence that leads to human relations issueswhere respect C H E C K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

I nstitute trained and certifi ed human rela

Opportunity career fi eld. Thesetwo special

istswork tirelessly to provide lesson planson

arangeof human relationsissues, counsel

cadets on appropriate conduct and how to handle issues at the lowest possible level. They also conduct one prong of the “eyes and ears” function through direct contact and assistance to every cadet squadron to seewhat ishap

pening from ground level through “Out and

About” and “ M orale and W ellness” visits.

Fourth are the cadet volunteers w ho serve

as Personal Ethics and Education Repre

sentativesor PEERs. These young men and women, who are about 70 strong at this point, are professionally trained and certi fi ed through the national BACCFI USand GAMMA Network to provide grass-roots identifi cation of cadets at risk and ensure

intervention by trained personnel (such as

the ACC, SARC, H R staff or chain of corn 65

PE R SPE C T I V E

mand) in a timely manner. The PEERs can

becredited with saving thelivesof afew of their fellow cadetsin thepast year—PEERs

looking out for their peers—^just as the

BA C C H U S and GA M M A charter states.

It should be noted that our PEERs have

presented at national conferences on their program and have received many accolades.

For m ore information on BA C C U S

and GAMMA you can visit them online at

http://www.bacchusgamma.org/index,asp.

I would like to express my personal thanks to all of the graduates reading thiswho served as cadet volunteersand stepped up to the plate and worked in programssuch as Cadets Advocating Sexual Integrity and Education, H uman Relations Education Offi cers, and

the alcohol program (CAPE) over theyears.

You m ade a trem endous diff erence! U SA FA

haslong led theway on “peer” programs...

the current PEER program unites all eff orts under one banner. W e w ould not be w here

we are today had it not been for those of you who got involved! Thank you!

Each of the sub-units that w ork these

issues are responsible for components of a

four-year developmental training and educa

tion program with lessons and materials from Basic Cadet Training to graduation— and the tools provided are designed to instill

career-long skillsto tomorrowsair and space

Through developmental education, substan

of character.

futureisindeed bright—but weneed your continued support to foster anew genera

(and cyberspace) leaders. In short, we are not training cadets to be cadets, but to be offi cers

tive lessons, and cadet involvement, the

The USAFA leadership team is review ing institutional changes designed to elevate and integrate character into all that USAFA provides in its integrated course of instruc tion. Your support, through interaction with theAcademy and through fi nancial

tion of leaders w ith attitudes and oudooks

that refl ect the opportunities they will have to overcome the challenges of the future

w ith information suited for tom orrow rather

than thevestigesof bygoneeras. I feel very confi dent that theAcademy ispoised to

contributionsto theAOG, havebeen help

launch into the f uture and continue to lead

at U SA FA — but m ore is needed— see the

people today.

ful in forging through very diffi cult times

theway on thetough issuesfacing our young

annual gift needslist. Whilewe haveachieved some degree of understanding sexual assault

It has been an honor to serve both in the

Air Force and especially in my last posi tion, particularly at such a critical juncmre.

I wish theAcademy staff every success as

and the host of related issues, this will be a

journey that will taketimeand athoughtful commitment by all team members ... we

consequences of every decision at every level about programsand procedures to ensure the

they continueto tacklethetough issuesand forgeatemplatefor an integrated four year developmental education and training plan for theAcademy. B

culturewewant vice tearing at the fabric.

The Ombudsman team—theAcademy Counseling Center, the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator/Academy Response

Editor: TheAOGthanksColonel Grayf or her superbleadership and dedicated service at theAcademy during a most difi cult

m ust look at all the intended and unintended

changescontributeto further embedding the

Team, H uman Relations Offi ce, and Cadet

time. Col Gail Colvi, ’8 0, arrived at

PEERs, are all working diligendy to make real and lasting changes in the current cli mate and long term culture of theAcademy.

A sso c iat i o n o f G r ad uat e?

USAFA in mid-June to take the Vice Com

mandantf or Strategy and Plansposition.

r

U N I T ED STAT ES A I R FO RC E A CA D EM Y

A O G El ect i on 2 0 07

Submit Your Board Nomination Package by August 1, 2006 The 2006 vote established an AOG Board of up to eleven (11) elected and up to four (4) appointed directors. As many as six elected positions

will beopen in 2007. TheNominating Committeemust proposea slate of at least 2 qualifi ed candidatesfor each vacancy and isseeking qualifi ed

AOG memberswho are willing to fulfi ll the requirements of directors. Nominating Committee members are: A1Rogers, ’64 (Chair), Gil Mook, ’67, Dave MacChee, ’70, Vic Thuotte, ’73, and Rob Mishev, ’99. Interested membersmay contact theAOG at aog@aogusafa.org or by railing (719) 472-0300. AOG membersmay also have their namesplaced on theballot without review by thenominating commitee by petition of 25 AOG members. You will fi nd complete details on our Web site at www.usafa.org or by e-mailing Gary Howe at gary.howe@aogusafa.org. The AOG is a Colorado nonprofi t corporation with over $35 million in assets. Dynamic, member-oriented leadership is crucial to our continued success. Please consider nuining for a position on t h e A O G Board of D ir ect ors.

2007 Nomination Packages for both Nominating Committee and petition candidatesaredue to theAOG August 1, 2 0 0 6 : M arch 2007

April 30, 2007 o/a May 14, 2007 July 1, 2007

Bal lots D ist ribut ed Ballot Period ends Elect ion Resul ts A n nounced N ew D irectors A ssum e O ffi ce

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"i he U.S. Air Force Academy and its Association of Graduates recently presented retired Gener als Hansford T. Johnson, ’59, and Michael E.

wtvw.j vbruni.comi usaf a

Ryan, ’65, with the 2005 Distinguished GraduateAward.

Both gentlemen are deserving of the award that honors graduatesfor their service to the nation. The awards w e r e

presented at the2006 FoundersDay dinner on April 7 .

(Photos by Jamie Romero)

O u r t eam i n cl u d es . . .

JeromeV. Bruni, Portfolio Manager ► C lass of 197 0

► USAFA economics faculty 1979 - 84 John R. Brock, Vice President ► C l ass of 197 1

► USAFA economics faculty 1977 - 93 Sarah F. Roach , V ice President

MaryEllen Telck, Director of Client Services Gen. (Ret.) Hansford! Johnson, ’59, and hiswife, Linda, receive his award from Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni, ’73 (far ieft), and AOGBoard ChairTed Legasey, ’67 (far right).

Please see our website for cu r ren t cl i en t d ist ri b u t i o n .

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Gen. (Ret.) Michael Ryan, ’65, and his wife, Jane, rece ive h is

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Good intentionsarent good enough.

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Cadets take alternative Spring Break In a collective effort known asAlternative Spring Break , 135

The Academy has announced a new Schedule of Calls to

cleaning-up and rebuilding in areasheavily damaged by

the number and length of cadet classes, aswell how cad et s’

cadets spent their vacations at three Gulf Coast locations H u r r i can e K at r i n a.

'

Cadetsjoined thousands of other collegestudentsa c r o s s the nation working with Habitat for Humanity and other

relief groupsin Covington, La., Hattiesburg, Miss., an d Biloxi, M iss.

AlternativeSpring Break coincideswith normal Spring

Break for Academy cadets, which took placeMarch 2431. Alternative Spring Break ispart of theCadet Service Learning program sponsored by theAcademy’s Center f o r

Character Development. Thecenter isamajor recipient o f

AOG funding.

“Our Cadet Service Learning programsarecentered on

one of theAcademy’s main core values, ‘service before self ,”

said Maj. Eric Ecklund, ’89, program director for CSL

department.

“CSL attempts to take this core value from the theoretical

concepts of theclassroom and training environment,” sai d Ecklund, “allowing cadets to put it to the test in real si t u a tions; meeting real community needs.”

Cadets collectively volunteer more than 20,000 hours

per year for community service, according to Ecklund. T h e Academy hasparticipated in Alternative Spring Break f o r the past six years.

Cadet Squadrons 37-40 making a comeback

Squadrons 37-40 are planned to be re-established in t i m e

begin at thestart of thefall semester. Thechangesw i l l aff ect time is to be spent.

“By going to forty 55-minute classes (vice current forty-

two 50-minuteclasses), it frees up eight daysduring t h e academic year, said Academy Director of Communications

Johnny Whitaker, ’73.

Four of those will go to the Commandant for more

military training. The remaining four will go to the cadets to extend someof their breaks (Thanksgiving,

Winter, Spring).

Also, Academic Call to Quarters will become m o r e

sacrosanct. The timewill be dedicated to study, not o u t si d e

lecturesor extracurricular activities. Tapsand “ligh will bestrictly enforced to encouragecadetsto get a good ts o u t

night’s sleep.

Cadet earns Truman Scholarship Cadet 2""*ClassAlicia Stirewalt was recently announced a s a winner of theTruman Scholarship.

Competition for theTruman Scholarship isopen to col

legejuniorsand awarded based on academics, leadership qualities, public serviceand positiveinfl uenceupon t h e

changing faceof higher education.

Winners of the scholarship receive up to $30,000 for t h ei r

graduatedegree. Morethan 700 studentscompeteannually for oneof the70 to 75 scholarshipsawarded annually.

Cadet Stirewalt is the 14'’’ USAFA winner of the award

for thearrival of the Class of 2010. Theimpact for c u r r e n t cadets is that upper class cadetswill have to populatet h e

si n ce 19 84 .

‘08. Therewill also bea realignment of rooms to accom modatethefour new units—somesquadrons may have to

Fire fed by a fuel leak led to the failure of a new co m m erci al rocket carrying a cadet-built satellite, said Elon M usk , the

squadron, which will necessitate a mini-shuffl e for ‘0 7 an d

m ove back across the terrazzo.

“Going to 40 squadronswill better balancethepopula

tions of the cadet squadrons, and will provide unit integrity

for each squadron, which will providemoreleadership

opportunities for cadets, said Academy Director of C o m

municationsJohnny Whitaker, ’73.

68

New Schedule of Calls announced

FalconSAT-2 launch failure not a tot al loss

founder of California-based Space ExplorationsTechnolo

gies. The fuel leak occurred 25 seconds into the launch n e a r

the top of thefi rst-stage main engine, according to M u sk .

The rocket carried FalconSat-2, part of an Air Force Academy satelliteprogram intended to measurespace

plasma phenomena that can interfere with communications through space.

C H EC K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

Thepreliminary analysiswasissued aday after thel oss of SpaceX’sFalcon 1rocket during liftoff froman i sl an d i n theKwajalein Atoll in thePacifi c Ocean. Therocket f ai l u re destroyed the research satellite.

Despitethedisappointment, theAcademy’sAstronautics department ismovingforward. “Our cadetsarelearningsp ace by doingspace—and sometimesthat meanslearningthe diffi cult lesson fi rst-hand that it’svery hard to get there,” said AstronauticsDepartment Head Col. Martin France, ’81.

“Thelessonsthey learn today will pay dividendslater when they’re the acquisition offi cers, SPO directors, an d

operatorsof thesesystems. It’sreally an unmatched graduateprogram, and I inviteall gradsto comeseew h at

u n d er

we’redoing in our Astro Lab,” France added.

Not to be deterred, cadetsare looking forward to their

next attempt at mission success. FalconSat-3 wasrecently completed and should launch from an AtlasV rocket secondary payload at theCapeCanaveral thisfall. (Read as a

more about the FalconSat-2 launch on page xx)

Chief Master Sergeant of theAir Force. Chief McKinley

will assume his new position July 1, following theJune 30 r e t i r e m e n t of Chief Master Sgt. of theAir Force Gerald R. Murray. Chief Murray’s retirement culminates 29 years o f serv i ce t o t h e A i r Fo rce.

“I’m excited to haveChief McKinley take thehelm of o u r enlisted force,” General Moseley said. “Chief McKinley i s a tremendousleader with an impressive array of expedition

ary and combat experiencesto help himsteer our Airmen

and serveasmy partner. Wewere blessed to have a n u m b er

of exceptionally well-qualifi ed candidatesfor theposition.

While the decision was not an easy one, I feel we have t h e

right person to lead our enlisted forceduring thist i m e o f a longwar on terrorism, recapitalization and transformation. I look forward to working with him.”

Chief McKinley is currently thecommand chief rt iaster

sergeant for Pacifi cAir Forces. Heoriginally joined t h e A i r Force in 1974, took a break in service in 1977, attended college and re-entered the Air Force in 1982. H

Fif t eent h CMSAF named

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley has n am ed

Chief Master Sgt. Rodney J. McKinley to serve as the 15th

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/

winter’s day at the United States Air

ForceAcademy cemetery can beacold,

^ hardplace. Grievingrelativesabandon

^ thewarmth of acar tofi lethrough snow

and slush to agravesite. They fi nd uninviting metal seatsscattered about on top of thegravesof t h e

deceased. They sit for the service and read the markers

fallen airmen were buried, and relatives mourned loved

ones in harsh elementsmatched only by their grief

TheMemorial Pavilion isconceptualized asaplacet o hold servicesin adignifi ed and appropriatesetting. I t

of the grave on which they sit, all while cold and bear down on their already frozen emotions. It is a dramatically undignifi ed way to honor the service of

loved ones—graduates and servants to our nation— who dutifully served and, in some cases, made the

On May 12, 2006, under a beautiful blue Colorado sky, ground was broken for the Memorial Pavilion.

Many of our graduates and families attended this

“TheMemorial Pavilion showsthat thegraduate munity recognized theneed for a dignifi ed facility for the interment of our honored dead and that they understood

and itsaddition to Academy grounds.

the facility,” said Gen. (Ret.) Ron Yates, ’60, a distin guished graduate and former AOG board member. “We

sn o w

th ei r l oved one.

historic occasion. Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni, ’73, spokeabout thesignifi canceof thegroundbrealdng “The M emorial Pavilion will enhance o u r cem et er y

groundswherewelay to rest our graduates, all who serv ed

thecountry with dignity and respect, and their spouses

will give familiestheability to honor and mourn their ul ti m ate sacrifi ce.

c o m

-

theappropriatenessof thegraduatecommunity funding

saw theneed andweroseto theoccasion! For perhaps

the next century, futuregraduates and their familiesw i l l benefi t from thisforesight and generosity. Thisis the

aswell. [It is] apeaceful setting to lay to rest those whose path wasinspired by and began hereat theAir ForceA cad emy ... Through theprioritization and thepart of t h e Association of Graduates, thisisfi nally areality f o r u s a t

nity, there will be many more.”

helped makethisareality that islong overdue.”

around three functionally discreet courts, or plazas.

theAcademy. We’d like to thank all of the donors ... who

70

In 1982, theAir ForceAcademy fi rst recognized the

need for aMemorial Pavilion at thecemetery. For years, no fundswereforthcoming. Timepassed, graduatesand

fi rst exampleof thecapital campaign meetinganeed

that will dramatically change the cadet and graduate experience. With the backing of the graduate c o m m u -

Thebuildingis5,810 squarefeet and designed

C H EC K PO I N T S, JU N E 2 0 0 6

■ I

Theseplazaswill provideseparatespacesfor dedica tions, memorial services, small funerals, and other

gatheringsrequiring indoor or outdoor space. The

Pavilion includes a columbarium for remains following

cremation. Separately, thisproject includesa locator

building, or directory plaza. It isan enclosed spacet o

provide location assistance to cemetery visitors.

A common misperception exists that the USAFA

cemetery isa“national” cemetery. In fact, it isdes ignated asa“Specifi ed Federal Cemetery,” asarethe cem eter ies at o u r

sist er serv i ce acad em i es. C onse-

quently, thecemetery belongs to theAcademy and isgoverned by Academy policies, which dictatethat graduates, their spouses, and minor dependentsare permitted burial at thecemetery. Thesuperintendent can decideto grant otherstheright to beburied at the cemetery.

TheAOG wants to preserve the exclusivity of the

cemetery and insurethat it remainsoriented on gradua t es

. Therefore, theAOG hasaccepted responsibility for

fundingtheMemorial Pavilion at thecemetery. If feder ally appropriated fundswere used for the project, a v er y

real possibility existsthat thecemetery could beopened up to all servicemembersfor burial, which would dilute the focus on graduates. The cemetery remains

a

placeto celebrateour graduates’ accomplishmentsand

contributions to the nation, and the Memorial Pavilion

will beaplaceto help ustell thehonorableand inspir ing storiesof Academy graduates.

In 1999, theAOG began planning a comprehen

sivecapital campaign and worked closely with the

Academy to identify potential campaign priorities

and projects. From thebeginning, both theAcademy and the AO G believed the M emorial Pavilion was an

unquestioned priority.

“The Memorial Pavilion has the potential to benefi t each and every graduate of theAir ForceAcademy. It is most fi tting that the Pavilion is an early, tangible manifestation of how the campaign will employ pri

Left; An architectural mock up of the Memorial Pavilion. Top: (L-R) Presi dent and CEOJim Shaw, ’67, AOGBoard ChairTed Legasey, ' 6 7, USAFA Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni, '73, and former AOG board member Gen. (Ret.) Ron Yates, ’60, at the Memorial Pavilion ribbon-cut t ing ceremony. (Photo by Ken Wright) Bottom: USAFA Honor Gu a rd m e m b e rs

endure t he harsh Colorado weat her during an burial ceremony. (Photo by James Lovely, 10t h Services)

vate funds to meet Academy and graduate needs and turn vision into reality,” said AOG Board Chair Ted

and the Classof 1984 gave $150,000 to name the entry drive and t urn

The campaign, entitled Building Leadersof Character

It would not have been possible to create the pavilion if not for t he

Legasey, ’67.

around feature outside the pavilion.

for theNation, began onJuly 1, 2003. To date, over

generosity of donorswho madeit apriority. Graduatesand t hei r fam ilies

$28.5 million has been secured in support of campaign

will use thisbuilding for generations to come. Truly, the M em orial

by over 12,358 donors.

Construction completion of the project and a formal d ed i cat i o n ceremony is anticipated for the spring of 2007.

TheAOG would like to acknowledge the generosity of T ricia and

priorities. TheAOG hassecured $4.5 million for the pavilion, makingthefacility 100 percent funded by privatedonations. Thegenerousfundingwasprovided

Threeclasseschose projectsat the Memorial Pavilion for classreunion fundraising projects. Early in the plan

ningstagestheClassof 1968 gave$25,000 to render conceptual drawings. TheClassof 1983 contributed

$150,000 to name a composure room in the pavilion.

Pavilion is an essential addition to the Academy as it continually strives t o honor and elevate the achievements of the Long Blue L i n e.

Ted Legasey, ’67, Connieand Ron Yates, 60, Lindaand A1Rogers, 64, Ginger and MarcAnderson, ’61, Dianeand GeneLupia, ’67, Kathy and Harry Pearce, ’64, Connie and Vic Thuotte, 73, and Vicky and

Stephen Muller, ’64. H

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 U6

71

□ Herit age March

Gr ad joins USAFA

n adark, cold evening in April—remember, itsColorado

aft er all—I formed upwith 27th Squadron at 10:00p

.m

.

and marched briskly past thechapel and down theHonor ramp. Wewereheaded toward thecemetery for a m e m o -

rial ceremony in honor of thefallen graduatesrestingthere. Having

participated last year in the HeritageMarch, I knew w hat w as in

... arather raucousgaggledown thehill—talking, singing and joking—followed by abrief, yet movingprogramand then a silent,

‘ st o re

By Lt . Col. (Ret .)

M ar ianne 0 LaRivee, ’8 0

solemn march back up to thecadet area.

This year, the cadets were a little moreprepared, theprogram

a little more organized. I even had an escort to break m e i n t o t h e

cadet areaand march by my sidein caseI wasthewandering

so r t .

i r ..

*

*

. j

Cadets proceeded down the Core Values Ramp headed to the cemetery on the

Heritage March. Photo byJoel Strayer.

Also this year, since the weather was unstable—threatening sleet

at thevery least—we didn’t take the longer route around the over look and past the B-52, but headed straight down Cross D r iv e.

Likelast year, westarted in a festivemood, despite the chill .

Compared to theother training eventsplanned for Pinnacle—a veritable festival of military challengeswhich culminatesthe C om

mandant’strainingyear—theHeritageMarch isrelatively painless.

No one testsknowledge. No one inspects uniforms. (Thecadets are

in BDUs; I’msportingmy ski jacket, knit cap and hikingboots.)

My escort was pleasant and we chatted with her roommate

and other membersof thesquadron aswe thundered down t h e parade ramp onto the recently re-sodded parade fi eld an d o n down the road. Street lightsand headlamps from a few o f fi ci al 72

C H EC K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

Aft er amoment of silence, thegeneratorsbegan to hum , the

some stretches of pretty vehicles lit our way, although there bleak cloud-covered darkness. Last year a mountain lion gazed w e r e

down our 4,000-strong line, spied by one of the escorting security forceswith his night vision goggles; I wondered if t h e l i o n w as o u t

thereagain. I spent sometimetalkingto a’62 grad w ho w as also chingwith thesquadron. I also talked to thesonsof tw o of my squadron mates—both had elected tojoin thesquadron t h ei r m

a r

dads had been a part of in the 1970’s.

Aswe neared the cemetery, we picked up the drum cadence an d

started to get somewhat into arhythm. High-intensity halogen lightspowered by noisy generatorsblasted our retinas silently turned into thecemetery. TheWingformed a U-shape

u s

back to the moment. We fi led out of the cemetery and began the

silent march back up thehill, lost in our own thoughts. I k n ow had vastly diff erent perspectives. At 20, most of thecadets can’t

w e

comprehend thedeath of afriend or classmate; at 50, 1know bett er.

Midway through theweekendjam-packedwith military training, they’rehappy tohavearelatively easy coupleof hours, and hope they can still squeezein someweekend funwhen thisis all over. For I’m humbled to dedicatean evening to our fallen brothersan d t o ponder what ma kesthisprofession of armsso sad and so special.

Aswereturned along theparade ramp and through theparking m e.

a s w e

lot, permanent party memberslined our route, standinga t a t t e n

the road around the fl ag then turned to face the brilliantly lit center fi eld. Suddenly, thegeneratorswereshut off; blackness closed in and we could only see theAmerican fl ag fl apping i n t h e o n

tion with fl ashlightspointed down, silent sentinelsof our midnight

Then thestrainsof a bagpipe playing “Amazing Grace” w aved

tribute to the fallen. Once we hit theTerrazzo, squadrons dispersed and cadets from CS-27 invited me back to their squadron ar ea. I declined, knowingI had aSAMI, IRI and paradethefollowing

theAcademy, at Arlington Cemetery and at theAmerican

wondered why I would spend my Friday night marching w i t h t h ei r

wind. It was so quiet, I could hear it snapping.

day. But, I warned themI’d beback again next year. Som e of them

through thenight. Themusic stirred memoriesof funeralsh er e at

lightssnapped back on and aboomingdrumcadencebrought

Cemetery in Normandy, France. A bugleplayed “Taps” and w hen the last note died, we heard the sounds of a rifl e squad coming to attention and sliding rounds into their barrels. A 21-gun salute

followed, cracking through the air. Then thevoicesof I n t he St air

well drifted from the bleachers set up beneath the fl ag, singing.

HighFlight, and then thethird verseof theAir ForceSong.

squadronintothecoldnight. Othersalreadyknow. S

Graduatesareinvited toj oin theHeritageMarch which occursduring PinnacleWeekend each spring. Check theAOG Web sitea t w w w . usaf a.orgf or detailsin thef all

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ONCE UPON A TIM E i t

m

m

m

Wandering 104

ff

'

I

By Pat rick Almazar, ’81 ,

■** * * r » ■A

rm

a nd Larry Price, ’8 1

Class of 1981 graduates Patrick Almazar and Larry Price sha re many fond

memories of their time at the Academy. Recently they re m in is c e d a b o ut o n e

part icularly hazard-filled escapade at USAFA t hat tested t heir ingenuity and

loyalty t o one anot her.

E

ver wonder why theAcademy

likely candidate for a spirit mission

minute of your life.^ Perhaps it’s because having too much time

been demilitarized (engine and avionics removed), so it was relatively lightweight.

Secondly, it had several easily accessible load-bearing points by which a number

tries to schedule every waking

on your handscan be a danger ous thing.

It wasawarm summer night during

second beast, summer of 1980, when a

few upperclassmen from “J” Squadron— Juggernauts—got together at Bennigan’s and hatched a scheme to help get our

smacks pumped up for the assault course.

of dinks could maneuver the aircraft .

T hird, it was located on the southwest

corner of theTerrazzo with quick access

to the chapel ramp.

Finally, the F-4 was a venerable shrine for many reasons and untouchable for

Wewanted something that would be fairly unique and asourceof inspiration to our Doolies. It didn’t take long to come

such miscreant mischief. About theonly drawback was the pitot tubewhich juts out of the F-104 nose likea spear, which

the F-104 out to theValley?” someone

Over a plateor two of nachos, theplan started coming together. Intelligence:

up with an idea. “How about if we move

asked. At this time the aircraft static

displayson theTerrazzo did not haveany

cables or chainssecuring them to concrete footings—unlike now when you’d need more than just bolt cuttersto get at them.

Of all the static displays we could move, the F-104 was probably the most 74

of this magnitude. First of all, it had

added its share of “adventure” later.

What were the inspection schedules of the

cops?When would theweather and light ing conditions best support the mission?

What obstacles might we encounter?

Operations: What kind of participation did wewant from thesquadron?Should C H EC K P O I N 'r S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

we only have one or two elementspartici pate?Perhapswe could pick the biggest, baddest dude from each element.

Logistics—What sort of vehicle support could weget from the motor pool?Ropes: What kind do we need and how many?

Communications— W hat would be

thebest method for coordinating move

ments?Although a plan was taking shape, after about the third pitcher we decided to just wing it.

The night before we were scheduled to

go to the assault course, we put theso-

called ‘plan’ into action. Thefi rst sergeant

went to the motor pool and c o m m a n deered a “Six-Pac,” a “Deuce n’ Half,” and a bunch of rope. We decided to involve an individual from each element so our

team could represent theentiresquadron.

Just after taps, we grabbed oneguy from each tent and briefed the assembled team.

Because no mission can be successful on

an empty stomach, someone brought a

bunch of leftover donuts from M itch’s and

o r

]

'd

several cartonsof orangejuice for a pre m ission snack .

We divided the group into two teams.

T he fi rst t eam w ould assem ble at the Terr az z o

and get the F-104 out to thesoccer

fi elds. T he second team w ould tak e it the

rest of the way to Jacks Valley.

The night wascalm and very dark.

Team one set out to move the aircraft

from itsconcrete pedestal and onto the Terrazzo. They pushed the plane up the ramp and hitched it up with ropesto the D euce n’ H alf . T he tw o-and-a-half t on

truck made moving the aircraft a cinch.

T here was no traffi c on the roads and

we quietly made it past the chapel and Harmon Hall, past theobservatory park ing lot and onto Academy Driveheaded north. Sincethejob wasso easy thusfar, the lower-classmen began goofi ng off and laughing, no doubt due to thesugar rush from the donuts and the adrenaline from

the excitement. We told them to ‘shut up’

or they would get written up. The scene

was surreal, with a Deuce n’ Half followed

by an F-104 Starfi ghter and a dozen or so cadets in fatiguestrailing behind.

Oncewe made it past thesoccer fi elds, team two kicked in. They were very

energetic and were able to quickly move the aircraft onto the dirt road leading

to the “compound” and the rifl e range.

Thisbrought a great sense of relief to

the crew since we were now off the main road and under the concealment of the

wingspast two pine treeson our fl anks.

Dang it! As if that wasn’t problem enough, someone spotted LIGHTS! There was a vehicle coming up the hill toward us from Jacks Valley. The mission

wascompromised. Everyone scrambled like mice, disappearing into thebushes and surrounding ravines. But there I

was, in the cab of the Deuce n’ Half all alone with a half -ton of U.S. government

started to get rough. The terrain became

property in tow. My pulsewas racing. I imagined the facesof the “show cause” board asking me to explain, aft er acting

up to the top of the hill overlooking the rifl e range. On the crest of thehill a steel

I deserve to remain enrolled as a cadet at such a fi ne institution as U SA FA . About

trees. However, this was also when things a factor since it was rutted and winding

on such an idiotic idea, why in the world

chain blocked the way indicating the area

the only thing that came to mind was,

was already loose due to water erosion, we

Thesecurity guard stepped out of his vehicle, shined a fl ashlight in my face and

beyond was off limitsto the public. By uprooting one of the metal posts, which

were able to get beyond the chain barrier and drive on. Shortly aft er that point, however, we hit a serious snag. The road narrowed and we were unable to get the C H E C K PO I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

“ N o excuse sir!”

said, “So, what’s going on here?”

Puzzled, I responded, “Well off icer, I was trying to get my truck over thishill but it seems to be stuck.” The security

75

\

guard made his way around the Deuce n’

Half with his fl ashlight and spotted the

if ghter secured to the back of the truck with several ropes.

“Geez! Isn’t that thing supposed to

be on the Terrazzo?” he asked. “ It was a

moment ago.” I said.

Heshook hishead and madehisway back to hisvehicle muttering, “I never saw anything!” The guard put hisvehicle

i n reverse and back ed dow n the hill and

continued making the rounds.

I heard footsteps and laughing as my colleagues made their way back to the truck from the surrounding brush. We regrouped and started to figure out a

way to get the F-104 past the obstacle

at the top of the hill. We tried push

ing the aircraft forward but didn’t have

tion on the Terrazzo, no worse for wear.

As we descended down Cadet D rive, I

to us. When asked to explain how he sustained such an unusual injury, hebasi cally spilled hisgutsabout the evening’s

i n H arm on H al l .

cadet reported to sick call, unbeknown

escapade. Next thing I knew our entire crew was “called on the carpet;' su m

-

moned to the command tent. The Group C om m ander dem anded som e answ ers.

“All right, so who was the ringleader of

this outfi t?” We all just stared at our boots, trying to fi gure a way out of this mess.

Finally, someone broke, “OK, I was

responsiblefor getting thetrucks and

the rope.” Another said, “We all sort of planned it together.”

to help push the aircraft from behind

me is that you’re ALL to blame. Is that

while the Deuce n’ Half pulled, all the while hoping we could squeeze past those pine trees.

The boss said, “So what you’re telling

i t ?” W e all looked at one anoth er as if

to say, “Yeah, that’s our story and we’re

st ick in’ t o i t .”

One of the other upperclassmen got into the Six-Pac and started pushing the plane forward. I was thinking about

For the moment, the Group Com mander set-aside the issueof punishment for thisgrievousviolation of cadet wing

throttle and the plane break free from

out of Jacks and back to theTerrazzo where it belonged. In the mean time, we were all confi ned to camp and all our privileges were revoked.

how we could coordinate this maneuver when all of a sudden I heard the Six-Pac

the pines. Next thing we heard was a moan coming from the back of my

truck. As the plane leapt forward from the force of the Six-Pac, the pitot tube unexpectedly j abbed one of our team

members in the abdomen. This par

t icular D oolie decided to take a break

in the truck bed. Upon close inspec

tion the inj ury was minor, but it was a sobering development—a bad omen.

We contemplated the potential disaster

that could have resulted. The way things

were going somebody would surely lose an eye before it was all said and done.

We refl ected on the incident stealing [and paraphrasing! a familiar quote

from GeorgePatton, “If you can’t get

them to stand where they should stand,

and move when you tell them to move,

how will you prevent them from being impaled by F-104s?”

Reveillewould besounded in a couple of hoursand our charges needed their rest.

hand-delivered the F-104 back to itsposi

quits. We madeour way back to camp and into our racks. “No onewill ever fi gure out how it got there,” wasour theory.

Thefollowing morning, the speared

enough force given the rough terrain.

W e t h en d eci d ed t o use t he Six- Pac

76

so we decided to cut our losses and call it

regulations. Instead he turned to the

immediateproblem of getting the F-104

Later that day, the base Civil Engineers completed their assessment of theproblem

and fi gured out some exorbitant cost to

dismantle the aircraft, transport thepieces, and reassemble it. T he boss threatened

to garnish our measly cadet paychecks to cover the expense. Practically speak

ing, that would have wiped out all of our cadet pay for the remainder of our cadet

existence and maybe even a good portion of our salarieson active duty—if that was even a possibility any longer.

Wegot our headstogether and argued that sincewewere responsible for getting the aircraft there in the fi rst place, we should begiven theoption of moving it back. The Group/CC agreed. Once again,

we reassembled the whole motley crew

and in broad daylight, with a military

police escort, we got the job done. We C H EC K PO I N T S, JU N E 2 0 0 6

couldn’t help but notice the “thumbsup” signsand applause of delighted staff mem berslooking on from their stately offi ces This iswhat happenswhen you have

too much spare time on your hands. We

don’t know if thisspirit mission ever had the intended effect on our Doolies’ perfor mance on the assault course that day. But

we do know that a handful of them would

never forget how they became a part of USAFA history that night. Meanwhile, the rest of uswere confi ned to quartersand pretty much “grounded for life.” Today, the static displaysare locked down pretty tight, but that just makes theproblem more interesting, now doesn’t it? S

i

l . JJ JO H N SO N 7

Movie Still: Passengers of United Flight 93 prepare their retaliation plan in the unflinching drama “United 93.” (Cour

O M M OC

tesy of Universal St udios)

Academy grad lands r o le in “ U n it e d 9 3

33

By Kyle Davidson

It’s hard to believe it has been almost fi ve years. So m uch , and so little has changed. But as time has passed, and with i t o u r co l lective sense of unity that sat perched at the forefront o f al l o u r minds, we seem to have forgotten the words most Americans sai d “we will never forget.” Long gone are the window signs t h at sai d “Freedom isn’t free” or “We stand together.” I don’t m ean each an d every person individually has forgotten—how could we—but t h at as a collective society we have moved on.

It is inspiring how a fi lm, based on the events of U n i t ed A i r l i n es fl ight 93 that crashed in a fi eld in Pennsylvania on September 11th after the passengers fought back, transports the viewer nearly fi ve years into the past. It almost feels as if it were happening again.

After seeing the movie, families, friends and strangers seem ed t o exit the theater once again united, both somber—leveled by what they had seen—and swelled with pride. This isAmerica. I t ’s w h at the Academy and its graduates embody so admirably ... I t ’s k n ow ing that when it comes down to it, we can rely on our b r o t h er s an d sisters w ho bleed red , w hit e and blue . . . w hatever t h e o u t co m e.

As such, the graduates and current cadets of this fi ne i n st i t u t io n should be proud that you have been represented well. A l m ost out of nowhere, John Johnson, an ’82 grad and current United Airlines pilot, landed the role of United 93 fl ight captain and, while his part was not C H E C K PO I N T S , J U N E 2 0 0 6

77

press buttons. These were the actors who had been given call-backs. When he was call ed in t o m eet the director and the

producers, he was given a brief interview and asked to show his stuff. Being a vet eran pilot, both in the Air Force and for United Airlines, he was hardly acting ...

“I just started spewing out checklists and reaching for switches and directing the

fl ight attendants, and that sort of thing.

I did t hat three t im es w it h three differen t John Johnson, ’82 , in his reai-lif e roie as a

United Airlines pilot. (Courtesy photo)

particularly prominent, he emphasizes it was a great honor just to be involved.

“It was just an unbelievably amazing experience for my wife, three children and everybody,” said Johnson. “We’re still just o n cl o u d n i n e.”

Yet as m uch of an honor and accom

plishment as it seems, Johnson, who has been fl ying for United Airlines for more than 11 years, says the role of fl ight cap tain just sort of fell in his lap.

“A friend of mine [Herb Hunter] who is

a United pilot is an actor, and he auditioned for a role in the m ovie ... W hile he w as

there, he heard the director and theproduc ers talking and they said, you know, ‘we’ve

auditioned all these actors for the role of the

captain and we can’t fi nd anyone that is real enough. Maybewe should use a real pilot.’

So Herb jumped right in and said ‘I know somebody that I could giveyou their name, you may want to take a look at him.’”

Johnson said his fr iend called to give him the newsand heproceeded to laugh, think ing it was ajoke. He quickly found out how serious hisfriend waswhen he got a call from the casting agency that following Monday.

“Sure enough,” Johnson said recalling the experience, “Monday morning, the phone rang and it was the casting company in New York and they said ‘We had been given your name. Would you be interested in coming up and meeting the director and the producers for this movie?’ And I said sure. They said, ‘How about tomorrow afternoon and bring your uniform.

The next day, Johnson walked into a room full of aspiring screen thespians making fl ight sounds and pretending to 78

co-pilot actors, and by the third time 1 started getting a little comfortable because it was getting easier. They said, ‘alright, thank you very much ...’ and on the way home they called me on my cell phone and offered me the part.”

Johnson spent six weeks in London fi lm ing. It was grueling and physically exhausting

w ork . Som e scenes w ere fi lm ed m ore than

14 times from different angles, with diff er ent lighting, all for the purpose of variety when editing. The scenewhere the terrorists overtake the cockpit and kill thepilot and co pilot was one of the more exhausting scenes and, asJohnson explains, was a fl at-out brawl. Yet while it may have been tough to maintain enthusiasm and energy, he said his Academy experience helped him stay vigilant.

“Going through theAcademy experi ence I think just preparesyou for so much in life. I mean, just the time demands that you have and the rigors of your schedule, you just become adaptable. TheAcademy teaches you about being prepared. So I did my research on the role I was playing so I could make sure I didn’t miss anything and didn’t get surprised, and you know, represented our graduates, the pilots at U nited and the Ai rline Pilot ’s A ssociation

in positive and professional terms.”

Johnson even contacted the family of Jason Dahl, the real captain of fl ight 93, and asked them how they would want their beloved husband and father portrayed.

They sent him a DVD and photo album of Jason personifying him as a man who put family above all else. Dahl was supposed to fl y on September 13th but changed his schedule to the 11th so he could spend more time with hiswife as they celebrated their fi fth wedding anniversary.

“There was a lot of input that we were accessi b l e t o ... w e al l t al k ed ab o u t i t al l

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

the time. It was very, very much in the forefront,” said Johnson, describing the aura of respect on the set for the real-life crew and passengers.

In somewhat a twist of irony, the real-life fi rst off icer of United Airlines fl ight 93 was also an Academy grad. LeRoy Homer Jr., ’87, loved to fl y, earning his pilot’s license at age

16. H e was a veteran of the Persian G ulf W ar where he fl ew G- 14 1B Starlift ers. H e w as

hired by United in 1995. AsJohnson stated, it really hit close to homehaving to act-out what those two had to go through along side the actor who played LeRoy. “You know, it w as alm ost bittersweet because here I am in the chance of a lifetim e

playing thistragic event where two colleagues and a graduate of theAir ForceAcademy like myself were killed. I didn’t know him person ally but my younger brother Bobby is also a grad and hewas in LeRoy’sclass.”

W h ile i t is unk n ow n for sure w hat

exactly happened on the fl ight, the cour age of the passengers and crew proved stirring to a new generation of cadets.

“I thought it was inspiring that the one plane he (Homer) was on didn’t make its target and that he may have had some thing to do with that,” said C2C Brian Stoop. He added he was impressed with the movie and that it really made him thi nk about w hat it m ust have been l ik e.

“I thought it was great. It brought in a lot of emotions the people probably had, the emotions the passengersand crew and the terrorists had seem ed true to life. It seem ed

very real, likewhat would acmally happen.”

Stoop was also interested to learn of Johnson’sgrad status.

“The pilots didn’t have a very large role but having a grad playing any part I think was very good.”

So far, this m ovie w hich w as once consid

ered controversial has been given rave reviews, pardy for itsaccuracy, but more for it being a respectful depiction of thecourageand bravery ordinary people exhibited in taking a stand against evil. Thisiswhat should not be forgotten. It’s not about remembering the deplorableevent. It’s about remembering how thisamazing group of people—and for a time aft er, society as awhole—banded together, and that gives a person such inspiration it

rendershim speechless. S

T h e Pr o mena d e Sh o ps at Br ia r g at e 172 5 Br ia r g at e Pa r kw ay • C o l o r a d o Spr in g s • 719 - 5 93 - 85 80 Bf Sf EYATin N S AT f FPTFn • PFf H A Nir . S r O M • t -a ^

PFf Fl A N r .

T H E D IST IN G U ISH ED G R A D U AT E AW A RD D G

N o m i n a t io n I n st r u ct io n s

D G

I

i he Distinguished Graduate Award recognizes exceptional graduates who have set themselves apart by making extraordinarily signifi cant contributions t o o u r n at io n an d / o r t h ei r co m m u n i t i es. I t is a unique honor bestowed by the U.S. Air ForceAcademy and the AOG, recognizing graduates whose accomplishmentsare inspirational and elevatethe reputation and the standing of the U.S. Air ForceAcademy.

Distinguished graduates should provide an example to all graduates and cadets of the standards that wevalue and of the abilities that have made our country and society great. This is our opportunity to recognize gradu ates who can serve as an inspiration to future generations of A m er i cas l ead er s.

To nominate someonef or the2007

Distinguished GraduateAward:

Anyone may submit a three-page nomination

package. All packages must be submitted by April 30, 2006. Page one should include:

- Professional accomplishments - Education history - Professional organizations - Professional career summary, include job titles and location - Honors, awards and public recognition - Gommunity service - T hree additional references (include

addresses and phone numbers)

Pagestwo and threeshould include a strong written

justifi cation.

Send nomination packages to:

Ti m el i n e

May 2006 - June 2007 Award is publicized and nominations are

accepted. Nomination packages must be submit ted by June 30, 2007.

June - August 2007

Selection committee reviews nomination packages.

September 2007

Select ion com m ittee recom m ends aw ard

recipient to AOG chairman of the board and

U.S. Air ForceAcademy superintendent.

Recipient is notifi ed and agrees to accept award at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

April 2008 Award presentation ceremony at U.S. Ai r Force Academy in conjunction with Founders Day.

A ssoci at i o n o f G r ad u at es

3116 Academy Drive USAF Academy, CO 80840-4475

o r e- m ail as a M S W o rd at t ach m en t t o

dick.rauschkolb@aogusafa.org For m ore inform ation, contact D ick Rauschkolb, ’70,

vicepresident for communications, at (719) 472-0300 or dick.rauschkolb@aogusafa.org.

Additional information may be found on the AOG Web site at www.usafa.org

L e a r n in g by P a rt I of II

Cadet s learn t hrough experiment s t hat

f a ilu r es a r e a n o r m a l

part of mission success

by Col. M art y Fr ance, ’8 1 and Lt . Col. T im Law r enc e, ’8 8

n the fall of 2000, theAcademy’sSpace Systems

Research Center, part of the Department of Astro naut ics, started FalconSAT -2. T he lessons f rom

the FaconSAT-1 experience worked to shift the

emphasis to building asolid, continuing program rather than focusing on a single mission. The center focused on cadets “learn space by doing space.” A commercial-ofl p-the-shelf set of spacecraft buscomponentsconsisting of power, communica tions, and data handling was adopted to provide an out-of-the-box solution for critical compo nents, freeing cadetsand faculty to focuson payload, structure, and attitude control development.

Working with theAcademy Physics Department, an important space environment experiment was developed called the Miniature Electrostatic Ana

lyzer. mesa’smission wasto investigate themor phology of plasma depletions in the ionosphere that affect global positioning satellite technology

and other military satellite communications.

Cadets briefed thisexperiment to the Department

of Defense Space Experiments Review Board in

November 2000 where it wasimpressively ranked

21 of 34 among all space experiments DoD-wide.

mission: engineering model; qualification model; and fl ight model. There were several reasons to do this. First, it would give each cadet class a signifi cant deliver able/milestoneevery year with aplan of completing a new mission every three years. Next, it would allow the cadets to experience a “hands-on” assembly, inte

gration and test. It would also reinforce theimportanceof documentation, since each cadet classmust passtheir work to the next class—approximately 30 senior classcadetstakethecourseeach year. Finally, thisapproach reduces program risk by avoiding last minuteintegration and testing issueswhich lead to scheduling and budget woesfor many spaceprograms.

In thespring of 2001, cadetsbuilt a full scaleengineering m odel of Fal conSAT -

2 including a cadet-built solar panel. A team of cadets t raveled to K irtland A i r Force Base, N.M ., for two weeks in April of that year to conduct complete EM

In parallel, full-scalesystemsengineering efforts

began on FalconSAT-2.

C adets initiated the FalconSAT Avionics &

Simulation Testbed in thefall of 2000 and began soft waredevelopment and payload integration. The 82

faculty also decided to follow theRussian approach of building threesatellitesper

environmental testing, including temperaturecycling in a therm al/vacuum cham ber and vibration testing to many timesexpected launch g-levels. The resultsvali dated thebasic structural and systemsdesign for thesatellite and final negotiations with theAir ForceSpace & MissileCenter’sSpaceTest Program were conducted,

C H FX . K PO I N T S, J U N E 20 0 6

Previous page: Col. Marty France, ’81, and cadets at t he launch site. (Courtesy photo) Below: FalconSAT-2 after launch. (Courtesy photo)

aiming for thelaunch of theMESA- :quipped FalconSAT-2 on the SpaceShuttlein early 2003. Starting in thefall of 2001, cadets built afull-scalequalifi cation model of FalconSAT-2, followed by the fl ight model which was ready for delivery to NASA with t h e M E SA payload in thesummer of 2002.

FalconSAT-2 was originally scheduled to launch on the sp ace shuttle in early 2003. Unfortunately, the Columbia accident in February 2003 put the launch date on hold until the shut t le fl eet was back in service. In the interim, a storage co n t ai n er w as

designed to keep the satellite protected while allowing cadets and faculty to monitor itshealth (mainly charging of the batteries).

Soft ware and complete checklists were also written so cadets and faculty could be certifi ed as ground station operators. Using the

qualifi cation model of the satellite and the ground st at ion , 12

cadets and fi ve faculty members were then able to commission an d

put thesatellite into thecorrect operational mode.

In March 2004, the cadets passed their fl ight readiness r ev i ew

with NASA and Air Force offi cials at the NASA Johnson Space

Flight Center with fl ying colors. However, thecadetsbegan inves tigating alternativelaunch vehicleswhen it looked like the shuttle opportunity wasfading. Most of thisresearch focused on fi nding an adaptor ring that could integrateto FalconSAT and other possible

After four aborted attempts from November 2005 through February 2006, Falcon I lift ed-ofFfrom the island of O m elek , 30 miles north of Kwajalein on March 24. Shortly aft er l ift -off , the launch vehicle failed, impacting the shallow reef on the ocean side of Omelek. Amazingly, the satellitewas blown free from t he

launch vehicle on impact and discovered in a storage shed on Omelek, having crashed through the roof of the shed, coming to

rest just a few feet from the shipping container used t o d el iv er i t from C olorado t o the launch si te!

Although thecadetsaredisappointed in thefailure, they realize that lifegoeson. They fi nished FalconSAT-3 fl ight model on April 14 and conducted thermal/vacuum and vibration tests at Kiit land from April

17- 26. Though somefollow-up testsand adjustmentsw i ll b e acco m plished thissummer, launch isscheduled aboard aLockheed M ar t i n

AtlasV launch vehicle as a secondary payload in October 2 0 0 6 .

Defi nition and design of FalconSAT-4 began in January 2 0 0 5

with asymposium at which 25 different possible payloads presented. They fi nished the conceptual design in May 2 0 0 6 an d will start engineering model construction the following academ ic year (Fall 2006). Cadets are also investigating the possibility of w e r e

controlling existing satellites to gain space operations experience while awaiting FalconSAT-3 s launch.

Since the launch failure, many former cadets from the Fal co n -

SAT program have sent e-mailsexpressing their disappointment at the result, but also relaying many glowing comments o n h ow

much they learned in theprogram and how it has made t h em

paign paid off ! In December 2004, the DefenseAdvanced Research ProjectsAgency announced that FalconSAT-2 was manifested t o fl y on themaiden launch of theSpaceExploration Corporation’s

better offi cers. Over the past six years, approximately 18 0 cad et s and 20 faculty members have had a unique space experience.

Their comments have been amplifi ed by many former faculty, staff , and friends of the Academy who feel our loss, but also

easeof integration wereprimary factorsin thisdecision.

SpaceX planned to launch thevehiclefr om Omelek Island, part of theKwajalein Atoll in theRepublic of theMarshall Islands, and hom e

ciation of Graduates for their fi nancial support of o u r p ro gr am .

launch vehicles. The cadets’ aggressive research and marketing cam

Falcon I launch vehicle. FalconSAT-2’s rapid response capability and

understand the importance of thevaluable lessons FalconSAT teachesevery day to every cadet involved in the program.

TheSpaceSystemsResearch Center would liketo thank the Asso

of the U.S. Army’s Reagan Test Site in the Central Pacifi c. O m elek—

an island of only about seven acres—issituated approximately 3 0

miles north of the atoll’s nam esak e island, on the atoll’s eastern rim .

SpaceX constructed abare-boneslaunch siteon Omelek that included

an integration hangar, storageareas, temporary lodging for crew, and propellant storagefacilities. Thecadetsredesigned the antennas to give

thesatellite a stronger signal, qualifi ed over 20 cadetsand faculty in the commissioning and operation of thesatellitefr om theUSAFA ground

station, completed two separation testswith theSpaceX hardw are using theNASA Goddard payload ejection system, conducted a “ fi t

check” with the SpaceX launch vehicle, and prepared four interface control documents ensuring they would be ready for the challenges posed by remotelaunch. In October 2005, thecadetspresented a successful pre-ship review to representatives fr om D A RPA , SM C , A ir Force Research Laboratory, and SpaceX Cadets and faculty deployed to Kwajalein in fi ve waves. D u e t o its remote location, the cadets experienced conditions not unlik e

deploymentsthat they will see in their Air Forcecareers. T h e

if rst waves conducted satellite functionality tests to prepare it for launch, and then worked with SpaceX to integrate FalconSAT-2 to the launch vehicle’s payload separation system. The remaining waves supported launch operations.

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

T he A sso c iat io n o f G r a duat es: / /

The first charity on my mind

/ /

By Jeff Mielke

H

onor has always been a big part of Frank Mayberry’s life. Now, in a different sense, it wUl become part of his legacy.

Mayberry, a Kansas nativeand a 1960 gradu

ate of the U.S. Air ForceAcademy, attended Arizona St at e

Collegefor ayear-and-a-half prior to receiving hisappoint ment. Fi ehad several reasonsfor making thechange.

“The academics at the Academy are top notch, and I knew a career in the Air Force would be interesting—it’s

a great career.

“The Academy also has an honor code,” says Mayberry, noting that honor was in short supply at many other colleges and universities. “It was nice to be part of an environment where honor was important ... where you earn what you get.”

Mayberry went on to a 20-year Ai r Force career as an

electronics communicationsengineer, retiring as a l i eut en ant colonel. Recently, he decided to honor fellow Academy

graduates by establishing a charitable remainder unitrust

with the Association of Graduates. T he trust is established

to help maintain the new Memorial Pavilion at the Acad emy Cemetery (Read more on page 72).

“The Association of Graduates,” says Mayberry, “is always the fi rst charity on my mind.” And Mayberry was one of the very fi rst people to set up a unitrust w i t h the Association. “Before,” he says, “they just got don a t i on s of cash .”

A charitable remainder unitrust is a way to make a ch ar i

table gift now and receive an income for life. T he d o n o r

sets up the irrevocable trust with money, property or st ock , can take an immediate charitable income tax deduction

and will receive a fi xed rate of return annually. The u n i trust is revalued each year, so income may go up.

“My wife and I had a Colorado rental house and it didn’t

make sense to sell it and lose a large amount to taxes say s Mayberry, “when we could donate it to theAcademy and get quarterly payments.” The remainder goes to theA sso ciat i on of G raduat es f or t he M em orial Pav il ion .

“I really enjoyed being at theAcademy and feel like I should support it. I hope my gift encourages other people

to contribute through a trust.

W E W I L L N O T L I E. S T E A L . O R C H E A T. N O R , T O L E RA T E A M O N G U S A N Y O N E W H O

D O E S . " tM

T H E PI N N A C L E O F O U R

5 0T H A N N I V ER SA RY CELEBRA TI O N A new bo o k f ro m t he A sso c iat io n of

Graduates chronicling the heart and sou I of cadet life over the past five decades at the U nited States Air Force Academy,

Flight of Excellence dares to capture the stories, emotions and Academy traditions

from the cadet experience. Join us in

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celebrating 50 years of building leaders of c haracter fo r t he nat io n .

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This Ju ll-color, 9x12-inch coffee table bo o k featu res:

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• A n d m u c h m o re .

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T i i BL i s i i i N G C o m p a n y

Three Kings

Fi gh t er s f o l l ow a l o n g t r ad i t i o n O F D O M I N AT I N G I N T H E RI N G

1

"i hreemembersof theAir Forceboxing t e a m

were crowned national champions as the Falcons wrapped up competition at the 2006

National Collegiate Boxing Association Champion

ships in Reno, Nev. Air Force entered the fi nal night of competition

in fourth place, following a disappointing semifi nal

round. Although they had just three fi nalists com peting in the main ring of the El Dorado ballroom,

the Falconswent three-for-three, picking up crucial

points in the team standings.

C2C Willie Lloyd showed why he was the defend ing national champion, taking an impressive deci

sion from Jason Morrisof UNLV in the 112-pound championship bout. Lloyd, who defeated Morris in

the regional fi nals two weeks ago, played it close i n

the fi rst two rounds. At the start of the third round, Lloyd turned up the pressure and dominated the contest, using two standing eight-counts to secure t h e judges’ votes.

Lloyd isthe fi rst back-to-back champion in the

same weight class since Ulysses Linares, ’03, (147

pounds) in 2001-02. Clell Knight won national

championships in 2003-04, but in two different weight classes.

By USAFA Athleti cs

Classmate Ezekiel Ignaco claimed his fi rst national

title at 119 pounds, winning by decision against Army’sScott Yeung. The championship bout was a rematch from the Falcons’ trip to Army last year, where Ignaco took a decision from Yeung when both were contending in the 125-pound weight class.

After facing a dominating foe in the semifi nal round, Ignaco was met with a tentative, counter-punching Yeung. Slowly picking apart hisopponent and landing the big shots, Ignaco earned the needed pointsfor t he decisivevictory. He is the second straight Air Force boxer to win the 119-pound title, as Darren Smith won the title last year.

TheFalconswere forced to wait until the night’s fi nal bout, theheavyweight contest, to learn their fat e.

That bout would determine the team’s fi nish, which could range anywhere from second to fourth. C2C Ian Tuznik took the pressure in stride and rallied for

hisfi rst national title in a dominating referee-stoppedcontest (third round) over Navy’s Dave Paddock.

Using several hard-hitting jabs, the focused Tuznik

(L-R) Juniors Ian Tuznik, Ezekiel Ignaco and Willie Lloyd

are part of a long line of Falcon boxing champions. (Phot o

by Ken Wright)

C H EC K PO I N T S, JU N E 2 0 0 6

took thefi ght to Paddock and never allowed hisoppo nent to fi nd his rhythm. Tuznik is theAcademy’s fi rst heavyweight champion sinceJustin Pendry in 2002.

For the second straight year, the slimmest of margins separated the Falcons from the national team

IS Sf

title. Air Forcecombined for 32 points; just one

point shy of fi rst-time champion UNLV. The Falcons

remain on the impressive streak of never fi nishing lower than second in the national championships.

The team tied with service academy rival Army

in points, but Air Force earned the tie-breaker with

three individual championscompared to Army’s two.

Navy, the 2005 champion, fi nished fourth, while host

Nevada and Lock Flaven rounded out the top six.

In addition to its three national champions. Air

Jeremy Homan (125-lbs.), Luis Pena (139), Clifford Moore (156), Joe Conrad (165) and John Quinn

(195) all claimed third-place honorsfollowing their if nishes in thesemifi nal round of competition.

“I am very proud of thisyoung group,” head coach EddieWeicherssaid. “Yes, it’sdisappointing that weren’t able to bring the championship back to the Academy, but I can’t say enough about theseguys.”

Healso knows thisexperiencewill pay dividends in w e

the future, asAir Force only loses three of its boxers

to graduation. “They haveshown a ton of promise,” Weicherscontinued. “This is agreat, great group of guys to build on for the future.” S

Force clai m ed fi ve ot her N C BA A ll-A m ericans.

C I C B ea u Tresem e r is o ne of 6 8 w rest lers na m ed t o t he Nat io na l

Wrestling Coaches Asso c iat io n ’s 2 0 0 5 -0 6 A ll-Aca d e m ic Tea m .

(Courtesy photo)

Tr esem er n am ed t o N W CA’s A l l -A cadem i c Team

By USAFA Athletics

C

1C B eauT resem er h as b een n am ed t o t h e

National Wrestling CoachesAssociation’s 2 0 0 5- 0 6 A ll -A cad em i c T eam .

A 2006 NCAA qualifi er at 165 pounds, Tresemer

compiled a3.210 cumulativegradepoint average

while majoring in legal studies at theAcademy.

Tresemer, the team co-captain, fi nished the year with an 18- 12 overall record after miss

ing nearly two months of action due to injury

After fi nishing third at the2006 West Regional,

For his career, Tresemer compiled an 82-42 record, including a team-best 32 wins in 2005.

H is select ion to the individ ual A ll-A cadem ic

Team was not the only impressive news for the team as the rest of the Falcon squad was honored as having one of the top-30 team GPAs. Air Force tied with Rider University in New Jersey for 18th place on the list with a combined GPA of 2.925. H

Tresemer earned an at-large bid to the NCAA championships. He placed eighth at the Las

Vegas Invitational in November.

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

Hockey players earn high honors

By USAFA Athletics

C ICBrooksTurnquistw asrecentlynam edthe CollegeHockeyAmericaStudent-Athleteof the

Year at the seventh annual CHA Awards Banquet at

Ford Field in D etroit , M ich.

Air Forcefi nished theregular season with an 11-19-1

overall record and an 8-12 record in the CHA. The eight w i n s a r e a n e w school record while the 16 league points ties the school record. B

Two Falconswerenamed to theall-leagueteamsand

11were named to the CHA all-academic team. Sophom o r e c en t er

Eric Ehn and fr eshman defenseman M ichael

Mayrawereboth named to thesecond team. Mayrawas

also named to the all-rookie team. Sophomore center Josh Schaffer was named to the Easton Three-Star Award team.

Turnquist, adefenseman fromAppleValley, Minn., has

been on the Commandant’sList for military excellence

three times and has been on the Dean’s List for academic excellence fi ve times. He has a 3.16 cumulative grade point

Brown, Pounds, Polst on earn

A l l -A m er i can h on or s

By USAFA Athletics

ootball player Cl CJason Brown, track and fi eld I national champion CIC DanaPoundsand baseball player C2CJohn Polston havebeen recognized asAll-

averageasan astronautical engineering major. During t h e current semester, heiscarrying 22.5 credit hours. H e is a

three-time academic all-CFfA selection. Turnquist has n e v e r

missed agamein hisAcademy career. Hehasplayed in l 4 l consecutivegamesand waschosen asateam captain

junior and senior.

as a

by theNational Strength and ConditioningAssociation t h at ally recognizesstudent-athletes’ dedication to strength an n u

Off theice, Turnquist iseven moreimpressive. He

is

currently involved in FalconSat-3, anAcademy sponsored programunder thedirectionof theDepartment of Astro nautics’ SpaceSystemsResearch Center. Turnquist ispart

of agroup of cadetsthat isbuildingasatellitethat

American Strength and Conditioning Athletesof theYear

w ill

be launched into orbit in December by NASA. His fi rst

assignment asasecond lieutenant will beat VandenbergA i r Force Base, Calif , as an aerospace engineer.

Ehn, a center from Dexter, Mich., leadsthe Falcons i n

nearly every statistical category and isamong thecon fer ence leaders aswell. In conference games, Ehn set a n e w

school record with 25 pointsin 20 games. Hewasfi fth

training and conditioning.

Thisyear, theNSCA awarded 242 collegiateathletesf ro m

160 schools with this esteemed award. T he athletes w e r e

nominated by membersof theAcademy’sstrength and ditioningstaff TheNSCA All-American Athleteof theYear Award program isin its27'*' year and ismadepossibleby a co n

grant from Power Systems, Inc. “Theadvantagesof strength training and conditioning cannot bedenied in collegiateathletics. These student-ath letes attest to this understanding, and are to be applauded for their hard work and dedication,” said Robert Jursnick,

in

N SCA’s executive director. 9

theleaguein pointsin conferencegamesand secondw i th

17 assists. He earned CHA Offensive Player of theWeek honorstwicethisseason. In all games, Ehn has 14 goalsand 21 assists for 35 points in 31 games.

Mayra, adefenseman fromAnchorage, Alaska, fi nished

second in theCHA in pointsby adefenseman with 14

pointsin 13 leaguegames. His14 pointswerealsot h e fi ft h m o st

by any freshman in theleagueand themost by any

rookie defenseman. In all games, Mayra has 16 points i n 2 3

games. Hemissed seven conferencegamesdueto injuries.

TheFalconsalso placed aschool-record 11players, nearly half the team, on the all-academic team. Prior to this y ear , the most Falcons on the all-academic team were seven i n

M e m b e r- G rad uat e

Survey

T his June t he A ssociat io n w ill

be conducting a comprehensive survey of AOG members and

1999-2000. Seniors Matt Bader, Mike Knaeble and Brooks

graduates. It 's import ant you take t he t ime to part icipate!

time selections while Knaeble has been on the team tw ice.

We valueyour input.

Turnquist wereon theteam. Bader andTurnquist aret h ree JuniorsBilly Devoney, Jay Medenwaldt, Ben Worker and Theo Zacour arejoined by Matt Charbonneau, Eric Ehn, Fran k Schiavone and Peter Shenk .

C H E C K PO I N T S , J U N E 2 0 0 6

89

FormerAir Forcegreat Chad

Hennings, ’88, was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame on May 16. He is considered one of college football’s great defensive linemen of his era. (U.S. Air Force photo)

I elected to College Football Hall of Fame Hennings, ’88

By USAFA Athl eti cs

ormer Air Forcegreat Chad Hennings

I recently received oneof thehighest honors

a collegefootball player can earn ashewas elected into the College Football Hall of Fame Division I-A class. Henningsisoneof 13 players

and two coaches to be selected to the H all of

Fame from a ballot of 77 candidatesand apool

of hundredsof eligiblenominees, according to

Ron Johnson, chairman of the N ational Football

Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

Henningsisconsidered oneof collegefootball s

great defensive linemen of his era. A unanimous

fi rst-teamAll-Americaselection in 1987, Hennings received theOudandTrophy asthenationstop

interior lineman. A two-time fi rst-team all-con ference selection, he is a member of the Western Athletic Conference all-time team and was named

WAC defensive player of the decade for the 1980s.

Henningsled the nation with 24 sacks in 1987

and played in numerouspost-season all-star games including theJapan Bowl and East-West Shrine

Game. H e is a two-time fi rst-team academic AllAmerican and earned academic AU-WAC honors three times. H e also received the Stan Bates Award

astheconferencestop scholar-athletein 1987.

Although hewasdrafted by the Dallas Cow

boysin the 1988 NFL Draft, Henningsfulfi lled

afour-year military commitment, serving during

the fi rst Gulf War. In 1992, he rejoined the Cow boys and embarked on a nine-year NFL career that brought him three Super Bowl titles.

“It’sagreat honor! I never went into playing football for theindividual accolades; it’salways

been about team. To be recognized with this honor isa testament to theguys I played with at theAir ForceAcademy,” Hennings said.

A successful businessowner, heisvery activein hiscommunity, serving asamember of theBoard of Directorsfor Happy HillsFarm, ahomefor abused and neglected children. Heand hiswife,

Tammy, currently reside in Flower Mound, Texas,

with their children. Chase and Brenna.

“Thisisa great day for Falcon football. Chad has

brought distinction to theAcademy, Falcon football

and himself Nobody ever deserved to be in the Hall

of Fame more than Chad,” Air Force head coach

Fisher DeBerry said. “Thissignifi eshim asoneof thebest that ever played thegame. Thisaward not only speaksto hisfootball ability, but also to his outstanding charaaer and personal qualitiesand attimdes. It will be fun to see him inducted.”

Henningsjoins former Air Forcegreat Brock

Strom, ’59, as the only other Air Force football player in the Hall of Fame. Former Falcon coach

C H EC K PO I N T S, JU N E 2 0 0 6

L.T. “Buck” Shaw, who coached the Academy from

1956-57, is the only former coach inducted.

“If anyoneever lived thecorevaluesof theAcademy an d

theAir Force to the limit, it s Chad. The epitome of integ

rity, serviceand excellence, hefulfi lled hiscommitment t o theAir Force as an A-10 pilot in Desert Storm, was given

theopportunity tofulfi ll hisAcademy commitment early, and only then opted to givetheNFL atry. Therest is h is

tory, but Chad never forgot hisrootshere,” said Dr. H an s Mueh, athletics director at theAcademy and a member of

theacademic faculty at theAcademy whileHenningsw a s acadet. “Hecontinuesto support usasarolemodel t o o u r

cadets and the Air Force and he is a strong supporter of th e

athletic program. Thishonor iswell-deserved, but C h ad will behumblein hisacceptanceand givecredit to oth ers

for recognition heso clearly earned. I’mhonored to k n ow him and proud to call him afi riend.”

The2006 CollegeFootball Hall of FameDivision I-A

Class will be inducted at the 49* Annual Awards Dinner o n

Dec. 5, 2006, at theWaldorf-Astoria in New York

City. They will beoffi cially enshrined at theHall i n Sou th

Bend, Ind., duringceremoniesin thesummer of 2007. H

Baughman honored by Colorado Chapter of National Wrestling Hall of Fame

By USAFA Athletics

Boardman Named t o MPSF All-Academic Team

A

By USAFA Athletics 3 C Bria n Bo a rd m a n w as na m ed t o

t he Mount ain Pacif ic Sports Federa t ion All-Academ ic Team , t he league

a n no u nced . Boa rd m a n w as o ne of 2 8

gymnasts to earn t he conference honor. The native of Naperville, III., boasts a 3.40 gradepoint-average In Mathematics. His GPA is one of t he conference’s top-12 .

He recent ly m ade his f irst appearance at t he NCAA Nat ional Qualif ier, f inishing 3 5t h

on the parallel bars with a score of 7.650.

Boardm an, who held a nat ional qualifying score of 7.770 , was one of t he m ost consis

tent performers on the parallel bars for the Fa lco ns t h is seaso n . He set a seaso n-best

m ark of 8 .100 during t he squad’s meet at

Army. The score is j ust .100 off of his careerbest tot al set last year as a f reshm an.

To be eligible for the MPSF All-Academic

Team , st udent-at hletes m ust be in at least t heir second academ ic year at t he m em ber inst it ut ion, hold a 3 .0 GPA or better and

have competed in at least 50 percent of the

t e a m ’s m e e t s .

ir Forcewresding coach WayneBaughman was

one of five national award winners at the eighthannual Hall of Fame Honors Banquet held

recendy at theAcademy. Baughman washonoredwith the state’sDistinguished American Award, whilefour others

weregiven theLifetimeServicetoWresdingAward.

Baughman, whowill retireastheFalcons’ head coach t h is year, hasbeen coaching at theAcademy for 27 yearsan d hascompiled a 183-134-4 dual-meet record. Baughman,

who obtained his bachelor’sdegree from the University of

Oklahomaand master’sdegreesfr om both theUniversity of Denver and theUniversity of Colorado, first served as h ead coach fr om 1975-1984 while hewas on acti ve duty in th e

Air Force. Hetook over theprogram asacivilian in 19 88 and overall, hashad 17 wi nningseasons. Hecoached 13 of theAcademy’s 16Western Athletic Conferencechampions and hassent numerousqualifi ersto theNCAA Champion ships, including atrio of All-Americansin 2002.

An NCAA champion and two-timerunner-up while awresder at theUniversity of Oklahoma, Baughman has been amember of threeOlympic teams, eight World Championship teamsand onePan American Gamesteam.

He also coached in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, as well as

fi veWorld Championship teamsand aPan American

Games team. An avid ultra-runner, triathlete and mountain

climber, Baughman hasfinished theIronmanTriathlon,

the Pikes Peak M arathon, the LeadvilleTrail 100-mile R un and the H ardscramble Pass 100-mile Bike Race, while al so climbingall 54 Colorado mountainsover 14,000 feet. B

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

91

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2006 vacation packages include;

^ Jhe BalticSeaand the NorwegianCoast: July 6- 18 Passage of Pet er t he Great : Aug. 11 - 23

l ^ r An Irish Classic - Ireland: Sept. 30 - Oct. 8 The French Riviera and Provence: Sep. 16 - 24 The Passage of Lewis and Clark: Oct . 21 - 29 — .r sw

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More informat ion about these luxurious t ravel dest inat ions is available online at www.usafa.org. Click

on "Membership & Services" and then "Travel Progr a m s or contact Wayne Kellenbence at wayne.kellenbence@aogusafa.org o r (719) 472-0300. //

Plan your own trip at www.gofalcontravel.com

FALCON TRAVEL^ Sponsored by theAssociation of Graduates, Global Holidaysand Joint Academy Travel.

3RA D UA T ES CA D ET S A CA D EMY STA FF FA M I LY M EM B ERS BURT Subar u of Den ver team s

w i t h t h e A OG f o r s up e r d ea l o n S u b a r u l i n e - up o f v eh i cl es J

Burt Subaru of Englewood, Colo., provides a significant

m

t heir fam ilies : vehicle cost plus applicable t ax only.

M discount to USAFAgraduates, cadets, faculty, staff a n d No dealer or handling fees are assessed. Buyers also are eligible for any applicable dealer cash, rebates, special financing offers, etc., t hat are available a t t h e t ime of purchase. Burt Subaru will donate $150 to t he Air Force Academy Fund for each vehicle purchased t hrough t his program .

For more informat ion, please cont act Mike Crow ley, Burt Subaru sales and leasing represent at ive, at

(800) 587-4156 or Terry Neff at (800) 535-2878.

Thry Nef , BURT Subaru Sales(right),presentsthefi rst donation totheAir ForceAcademy Fundfrom

BURT Subarus GraduatePurchaseProgram toJim Shaw, ’67, Tbsociation of GraduatesPresident and CEO.

The A sso ciat io n o f G rad u at es at t h e U .S. A i r Fo rce Academy present these exciting trips in 2006 from Denver (Other departure cities are available)

PRI CES I N CLUD E AI RFARE! A N I R I SH C L A SSI C

i

■?’- 2..

I N C L U D ED

Sep. 30 - Oct. 8, 2006, $1,799 per person, double occupancy (plus taxes) A hundred thousand welcomes await you in Ireland. Experience the stunning seascape and the unspoiled beauty of the countryside combined w ith glimpses of her mysterious past. Stay in Kilkenny, one of Ireland’s l ov el i est citi es and Galway “ The Capital of the West.

• Round-trip air transportation • First-class or superior fi rst-

T H E FR EN C H R IV IE R A

• Transfers between airports

FEA T U RES

c l ass h o t e l s

Sep. 16 - 24, 2006 Oct. 8, $1,849 per person, double occupancy (plus taxes) Discover the chic and sophisticated cities of Nice and Cannes, the glamorous city of Monte Carlo. Visit the heart of Provence with its profusion of color and lush vineyards.

and hotels, and more

Available t o members,

t heir f am ilies and f riends.

For additional information

A L SO L OO K FOR T H E SE 200 7 T RI PS I N F UT U RE I SSUE S O F C H E C K P O I N T S : ♦

R o m e & F l o r en c e

- M ar c h

♦

Spain

- A pril

♦

C h in a

- Ju n e

♦ Northern Italy & French Alps ♦ Germany & Czech Republic

- September - September

and a color brochure contact: r

G O

next

W IT H G L O B A L H O L I D A Y S

8000 West 78*^Street, Suite 345 Minneapolis, MN 55439-2538 (952) 918-8950 or To ll Fre e 1- 800 - 842 - 902 3 w w w .G o N e x t .c o m

Sf ;

h an d i s e ^

r ,

N. I

C a d e t T- S h i rt

100% Pre-shrunk cott o n. W hit e

wit h dark navy ringer collar and s le e v e c uf f .

,$ 10.50

■ Po lo/ Qo lf Shirt s

.

hite Mountain. APCTcrest^ jJieft

chest . 100% premfdm soft cotton

.’’]erSey.‘’Contr^ t ,stripihg on the.co'Bi ri

View all m erchand ise

offered by the AOG

and shop online

24 hours a day at www.usafa.org

Prices, styles and colors are subj ect to change.

Ho o d ed Sw eat shirt

C a d e t Sw e at sh i rt

92% cotton, 8% polyester. Light gray

with reflective lettering,

$45.00

St a d iu m B la n k e t

Pre-shrunk 80%cotton, 20% polyester.

54 " x 84 " Pro -W e ave sw e at sh irt

blanket. Air Force Academy and AFA

crest printed on blanket.

,$24.00

MV Sport. 80% cotton, 20% polyest er. "Air

Force" applique across chest with "Academy'

emb roidered beneat h

$45.00

C r e w n e c k Sw e a t s h i r t

MV Sport . 80% cotton, 20% polyester. "Air

Force" applique across chest with "Academy

e m b ro id e re d b e n e at h

$40.00

SB

'I

Squadron Pins Pins match all current squadron

patches and many prevoiusly used patches (Please specify

squadron)

i

Prop & Wing Necklace

Silv e r w it h 2 0 " c h a in .

Similar to emblem worn by

c ad e t s.

,$25.50

te l

6 1/4" X 9" Gray leather

not eb oo k. Years availab le : 1992- 1995, 199720 0 5 ,$12.50

Globe wit h six vignettes around the equator - pegasus, a falcon, eagle & fledglings, a sailplane, t he chapel, and t he prop and wings, .$24 .00

$20.00

f alconry

Expect Great Things A historical document ary of t he first fifty years of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Available in D V D a n d V H S,

2 0 0 4 O r n a m e nt

Oval shaped ornament featuring the eagle and fledglings statue.

In the background is the cadet

chapel and a sunburst

$5.00

Class N ot e b o o ks

2 0 0 5 O r nam e nt

,$ 14.95

Falconry Book

By Lt , Gen, A. P. Clark, 6th superintendent of the USAF

Academy. The story of the cadets' unique performing mascot H a rd c o v e r.

Soft cover...

..$34.50 .$17.95

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x i n i i -s H if a

Tia i -iiMii

Li c e n se P la t e F r a m e s

'A lum ni', ' Falco ns' , o r ' Parent '

across t he top and 'Air Force Academy' across t he bott om.

Eac h f r a m e

$6.25 ,$10.50

Any two frames

«

H e r e 's a To a st

Fo o t f a l ls

C a d e t Sa b e r

Print by Keith Ferris. Numbered and signed. Approximat e size is 24" wide by 30" t all.

Print by Rick Herter. Artists proofs of the War

Memorial. Approximately 24" wide by 17" tall.

Official USAF Academy cadet saber. *Available to graduate members only. Saber wit h

Unf ramed

$62.50

U n f ra m e d

.$156.00

sc ab b a rd .

$250.00

95

W h at is SA CC?

T he SA CC is the Service Academy Career Conference supported by the Associations of Graduates from the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy, and Alumni Associations from the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Previous conferences have been attended by hundreds of companies and t h o u san d s of al u m n i .

Whe re w i l l t he SACC be he ld ?

I

The next SACCwill beheld at the Sheraton San

i

and ask for the SACC rate. There are many other hotels available in the area or stay with

I I I

Diego, 1380 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego CA. You may obtain aroom for theSACCrate, if available. Call (619) 291-2900 for reservations

A U G U S T 10 - 11 SA N D I E G O , C A .

SACC Sc hedu le of Eve nt s

Regist rat ion Fee

The SACC Candidate registration fee is $35 ($40 at t h e door) and may be paid by check or credit card. Please m ai l the below registration with form of payment and one co p y of your resume. Resumes must be one page/one sided and on plain copy paper. Please do not fax your resume.

Thursday, August 10

Interview Prep Seminar at 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Friday, August 11

Breakfast (provided) Registration SA C C

Lunch (provided) ....

SA C C

. 8 :3 0 a.m . -

9 :3 0 a.m .

. 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Regi strati on deadli ne July 25.

..9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

SACC Hot e l Inf ormat io n

1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Sheraton San Diego

13 80 H ar b o r I sl an d D r iv e

Sat urday, Aug ust 12

San D iego, CA 9210 1 (619) 291-2900

Interviewsonly if directly scheduled between company recru it ers and candidates; Companieswill contact you directly regarding any on-site interviews during the SACC.

Next Sched uled SACC San A n tonio, Texas, N ov. 9- 10, 2006

If you have any questions, contact WayneTaylor at (719) 472-0300 or D SN 333-4513.

SACC Candidate Registration Form (San Diego, CA., 2 00 6)

NAM E (for name tag, no ranks):

U SA FA C L A SS;

A D D R E SS:

PH ON E (H ome):

(Work):.

Will you attend the free Interview Prep Seminar?

Pleaseinclude: O Registration Form

.(E-mail):.

□ y,e s

□ Fee $35

□ No Or

e s u m

e

M ai l t o : SA C C

(one page/one sided)

247 King George St. Annapolis, MD 21402-5068

o r E -m ai l t o ; sacc@usn a.com

jo int servic e acade m ies

I

jobs electronically

w w w .j saj e x o m

m -

ari etta & Company Tony M ari etta, 7 0 . . .

Since 1975, selling Colorado h om es, h om esi tes, an d

recreational properties.

Looking to advanceyour career?JSAJE isan exclusive site specifically designed for service academy alumni.

Whether you are looking for a new j ob or different career, JSAJE is the place for you to make it happen.

If you have not registered in JSAJE, please register and create a usern ame and password. If you have registered to JSAJE, please log in to the program by using the usern ame and password you created. Once you have logged into the JSAJE program you may browse through j ob listings and contact employers.

Not actively looking for a j ob? Sign up for Job Retriever and let it alert you when j obs according t o

your search criteria become available. JSAJE also

MARIETTA & COMPANY

m

6 189 Le hma n D rive , Suite 200

Colorado Springs, Colorado 80918

t =J

E - m a il: u s a f a 7 0 @ a o l.c o m

7 19-59 2-97 00

M ETRO BRO KERS IN C .

Inde penoe nt Compo nlM Wo rking Tog sthor

To ll f ree : 1 -8 00 -57 1 - 116 1

contains a resume database through which companies can search for promising candidates.

oint Serv ice Academies Jobs Elect ronically w w w .j saj e .c o m

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;:^a r e e r c e n t e r 'SACC is the Service Academy Career Conference—a career fair host ed t hree t imes annually and exclusive to alumni o f

the five service academies. SACC is designed to match our alumni wit h employers interest ed in hiring service academy alumni. Current SACC venues are Washington D.C., San Diego, CA and San Antonio, TX.

B

A lum ni

^

' Employer Post Jobs JSAJE is also an exclusive j ob Web site designed for companies in corporate America to advertise their c a r e e r opportunities directly to service academy alumni. In addition to t he j ob post ing funct ion, JSAJE also cont ains a rep o si tory of resumes of t hose graduates who are in an act ive t ra nsit io n m o d e .

Search for Jobs JSAJE (Joint Service Academy Jobs Elect ronically) is an exclusive job Web site designed for service academy alumni. JSAJE allows you to browse through job list ings and contact employers. JSAJE also contains a resume repository for those graduates who are in an active transition mode and a job retriever for those who prefer to remain in a passive mode.

■ i n SA BRD is t he online Service Academy Business Resource Directory and is a great tool to network with other ac ad

emy alumni. With over 32,500 active profiles of service academy alumni from USAFA, USCGA, USMA, USMMA, and

USNA, it is an excellent resource for advert ising, career networking, and building business connect ions w it h f e llo w alumni. iSABRD can be searched by name, academy, graduat ion year, city, st ate, zip code, count ry, company name, business type and keyword .

Link to Chapter Web sites at www.usafa.org

Ou tlo o k Arizona Chapt er Bob Mazet, ’63, has graciously agreed to host a fi reworks/dessert/ beverages party at his house on Jul. 4. The party will start around 7:30 p.m. Please RSVP directly to Bob M azet at bobm azet @cox .net .

N o rt h e r n C a l if o r n i a

for Chuck Reed, ’71, (our Chapter Com

munications Director) in his campaign for mayor. For details, check hisWeb site at

www.chuckreed.com. If you livein the Bay

Area and are not receiving announcements, please contact chuckreed@aol.com.

TheNorthern CaliforniaAOG isplanning

a day in Napa where everybody will enjoy a picnic lunch and then tour a couple winer ies. It will be an event for the whole family!

Pleasestay tuned! All of San Joseisrallying

I m

ba ls 1. Celebrate Academy heritage 2. Keep abreast of Air Force and USAFA topics 3. Keep the local community abreast of USAFA topics 4. Provide graduates networking opport unit ies 5.

Int eract w it h ot her service

academy graduates 6. Give back to the community 7. Support the needs and objectives of the Academy

the Sonterra Club, on Apr. 1. The guests enjoyed the speech by guest speaker, General William Looney, ’72, HQ AETC/CC. vMamo Chapter President Maj. Gen. (Sel.) “Dutch” Remkes, ’77, presided over the event, organized by outgoing VP Nancy Kudla, ’80, and M ike Nishimuta, ’73.

Incoming offi cers includeVice President Lt. Gen. Marcus Anderson, ’61, Secretary Copernicus Guerra, ’94, and Treasurer Les Hobgood, ’60. Music was provided by a trio led by Paul Schaff enberger, ’70. The traditional “One More Roll” was led by J. J. Williams, ’64. The chapter was pleased to have in attendance life-long honorary member Brig. Gen. Robert F. McDermott, the “Father of Modern Military Education.”

8 . Assist liaiso n of ficers and

recruit qualified candidates 9. Assist parents clubs/ cadets

m

r

CelebrateAcademy Heritage

Alamo Chapt er

98

T he A tlanta faithf ul celebrated Founders

Day at The National Museum of Patriotism on May 6. A very positive review of the Academy’s progress and challenges ahead was given by theVice Superintendent Maj .

Gen. Irving “ Irv” Halter, ’77. He was introduced by his classmate, Keith Wil liams, ’77. Attendees included class of ’59

gradsJerry McDonald and Joe DeSantis,

who brought hisgrandson, Nicholas, age 11. Jim Shaw, ’67, CEO of the AO G,

gave an upbeat review of the mission and accomplishments of theAOG. Spotted in the crowd were Gerry Gill, ’61, Dave Spencer, ’69, Rob Tornow, ’64, Rod H en n ek , ’7 5, and son , K urt a recent col

lege grad, Gary Fausti, ’65, Bill Morgan, ’65, Rick Zurbrugg, ’65, R. J. Chambers

Jr., ’70, Alan Price, ’68, Lee Val entine, f

Go a l 1

TheAlamo Chapter celebrated the 52nd Anniversary of the creation of theAcad emy with a Founders Day Dinner held at

At lant a Chapt er

(Left to right ) Brig. Gen. Remkes, 7 7, Gen. Bili Looney, 7 2, Nancy Kudia, ’80 at the Aiamo Chapter’s Founders Day Dinner.

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

’83, David Vizurraga, ’02, a second year medical student at Emory and his beautiful wife, Michelle, and many others. Chapter members are eagerly anticipating a trip to Knoxville for the Sep. 9 clash of the Falcons with Tennessee and the typically outstand ing AOG tailgate party. Our thanks to Marty Marcolongo,’88, and theAOG for the outstanding support.

I

K

Chapt er Goals continued Atlanta Chapter’s Founders Day celebra t io n at t h e Nat io n a l

0-t

M us e u m of Pat riot is m .

Left: (Left to right): Jim Shaw, ’67, Jerry McDon ald, '59, Nicholas

V

DeSant is, Irv Halt er, ’77,

Joe DeSantis, '59. Right: General Halt er, ’77

i

addressing the group on today’s Academy.

Go a l 2

Keep abreast of Air Forceand USAFA top ics

New York Chapt er

On May 18, the Chapter gathered at Alli

ance Bernstein in M anhattan for cocktails,

horsd’oeuvres, and an Academy Update fi -om U SA FA D irector of A dm issions,

Col. William “Trapper” Carpenter, ’73.

Over 40 graduates from the local areawere able to attend. A great timewas had by all.

The chapter islooking forward to theAir Force—^Army game at West Point on Nov. 3.

Goa l 5

I nteract with other service academy graduates Arizona Chapt er

Our thanks to Doug, ’74, and Carol Pelton for hosting our annual pig roast (Spring Fling). Wehad a great turnout and thiswas

a fi rst classevent. We had several gradsand

guestsfor which thiswastheir fi rst Arizona

A FA A O G event . T here w as a nice turnout

of grads/spouses/fr iends and a good timewas had by all. We received many complimen tary comments. Thishas become an annual spring event. The following is the USAF Academy AOG Arizona Chapter Pig Roast Toast written by Doug Pelton.

There once was an Academy Roast WhoseFraternity was not bashf ul to boast, If it weren’t f or theSwine We’d not be able to D i ne

So to thepig, wehereby of fer a toast.

Go a l 8

Assist liaison ofi cers and recruit quali if ed candidates.

At lant a Chapt er On May 6, Maj. Gen. Irv Halter, ’77, attended “Academy Day 2006” at Atlanta Naval Air Station. ThisAcademy Day, planned by the membersof the Georgia Delegation, saw over 700 high schools students and parentsconverge at a hangar to hear about each of the Military Service Academies. Captain Rick Cline, USN, welcomed the group to theAir Station prior to introducing U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson.

A f fi n i ty Gr o u p s Academy Women Plan to attend theAcademyWomen Symposium at the Women’s Memorial in Arlington, Virginia on Oct. 20-22. In addition to being surrounded by incredible

w om en from all the academ ies and services,

there will be panels and speakerswho will discuss topics including leadership for

women, work-life balance, lessons learned in combat, women at the service academies,

and eff ective networking. It will be a great opportunity to be inspired, connect with old friends and meet new and interesting people. If you have any recommenda tions for speakers and sponsors or if you would like to help, please contact feland@ academywomen.org. Registration will begin

Aft er Senator Isakson’s rem arks, Gen . H alter

Above: Hosts of the Arizona Chapter’s annual pig roast , Doug, ’74 and Carol Pelton. Below: Mem bers of t he Arizona Chapt er

started off theAir ForceAcademy section, followed by Liaison Offi cer, Colonel Alan Johnson, and Cadet Kate Lockhart. Once each Academy had their chance to describe their respectiveAcademy, U.S. Representa tiveTom Price provided the closing remarks.

Aft er the formal program, Gen. Halter spoke with students and parentsone-on-one for ov er an h o u r.

At t he Academy Day 2006 celebration in Atlant a; Top, right : General Irv Halter, ’77, addressing t he 700+ person crowd in Atlanta. Bottom, right : (left to right) Senator Johnny Isakson, Capt ain Rick Cline, General Irv Halt er, ’77.

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

99

Affinity Groups continued soon so check the W eb site for details and

updates, www.academywomen.org.

USAFA Zoomie Rugby Foot ball

Cl u b (Z RFC)

The ZRFC stood up on Jan. 1, 2006 to organize and focus the parents’ and alumni support for the men’s and women’s cadet rugby programs. The overarching purpose of the club is to focus on providing the Heritage/Legacy/Traditions of USAFA Rugby, strategic and long range issues, and fundraising—allowing Coaches/OIC/ Players to concentrate on developing leaders of character and winning national championship. By Jan. 15, 2006, the Club already had over 200 members. Led by Chair of the Board, Harry Laws, ’69, and Club President, Mike Cartney, ’81, the club is helping the USAFA leadership and cadets “To be the model, self-sus

taining Cadet Clubs, steeped in winning tradition, nationally and internationally competitive, yet forward looking and focused in producing leaders of charac ter.” Additional information, including by-laws, strategic plan and rugby heritage brief can be found on the cl ub’s W eb sit e

at www.airforcerugby.com.

Elmer Ciancone, a former Silver

Fal con A ssociat ion President and his w ife

Elizabeth of Terre Haute, IN, keep in

t ouch w i th thei r SFA friends i n C olorado

Springs. He is a retired professor emeritus of Indiana State University and Liz is a retired journalist for their local newspaper.

Taking a Disney Cruise with their family in Mar. 2005 were Ed and Joan

Lundberg of Phoenix, AZ. The Lundberg’s

moved to the Phoenix area due to the high altitude here in Colorado Springs. They

still have an alternate home in the Springs

where family members live.

H arold O ’Connor of Faribault, N .M .,

S i lv e r Fa l c o n s

Mark your calendar for this year’s Silver Fal con convention . I t w ill occur here in

Golorado Springs on Oct. 4-8, 06. Navy

w ill be in tow n to tak e on the Falcons in

football on Saturday, Oct. 7. Convention headquarterswill be at the SilverWood H otel and Convention Center (old Park

Plaza Hotel). Room rates have gone down this year to $69 per night and the newly renovated hotel offers hot cooked to order

breakfast and freenightly 2-hour manager’s

cocktail reception. To date, the follow ing individuals have indicated a desire to attend: Les Bergstein, Ed Whitcomb, Gordon Palmer, Robert Dodge, Stan Keck, Robert Canfi eld, Ozzie Purdy, Ruth Whita ker, and Kirk Brown. Many spouseswill also be attending. You need to call the hotel at (719) 598-7656 to book your NLT Sep. 20. More information will be available on the Silver Falcon Web page. ro o m

D ick Abel has retired from his civilian

position as Director of Military Ministry of the CampusCrusade for Christ at Langley

A FB, VA . H e and his w ife A nn traveled to

many placesaround theworld where they 10 0

worked with military representatives in Christian ministries. Dick has developed a new interest called “Leadership isALL about People”, which includesa seminar and speeches for groups. He may be reached at his offi ce: 3526 GeorgeWashington Memo rial Hwy, Yorktown, VA 23693. Phone: (757) 265-2506. E-mail: dick@liaap.com.

George Pappas of East Lansing, MI, just returned from a business trip to Greece where he owns several olive groves. He has been a US and international patent attorney, an adjunct professor of law, and a commercial pilot.

and his wife Eleanor take advantage of space available travel. They encourage others to make use of this program now that spouses can fl y stateside. They have recently been to Hawaii and Europe.

Jay Spechler of Boca Raton, FL and his wife Marilyn are also Space-A world travelers. Their son, Maj . Lee Spechler, is an A-10 pilot. After fl ying tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he is now assigned at NellisAFB, Nev., where he trains pilots.

Jay recommends the IMAX fi lm “ Red

Flag” to see realistic fi ghter training and feel yourself in the cockpit with them.

John Riffl e of Pleasant H ill, M O , and

his wifeJean were visited by Norm and Jane Lucia of Colorado Springs on the occasion of John’s birthday. The Riffl es usually visit the Lucias when they attend the annual cattle show in Denver during January each year.

Barbara Logan and Ruth Whitaker of Colorado Springs, Colo., attended the annual “Friends of the Library” Luncheon at the USAFA Offi cer’s Club. The guest speaker was Brig. Gen. Dana Bom, ’83, Dean of Faculty, who told of several plans to improve mission programs in the Cadet Wing.

C H E C K P O I N T S, J U N E 2 0 0 6

We continue to encourage everybody to stay in touch by sending information to Kirk Brown, Silver FalconsAffi nity Group Presi dent, through email at ltcki rkbrown@juno. com; or by mail at 2539 Craycroft Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80920-1423. Thanks to all w ho contributed. G o A ir Force!

Space Group

After much activecooperation among the

Space Group, AOG leadership and USAFA

staff and faculty, amechanism isin place

to permit members of the Space Group (and others, as well) to contribute directly to cadet space-related activities. Jim Shaw, ’67, AOG CEO, has off ered AOG support to process our donations, so we encour age those wishing to make contributions to USAFA space activities to send them

directly to theAOG with a notespecify ing

the purpose of your donation.

We have been working with the Cadet Space Club and their advisor, Devin Della-Rose, to support cadet rocket launches, a very exciting and educational program. Our initial contributions will support future launches.

Moreover, the Space Group continues to track and support a range of space-related activities organized at USAFA by Lt. Col. Dave Swanson and the Space Work ing Group. For instance, they have been running a one-day Basic Space Awareness event for two years. This outstanding activity is a good candidate for support from the graduate community.

Wewere also encouraged to see the rollout of the new Cadet Space Badges beforeJune Week. The Space Group purchased the ini tial badges that were awarded to cadets. The badges recognize profi ciency in the fi ve new SPACE courses (Space Power Applications Capabilities and Employment), which are similar to cadet airmanship courses.

You may have heard that the long aw aited FalconSAT-2 launch w as unsuc

cessful. We congratulate the cadets and faculty who worked so hard on this project, which the Space Group supported. A minor silver lining is that the satellite was recovered and will be displayed at theAcad emy, a reminder of the fortitude it takes to

conduct successful air and space operations.

Please check the Space Group’s Web site usafaspace.tripod.com for more informa tion or to join this virtual support group.

St an Rosen , ’69 .

Some t hink annual giving is not compet it ive

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Academy Fund provide

support to many important cadet clubs, including t he

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USAFA Cycling Team.

Fo r m o re inf o r m at io n a b o ut

t he Air Force Academy Fund

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please contact Greg Knedler, d ire ct o r o f an n u a l a n d c lass

giving, at (719) 472-0300 or

greg.knedler@aogusafa.org.

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o f C h aract e r fo r t h e N at io n

le Campaign for the Future of the Air Force Academy

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www.usafa.org

... but at t he A ir Force A cademy it is!

A

Br adl ey T. Beck, '62 Bradley T. Beck, 65, of Post Falls, Idaho passed away a t h o m e o n

Feb. 11, 2006 after a long battle with cancer. Brad was born Sept . 11, 1940 in Stillwater, Minn, to Roland and Jean Beck. He was prede

ceased in death by his brother Larry Beck at the age of six , an d h i s f at h er, Rol an d , i n 2002.

Brad is survived by his wife, Gail, whom he had met w h i l e st a t i o n e d

at Biggs Air Force Base in El Paso, Texas. They were m ar r i ed Jan . 4,

19 65 . O t h er su r v i v o r s i n c l u d e h i s

mother, Jean, and brother Brian, both of Whittier, Calif.; son Eric, wife De and Brad’s grandson Taylor, all of Post Palls; and st epdaught er Kathy Bills, Den

v er, Col o .

Brad graduated from Whittier High

W

b ut not fo rg ott e n Born in Wheeler City, Texas, Jim was raised in Spokane, W a sh , f r o m age five. He graduated with honors from West Valley High School in 1960 and accepted U.S. Sen. Henry Jackson’s appointment t o t h e Air Force Academy. The rigors of its training regiment led Jim to pon der withdraw al . Inst ead, after ref lection and refocus, he appli ed

himself with renewed vigor and graduated in the upper r a n k s o f h i s class. His superior scholarship merited entry to Georgetown U n i versity where he received a Master’s degree in International R e l a t i o n s.

As the Vietnam War was escalating, the Air Force then s e l e c t e d 2 " *^

Lt . Shively for pilot training at Willi am s Air Force Base, A r i z . i n 1966 and com bat crew t raining i n th e F105D at N ell i s A i r Fo r ce B ase i n N e

Sch ool i n 1958 an d th en fr om t h e Ai r

vada. H e w as assigned t o the 357* Tac Fi gh t er Squ adr on at Takh l i ,

Porce Academy in 1962. He retired as a M aj or from the Air Force in 1984.

Brad was a pilot on KC-135s which re fueled the fighters and bombers dur ing the Viet nam War. In 1969 Brad completed his 100* combat mission

T h ai l an d i n D ecem b er 1966. On h i s

69* mission, while doggedly holding

t o hi s pre-set bombing patt ern over H anoi in spite of int ense anti -aircraft

fire, his F-105 suffered a shattering hit and he was forced to ej ect . He l anded in a rice paddy and was quickly captured by waiting enemy

i n So u t h e a st A si a .

B r a d B e ck

He was honored with many medal s during his Air Force career, which in cl u d ed a Vi et n am Servi ce M ed al w i th

ground forces.

Shively would courageously endure

six service stars and an Air Medal. After retiring fr om t h e A i r For ce,

Brad worked for Rockwell International in Palmdale, C a l i f , a s a t e st engineer on the B-I B Bomber project for fi ve years. After the proj ect was completed, he became a substitute teacher prior to moving t o Po st Fa l l s i n 19 9 9 .

Br ad w as a l if e m em b er of th e VFW an d a m em b er of th e Po st F al l s

American Legion and Eagles. He is and will always be loved by all who had the privilege of knowing him . He will be missed by us all.

Classmate Larry Harm on in an email to Gail wrote: “I am deeply sad d en ed at th e lo ss of su ch a t er r ifi c fr i en d as Br ad . We have stayed in touch for over 45 years, sparingly though it may be, which prob ably gives you something of an idea how much I loved t h e m a n . H e did so much for me at the Academy, always seeing the bright side of things (even when there didn’t seem to be one) and keeping my spir its up. It was the same whenever our paths crossed i n t h e A i r F o r c e .

He didn’t even seem to mind that he got sucked halfway o u t o f a n airplane. We will all miss him. Original Red Tags are precious, and he

w a s o n e o f t h e b e st .”

Another em ail to Gail from classmate M ike Quinton read: “ B r a d w a s

my roommate for the last half of our second class year a n d a l l o f o u r

if rst class year. We didn’t plan any trips to the moon but we had a good time. He remained a good friend over the years since graduation.”

The family would like to give their thanks to Hospice for all the help they had given Brad in his time of need. Graveside m e m o r i al se r v i c e s

were on Feb. 15, 2006 at Evergreen Cemetery, Post Falls, English Fu neral Chapel. Please sign Brad’s guest registry and v i e w h i s o n l i n e memorial at vw w.englishfuneralchapel.com. (His family)

Jam es R. Shi vely, '64

nearly six years of barbaric captivity in

t h e i n fam ou s “ H an oi H il t o n ”. H i s cell

consisted of a tiny, hot , rat -infest ed r oom w i t h n o sh ow er an d only a wooden bucket for disposal of his bodily wastes. For m or e th an 2,000 Jim Shi vely

days, this habitat and an unchanging diet of water, r i ce, an d d il u t ed

pumpkin soup for half the year and water, rice, and diluted spinach soup for the other half were his daily lot. In the initial stages of con finement he suffered brutal beating and torture, later extrem e dep

rivations and abuse would become commonplace. The harsh c h a r

acter-strengthening anvil of his POW experience w as, h ow ev er , t o

forge a far weightier gold. The emaciated man who emerged f r o m h i s cell was even more steeled than the brave young pilot w h o e n t e r e d .

A White House reception, and a hero’s welcome, paid merited recog nition to this Silver Star recipient’s distinguished military service to h i s b elov ed n at io n .

After his discharge from service in June 1974, Shively graduated from Gonzaga Law School and began private practice in 1977. A group

of Washington state Democratic leaders recruited him t o r u n f o r o f fi ce. The goal was a U.S. Senate seat, but Jim declined. H i s sou l m at e, Nancy, and beloved daught ers Amy, Jane, Laura, and N i k k i w o u l d not be denied his presence, attention, guidance and l o v e f o r t h e r e m ai n d er o f h i s b o u n t i f u l l i f e .

Within a few years, he was asked to j oin the Eastern Washington U .S. Att orney ’s Office and w ould over a 20-year career r i s e t o t h e position of senior supervisor overseeing both the criminal a n d c i v i l

divisions. He served one year as interim U.S. Attorney w h i l e P r e si

dent Bush’s appointee awaited Senate confi rmation in 2001. Shively

If we are exceptionally fortunate in our lifetim e, we may be blessed

by knowing a person of uncommon valor and grace. James R. Shively

was such a man. His life story confi rms the talents and accomplish ments of an indivi dual of heroic stature. Jim was born on M ar ch 23, 1942 and died on Feb. 18, 2006 in Spokane, Wash.

Ever so modest, Jim always dismissed ef forts to extend t o h i m ev e n the humblest of tributes. A life so well lived, so fruitful and so inspir

ing demands, however, a richer accounting.

10 2

Fo r m o r e cu r r en t i n f o r m at i o n ab o u t

graduate deaths, please visit the AOG web site. www.usafa.org

—

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s^ '

was a selfl ess volunteer mentor to numerous local high sc h o o l a n d

Gonzaga University students and a regular GU political sc i e n c e c l a ss guest speaker. He literally and figuratively personified t h e n o b l e code of “Duty, Honor, Country” and personified the U SA F Academy’s core values of “Integrity first, service b ef o r e sel f , an d

excellence in all we do”. Captain James R. Shively was a precious gift to his family, friends, community and nation. He was a pat riot in the fi nest sense of the word. Shively’s POW release date w as 2 / 18 / 73 ; 33

years later, to the very day, this priceless patriot w o u l d b e f r e e d f r o m the prison of his cancerous body. Let us reflect on his exceptional life and be profoundly grateful. (Steve Hawk, Jim’s son -i n -l aw, an d Jerry Hughes, friend andAdj unct Professor of Political Sci ence, Gonzaga Uni versi ty)

Ni ch ol as M . Lanzil otta, '66 Captain Nicholas Mark Lanzilotta passed away on April 3, 2006 at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas following a t h r e e year determined battlewith cancer. Nick wasborn in W at erv i l le, M ai n e on July 7, 1944. He ent ered the Air Force Academy in 1962 after graduat

ing from Winslow High School ,

W i n sl ow , M ai n e.

In July of 1967 during advanced pi lot t raining, Nick was forced to ej ect from a T-38 fracturing both legs. The next three years were spent recover ing on a pat ient / outpat ient basis at W ilfo rd

H all

M ed i cal

C en ter

at

L ack l an d A i r Fo r ce B ase, San A n t o

n i o, Texas. D ur i n g t h i s t i m e Ni ck was visited by his high school sw eet

heart, Joy. On Nov. 22, 1967 Nick and Joy were married i n the hospit al

chap el .

Aft er being given a m edical ret ire ment in 1970, Nick, Joy and son Bill moved to Portland, Maine. Nick was an avi d scholar w h o l o v e d l e a r n

Maine School of Law. He then practiced law in Augusta, M a i n e f o r 2 5

years where he and Joy raised their three sons. Nick simultaneously held a position as Adjunct Professor at Thomas College w h e r e h e w a s recognized as Instructor of the Year.

In the summer of 1998 Nick and Joy moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where Nick earned a Graduat e Law Degree in Environment al L a w

from the University of Utah. Shortly thereafter, they m o v e d t o St .

George where he became an Aviation Instructor at Dixie St a t e C o l lege. Nick subsequently retired and enjoyed playing golf and vi sit ing their families including four precious grandchildren. N i c k e n joyed flying his Bonanza airplane and greatly valued h i s t i m e w i t h f e l l o w e n t h u si a st s .

Nick had a keen sense of humor and a little boy twinkl e in his eye that belied the seriousness of the challenge he faced on a daily ba

sis. He was diagnosed with cancer in May, 2003. After m u ch eff o r t , his final option was a clinical trial. With undaunted d e t e r m i n a t i o n he once again proceeded to San Antonio for medical a ss i st a n c e : O n his deathbed he was surrounded by fam ily, save his son Jeffrey from New Zealand, who w as due the follow ing day. Nick w atched t h e clock, determined to st ay alive until he could say goodbye. Jeffrey m ad e i t an d so d i d N i ck ! H e l iv ed w i t h cl ass an d d i ed w i t h c l a ss . H e i s a r o l e m o d el fo r all o f u s.

Joy and sons Bill, Jeffrey and Scott would like to t h a n k al l o f N i c k ’s

classmates who were with Nick in spirit and in prayer. W h e n t o l d o f

your final phone calls and blessings, first came a s l o w n o d o f acknowledgement and then a look of fondness engulfed h i s f a c e . H e truly cherished the friendships that were formed at the Academy. Of all his academic accomplishments, Nick was most proud t o t e l l n ew acquaintances that he was a graduate of the USAF Academy. T h o se who knew Nick respected his intelligence and enthusiasm f o r l i f e a n d

will miss him greatly. His wi shes for interment at the USAF Academy

will occur during the summer and his life will be celebrated at t h e 40'*’ reunion. Farewell, our friend, and God be with you. (Cl assm ates of Evil Eigh t an d wife, Joy)

N i ck L a n z i l o t t a

ing, and this search for knowledge continued on throughout h i s l i f e .

In 1973 Nick earned a Juris Doctor degree from the U niversity of

H ar ol d J. B en n ett, 7 0 Col . Harold Jam es “Skip” Bennett (Ret .) of Ballwin, M i ssou r i , b e l ov ed h u sb an d o f Eli zab et h Ell en Ben n et t , fat h er o f B r o o k E l i s a b e t h

Lt. Gen. Kenneth L. Tallman (USAF, Ret), Eighth Superintendent, Dies at age 80

Lt . Gen. Kenneth L. Tallm an (USAF, Ret), the eighth Superinten dent of the Air Force Academy, died at the age of 80 from complica

t io n s of Al zh ei m er ’s an d Par ki n so n ’s on M ar ch 6, 2006 i n Tal l ah assee, Fl a. A m em o r i al servi ce w as h eld on M ar ch 10 at Fait h Presbyterian

Church, Tallahassee. Following the servi ce, fam ily a n d f r i e n d s w e r e received in the church library. General Tallman was i n t e r r e d a t A r lingt on National Cemetery on April 11.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, General Tallm an grew up in a family of seven

siblings in Cheyenne, Wyoming. After graduating from W e st Po i n t i n

1946, he went on to become a fi ghter pilot vnth various Ta ct i c al A i r C o m mand assignments, including service in Vietnam as Air Fo r c e ex e c u t i v e assist an t for Gen er al Westm orelan d . I n 1967 h e ear n ed a M a st e r ’s D e

gree in International Affairs from George Washington University and graduated fi -om the Army’s National War College. He l a t er r e c e i v e d an

G en er al Tal l m an co n t i n u ed h i s c ar eer i n t h e ac ad em i c f i e l d a s President of Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, Ok l ah o m a,

and then as President of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in

Daytona Beach, Florida, from which he retired as President E m e r i

tus in 1991. While at Em bry Riddl e, he al so served a s E x e c u t i v e Director of the Florida Departm ent of Vet eran’s Affairs. During the

last 20 years of his military and civilian careers, h e a d v o c a t e d strongly for the alignment of commercial and military a v i a t i o n training programs worldwide as a means of combating the prob

lem of pilot att rition.

General Tallman will be fondly remembered by family, fr i en d s, an d military and academic associates as a man wbo lived by the highest

standards of integrity, always committed to the care a n d c o n c e r n s o f

honorary Doctor of Laws Degree ft -om the University of Wyoming.

In the fi eld of military personnel, training and academics. G e n e r al Tallman rose to become USAF Deputy Chief of Staff for M anpower and Personnel. He culminated his military career as Superintendent o f t h e U.S. Air Force Academy, retiring in 1981 af ter 35 years of distinguished service. Among his many awards and citations were the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of M erit, Air Force Commendation M ed al , Or d er

others. A hands-on leader, he never asked anyone to do anyt hing that he would not do him self. Instead, he inspired o t h e r s w i t h h i s sense of humor, his humanitarian kindness, and his si n c e r e d e si r e t o do the right thing.

H e i s su rvived by hi s w i f e of 54 year s, Jean n e (D ee) Ph il l ip s Tall m an , and his chil dren Carol Tall m an Brash and her h u sb an d , Nick; Leslie Tallm an Patt on , and Richard L. Tallm an a n d h i s w i f e Linda. Al so surviving are his lovi ng grandchildren N i c o l e a n d C a i t l i n Brash, David and Daniel Patton, and Christopher, Allison and Ashley

cellen ce in Avi ati o n Ed u cat io n .

Tall m a n .

of the Sword, Zuckert Management Award and Brewer Trophy f o r E x

10 3

of New York City and Brian James of Manchester, passed aw ay p e a c e

fully on Dec. 29, 2005. Col onel Bennet t i s also survived by the Younger m an f am i ly of th e Det roit a r e a .

Skip was born on April 10, 1948 in Yonkers, New York and graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1970. He

proudly served 24 years as a fighter pi

lot in t h e U .S. A ir For ce. H e serv ed i n b ot h V i et n am an d D eser t St o r m . H e

retired asVice Wing Commander of the 33'‘‘ Wing at Eglin AFB in Florida. He then began a second career in market ing for the Boeing Corporation in St .

Louis where he worked for 11 years.

Therewasa memorial servicefor Skip

at St . Joseph’s Church in New York City on Jan . 7, 2006. H e w as l ai d t o r est at

Skip Bennett m a t e s a n d f r i e n d s.

the Air Force Academy on April 10, 2006 sur rou n ded by f am ily, cl ass-

Skip will be greatly missed by all who knew him. May he rest in peace

on eagle’s wings. (His family)

Th om as M . Westm or el an d, '70 Thomas M. Westmoreland, age 57, passed away on Jan. 19, 2006 i n Huntsville, Ala. after a brief but heroic battle with pancreatic cancer.

He is survived by his wife, Susanne

West m o rel an d , of H u n t svi ll e; h i s tw o

daught ers Jul i e West m orel and , of Vernon Conn, and Wendy Devanney of Columbia, S.C.; his mother, Levera; b r o t h er s K en n et h an d Ro n al d West m o r el an d ; an d h is si st er Jen n i fer

Boyd, all of Florence, Ala.; and three grand children; Alanna Barzola, Trin ity and Conner Devanney.

thusiasm in others, always pushing forward with positive e n e r g y, a s

demonstrated by the identifier of “Tom on the Move” from messages sent on his Blackberry.

Throughout his life, Tom had a way with words. In 1973 h e l a n d e d a crippled C-130 in Vietnam and was able to speak French w i t h a n Alabama drawl to Vietnamese officials to obtain spare parts for the aircraft. His Southern drawl actually helped him during his public speaking as the Chairman of the Board of Selectman i n n o r t h e r n M a s

sachusetts. In family matters he was always able to sm o o t h o v e r f a m

ily squabbles. Through tactful instruction, Tom even a l l o w e d t w o o f

his two sisters-in-law to consistently catch more fish than he during our family vacations to Maine from 1987 through 2004.

Tom loved to sing and play guitar with his wife and daughters in the

church folk group. The theme song for Tom and Sue was “ Foll ow M e,”

as Su e foll ow ed Tom fr o m b ase t o b ase an d t o v ar i ou s d e f e n se c o n

tracting assignments. They frequently played the guitar and sang this tune to their children and grand children.

Academy’s Fourth Comm andant Dies M aj or Gen eral Robert W. St rong Jr., USAF (Ret .), the A i r F o r c e

Academy’s fourth Commandant of Cadets, died peacefully a t h o m e

on March 16, 2006. He was born in Painseville, Ohio o n N ov. 23 , 19 17.

His father, a West Point grad (class of ’15), was a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army, and young Robert grew up in the nom adic, a d v e n t u r o u s world of the old-time Army Brat.

An alumnus of Valley Forge Military Academy, he entered W e st Po i n t with a presidential appointment. He graduated in 1940 a n d e a r n e d his wings in 1941. During World War II he served in t h e Pa c i fi c T h e a t e r

with the 21st Bomber Command as a B-29 pilot and squadron l e a d e r .

After the war, he held a variety of positions including T a c t i c al O f fi c e r at

m et h i s f u t u r e b r i d e , Su san n e M .

M c C ab e o f N o r f o l k , C o n n . A f t er

AFB. His last USAF assignment was Chief of Staff of t h e 8 t h A i r F o r c e

1966 an d en t er ed t h e Ai r Fo r ce A cad -

of 1970. While at the Academy, Tom

graduat i on t hey w ere m arri ed, despite the fact that she was a Yankee. They headed to Vance for flight training. He trained in C-130s at Little Rock and Pope before being

assigned to CCK AB in Taipei, Taiwan. While assigned t o CCK , To m fl ew 100 m i ssi o n s i n th e V i et n am W ar . To m t h en ret u r n ed t o L i t t l e Rock as a C- 130 I n st r u ct o r Pil ot . W h ile t h ere h e ear n ed h i s M BA f r o m the University of Utah. In 1977 he was appointed to s e r v e i n t h e

Education With Industry Program (EWI ). He interned a t G e n e r a l E l e c tric facility in Philadelphia before serving at the System Program Of

fi ce at Hanscom AFB, Mass, for the E-3 and E-4 Programs.

In 1981 Tom joined GTE Sylvania as a Project Engineer for the SDI pro gram . Inl 989, Tom returned to Hanscom as Contract Engineer f o r th e E 3 and E-4 Program s. In 1996 Boeing enticed him to Seattle t o b e c o m e a Systems Engineer for the AWACS program. In 2000 Boeing promoted Tom to Lead Systems Engineer supporting development and fi elding of

flight hardware on the International Space Program i n H u n t sv i l l e . I n

2003 Tom assumed a Program Management position on Future C o m b at systems. He managed Test Resources and Facilities as Test L e a d f o r F C S. H e an d h is t eam w ere in st rum en tal in th e defi n ition of the FCS test pro gram and developed the initial concept of the Mobile N o d e . To m ’s t e am turned the concept of the Mobile Node into hardware reality. In the fal l 10 4

n ew co m er s an d an eff ect iv e l ead er . H e in st il led exci t em en t a n d e n

emy to become a member of the class

To m w a s b o r n i n 19 4 8 i n F l o r e n c e . H e

To m W es tm o r el an d

Program and was transferred to St . Louis, M o.

Tom’s gentle and j ovial charact er m ade him an instant f r i e n d t o

West Point, Asst. Air Attache to Canada, student at t h e N av al W a r C o l lege, and staff offi cer at Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1956 he returned to the Strategic Air Com mand as F i e l d C o m mander. His commands included the 376 Bomb Wing, the Strategic Wing, and the 825th Strategic Aerospace Division . In 19 6 3 h e w a s assigned to a three-year tour as the fourth Commandant o f C a d e t s a t

graduated from Coffee High School in

i

of 2005Tom was promoted to Chief Engineer for the Boeing Scan Eagle

the USAF Academy and served in this position until 19 6 5 , F r o m t h e r e h e r et u r n ed t o SA C w i t h com m an d of t h e 8 17t h A i r D ivi sio n a t P e a s e

and senior staff executive in the Offi ce of the Secretary o f D e f e n se .

In 1970 he retired from the USAF. General Strong received a n u m b e r of awards during his USAF career, including the Distinguished Se r

vice Medal, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Fly ing Cross, Bronze Star and tw o USAF Com mendation medals. A f t e r retirement from the USAF he became the Superintendent at Valley

Forge Military Academy and Junior College, his Alma M a t e r .

General Strong was preceded in death by his parents. Brig. General Robert W. and Mildred M . Strong, and two brothers Walter a n d 1st L t .

Gordon Strong (West Point graduate). He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Virginia Denit Strong; son David; three grandsons; a n d t w o great -grandchildren.

The family wishes to express its deepest gratitude t o t h e w o n d e r f u l Linda Cook and her family for the devoted care given to General Strong

through his last years and to Odyssey Healthcare for its constant sup port. (Published in the Tucson on 3/ 20/ 2006.)

F o r m o r e c u r r en t i n f o r m at i o n ab o u t

graduate deaths, pl ease vi si t the AOG web site. www.usafa.org.

Tom’s life with Sue and his family took priority over everything, in cluding his passions for fl ying and golf Tom showed his family how

to live with dignity and even how to die with dignity. A m e m o r i a l s e r

vice was held in Florence on Jan 20. 2006 in a chapel packed with his F C S d ed i c at ed

extended family and many friends. On April 12, 2006, the Mobile Node project in honor of him. Tom will be m i sse d b u t h i s

memory will never be forgotten. {Col. Ed McCabe [USAF, Ret] , Tom ’s br o th er -i n -l aw)

Gr egory ! . Renk o, '73 Gregory J. Renko passed away suddenly on Jan. 15, 2006 of a rup

tured brain aneurysm. Though Greg will be remembered for m any

things, a lifelong theme was that he was a fi ghter; for Greg anything worth havingwasworth fighting for, and once at t ai n ed

th e

ac h i ev em en t

w as

sw e e t e r .

Greg was born July 16, 1949 in

Duluth, M innesota, the son of the late

George and Jessie Renko. He is sur vived by his wife, Diane, in Sumter, South Carolina.; his son M at thew in New York, New York; his daughter Kelly in Columbia, South Carolina; his sis t er Ren ee H ar m on i n H en d er son , N e

Greg Renko

vada; his nephew Capt . Mike Harmon of t h e 80"’ Tact i cal Fi ght er Sq i n Kunsan , South Korea; and hi s niece Jessica Harm on in Indianapolis, Indi

ana. Greg graduated from Denfeld

High School and continued school at Michigan Tech and University

of M innesota at Duluth, until he finally nailed an appoint ment to the Air Force Academy.

Greg entered the Academy in the Summer of Love and w a s c a l l e d Pops because he was older, more mature, focused and l o v e d t h e A i r

Force. For his classmates he w as always available, always there; “I

didn’t know anybody that didn’t consider him a friend,” s a i d o n e .

Another remembered: “Greg was even skinnier than me... o n c e , a s doolies, we were walking on the marble strips after the evening meal ...

Gregwas in front and awind gust threw him on me and my very best

doolie shoes. Greg was so apologetic he wanted to re-spit shine my

m

a n c e

and added perseverance to win an appointment and waiver

to enter pilot training. He excelled at Reese AFB and w as sel ect ed f or

fighters which he flew for the rest of his career, including the A-7, A-

10, and F-16... as well as the OV-10 with the 704 TASS at Sem b ach A B ,

Germany. The Sembach assignment wasnotable for two ev en t s. Fi r st , he ruptured his Jagermeister and tea-filled bladder exceeding max speed on an Austrian ski slope. Second, it was there t h at h e m et f u ture wife. Dee, and then proposed to her, “smooth and su a v e a s h e was”, over the phone after she had PCSed to McGuire A F B .

Greg and Dee honeymooned en-route to Luke AFB and later r a i se d a family through operational, instructor, and IG/Training St a f f t o u r s at M acDill, Shaw, and Robins AFB. It was at Shaw AFB t h a t h e w a s

diagnosed with malignant seminoma in the chest requiring d i f fi c u l t chemotherapy and surgical treatment. Getting back to fl ying status again called for superior performance and perseverance: b u t t h e fighter got back into fighters in a big way: dual-qualified i n t h e F - 16 and A-7 as the Chief of 9"’ AF Stan Eval .

Greg retired in 1999 and worked as an F-16 simulator i n st r u c t o r a t

Shaw AFB, S.C. There wasn’t a day he didn’t miss fl ying b u t h e sai d t h e

simulator was the next best thing. This skilled pilot , who was quick to recognize substandard performance, had the dedication t o spend hours one-on-one with students to bring them “up to speed”. Greg

came full circle by passing on his fi ghter expertise t o n u m e r o u s y o u n g

F-16 pilots including his nephew, a 1999 graduate of U SA FA .

Greg’s selfl essness continues as his last gift in death was the gift of

life to others through organ donation. Greg’s memory w i l l l i v e o n i n the hearts of his family, his classmates, and his friends. (D ee Ren k o, fam ily, and m any classmates)

Edwar d K essl er Vor n br ock , '77 A visitor’s journal entry at his hospital bedside said it best , “ Today i t was clear to see that, even from your hospi tal bed, your ‘being about oth ers’hasn ’t waned a bi t. Your smiling at each p erson wh o cam e to see y o u, your making each person feel loved and appreciatedj ust by the look in

your eyes—it issimply in your nature to bemoref o cused on th e o th er person." That quiet strength and thoughtfulness will be missed by all

those whose lives were touched by Ed Vornbrock who passed away on Oct . 26, 2005.

A ’77 graduate of USAFA, Ed lost his battle with cancer - a b a t t l e h e fought more than half his life - at the age of 50 in A t l an t a, Ga. su r rounded by close family including his wife, Colleen, and his children Wesley, 13, and Am elia, 12. Ed was born, one of

shoes... I told him to eat more instead! He was a hoot i n i n t r a m u r al s too... before fl ickerball we bet a penny (at 100 to 1 od d s) t h at I cou l d

f o u r so n s o f U SA F C o l o n el W al t er

t h r ow t h e fo ot b al l i n t o t h e n et fr om h al f cou r t . I ch er i sh t h e $2 h e

“Jerry” and Jane Vornbrock, in El Paso,

owes me!” Greg was proud of his CS-28 classmates: he bragged so

Texas on M arch 8, 1955. His parents

much his sister Renee couldn’t wait to meet them at graduation: she

a n d b r o t h er s — h i s f r at er n al t w i n

ended up marrying Greg’s roommate Mike Harmon.

Upon graduating from USAFA on June 6, 1973, pilot vision c r i t e r i a forced Greg to take his second assignment choice; he a t t e n d e d n a v i gator training and was assigned as a navigator on the K C - 135Q at Beale AFB, refueling the then highly-classifi ed SR71. After only two

brother, Ered (Lt. Col., retired), and his older brothers Page and Gery survive h im .

Eollowing graduation from Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Ala.

years he upgraded to Instructor Navigator; Greg used this perfor-

Dear Pr ep School Graduates,

The USAF Academy and Preparatory School community are sa d

dened at the death on April 18, 2006 of Mrs. Leah Ann Pax t on Bl ack ,

wife of the Prep School’s fi rst commander. Col. Lee Bl ack (U SAF, Ret ).

A funeral service was held at the LDS church on Woodm an a n d Lexington in Colorado Springs on April 22nd with the graveside

service immediately follovUng at the Air Force Academy.

Current Prep School staff, faculty and students volunteered t o serve at this graveside service. I know your hearts and prayers are with the family at this difficult time. (Col. Har vey D . Joh n son , USA F, Comm ander, USAFA Preparatory School)

E d Vo r n b r o ck

Ed entered the US Air Eorce Academy in 1973. In his senior year, he was diag nosed with Hodgkin’s disease and en du red radi at ion and chem ot her apy treatm ent while rem aining a full-time

student. Despite being in Stage 4 of 4,

his cancer went into remission. Eollowi ng graduation, E d se r v e d a s a First Lieutenant in the U .S. Air Force at Eglin AFB, though his illness caused him to fall short of achievi ng his life-long dream of becoming

a pilot. After a medical discharge, he earned an MBA f r o m t h e U n i v e r sity of Alabama in 1982 and entered the private sector by j oining

Arthur Andersen Consulting and relocating to Atlanta, Ga. H e sp en t

the greatest portion of his career with Dun & Bradstreet So f t w a r e .

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In 1985 he met Colleen Scholder at church where they se r v e d t o gether over 20 years. They married in Montgomery, Ala. on Sept. 20, 1986 and later adopted two children. In 1995, Ed was prom oted to

Director, Professional Services, United Kingdom Field Operations and they moved to London for two years. Once back in Atlanta, E d w a s

affi liated with NIKU Corporation. He fi nished his professional by combininghislove of hisLord and young peoplew i t h h i s t a l e n t f o r c a r e e r

m anagement , serving as the Director of Business Af fairs a t W h i t e fi e l d

Academy, a Christ-centered preparatory school.

Trained as a soldier at the Academy, he exemplified the tenacity of a warrior and leader throughout his life. Though his POW training was intended to provide tools for survival in wartime, it instead pre

pared him for survival on a different battlefield. He repeat edly e n gaged his enemy — cancer. He survi ved two occurrences of Hodgkin’s, a neurofi broma, soft tissue sarcoma but ultimately lost his fi ght against pancreatic cancer.

Ed’s courageous story cannot be told without mention o f t h e d i s ease that permeated his life, yet he never complained. H i s c o m m u

nity involvem ent and com m itment to others reveal a m an hardly defined by his illness. He was an Eagle Scout, military officer. Big Brother, deacon, elder, husband, father, brother, and friend. Nothing made Ed happier than his wi fe and children for whom he fought his

long battle. As many mourners recognized at the end of h i s l if e, h i s

legacy as a gentleman full of faith and strength is cert ainly thing for which Colleen, Wesley and Amelia can beproud. [He] fough t thegood fight, [he] finished therace, [he] ...kept th e f ai th . ” I I Ti m . 4: 7 so m

e -

You may visit Ed’s guestbook at ww w.caringbridge.com/visit /

edvornbrock. (Kell ey (Vornhrock) Shellhaas, Ed’s niece and goddaugh ter)

Bri an A. Simp son, '84 On Jan. 23, 2006, Colonel Brian A. Simpson passed from his family’s

loving embrace to God’s.

Family, friends, and colleagues will remember Brian f o r e m o st a s a dedicated and caring father. Quick with a kind word and supportive hand, Brian showed many of us how to balance life’s challenges with skill and poi se. H e l ives on in th e cheri shed m em ori es of hi s only t ru e l ove,

Cynthia, and his two accomplished

sons, Christopher, 18;, and Drew, 14, rising stars both.

Brian was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, son of SM Sgt Bill and M rs Carolyn Simpson (USAF, Ret .) and de vot ed big brother to sist ers Suzanne and Christy. Brian grew to be a Milton, Fl o r i d a

m at h

w i zar d

an d

av i d

outdoorsman - always camping, hunt ing, and fishing. Graduating high Brian Simp son

school as valedictorian in 1980, Brian continued this trend, excelling in ev

and Cindy served their fi rst operational tour at Shaw A FB, Sou th Car o

lina, where Christopher joined the family. The Simpsons s o o n m o v e d to Luke AFB, Arizona, where Brian served as a Viper instructor pilot , and the family adjusted to living in base quarters fo r t h e f i r st t i m e.

Drew came along at Luke and Brian set his sights on t h e U SA F Test

P i l o t Sc h o o l .

It was no surprise when Brian became distinguished graduate of his highly competitive Test Pilot Class. After graduation, B r i a n a n d Cindy brought the kids back to Florida for several personally and professionally rewarding years at Eglin AFB where they enj oyed be

ing close to his parents and sisters. In Florida, the Simpsons became

deeply involved in church and community projects, and t h e k i d s

played sports and began school.

After a brief tour at M axw ell AFB, Al abama for Air C o m m a n d a n d

Staff College, the Simpsons moved to Nevada. There B r i a n c o m manded a tremendously important test squadron while Cindy and

the kids enjoyed a built-in pool and 300 sunny days a year. From a

taxing schedule in Nevada, the Simpsons moved to northern Virginia while Brian attended the Industrial College of the A r m e d F o r c e s . H e r e Christopher began high school and Drew middle school, a n d B r i a n and Cindy enjoyed the less hectic life style.

In 2003, Brian and Cindy were surprised to fi nd themselves b a c k a t

Edwards commanding the 412* Operations Group. Colonel B r i a n “Hooter” Simpson and Cindy led nine elite squadrons and super

vised the flight operations for the USAF Test Pilot Sch ool an d N A SA’s Dryden Research Facility. But wi th 80 aircraft of 30 different m odels.

Esth er M ill ar d, Cofoun der of M illard

Prep School, Dies in April

I have the sad duty to report to the many USAFA graduates o f t h e Millard Prep School that Esther L. Millard passed away on April 9,

2006. The form er Navy Lieutenant Comm ander, who was a t P e a r l

Harbor on December 7, 1941, died peacefully at her h o m e l at e in th e

afternoon in the presence of her caretaker, Froylan T o r r e s . C l e a r

headed to the end, her last remarks to M r. Torres before h e r d e a t h were, “Froylan, don’t you call the doctor or the hospital. I ’m ready to go.” She was 96 and would have been 97 on June 8.

Mrs. Millard and her husband, Homer, who passed away i n 1962, ran the school from 1953 to 1981at two sites in Oregon. T h e fi r st w a s

at Langlois and the second at Bandon. The latter opened only a few months after Homer’s death. At least three USAFA 4-stars a t t e n d e d

the school — Mike Ryan and Howell Estes, both from U SA FA ’65, an d Bill Looney, USAFA ’72. Many other Air Force generals are products of this small institution. Overall some 3000 young men a n d w o m e n graduated from Millards and many later went on to USAFA, U SNA , a n d U SM A .

Despite her death, Mrs. Millard’s legacy continues t o l iv e on vi a th e Falcon Foundation. Her donation of nearly one million d o l l a r s h a s funded in perpetuity seven annual Falcon Foundation scholarships

ery endeavor, mastering every chal lenge wi th cool confi dence; making it all look a little t oo easy.

Brian entered theAir ForceAcademy in June 1980. He and Miss Cindy

which now send promising future USAFA cadets to prep s c h o o l s

rado so they could spend as many hours together as a fast -burning cadet’s schedule permitted. Brian graduated as the t op A st r on au t i -

she provided for them .

met the summer before Brian’s senior year and Cindy m o v e d t o C o l o

cal Engineering student of the Class of 1984 and squadron mander of CS-37. Although everyone who met Brian recognized h i s c o m

-

character, intensity, and intimidating intellect, he was also a published poet wi th a heart a mile wi de for his friends and family.

Brian and Cindy became engaged during Euro-NATO pilot training in Wichita Falls, Texas. Brian loved the T-38, graduated at the top of his class and shortly after he and Cindy married in C al i f o r n i a . T h e n quickly, Brian began his quest to be the world’s best F-16 pilot . Brian 10 6

around the country. Her life-long dedication to education w a s e v i -

dent even more recently as she took steps to arrange f o r M r . T o r r e s ’

two daughters, now in high school, to receive college scholarships that

The archives and history of the Millard School are on display at the Bandon Historical Museum in Bandon for any of you who w i l l b e i n

the area. They have a small web site at http;/ /bandonhistorical

museum .org/ . (Bill M ar vel, Millard School, ’65 and USAFA , ’69)

For m or e cu r r en t i n f or m ati on ab ou t

graduate deaths, please vi sit the AOG web site. www.usafa.org

i

Brian’s favorite remained the Viper. Word of cancer in early 2005 cam e as a shock, but the family aggressively fought as a team all year. Af ter a dozen round trips back-and-forth across America, Brian and Cindy moved the family back to Florida for retirement and hospice care at home in January 2006.

Brian left an indelible imprint on everyone he touched - fam ily,

events, and challenging himself mentally and physically. A d e d i c a t e d and loving husband, father and friend, he made the l i v e s o f t h o se h e cared about a bit more satisfying and infinitely richer. O n e o f t h e

changes in plans, his faith and amazing personal strength

daughter Wendy, residents of Klamath Falls, Oregon; h i s m o t h er,

church, community, and airmen. Although Brian’s cancer f o r c e d so m e n e v e r

wavered. Brian’s love for Cindy, his boys, his sisters, and parents re m ains undiminished with his passing.

Cindy, Christopher, and Drew request those who wish t o c o n si d e r donating in memoriam please do so to the Society for Experimental

greatest comforts to those he left behind is the concrete knowledge that he resides with Our Father and is making a home ready for us.

A blessing to all who knew him; Skip vdll be deeply m i sse d .

Survivors include his w ife, Deborah Pierce Robert son, a n d t h e i r

Frances Robertson; brother Kim Robert son; sisters Lori M i c h a e l so n

and Beverly Rossen; and a number of nieces and nephews w h o w e r e so proud of him. (The Family)

Step han K. Kaj ah , '87

Test Pilots Scholarship Foundation, Setp@setp.org. (Col . M er r i ck E. Kr ause, ’84)

Major Stephan K. Kajah (USAFR) went home to bewith h i s L o r d a n d

Al ber t E. Rober tson, '85 On Feb. 26, 2006 Albert E. “Skip” Robertson Jr. flew his fi nal flight .

The L-39 he was flying in crashed in the Mojave Desert just north of California City, Calif, during the fi lming of a movie.

Skip "Hoss” served a distinguished 20-year career in t h e A i r F o r c e after graduating from the USAFA in 1985. After pilot training he fl ew

the OV- 10 in Osan, Korea as a Forward Air Controller for a full two years. He

Savior on Feb. 15, 2006. Stephan was skiing with friends i n “ G o d ’s Country,” Breckenridge, Colo, on a beautiful sunny day when he died as a r esu lt of a ski acci d en t .

Stephan was born on May 15, 1962 in New York to Horst and Magda Kajah who raised him with a strong German heritage. Growing up in

Pompton Lakes, N. J. he was involved in soccer, marching b a n d a n d

ski club before graduating from high

school in 1980. St ephan’s l ife-long dream was to become a pilot. To reach

was justly rewarded after this fi rst re

that goal he enlisted in the Air Force at age 18 and later attended the U.S. Air

mote assignment with a change in air c r a f t t o t h e F - 15 .

For ce Academ y Prep School . H e

After completing his F-15 training, he

graduated from the Air Force Acad emy in 1987 with a degree in Civil En

was stationed at Langley AFB in the P*

Fighter Squadron. This squadron was one of the fi rst to arrive in Baghdad in

gineering.

Af ter attending pilot training at Co lumbus Air Force Base in M ississippi,

199 1 f o r D eser t Sh i el d an d su b se

quently, Desert Storm. As a young Cap

fi ght for freedom and defend the prin

Stephan was assigned to the 6* Airlift Squadron, McGuire AFB, N.J. During his 12 years on active duty, he was an

After a three-year tour at Langley, he

Starlifter, flying word-wide airlift and

tain, it was a signifi cant experience for h i m th at r eassu red h is com m it m en t to

i n st ruct or p i l ot on t h e C- 14 1B

ciples of democracy.

Skip Rober tson

was transferred to Tyndall AFB to uti lize his skills as a patient and talented

F-15 Instructor Pilot. Following this tour, he moved o n t o t h e m u c h coveted, flying staff tour at Tactical Leadership Program i n Fl o ren n es,

Belgium. This NATO tour and fl ying with the 493'^‘‘ F S a t L a k e n h e a t h

AFB proved to be gratifying in many ways.

A Navy exchange tour in the F/A-18 at China Lake NAWSw a s H o ss’ next stop. Two years with the Navy as the Branch Head o f t h e F u t u r e

Systems Office & Foreign Materiel Exploitation, grew his apprecia tion for all branches of the military. Though the Hornet c o u l d n ’t c o m

pete with the Eagle, the experience was rewarding.

Skip’s fi nal tour in theAir Eorce was as the Air Eorce A d v i so r a n d F - 15 Instructor Pilot at Kingsley ANG in Klamath Falls, Oregon; the perfect completion to a fulfi lling 20-year flying career with t h e A i r F o r c e .

Upon retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in January 2005, Skip continued his fl ying career as a corporate and a freelance pilot .

Always looking for an opportunity to jump in a cockpit. Skip’s love of flying was his greatest motivation and aspiration.

Skip met his wife, Debbie, in Colorado Springs, in May 1993 and a deep and lasting friendship began. They were finally m a r r i e d 10 years later and have experienced a lifetime of joyful m e m o r i e s a s w e l l as the blessing of a delightful daughter. Skip was a proud and consci

entious father. Twelve-year-old Wendy and her dad spent many plea surable hours working together on projects in the shop - building furniture, radio controlled airplanes or sim ply repairi ng t h e o d d h o u se h o l d i t e m .

Skip never failed to embrace the life he was given.

H i s t i m e o u t si d e

work was fi lled with hobbies, attending his daughter’s a c t i v i t i e s a n d

Step han Kaj ah

aeri al evacu at i on m i ssion s dur i n g

Operation Desert Shield/Storm. As a member of the elite Primary Nuclear Airlift force, he was also respon sible for the safe and timely transport of the United St a t e s ’ n u c l e a r arsenal. Wanting to be closer to family and the Rocky M o u n t a i n s h e enjoyed so much, Stephan transferred to Colorado Springs w h e r e h e served as a glider instructor at the Air Force Academy.

After his departure from active duty service. Major Kaj ah was hired

by the

Air Force Refueling Squadron where he was an i n st r u c t o r

pilot on the KC-10 Extender for the past 10 years. One of Stephan’s biggest joys was serving as Flight Commander. As a c i v i l i a n h e f l ew a s a DC-10 Captain with Gemini Air Cargo for the last eight and one half y ear s.

As a cadet Stephan was active in the Baptist Student U n i o n w h e r e

he was involved with missions and served as president his senior year.

As an alumni Stephan took the role of treasurer and al l-around handy m a n for BSU . Whether it was numbers that needed to add up or a roof

that needed to be repaired, Stephan was the one everyone c o u n t e d o n .

On April 17, 1993, Stephan was united in marriage with Cynthia Ann McCormick at Woodman Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs, C o l o .

During their 13 years of marriage they enjoyed traveling, camping,

hiking and spending time with their extended families. Stephan was

avid outdoorsman who loved Colorado and all it had t o o f f e r .

Stephan’s family, friends, fellow church members, military fam ily,

a n

Gemini family and neighbors gathered for his funeral se r v i c e o n F e b .

22, 2006 at the Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs. Stephan was buried with full military honors at the Air Force Academy.

10 7

Stephan loved life and lived it well while helping th ose ar ou n d h i m .

He possessed a noble and beautiful nature that expressed i t se l f i n his love for his wife, his family, his friends and his country. He had great faith and great humility. His ever-present smile, positive atti tude and eager willingness to help were appreciated by all who came into contact with him. He could see purpose in things beyond him self. We honor him by remembering how he would want u s t o l i v e . . .

fully and with faith.

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing m ove you. Al ways gi ve yoursel ves fully to the work of the Lord, becauseyou know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. ” 1Corinthians 15:58 (The Family)

Gil ber t A . M un oz, '98 When asked to submit something about Gil for this publication,

“There are many who mourn Gil. They may know him as a family member or as a friend. He may have gone to college w i t h t h e m o r worked with them. Every one of them has a story about w h a t G i l m e a n t

in their lives. 1 speak of him as a soldier and as a m a n . H e w a s e x tremely honorable, always the fi rst to volunteer, the fi rst to say sorry when hewas wrong. It takes a big man to do that and Gil was a big man in the real sense of the word. Gil’s brasses were always shining but his integrity shone even more. No matter how tired he was, n o m a t t e r

how strenuous his day had been, Gil never complained. H e l e f t t h a t t o t h e r e st o f u s!

“Today we are saying goodbye to him. He hasn’t gone i n a b l az e o f

glory. His achievements may not make front-page news, b u t G i l

wouldn’t want that. The quiet man that he was would be happy to I

knew that the most fitting tribute for him was one given by one of the men serving with him on his Special Forces Operational D e t a c h m e n t at t h e t i m e of h is d eat h . T h e w o r d s of

his friend and comrade which follow, capture the essence of the man who

told me often that in terms of being a husband and a soldier, “being good at the one makes you good at the other.” The words that follow speak

t o h i s r ol e as a H ALO Team Lead er an d

my only addition is to say that he was right. He was as wonderfully, hum bly, genuinely good to his family as

h e w as t o h i s m en . H is d eat h o n Feb .

9, 2005 w as a d ir ect r esu l t o f h is t r ain

know that those who cared for him knew that he was a good offi cer. Gil

didn’t need any fanfares, any trumpets blowing, to t el l u s t h at . H i s whole life proclaimed that fact. Perhaps Gil’s inner strength cam e from the fact that he had a deep belief in values. Today I have n o doubt that that he has gone to the Ranger in the sky. For living in this

world is but the fi rst part of a man’s life, a man’s m issio n , an d Gil cou l d

not leave a mission unaccomplished. Accomplish your m i ssi on , Gil , and may God welcome you into His blue skies.” (GiTs Sp ecial Forces t e a m m a t e s)

Scott E. Cr aven , '02 Scott Eric Craven, "Cradle”, 26, passed away unexpectedly o n F e b .

27, 2006 as the passenger in a single vehicle accident i n Val d ost a, Ga. Scott graduated from Conwell-Egan Catholic High School i n B u c k s County, Pa. in 1997. Scott earned many honors in high sc h o o l i n c l u d ing induction into the National Honor

ing to be the best for them , and for us all. (Emily M unoz)

Society, a partial college scholarship

good press nowadays. It ’s far more of Gil M un oz ten a case of every man for him self.

But Gil knew better. He knew that in unity there is strength. He knew that liberty has a price. He knew that those who serve their flag have more job satisfaction than any businessman although soldiers rarely

W il l i am H . M ar kw ar d M em o r i al B as

fr om t h e N at io n al Foot b al l Fou n d at i on

and Hall of Fame, and recipient of the

“Doing one’s duty doesn’t often get

ketball Club’s Award for Outstanding Play and Sportsmanship.

Scott went to theValley Forge Military

Junior College in Valley Forge, Pa. as a

Falcon Foundation Scholar. Following

become millionaires. Gil knew that soldiers are a special b r e e d .

“All of us have friends in other walks of life. A comrade, though, is

o n e y ear at VF M JC , Sco t t en t er ed t h e

much more. He shares with you a responsibility to your particular

United States Air Force Academy with

well that they were safe with him. I shared meals and j ourneys with

Scott continued his athletic ways at the Academy playing for the Intercol legiate Rugby Team. He enjoyed work

assignm ent to Cadet Squadron 20.

unit or team. You have to be able to rely on a comrade. Yo u h av e t o b e able to trust him in any emergency.Your life may depend o n i t . I t r u st e d Captain Munoz with my life, my secrets and my thoughts. I k n ew f u l l

ing out, rock climbing, mountain bik

him and we often talked for long periods. What we said might not make headline news but some of the jokes he told me w o u l d h a v e done well in Reader ’s Digest. Most of them, of course, would only be understood by one of the guys in the team. Gil was kind and always willing to give you a hand. He was such good company t h a t n o m a t t e r

and in June 2005 participated in his first triathlon e v e n t .

Scott graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engi neering Mechanics from Cadet Squadron 6. Following graduation,

is an old saying that a good companion shortens the r o ad , an d Gi l

Training at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, flying

“The Captain also had many talents, many sides to his c h a r a c t e r .

Scott completed primary flight training and was selected f o r a d vanced training with Class 04-03 of the 25'*’ Flying Training Squadron

how tediousthework you had to do, he madetime pass quickly. There shortened m any marches.

Everyone who knew him has a different tale to tell. It might be of his athleticism . It could be of some work he did in Colombia or Iraq. They might tell, more seriously however, of how he cheered so m e o n e w h o was low, how he helped someone who needed that help. To his family, of course, Gil meant more than words can say. Whatever any of us say about him, I think Gil would be happy if today, as we say our goodbyes, we simply say, he was a good Special Forces soldier.

F o r m o r e c u r r en t i n f o r m at i o n ab o u t

graduate deaths, please visit the AOG web site. www.usafa.org 10 8

ing, snow boarding, wake boarding,

Scott was selected to attend Joint Specialized Undergraduate P i l o t

th e T-34 M en t o r.

at Vance AFB in Okl ahoma. While at Vance AFB, Scott learned to fly the

T-38A Talon and upon graduation was presented with the Flight Commander’s Award for his exemplary attitude and leadership. Sc o t t eagerly looked forward to his assignment as a First Assignm ent In structor Pilot . Following graduation of T-6A Texan 2 P i l o t I n st r u c t o r

Training at Randolph AFB, Texas, Scott was assigned to the 3"* Flying Training Squadron at Moody AFB, Ga.

As a highly respected instructor pilot, he gained experience a s a

Flight Scheduler and Unit St andardizat ion and Evaluation M o n i tor. Scott ’s abilities recently earned him selection as a check pilot .

(Con tin ued on p age 144)

gets. There were no young people like us- just senior citizens in th eir 60s, 70s an d 80s! Al l t old , it w as a n ice b reak an d w e h ad a lot of laughs.”

Formal Night on the cruise.

April 11of thisyear turned out to be something of a bittersweet day. It began on a cold and mournful noteasJack Bryan laid hisb el o v ed Sh ar o n t o r est at t h e Academy cemetery. Several classmates braved the unseasonable c o l d an d t h e biting wind to share the inurnment ceremony, officiated by Bob Browning with his trademark sensitivity and eloquence.

Spiri tswere lightened that evening duri ng the annual Founders’ Day Dinner at theAcademy Offi cers’ Club when H.T. Johnson was h o n o r ed as o n e o f t h e 2005 Outstanding Graduates, the third ’59er so designated. B r ad H o sm er d e livered a masterful congratulatory speech on behalf o f t h e C l a ss an d H .T . a c knowledged the honor with his customary humility and self-effacing humor.

'a H El B H ® B B B B B

B B HB B B B B Q QB B B B a QS B B B B Q B B B QQOB QB B i

N E W S 85%

Pe t e To d d

cWlei n hef s

12 5 0 Big Va lley Drive Colorado Springs, CO 8 0 9 19-10 15 H: (719 ) 53 1-5 874 FAX: (719 ) 53 1-66 97 E-ma ii: pet et odd@adelphia .net

Our 1999 Class Gift that funded a keynote speaker for t h e an n u al N a t i o n al Character and Leadership Symposium (NCLS) istruly a gift that keeps on giv ing.The speaker we funded thisyear was Mrs. GerdaWeissm an Klein , a h olo caust survivor whose chilling but inspiring story of courage under extreme duress held the entire audience spellbound. Read this r e markablewoman’s book Ail But My Lifefor an up close a n d personal view of the unimaginable horrors that the w o r l d must never forget.

Bill Telford wrote last winter about the opening of th e 2 0 06 travel season for the ’59ers. “Things have been pretty quiet 28 here on the East Coast during the ‘doldrums.’ Not much t o report. However, anti cipati ng abad winter (which never t r a n spired),Anna and BonnieJefferson planned (plotted?) a get away cmise to the Cari bbean for lateJanuary— early Eeb m ary,which we havejust completed. Naturally, theweather herein Virginiawas great whileweweregone, but it wasstill niceto get away and soak up somesun.

“Wedroveup toWintergreen on 29 Jan. and picked up theWayneand Bonnie for our tri p to Norfolk (embarkati on). Theload levelers on my SUV were tested to the limit with the baggagewepiled in.When we u n l o a d ed i t l o o k ed l ik e o n e of those cars in the circus where all the clowns keep com in g out !We sp ent 11 daysluxuriating in great food, sun, and island excursions. Even had a big su per bowl bash. The one thingwe noticed, however,wasthe age of the passen-

H TJohnson and Judy Jay chat at one of thegalas.

Festivities conti nued throughout theweekend, one or all eventsattended by T.I . An der son , D on an d Jin H ee Brooks, Bob an d Roxann Browning,Jack Bryan, Wiley Burch, Joe and Jo DeSantis, Steve Hamer, Brad an d Zita H osm er, Jim m i e and Judy Jay,Wayne and BonnieJefferson, Max and Trix M ill er , Ed an d Lucia Montgomery, Pete and Wendy Todd, Jim Welch, Jim and Carol West an d , of course H.T. and Linda Johnson, surrounded by large numbers of their prog eny and their spouses. Other guests included George Klutinoty, MD who is back in Colorado Springs, practicing medicine and eagerly awaiting the sale of hisIndianapolishome.Adult supervision wasprovided by ATOsHerm Gilster and Charlie (and Sylvia) Emmons, who naturally took full credit for the guid ance and training that led to this honor.

Paul Lasen dropped a note and the accompanying snapshot th at c el eb r at es the Miracle of theYear. Paul writes, “This picturew as taken in Rockw all , TX on April 22. It was a gathering of friends to celebrate t h e su c c e ssf u l e n d o f t h e cancer treatment for Margaretta. Dave Groark and Margaretta a r e h e r e w i t h

V i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e.

M erchandise, Gone But Not Forgotten an d M ore! www.usafa.org

Old M ends celebrate the Mumph of another brave woman o ver th e c an c er sco urg e.

10 9

two of Dave’s roommates from the old days, Ed Lynch an d Pau l w i th w ives, Mary Lou and Barbara.” You go, girl!

Wendy and I shared an enj oyable evening with Tom and K ar e n St a ck i n

Charleston, SC, duringareunion of the307* BombWinga sso ci at i o n i n l at e

April. Tom and I were B-47 copilots in the 307* at Lin coln AFB, N E, lo th ese many years ago. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to at t en d t h e en t i r e r eu n i o n because of family commitmentselsewhere, but we enjoyed a classy river din ner cruiseand getti ng caught up on thehealth, welfare, an d fl u i d m ar i t al st at u s of our respective offspring.

Finally, theAOG hassent out a survey to all graduate m em b er s. T h e a d m i n istrati on isworking hard to improve the level and quality of communications with thegraduate community .You can do your part by filling out and returning the survey.

AsI write, theUSAFA Classof 2006 isabout to graduateandjoin thewar against terrorism in awidevariety of specialties. They’veh a d m o r e t h an t h ei r sh ar e o f turbulencethroughout their cadet careers,which will help preparethem for the vagaries of the uncertain future they will face. The Class of 1959 congratulates them one and all and wishesthem every successin the sporty days ahead.

Best wishes to all for a safe and enjoyable summer.

Thought for theQuarter. I don’t do drugs. I get the sameeffect just standingup fast .

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t survey. Thep urpose of the sur vey is to hear from you. Your p ar ti cipation is very imp or tan t to us. We earn estly wan t tokn ow whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to gi ve voice to your views and will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we want to bear from as many members asp ossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefaUof 2006.)

A.J. (Rosie) Cler, Jr. 9 1 8 0 Co o rs B lv d . NW # 1 0 0 3

M e m b e rs

Albuquerque, NM 8 712 0-3 114 E- m a i l : RCt h e ro s e @a o l .c o m

Class Web Sit e: www.usaf a.net/ 19 6 0

Yo!Today’s assignment isto send Les Querry your picmres of ustaken during our resplendent cadet years — he’s expanding the CD prepared in 2005 for presentation at our 50th in 2010...morelater.

That last week in Febmary (2006) brought good weather t o th e W asat ch Fr o n t and Salt Lake City , alongwith several membersof the Classto test their waning skills on the nearby slopes in MiniSki XVI . Several classmateswerejoined by sons, daughters, and one granddaughter (that’s a good thing): A1Johnson; Howie Bronson; Les Hobgood; Earl and Pat Van Inwegen, so n C u r t an d w i f e Martha;Andi and CaroleBiancur; Ralph Lalime and son Jay; Georgeand Diana Pupich and son Alex; Greg Boyington and June Colgan, daughter Tiffany and daughter Amanda’s husband Jeff; Jerry de la Cruz with daughter Annemarie and granddaughter Anna Sophie; Jim Boyle and daughter Shayne (USNA ’81); and Jim and Judy Gallagher (’62). On Monday they werej oined at dinner by Roy &and Barbara Jolly and Bob and Jan Brickey (’61).

An di Biancur, Greg Boyington, Les Hobgood, Jerry de l a Cr u z an d H o w i e

Br on son .

UCLA-MBA; U.S. Air ForceAcademy, BSin Engineering. Se am an Re c r u i t / USNavy through Lieutenant Colonel, USAir Force. USAF/ FAA I n st r u ct o r Pi lot. Policy Development for the Department of Defense. Director 105 engi neers/ scienti stswith 30 aerospacefirms. Chief-Management Informati on Sys tems, Cost / ScheduleAccounting Division. Policy-Advanced Programming Offi cer for 130,000 person organization. Met Life-Personal / Busine ss F i n an cial Services. SBA-Client Counselor (San Diego Union-Tribune, N o v em b er 12 , 2 0 0 5 ) .

Would you vote for that candidate?I would. That’s the bio-piece for Phil Meinhardt,who ran as aRepublican for theSan Diego City Council in Novem ber 2005 and fi nished 9th of 17 candidates, spending a meager $500while the winner spent $600K! “I initi ally understated theexpensesof thewinner for City 1 10

Council, 2nd District, San Diego, Kevin Faulconer,” writes Phil. “According to

theUnion-Tribuneheactually spent $829K, not counting Republican Party expenses.TheParty can spend unlimited fundsaslongit is directed to regis

tered Republicans.With the Party expenses, the cost of the seat, which pays only $75Kper annum,waswell over $1M. Doyou think he owes anyone?”

Nowbackto“TheBoysGrewinBrooklyn.”L^ t timeit w as m em o i ri st D en i s

Haney’sautobiographical contribution—followingthat, I received a superb lett er fr om w i fe, Liz, w h o w i sh ed t o ad d a m or e h u m an t o u ch t o t h a t w h i c h

Denishad submittedwith hispiece. (For her full letter,go to the classwebsite).

Now comes Brooklyn-native George Joseph Charles Fries (Foru m l , Gu n

Club 1, LacrosseClub3,2,1-Secretary-Treasurer,Rally Com m itt ee 2,1, Ski Club

2,1,Yearbook 3,2,1-Business Manager): “Born in a Brooklyn hospital, bap tized in a Catholic Church in Brooklyn, lived first few years in a German com munity in Brooklyn! Subsequently moved to an Irish c o m munity in Queens, went to elementary school in Brooklyn, attended Mass every Sunday at St. Matthias and graduated

from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn.

“My assignment to LittleRock AFB asa Refueling Squadron Navigator was my fi rst and only operational, peacetime fly ing assignment over a 28-year career. But, thanks to Youn g Tiger, I did get to see some ‘combat stuff refueling fighters

and B-52son their way tovarioustargets.Moreimportantly,

17 Sabre Society Do nors

I got to be one of the last few classmates to have a drink (or two) with Sam Waters, one of my roomies, beforehewas shot dovm , capmred and incarcerated up North, and ended up dying as a POW. He had just come back to Okinawaaft er astint down South and wascelebratingcoming back to Kadena unscathed. Unfortunately, a short timelater hewent back in-country,

flying‘routepackages’ up North.Wasn’t quiteaslucky t h e r e .

“I had been stationed at SOSfor a couple of yearswhen who should show up as a Section Commander but Denis Haney, the second Academy Grad to be assigned to theSOSfaculty (it wasonly fi ttingthat Denisshould bethe first grad I worked with, since he and I had been riding back t o t h e Ea st C o a st f o r th r ee years on General Sweeney’s bird, and my dad would drive D en i s t o h i s h o m e in Brooklyn aft er a beer and a belt).

“Left SOSand did a combat flying assignment/tour in RV N w i th t h e ‘el ec tr i c goons (ED-47S)’. Spent some time in that outfit with George Collier, then left Pleiku in the summer of ‘70, starting my hopscotch career in HQ assignments

in theDataAutomation/ComputerResources/InformationManagement/

Co m m u n i cat i on s car eer f i el d s: SA C, PA CA F, TA C, U S Fo r ces Kor ea, U SEU COM , H Q AD TAC, Com b in ed Forces Com m an d (Korea)— can h o n estly say that I always had a great job or a great locat ion , som etim es both .

“Interfaced with Tom Seebodewhile assigned to Korea t h e fi r st t i m e . H e w a s the J-1and I was running a Navy-funded organization with j oint manning.

Tom helped mewith my manning problems, and tried to keep me in shapeby joggingwith me most morningsbeforework.While at AD TAC, M ik e Loh w as mnning theTAC RequirementsDirectorate, and picked up his second star the same time I wasgetting Eagles. “ Retirement from the military in 1988 has been great, although I did enj oy wearing the Eagles (R: Seephoto of George caught executing hismanagement sty le).

BecauseI SAID so!" [It ’s Great Being theKing.^ “I started a second career in the landscaping arena while living as a civilian in Hawaii, and continued to work for landscaping companieswhen the family remrned to the Mainland.Working for Busch Gardens in Williamsburg in late Spring, Summer, and early Fall, and substimte teaching at t h e M i d d l e Sc h o o l / High School levels.

“Our daughter Jennifer graduated from BYU-Idaho in D ecem ber 2005, an d Stefanie graduated fr om high school in June 2005. Our t h r ee o l d er ch il d r en — Chemical Engineer Matthew, 41, went to the U. of Arkansas, as did 40-year-old Suzanne,Veterinarian, and Nicole, 39, graduated from Little Rock College and

i s a sch o o l t ea c h er .

“Becke and I look forward to bei ng empty -nesters so w e c an d o m o r e t r av el .

I belongto agroup that setsup l OK walks in theTidewater area, theVolksm arche

Club. And, I’ll have the fr eedom to go to Virginia Beach , th e Ou ter Ban ks, an d NYC.We recendy visited L A. for 10 days, Malibu Beach, Santa Barbara, and up to NapaValley.”

So those are the “ The Boys CWho) Gr ew in Brooklyn." T h i s t h r e e - h ea d e d dioram a focused on th e lives of Rick Walk er , Deni s Haney, and George Fries— they watched those‘Brooklyn Bums’ as kids, then made t h e i r h ar d sc r a b b l e trajectory fr om Flatbush to fame and fortune, with these stories fr aming their histories as both gripping vignette and gritty experience.

Jerry Mason was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, bett er known as Lou Gehrig’sdisease) almost 20 months ago, and Washington State neighbor Chuck Diver gave us an update: “Jerry is doingwell , though he isget tingweaker and weaker, down to 152 pounds. Still drives, getshisnourishment tJirough a tube in his stomach sincelast September. Hisfamily of four children nearby and the kids see him almost daily, alongwith a host of grandkids. His mind isjust asgood asit alwayswas;hissenseof humor isvery fi ne. Hedoeshave quiteabit of diffi culty talking, but gets histhoughtsout given the opportunity.”

Jerry’s ability to speak is95% gone so don’t contact him by telephone— E-mail jerbob@ncplus.net. Jim O’Rourke recently visited Jerry.

Jackie and Tom Brophy traveled to the Holy Land last D ec em b er. H e d o esn ’t know what he expected but the trip was the highlight of their year. They spent a lot of tim e in th e “ West Ban k ,” w h ich w as in st ru ctive and provided a unique fr ame of reference for reading about the election of Hamas and what hashap pened since their short visit. Tom is still working as a support contractor at the Special Operations Command which has a really wonderful group of people, so it is still fun for him to go to w ork. Jacki e and Tom will be going to South Afr ica in July to visit t h eir so n and attend the birth of their 15'^ grandchild. Life is great for t h em .

I illy and David Carlstrom visited Ron and SusieWeeden a t the end of April. Ron was excited about attending the r e un ion w hen he received th e initial reunion lett er, b u t b e n ow

15 Sabre Society

Do n o rs feels that the trip would be too much for him. They enjoyed s o m e seeing theWeeden’snew home. Ron also showed them neat pictures fr om his “Ranch Hand” days. One showed a C-123 with a palm tree embedded in thewing. Dave accused Ron of trying t o fi n d an al t er n a t i v e to Agent Orange for tree removal. Lilly and Dave wUl atten d th e reun ion , b ut they are running behind in their planning. Dave iscurrendy completing train ing to be a science teacher augmentee in the Boston m i d d l e sc h o o l s. Yo u c an fi nd more on this attempt to re-invent himself in the Bob , Brice, an d H ector

r eu n i o n b o o k .

Jerry wi th Jim O’Rourke.

MINI-REUNION 2006. Once again weembark on another qui xotic quest for blissaround theAEA-Navy Football Game Friday and Saturday, October 6 & 7, beginningwith a social Friday fr om 5:30 p.m. at theAcademy Hotel followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Next morning it ’s the GlazaCate before the game, then lunch with the Quarterback Club. For rooms, call the Academy Hotel (for merly the Radisson) at 1-800-760-8524. For game tickets a n d m eal r e se r v a tions, contact Andi Biancur at 2Biancurs@Adelphia.net.

And after you’ve mailed off your cadet photos taken from 1956-1960 plus picturestaken at our fi ve-year reunionsand other post-graduation gatherings to lesquerry@wildblue.net, go to the classwebsite at w vw .u saf a .n et / 19 6 0 an d giveAce Holman your current address, phone number a n d e -m ai l . . . Yo u 'l l b e glad you did!

(Tu torsnote:TheAOGhasdistributedan importantsurvey. Thep urpose of thesur vey is to hear from you. Your participation is very importan t to us. We eam estiy wan t to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesurvey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.) '/ / 4

Ea r l N . “ Ne ls o n ” O ’ Re a r

50 58 2 St oningt on Drive Granger, IN 4 6 53 0-8 24 3 H: (574 ) 273-2 597

^ 87%^ M e m b e rs

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E- m a i l : EN Oa n d TJO@a m e r it e c h .n e t

Class Web Sit e: www .usafa l 9 6 1.org

Our 45* Reunion Committee has done a great job planning our upcoming reunion. Our combined thanks to you all for making it h app en .

Mark and Ginger Anderson are enjoying their fi rst grandchild, Emily,who will be about six months old by the time you read this. She and her parents live in Beaumont,TX, about 300 milesfr om them but close enough for fr equent visits.

Bob Best has severed relationswith hisold company and bought into a new one in Arkansas that makes a lift system for the disabled. He thinks it hasgreat potential, but you can check it out at <h2o-ramps-lifts.com>. Their product, unlike the rest of the market, is economically priced for th e disabled , m ost of whom are fi nancially strapped. So if any Gray Tags ev er n eed a m ed i c al l i ft f o r themselvesor their family. Bob says he can provide i t . B o b vi si t ed t h ei r m an u facturing facilities in China at the end of February to address some quality control issues and wasquite impressed with the stridesthat country has made and theratethey areprogressing. He’safr aid that m ai n str eam A m er i ca i s o b liv i ous to the potential stranglehold China has on our ec o n o m y.

JackBri^ t hassettledinSanAntonio. Hisnewcontact in f o r m at i o n i s: 59 03

Babcock Road, Apt 701, San Antonio, TX 78240. Home Ph o n e : 2 10 8 7 7 2 7 8 0 ;

Bin and Theda Foster proudly attended graduati on ceremoniesfor their son , TheodoreJ. Foster, fr om theVirginia-Maryland Regional School ofVeterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech on May 13* . Dr. Ted will specialize in large farm animals, especially cows— undoubtedly an interest from his many experi ences living in base housing with such pets. They planned t o v i si t so n L t C o l Chris Foster (IDF J3/J5) in Iceland during June before he is reassigned to the USAFA flying training squadron and assisting on the so c c er fi el d .

Kate and Lou Hablas returned in April fr om some “fr ee t i m e” t h at t w o o f h er aunts provided by “sitting” with her wheel-chair-bound mother. First, they went to a “Heart Cry for Revival ” Conference held at the Billy Graham Training Center, “The Cove,” in Ashville, NC. They spent four days and three nights at their wonderful facilities, soaking up some really great spiritual food aswell as the other kind. (Lou says that he is trying hard to sh e d a t l e a st so m e o f t h e pounds he gained before our reunion.) After staying at The Cove, they drove to Charlott e to visit tw o of Kate’s oth er au n ts, th eir h usbands, an d oth er rela tives. Then they drove to Alpharetta, GA, (Atlanta subu rb) to vi sit Lou ’s elder

son, Lou, hiswife, and their two young children. Lou (Sr) felt that it was a very

w o r t h w h il e v i si t si n c e h e sa t i sfi ed h i m sel f t h a t b esi d e s being a good son, Lou is also a great husban d and father. Most important, h e w i t n e sse d h i s so n ’s r e

ligious devotion fi rst hand.

Tom and Liz Hill spent three months of winter in Florida. To m m ad e su r e h e return ed to Indiana in timeto coach high school baseball an d sai d th at h i s n ew hip has really made a difference. He says that life is GREAT with the new hip.

Wayne and Mary, and Jo and Dean Jones went to the Seattle ar e a i n M ar ch / April to visit their niece, Karen Jones, and Jeff and Vera Jon es in Yakim a (W & M ’s son/wife/ two grandsons), Mary’s sister Ruth and h u sb an d , D avi d , in Everett , an d th en on t o Wh istl er Resor t in Br iti sh Columbia for some spring skiing. They really enjoyed that beautiful resort and theskiingwasgreat as long astheystayedhig^ onthemountain. InEverett theytoured the Boeing777/747 assembly plant, the world’s largest building, and their new Euture of Flight Building (featuring the 787 Dreamliner). They were very impressed.

Sandy and Lowell Jones were about half-way through their California trip the middle of May (returning toVirginiaJuly 9* ) pulling their trusty Airstream trailer when he sent me an e-mail. Their trip had gonewell, with only one flat tire on thetrailer. They missed all thetorn adosand stormsgoingthrough Texas and were in Palm Desert when he e-mailed me, seeing many old friends and relatives in the area. So far, the classmates they had seen included Larry and Kathy Freeman, and Richard and Carolyn Smith in San An tonio; an d Ron an d Jeri Fullerton, and Jerry Mason in Tucson. They missed a planned get-to gether at Jimmy and Susan Poole’s house (with theWestbrooks also in cluded) in Montgomery, because of their flat tire in Alabama. They are looking forward to their September trip.

Bob Kellock is pulling on the Boeing yoke better (see the stock go up), and sailing to Catalina with his magical mate more often. Fun is starting to make work look less and less necessary. He said that he hopes to see everyone in Color ado , as w ell as in th e reu n ion b ook .

Jerry and Sue Left on returned home fr om Tucson on the 17* of M arch , an d Jerry went to theTuesday practice day for the Mastersgolf tourn ament. Hesaid that Augusta National’sbeauty cannot becaptured on TV Jerryheadsthe^ oup developing the plans for restoring a neighborhood park in Bay St. Louis fol lowing Hurricane Katrina. They have signed the contract for the playground

Cl a ss o f 1 9 6 1 4 5 th R e u n i o n

6-10 Sep tem ber

U SA FA a t Ten n ess ee

C eU Ph o n e : 7 02 2 8 5 74 5 3 .

111

equipment and planned to fi nalizethelandscaping contract in mid-May, hop ing to have the park ready by the end of July Jerry golfed with 43 other gradu ates from AFA (13),West Point, Annapolis and the Coast Guard on May 13‘'’.

Most livein theRaleigh area. Jerry wastheoldest AFA graduate, and theyoung est was a ’92 graduate. They will combine their resultswith those from a Sep

t em b e r t o u r n am en t t o d et er m i n e th e ser vi c e w i n n er. A FA h as w o n t h e la st tw o

years. Sue and Jerry werelooking forward to atwo-day visit from Jim and Patty Hourin and Doug and Dee Cairns on May 29"'. They were to fly to Pinehurst in Jimmy’sCessna310. On June 16"’, Nancy Wilhelm planned t o a r r i v e f o r a week’s visit. The following day Jim Wilhelm and Larry K a r n o w sk i w e r e t o motorcycle in after spending the previous night at t h e St eb b i n s ’ i n W est V i r ginia. From there they were going to the O’Connors’ at Casw ell Beach , N C. B o b an d Pat Sm i t h rem r n ed fr o m an o th er cr u i se at th e begirming of May, this time sailing from southern Florida through the Panama Can al t o Ecu ad or, Peru, and Chile. It was a fun trip but the plane ride h o m e r e m i n d e d h i m o f McGuireto Rhine Main: long! They plan another trip later thisyear with a ri ver cruise from Budapest, Hungary, to Nuremberg, Germany. It will be a totally different kind of cmise than ocean sailing. Last November B o b w as r e - el ect ed (for th e seven th tim e) to th e Board of D irectors of t h e l o c al H e al t h C a r e D i s

trict. He’s been president of the board for the last fi ve years.

Jn early March, Bob and WinnieWagner visited relatives in the LasVegasarea and took a great side trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon.A late snowfall in thecanyon made it even more special, and Winniewasrelieved that it kept Bob from hiking into the canyon. For thosewho have not tried the El Tovar Lodge, t hey recom m end it highly, but you need t o plan w ell a h e a d a t grandcanyonIodges.com. Later in the month they had a very pleasant stay with Doug and Dee Cairns at their family condo in Tybee Island, GA.They also highly recommend that lodging.

The day Tom and Judy Wilson sent their input it was rainy and cold in Min nesota. Tom said that he hoped that they haven’t missed summer. They are looking forward to their annual family get-together in early August at the Ce dar Lodge and Water Park in Wausau,WI. All three of their children along with all l 0 grandchildren will be there for three nightsand four days. It’sa great time for the cousins, aswell as for the adults to be together w i t h o u t a B I G d e m a n d on Judy. Tom has begun his “slow-down” in hiswork schedule, preparing for semi-retirement. He says it feels good and he thinks he will be ready for the “real thing” soon.

Roger Woodbury said that their daughter Michele fi nished h er M a st e r s i n Einance & Accounting at Weber State. In May he and Mary Sue attended her graduation ceremonies in Ogden. She graduated with honors, and begins a job in Philadelphia with Deloite & Touche in September. H er husban d , Paul , is n ow a 1St Lt , an d a Com m u n ication s Offi cer at H ill A PB . H e c o u l d b e a s signed to McGuire next year. Their older daughter, San d i, an d h er h u sb an d , Scott, continue with their careers in New Jersey as a Stat e Prob at ion Offi cer,

and EMT/ Firefighter, respectively. They are doing well too. Mary Sue and Roger toured Ireland and Scotland in May for two weekswith their good fri ends from Quebec (whom they met in Morocco in 1973).

Thanks once again for all your inputs. Wewould also really like to hear from thoseof you who have not updated us lately. What are you doing these days?

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an important survey. Thep urposeof the sur vey is to hear from you. Your participation is very impor tant to us. We earn estly wan t to kn ow whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear If om as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

I T it;

Jo h n W . “Ja c k ” Ja m b a

4 Judy Court

co m m en t s o n t h e n et w o r k an d w i l l r e m em b er h i m f o r t h e only pilot to survive

being sucked out the window of the KC-135. Quite a gu y — n ev er ev e n m en t i o n ed h e w as ill i n h i s em ai l s. Pi s sen d a d d r ess so I c an w ri t e

hisfamily. Rest of you turkeysget to Sam’s site and post som e memories for posterity.”

Got an email from Pete Robinson that shows once again how small the world is. “Pat and I were starting a hiki ng tri p in an Elderhostel in Page,Arizona, on March 12th.W h en w e 14 rode up to our room in the elevator; the other people i n t h e elevator seemed to have a flash of recognition d ongw i t h u s. Sabre Society Do no rs It was Jerry Smith and his wife, Freddie.We spent t h e n ex t four days hiking some beautiful country near Lake Powell and the Colorado River with the rest of the group wew e r e w i t h . W e h a d f u n renewing acquaintances, reminiscing about cadet experiences, and getting some great exercise in a spectacular setting. It’s also great to know that we can still hike in some moderately challenging terrain for several miles. Jerry may add some thoughtsthat I’ve left out. I’ve attached a couple of pictures.Thanlcs for everything that you do for the class as scri be. Pet e Ro b i n so n . ” See a c c o m panying picture showing Jerry and Freddie on left with Pat and Pete on ri ght.

m

It was nice to hear about Jerry and Pete again since I h a d v i si t ed w i t h b o th o f them last year.Therewasa Redtag Get-Together in Albuquerque last May with Pete and another Get-Together in Dallaswith Jerry in August.

Got this missive from John Flanagan’s stepson: “I wanted t o se n d a b r i ef message to be included in Checkpoints along with some p ictu res. I h ave also CC’ed this message to the class of 1962 scri be. I am still in AFSOC at Eglin AFB and thingsaregoingvery well. Being assigned heresince 1999 hasgiven me the oppoit unity to see many classmatescomethrough Hurlbur t, Eglin and Tyndall.

I also see ChrisVance quite a bit. He is assigned to Tyndall flying QF-4s. He recendy arranged for my stepfather, John Flanagan ’62, to tour his squadron at Tyndall and to give a heritage presentati on.Alongwith thispresentation, Chri s wasableto arrange an F-4 flight for my stepfather (w ho had h ad a few back seat F-4 sorties in Vietn am ). Chr is w as th e IP for th is flight, and while I wastold that my 66-year-old stepfather could not pull as many Gs a s h e c o u l d i n t h e o l d days, they still had a great time flying around the Tyndall MOAs. I have in cluded some pictures of the three of us at Tyndall, I hope that thisletter gets to you in timeto makethenext issueof Checkpoints.Take care. Nate Scopac.” The picture showsJohn and his stepson, Nate Scopac ’97 an d Cl iri sVan ce ’97. John is the gray-haired one.

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S a t e llit e Be a c h , FL 3 2 9 3 7

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Hi Redtags, It’s a beautiful May afternoon and we hope to launch th e Sh u t tl e i n l ess t h an two months. I just finished a maj or inspection by an O SH A t e a m a n d o u r company has retained the coveted Voluntary Protection Program Star desig nation.We are one of only 1600-1-VPP Star work-sites i n t h e six m i l l i o n w o r k sites nationally.

First I haveto ann ouncethe passing of Brad Beck for those of you not on the Redtag Net. I fi rst heard about it fr om Mike Quinton by email: “It iswith great sadnessthat I inform you of thepassing of our fri end and colleague Brad Beck.

Brad died after a long illness on Feb. 11,2006, at his h om e in Post Falls, Idah o.

Brad was my roommate for the last half of our second classyear and all of our fi rst classyear.We didn’t plan any tripsto the moon but we had a good time. He remained a good fr iend over theyears since graduation. He is survived by his wife, Gail, son Eric, stepdaughter Kathy, and a grandson. Hewill be missed by all of hisfamily and many friends.” Got a reply fr om Bob Felt s: “ M ik e, been of f line for a couple of days. I am very sad to hear of Brad’s passing. I enj oyed his 1 12

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1got an email from Owen Hawkins showing me his trip w i t h C o n n i e t o t h e Kentucky Derby. See accompanying picture.

JO I N T H E SA B R E SO C I ET Y! Y O U R M O N EY H E L P S F U N D

CAD ET W I N G P RO GRA M S T H AT W O U L D OT H ERW I SE G O U N F U N D ED .

CA L L T H E A O G F O R I N F O .

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First time I ever wimessed an ace. After thegamewe repaired to A1and Lynda’s home—just a short distance fr om the 18"’ hole— to enjoy a few drinks and a delicious dinner. A great time was had by all.

I wasin Atlanta theweek after Easter to help put o n a c o n f er e n ce f o r t h e V PP Region 4 organization. As Chairman of the Board of Region 4, 1felt a lot of responsibility for making the conference a good one. A s it tu rn ed out , it re

ceived rave revi ew s from the 600+ atten dees. M ade m e f e el sa t i sfi e d . W h i l e I w as th ere, I had din ner at St eve M et tl er ’s h ou se w i th him and his lovely and

graciouswife, Kathryn, and Dave Holt . We had a great evening in spite of the rainstorm that drove us off the back porch into the house. In her spare time, Kathryn doessomelovely painting. Dave is into real estate and enjoying it very much after many years as a teacher.

I guess that’s it for now. Don’t forget the reunion next year. Should be a great one. I’m looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible. If you keep in touch with one of our Lost Souls, please invite them and encourage them to attend. Go Redtags! Jack (Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas disbributed an importan t sur vey. Thep urposeof thesur vey is to hear from you. Your par dcipation is very important to us. Weearnestly want toknow whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey isan organized way to give voice toyour viewsand will guidefuturestrategicplan ningby theAOG.Your viewsmatter and we want to hear ff om asmanymembers aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Norma n I. (Skip) Lee 6 3 1 1 9 E. Ca t Cla w La n e

Tucson, AZ 8 573 9-20 5 6 Home: (5 20 ) 8 2 5-79 8 0 Cell: (5 20 ) 241-34 9 8

M e m b e rs

ZA

E-m a i l: 5 4 w rs @m s n .c o m o r

H o l e-I n -O n e!

Bob Venkussent thisphotograph of him and Sam Westbrook taken whilethey w er e at RA F L ak en h eath . T h e Ve n k w r o t e “ Sam an d I w er e honored to join the veteran aviatorswho flew the El Dorado Canyon raid on Libya 20-years ago.

T h e 48th FW at RA F L ak en h eath h o st ed th e ev en t in lat e April to includea moving memorial service and a memorable Dining Out. As Commander an d V i ce r e spectively in ’86,we two Golden Boyswereparticipantsin the fi rst major action of theVERY LongWar on terrorism — fi fteen years before9 / 11 / 20 0 1! ’’

lindaa nds k ip@w bhs i.net

Wasn’t theFalcon Basketball season something to behold? Being selected for theNCAA Tourn ament wasa real achievement. Thegameagainst Illinoisin the fi r st r o u n d o f t h e N CA A w as a l o t cl o ser th an i t l o o k ed and we have to be really proud of theTeam. The 2006 Football season looks to b e a l o t o f f u n w i th t h e season opener against Tennessee at Kn oxville, NotreD am e at Fal c o n St a d i u m in November and then closing at TCU. The Tennessee and TCU games are against former major bowl (Cotton and Sugar) opponents. T h e C l a ss M i n i Reunion will be at the Navy game at Falcon Stadium o n O ct o b e r 7‘" .

A couple of noteworthy events: Lloyd Probst was recently in d u ct ed i n t o th e Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame. The write up said “Lloyd f lew 1,248 airlif t missions in Viemam, earning the Distinguished Flying C r o ss

andeight air medals. For 20yearshewasaFederi

Av i a t i o n A d m i n i st r a t i o n A c c i d e n t P r ev e n t i o n C o u n sel o r a n d P i l o t

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Examiner in Montgomery, logging more than 20,000 hours, including more than 6,000 hoursasa flight instructor. H e w as the EAA’s National Elight Instm ctor of theYear in 1991.” C o n 31 gratulations to Lloyd!

Caroline Pickens wrote to say that Ed received two presti Sabre Society Do n o rs gious awards thisspring: The Eairfax County Park Authority gave him the EOy DoyleAward, the highest award they give, and the McLean CitizensAssociation gave him their D u v a l E n v i r o n m e n t al Award. She says “Ed has been working to preserve the stream valleys in our area and to complete the trail along Pimmit Run. As president of the Fairfax Trails and Streams he is involved in the 40-mile-long Cross-County Trail. Ed organizes about 70 volunteers twice ayear for trail and stream cleanup, aswell as spendingat least threedaysaweek working in thestr eam an d o n th e t rai l an d convincing people to allow access across their property f o r t h e t r ai l t o b e c o n tinuous. Mostly this is hard, unseen work. It was really nice recognition for

In a recent e-mail Bill Flanagan says he isworkingw i th L -3 C o m a s a Sen i o r VP & GM supporting Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts, Electronic SystemsCen t er (ESC). H e ad ded t h at th e w ork is m ore th an a fu ll time job and he “can’t seem to escape the USAF connection, but then, I really d o n ’t w a n t t o . I t i s so enjoyable and exciting to still be associated with the mission and the quality people supporting thewarfi ghter. LOTSof grads here, b o t h r et i r e d an d ac t i v e duty in leadership positionsat Hanscom. They think th at u s f o lk s fr o m ’63 ar e ancient.We have an activeAOG chapter here and the camaraderie issuperb! (I was introduced at a recent AOG function astheoldest grad in attendance some honor!).. .The latest Checkpointshad theobit of oneof our c l assm at es an d o n e of my best friends, Jim Weaver. A true loss. He was totally dedicated to the betterment of USAF.We had some great times over the years together.A true

When Jim and Judy Winzell from Durango, CO and Don and Maggie Neff from Georgetown, TX said they would be in Tucson during t h e fi r st h al f o f April, A1and Lynda Adams organized a day if golf at the 49er Gountry Club followed by dinner at their home. Unfortunately Jim and Judy had to leave early to go to Albuquerque leavingAl, Don and yours truly to play golf. We had absolutely perfect weather for golf. What else would you expect in Tucson in April? Don, the expert golfer in the group, gave the two of us 20 handicappers quite a lot of strokes and Al took advantage of the situation by winning all the money. Al then capped the day with a hole-in-one on the par-tfiree 18"’ Hole.

latest Daedalian Magazine The Daedal us Flyer) In a recent issue of the Pima Air & Space Museum newsletter. Skywri ting, I saw that Joan Ardern (Bill) is the Director of Development and Community Relations for theArizonaAerospace Eoundation— a superb organization for the preservation of aviation history. Joan tells me that Bill is the CampusChair for Undergraduate Studies in Business for the University o f Ph o e n i x.

Here are a few quick updates: Lloyd Kelley said that after almost 24 years as federal judge (administrative law) hewasplanning to retire at th e end of Jun e.

Chuck Bush wrote that he has a son, two daughters and six grandsons. He is

h i m .”

T h e V en k an d Sam .

loss to th e team !” (Ed . n ote: sim ilar com m ents about Jim can be foun d in th e

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also theco-founder of anew nonprofit (www.MaecenasFund.org) organiza tion, which just awarded four, four-year scholarshipst o A r iz o n a St at e U n iv er sity to kids attending an underperforming high school i n Ph o en ix . I n an A r i zonaAOG e-mail flyer sent out earlier thisyear, Ed and Terry Reisdorf invited m em b er s o f th e A Z A O G d o w n t o th ei r r eso r t in C ab o San Lucasduring June 1 thr u the 4* . I took a look at th e attached U RL an d the resort istruly spectacular.

In case you might like to see what the place looks like go to http:/ / wvw .golfi ncabo.com / Home.htm. This may be a little late but I just recently picked up on the fact that Corwin (Kip) and Josette Kippenhan moved from Colorado Springs to Hickory, NC. Ralph Wetterhahn contributed a delightful article to the May 2006 MOAA magazine. Mili tary Off icer, entitled “Dogfi ght Fun”. And, most of you might not haveheard theCommandant o f C ad et s w h en we graduated. Major General Robert W. Strong Jr., passed away on March 16* a t h i s h o m e i n T u c so n .

To close, please take a look at your calendar for early October and if possible mark in the annual class Mini Reunion. It may sound a littlepremature to start talking about the annual Golden Boy gathering during the service academy game at Falcon Stadium but when you receivethisversion of Checkpoin tsthere will bejust alittle over threemonths to theAir Force-Navy football game on the 7* of October. I spokewith Bob Hayes who will again act a s t h e M i n i - Reu n i o n coordinator. The current thinking isto have the traditional pre-game tail gate followed by a gathering for social hour, dinner and cup-turning ceremony at theAOG. Despite the snowy and cold weather during t h e m i n i - r e u n i o n o f October 2004, the weather for early October at theAcademy is traditionally terrifi c. If you have any questions or want to let Bob you are plarming on being there please give Bob a call 1-719-481-9693 or send him an e-mail at bcahayes (®adelphia.net. Seeyou there!

(Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an important survey. Thep urpose of thesur vey is to hear f om you. Your participation is very important to us. Weear nestly want toknowwhatAOGservicesyoudoand donot val ue. Thesur vey isan organized way togive voice toyour viewsand will guidefuturestrategicplanning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want to hear f om asmany members as possible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

B o b Ho v d e 2 0 6 W a l k e r Av e .

Hunt sville, AL 3 58 0 1 (25 6) 53 2-39 23 W: (2 56 ) 716-276 5

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b o b . h o v d e @e a rt h l i n k . n e t W : r h o v d e @d rs -t e m .c o m

Sad News: Just after the last issue went to press, I got news that Jim Shively had died of prostrate cancer.Jim’s POW roommate, Joe Crecca, w r ote th at Jim h a d d ec i d e d i t w a sn ’t w o r t h i t an d d i sc o n t i n u e d t h e treatments. He passed away shortly thereafter, on 18 Feb - the 33'^‘‘ anniversary o f th e i r r el e ase fr o m North Vietnam. Joewrote, “Wewere cell mates for nearly four years. Jim was a prince of a man. Need proof? I never got angry at him. He was always a cd ming influence on the rest of us.”

Another of our heroes passes on.

Random News: Terry and Nancy Isaacson are adding onto th ei r cab in in t h e mountains (Arizona) - in anticipation of the R-word.Terry saysthat W is start ing to get in theway.

Kri sand Lura Mineau managed some overseas timewith a tri p to Iceland to visit son Dave, his wife, Amy, and twins Andrew and El i z a b et h . F r o m t h e r e they continued on to the Holy Land for 10 daysbefore returning to Massachu setts. Their oldest son, Kris, hiswife, Margot, and children Emily, Garrett and Teddy also live in New England, where Kris (Jr.) builds and manages daysurgery centers. Their youngest daughter, Karen, also lives nearby with her husban d, Al ex, an d son s Cull en , Christian an d Joshu a. (Their oldest daughter, Carrie, husband, Danny, and children Luke and Kelly live i n Tul sa.)

Kris is President of the Massachusetts Family Institute and spent last year spearheading a statewide petition drive for a constitutional am en d m e n t t o defi nemarri age astheunion of one man and onewoman. He’sshooting for the amendment being on theballet in 2008.

Jim an d Su e Ver Str eate ar e still in Beavercreek , OH where, by the time thisis published, Jim should be retired from Modern Technologieswhere he sup ported theC- 130Jaircraft and maintenancetraining systems. Jim saysthat Sue is furi ously seeking more bridge groups to join in o r d e r t o r e m ai n sa n e o n c e he’s home for good!

The VerStreates also have children/ grandchildren close. Daughter Kim, husband, Larry, and their children Logan andTayler are in the Dayton area, while daughter Kristen, husband, Neal, and children Kristopher, Kylie, and Kaleb are close enough to see often.Their son Jeff an d w ife. H eath er, live dow n the road in Cincinnati. The fi nal marriage “obligation” was fulfi lled last year, with thewedding of their daughter Kerry to Kemp Barksdalein Virginia. (Three out of four close enough for visiting isn’t too bad, considering our kids are spread out all over the country!)

Denny and Maryjo Montgomery stay near theski slopesin Utah when they’re not visiting their granddaughter Siobhan in Florida. On one of the trips to 1 14

Floridathey attended asurprisebirthday party LindaBarnes had arranged for

Barry.The Bloodworths,Tucks, Kosters, Garcias, and Chuck Handley all at tended, also. [If there are no pictures, it didn’t really happen.]

Ang and Ginger Cuppuccio are still in Santa Fe, whereAng works for the State.Their daughter Piper now lives in Santa Fewhile their other daughter, Jil, husband, Patrick, and grandsons Mario and Enzo live in D enver. [Look for Ang and Ginger to spend a lot of time in Denver!]

Jim and Jessica Fleming areworking on getting their m il l i o n ai r l i n e m il e s awards. Jessica retired and Jim and his partner merged t h ei r l aw fi r m i n t o a large international fi rm. Jim continued as usual until they started practicing thefi ne art of vacationing. Jim an d Jessica started with a long weekend hiking in Pal m Springs. T h e n they went snowshoe hiking up Donner Peak (near, Jim say s, the site of history’s most famous winter picnic). A trip to Washington for a f^amily funeral at Arlington (Jessica’sfath er) 50 allowed time for Jim to attend an oral argument at t h e Su

m

prem e Cour t, w here, as a m em ber of th e bar of th e Cour t, h e

Sabre Society

Do no rs got fi -ont row seating. Then on to Idaho and Montana, taking in Glacier National Park whilevisiting daughter Melanie an d her family.Af ter Glacier they set off with 16 hiker f ri en d s f o r t w o w eek s i n t h e Tyrol region of Austria. (Think - “There’s no trail and it’s straight down!”)

SurvivingtheAlps, they then visited Munich, Innsbmck, Saltzburg, andVienna,

where Jim’s ni ece is the D i rector of Public Relations fo r t h e I n t ern ati o n al A t o m i c

Energy Agency. Just to warm up after all of the cold areas, thefi nished theyear with a trip to Hawaii. Jim says, “Working isn’t so bad as long asyou don’t let it get in theway of your vacations.”

Nick and PatriciaLacy also havetheir son Bri an, hiswife,Jami, and grandkids closeby (MaryandHanirilton).Patriciagetstoplay“Grandmother” almost daily.

Their oldest, Gary, and wifelivein New Hampshire,whiletheir youngest,Alyson, isin the nuclear engineering businessin Baton Rouge, LA. M ean w hile, N ick is sfi Uactivewith the farm and the day-job - at least u n t il t h e en d o f 2 0 06 . A t t h at point, he threatensto go back to messingwith light airplanes, again.

Jim Wheeler sent along an article from the Colorado Springs Gazettethat reports on a “new ” program at USAFA. It seems that, fi -om n ow on , m i n or i n fractionswill no longer follow cadets into their fi rst Air Force assignments as letters of repri mand. Instead, they’ve come up with thewild idea of giving ca dets demerits and punishmentswhile they’re still at theAcademy, but letting them start out asecond lieutenantswithout any “baggage.” If th e in fr act io n s ar e severe enough that they can’t just be ignored, the c a d et w i l l n o t b e c o m m i s sioned.Amazing! (What’s really amazing is that the r eco r d s o f t h o se w i t h “ l et ters” ascadetshave to meet a board of GENERALSto get the record erased!)

Meanwhile, back at theranch. General Regni has also decided to bri ng back some military traditions, like making all cadets rise a t r ev eil l e an d ea t b r e ak fast, previously an option. Be still, my heart! Do I detect a return to discipline as a v i r t u e r at h e r t h an as a n a b st r a c t i d ea?

Last thought: Spinning is good on a lathe, bad in a M i at a .

(Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an important sur vey. Thep urpose of thesur vey is to hear f om you. Your par ticipation is very imp or tan t to us. We earn estly wan t to know whatAOGser vicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guidefuturestrategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear f om as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Rick Zurbrugg 2 9 2 9 Ga v in Pla ce

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Hey ’65!

Take a moment to remember Stephen H. Lawr ence, Lt. Col . (Ret .), CS 18, Class of 1965, died on Feb . 15, 2006, in H ou ston , TX, fr om complications of aneurysm surgery. Serviceswereheld Feb. 17,2006. Memori al donationsmay b e m a d e t o t h e Eh l er s D a n l o s F o u n d a t i o n : Eh l e r s D an l o s Fou n d at ion (Re

str ict ed Fun ds), 3200Wil shire Blvd ., Suite 160 1, South Tower, LosAngeles, CA 90010. Family: Mrs. Lynda Lawrence, 5229 18th PL, Lubbock, T X 79 4 16 .

It is azalea time again in Georgia.What could be fi ner th an t o be al ive, in reasonably good health and function, no longer trading h o u r s f o r d o l lar s an d lookingforward to the next tri p? Retirement is nirvana. It isalmost asgood as dri nking 3..2 beers in a downtown Denver dancebar full of working girlswith cars about 42 years ago. Now, it is about sitting outdoors in NapaValley with thegrandmother of your grandchildren watching thesun set and savoring the brie and chardonnay and fi guring out what to do next t o m ak e “ a d i f fer e n c e” (relax, this may take a while). So this column is “Remembrance of Things Past” — some of the best correspondence that you great guys sent in, in re sponse to my pleas, and because of constraints on space (1,200 w ord s) and time (received post deadline) never got in the column. Apologies for this ineptitude and here goes:

Pete Supp (fr om May 2005); “When 1retired in ’901started teaching 5th grade in a local public school near Moody AFB. The education heritage in South Georgia is nothing to write home about. Some kids made it w ort hw hil e, b ut there were too many negatives. Like: parents who couldn’t spell 5th grade words and thought the work was too hard. Other parents thought it was too much to expect their children to do any homework. And teachers generally believed it wasunnecessary to get further than half way through a text book by the end of theyear. 1transferred to 8th grade at V al d o st a M i d d l e Sc h o o l t o d i s cover most of those students were no brighter than the 5th graders I had. 1 fl unked 20 of 24 students in my math class!Then I fo u n d o u t ab o u t th e T-6 Texan simulator program at Moody. I signed up in a heartbeat (Ju n 2002). Th e T-6 replacesthe old T-37 “Squeek” for basic fl ight instruction. I t ’ a r e al sw eet d eal teachingAmerica’sfi nest again. I get paid for 35 hours aweek, but rarely work that long. I stay acti ve in Daedalians, and my old 435th Fighter Sq. fr om Ubon isnow aT-38 Fighter Lead-in squadron here at Moody, so I f eel l ik e I ’m st il l i n t h e U SA F. So n d r a a n d I b u i l t o u r “ r et i r em e n t h o m e ” in 2000, and I spend my fr ee ti me playing “Pedro” theyard man. My daughter Sherry had her third just before Christmas, and my other daughter, Cindy, has one in the hangar to be rolled out in Oct. That will make six grand kids. Life is good.” You bet, Pete, I can still see you leading cheers!

A n n a an d th e Cr o w ell Gi an 2 0 05 U M L a w Sch o o l .

Ren Crowell (fr om May 2005): “Attached is afamily picmretaken at my eldest daughter Anna’s graduation from U of Michigan Law School May 7. Front row: An na, former recipient of AOG scholarship, thank you all very much; Marianne, active 3rd grade teacher; Larry, junior at V a n d e r b i lt . Se c o n d r ow : Ren 5th Squadron, cancer patient (multiple myeloma blamed on Agent Or ange); Jimmy graduating fr om Williams College June 5th; and Ruth, graduate of Kenyon College and now studying at London School o f E c o n o m i c s f o r a master’s degree in the history and theory of international r el at i o n s. T h e k i d s all take after their mother, nice. Good-looking, and sm ar t . From their fath er, they are a bit pigheaded.” Hey Ren, beautiful people!

Curt Nelson (fr om May 2005):” The only ’65er that 1seewith any regularity isVic Grazier -- and that’s only when our paths cross at the gym . He’s doing well. I’m doingwell. But what isthisstrange effect that seemsto change every thing? Aging? The only relief from incipient depression is the continuing high(er) quality of ‘next generati on’ USAFA graduates. Working around the B1here at Wright-Pat, I’ve had occasion to assess favorably a n u m b e r o f r ec e n t zoomies. Uniformly superb quality. I’m happy to report. Well don e, U SAFA!” Right-on Curt!

Bill Cole (fr om March 2006):” Just got back fr om the 50-year reunion of AFA gymnasts, and I must say we had a good weekend.Tom Job in (’64) invited m e and Gary Close (our class) to stay at his house, and that made for a great ti me.

I had not seenTom since ’64 or Gary since ’65. Coach Jim Tan ak a (rem em ber doolie PE?) wasamong many of the coacheswho attended... yes, the one and

only Jim Tanaka.1[was] reminded of a story about Tanaka going to Ft Benning to jump school. He was the OIC and when they ran their m i l e s i n f o r m a t i o n

Tan aka ran circles ar ou n d th e for m at i on . Wh en ‘asked ’ t o d o 2 1 a i r b o r n e

pushups by the training NCOs, he replied, “Which hand?” They thought he was awise guy unti l he did 21one-hand pushups... fi rst the left, then the right.

I rem em ber th at som e of th ose N COs cam e to a m eet th at following season.

They were impressed with Capt T. Did 1mention that h e an d hiswife recently cUmbed Mt Kilimanjaro?He was, and st il l i s quite fit. We also managed to fi t in a lunch with Garey Matsuyama.Wewere, of course, saddened by the recent d eat h of Jim Weaver (’63) who was the fi rst Zoomie gymnast t o b e come an All American. Tom and 1paid our respects at t h e 31 Academy cemetery...

Tom Hamilton (fr om May 2006): “thestory on the 1965 ch eat Sabre Society Do n o rs ing scandal brought back some bad memories. I lost m y roommate and three other 12th Squadron members. I con sidered all close In ends. 1was the squadron honor rep and had some knowl edge of the problemswith one of the honor repswho w a s k i c k ed o u t . I r ec al l that we had a part icular case involving a classmate that everyone except this particular honor rep thought was guilty beyond a doubt but Enyo wouldn’t vote against him. That always puzzled me until we found o u t t h a t h e w a s in volved with the cheating. My roommate, upon leaving, paid me the greatest compliment that I have ever had. He said, ‘Tom, I would have told you but I knew you would turn us in.’ I am glad 1was never put to the test. I struggled academically so would have been a good target. His words have provided a great moti vation for me to try to live up the Honor C o d e an d h i s b el i ef i n m e .”

ThanksTom, that article gave a lot of folks the “willies”.

Thereyou have it, sports fans. Please send me an e-mail and tell mewhat you are doing if working or retired; what’s the best trip you’ve taken and the last great book you’ve read.Your scribe humbly recommendsThe Number by Lee Eisenberg— if you are even just thinking about reti rement an d, of course.Wh o Took My Money by Robert Kiyosaki will knock you onto your kiester unless you are already in the “fi nancial services industry”. An nu al fr ee advice (w orth every permy):View ED to mean that you have incipient heart disease and poor fi tness. Get your numberschecked; Blood pressure, LD L an d H D L cholesterols, BMI (body mass index) and Prostate Specifi cAnti gen. Get a colonoscopy and a digital exam where the sun don’t shine. Your companion needsthe same plus a PAP, and breast exam. Just within in the last 15 years, the statin dmgsto con trol cholesterol, blood pressure control, weight loss and exercise are rapidly increasing life expectancy. Tell your kids, “We’re living to be 100, spending every dimehaving the time of our life and giving the rest back.” That way they won’t get lazy. Bewell , do good work, and keep in touch. As the Roc would say.

MM

C h e er s. Ri c k .

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t sur vey. Thep urposeof th esur vey is tohear from you. Your par ticipation is very important to us. Weearnestly want toknow whatAOGser vicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey isan organized way to give voice to your views and will guide future strategicplan ning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want tohear from asmany members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Rya n Den ny 163 5 Mary Todd Lane

78%

M e m b e rs

O ’ Fa llo n , IL 6 2 2 6 9

H: (6 18 ) 6 24-4 2 5 5 W: (3 14 ) 23 2-5117 E-ma il: rya nd e n@ao l.co m

Greetings Redtags! We’re spooling up for our 40'*’ Reunion and the tempo is increasing to a fevered pitch! OK, maybe “fevered pitch” is a little bit of hyper bole for a crowd of 60-somethings. Maybe it’s more l i k e “ a l i t t l e i n c r e a se i n tension that sometimes disturbs our afternoon naps”.

Either way, as part of this spooling up process, our DC-area classmates put on a great 40-year reprise of our 100'*’ Night Dining I n . H ost ed by Fr itz McDougall , planned and organized by Fritz and Gary Palmer, it was a night of story-telling, nostalgia, good fun, and great people. T h er e w as ev en a cak e t h at said “66— Blood that Sticks!” Terry O’Donnell gave a speech, as his father.

General “Rosie” O’Donnell, had done at our original 100'*’ Night event. Ron Davis brought his cadet parade hat that had been caught by ayoung girl when we all threw our hats up at graduation. She tracked him down ayear or so ago and sent it to him for his60'*’ birthday. Ron is a docent (look it up) at theAir and Space Museum and offered to take the class on a tour. I r em e m b e r h ow Ro n V i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e.

Merchandi se, Gone But Not Forgotten an d M ore! www.usaf a.org Gary and Patty Close and Bill Cole 1 15

survived doolie year by astounding theupper classmen with hisknowledge of military history — now he’s part of it.

Jerry Callahan ’swife, Barb, wroteto say that Jerry is fi ghting melanomawith thehelp of some great medical expertsin the Seattlearea. Jerry isdoing hispart by continuing to work long hours at his Boeingjob during tbeweek and run ning long distance on the weekends. Good Luck, Jerry! Keep Fighting!

On a sad n ot e, w e h ave lost th ree of ou r cl assm at es in the last couple of months. A1Reed died in January in Boise ID as the r e su l t o f c a n c e r . N i c k Lanzilotta died in April at Wilford Hall in San Antonio, al so f rom can cer. Joe Hurst passed away in April in Melbourne FL. Therewill b e m o r e i n f o r m at i o n on these classmates in the Gone, But Not Forgotten section of this magazine an d o n t h e A O G w eb si t e .

.

I j t :

JOM cFall s, as usual, surrounded by agroup of admiring wom en, at th e l OCF ' Night Redux.

Steve Conver documented theevening by taking a lot of great pictures. Even though hedidn’t attach any nameswith thefaces, I really appreciatehim send ing me a disk with a complete set of the pictures. I ’v e i n c l u d ed a f ew o f t h e m with thisarticle. If you don’t live in the DC area and can nameeveryone in these pictures, I’ve got aj ob writing a newsletter for you. There was a string of emailsflying around the Intern et about whose permission wehad to get to post all of thepictureson our classwebsite. We pretty much had it fi gured out when

V i c A n d r ew s r em i n d ed u s th at th e C l a ss o f ’6 6 d o esn ’t h av e a

website—Vic alwayswas the practical one. So, if any of you

havetheskillsand thetime,c^ theAOG(or e-mail th em , to

M ■Mj

I

prove the “ skills” part) and volunteer to bring our cl ass i n t o the computer age.

One of the pictureswas of DuaneI Way and Danny Radtke 41 holding up a napkin from the original 100*'' Night t h at b ee n signed by several of our classmates that night, 40 y e ar s ag o . Sabre Society Dono rs Steve reminded me that Danny wasthe famed kicker on o u r football team who responded to our “Block that kick!’’ d u r ing the CSU game by missing an extra point to leave t h e fi n a l sc o r e a t 6 9 - 0 .

Another of the pictures showed Dan Cecil holding a microphone, so I assume that hewas giving a speech too. Actually, Dan was presenting Bob Hoh a shot glass from the Class of 2006’s 100“' Night because hewas the youngest of our classmates present. Dan came all the way from Colorado for th e even t (h e must have thought it was free for the person who came the farth est .)

OK guys, we’re not getting any younger or even a whole lot h ealth ier (even though Eddie Shirley looks like he’s lost about 50 pounds). Stop what you’re doing and fi nalizeyour plans to make it to our 40* Reu n i o n i n N ov em b er . It ’s going to be a blast! And don’t forget to send your old picturesto Kenny Boone, Bill Riley, or Tony Bar nard, so they can embarrass you at the reunion. Until next time... Happy Landings! {Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an important sur vey. Thep urposeof the survey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very imp or tan t to us. We earn estly want to know what AOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to gi ve voice to your views and wili guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we want to hear from as many members aspossible. Results will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Cl ass of 19 66 4 0 th R eun i on 8 - 12 N o v em b er U SA FA v s. N o tr e D am e

La rry Wilson 1 3 1 0 0 Pin e h u rst Av e . N E

Albuq uerque, NM 8 71 11 H: (50 5 ) 29 1-8 9 4 9

^ ember^

E-m a i l: Lw i ls n 6 2 8 @a o l .c o m

Buenos Dias from New Mexico — It is May as I compose t h i s - c l e a r b l u e skies, a bit of green along the Rio Grande. But mostly it is brow n , an d h ot an d dry. Very dry. Therehavebeen forest and prairiefi res already, with dire predic t i o n s o f m o r e t o c o m e. So m e o f t h e sm al l er ci t i e s l i k e LasVegas— population about 15,000, not along the river — are already talking of rationing water; as Santa Fe has in thepast year ; and likely buying and truckingwater. It looks like another long, hot summer in New Mexico and elsewhere i n t h e So u t h w e st .

Not ahuge amount of newsthis quarter— nevertheless— awaaaaaay wego!

Agroup of ’66Redtagsenj oying the4ff '’ALnni versary of the 100"' Night Dining-

In .

Another group of ’66ers that got together in the DC area recently included a couple of folks from those other academies (right year, wrong schools) that had gathered at Ron Schillereff ’s house. The occasion was a dinner party in honor of Ron’s good friend, MikeWynne (’66 USMA), our new Secretary of the Air Force. Also at the party were Dick McConn, Ed Shirley, an d B i l l L a t h am .

A group of ’66grads climb thestairs at Ron Schillereff s h o u se. Fr o m l ef t ar e Bill Fatbam, Ed Shirley, Ken Carlson (USMA), Dick McConn, Joh n Scudi (USNA), Ron Schillereff , and SECAFMike V^y nne (USMA).

1 16

Roy Mill er, Larry Thal and Jerry Feein LasVegas celebrating th et 6 0 th b i r th days.

Roy Miller, Jerry Fee and Larry Thai gathered awhile back in LasVegas, NV (theywent tothe^ nplace...not LasVegas,NM,theout-of-water place noted above) with their respective wives, to celebrate their 60* birthdays and - of more fi scal import - their new eligibility to begin t o r ec e iv e t h ei r r et i r e m en t checksfrom the USAF(Res). Larry pointed out that they were all with their fi rst and only wives. I don’t know the statisticsamong our grad group but that does seem to be less and less common in any gathering, of any size, of most any demographic. Congratulationsto each of you for reaching that Big 6-0; to the beginning of the Seventh Decade milestone: and for your long- lasting, cur rent-statistic-defying marriages. And— thanks for your ser vi c e .

George Frushour and Scotland-bound crew of CS-07, plus spouses plus children plus some others, continue their arrangements and plans. At last count therewere 29 signed up and paid up, planning to tattoo lUce crazy.And maybe sip alittle local booze and chase awhite ball a bit - why bother to travel t o Sc o d an d w i t h o u t t h o se?

By nowyou all havelikely seen or readAOGinput that t h e r e c en t v o t e , o n revised representation and bylaws 1) received aquomm and 2) passed. I think

theAOG, and particularly our ’67 gradson the current and past AOG Boardsof Directors, have served us well. I trust that this vote and its implications will

B: a new diet plan and workout regimen. C: a call to thefi re department to keep

thecandleson your cakefrom settingyour houseon fi r e . B e st w i sh e s t o o n e an d al l !

result in an even m ore constm ctive and ef fective an d h ar m o n i o u s A O G f o r t h e f u tu r e.

That is i f for the class inputs this quarter — great quality hut a bit weak on

quantity. So nowyou areagain stuck with someof my ramblings.

Just aswith RR Jerry & Larry (above), by now most if not all of you/ us have hit our 60* birthdays:with all that implies: USAF(Res) retirem ent ch ecks, FAAimposed pilotinglimitations: ability towithdraw IRAfundswithout penalties: regular colonoscopy and prostatecheck etc- thelist goeson. That birthday for meplustwo recent watershed eventshavecaused meto search myself for... something. Maybe you have been through this too.

Thetwo eventsfor mewerereconnectingviaemail with a f o r m er cl o se f ri en d with whom 1had had no contact in 40years: and themarriageof my daughter. In

tryingto “catch up” with thisperson, I tried to capturea n d present that 40-year gap in aseriesof brief paragraphs,keying

“ Re t i r e m e n t W h eel s.”

in on those activities w hich now seem to have been sem in al in

my adult life, and for my beingwho and what I am today.

RETIREMENT DEPT: I received this “picture worth a 1,000 words” photo from Pat and Nita Russell asPat wrapsup hiscareerwith th e So u th ern N ev a d a Water Authority. Pat’s mantra after his offi cial retirement on 1 Jun e is: “ See th e

1

won’t boreyou with what 1included on that list and acco m p a

nyingdescriptions,beyond general statementsabout experi encesprobably common to usall, about Viet Nam,and m a r riageand children, and successesand lossesover they ear s: and what they now seem to mean. How best to capturew h at is/was important or meaningful enough to includein a cat ch

25 Sabre Society Do n o rs

up note— not an autobiography or memoir, not a list, n ot a CV: but a ser ies of vignettesthat would capturewho I havebecomesince1last knew thisperson,40 yearspast,when wewerevery different people:beforethe tempering by time an d events. .. It w as an exercise th at w as, an d contin ues to be interestin g to m e:

what to include, and exclude, and what really summarizesmy life? Hmmmm.

I am not yet donewith that. If you havenot yet had occasion to examineyour life in tliis manner - to try to nail down what in your life is and hasbeen import ant

- you might want to do so. I fi nd it to bepretty humbling.

About thewedding- just aweek past. What ajoy our daughter hasbeen to us,

an d continues to be. Wh at a m il eston e in her li fe, to now be linked in marriage

that - wehope- will stand the testsof time. And - an opportunity for me, to try to capture my feelings about her, and crystallize them into a (long) toast at the wedding reception: without my turning into a blubbering w r e c k . N o w th a t wasa challenge... The song that sheand my wife arranged f o r u s t o d an c e t o at the reception/party was “Turn Around” by the Kingston Trio: ab ou t a fat h er reflectingon hisdaughter’sgrowingup. Someof you may remember it - “Where haveyou gone, my little one, litde one...” Damn - an o t h e r t i m e w h en i t w a s tough for metobearock.Overall —her marriagecaused me- separately from

USA in your Chevrolet.” Happy motoringin your sleek “ Vett e”, Pat an d N it a!

In a similar vein, Doug Everett checked in to say that h e r e t i r e d f r o m t h e University of Alabama School of Medicine as a Professor o f

Pamily Practicein 2003and then went towork asad o ct o r f o r

the USArmy at RedstoneArsenal in Huntsville,AL during th e mobilization of our Guard and Reserve forces for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi F r ee dom in Iraq. As the pace of the wars became more sustain 37 able, Dougwas“downsized” and now worksfor theVeterans Administration in Gadsden,AL. In 2005, he competed i n th e Sabre Society Do n o rs Air ForceMarathon at Wri ght-Patt erson AFB and camei n fi r st in his age group. Later that year, he ran in the Marine Corp s Marathon in Washington, DC and placed second in his age group— ahead of theVice Commandant of the Marine Corps! In his last competition he was aw ar ded a b ronze m edal in th e Nation al Sen ior Gam es tr iathl on . (Note t o Vic

Bonfi glio and Richard Vihel: It appears that you guys may have some serious competition for “Classmatein theBest Shape SinceGraduation.”) Dougwrites that hiswife, Dolores, retired from the IRSand is doing CPA consulting work part-time and pulling grandmother duties full-time.

Danny James’ retirement ceremony wason 10May at BollingA F B w i t h a n

offi cial retirement date of 5 June. I will try to get a photo of this event for the n ex t c o l u m n .

my reconnection, above—to look back at themilestonesof h er life, an d our

lifewith her: and to try to memorialize in my mind and in my heart that which is an d h as b een im p ortan t .

Enough. To avoid such ramblings- call or send copy t o m e .

And with that — so long, farewell, auf weidersehen, goodbye. Tak e c ar e o f yourselves and your loved ones. God bless the troops. G o d b l ess t h e U n i t e d St at es o f A m eri ca .

(Edi tors n ote: Th eA OG h as distr i b uted an imp or tan t sur vey. Thep urpose of the sur vey is tohear from you. Your par ticipation is very important to us. We earn estly wan t to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not value. Thesurvey isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand will guidef uture strategic planning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefaUof 2006.)

T im

69%

D a v id s o n

9712 Hidden Valley Road Vienna, VA 2 2 18 1-60 94 (70 3 ) 25 5-53 13 Fax: (70 3 ) 25 5-5377

M e m b e rs

E- m a i l : t i m d @e ro ls .c o m

HELLO’68! For the majority of you classmates in CheckpointsLand, Happy 60* birthday! You know what they say, 50 is the new 30, which based on my Doolie math extrapolates to 60 being the new 40. But, no matter how you fi gure it, our odometersjust clicked off another decade a n d t h a t sh o u l d b e causefor: (Chooseyour most appropriatepersonal response.) A : c el eb r at i o n .

JOI N TH E SABRE SOCI ETY!

Y O U R M O N EY H EL P S F U N D CA D ET W I N G PR O GRAM S T H AT W O U L D OT H ERW I SE G O U N F U N D ED , CA L L T H E A O G F O R I N F O .

I

TheMish Wedding. From left are wife, Jayne; daugh ter Kati e; son -i n -l aw

Jeff; an d Steve.

Our class’ former Thunderbird, SteveMish, sent acoupleof ^ eat photosof his daughter Katie’sweddingand an updateof hisstatussinceretiringfr om DeltaAir Lineslast October. Stevewrites,“Theweddi ngof my daughter went splendidly, except, of course, for all those bills! Any and all donations will be gratefully accepted! In the meantime, I have found gainful employment as an ai r am b u lance pilot for afi rm near New Braunfels, TX (down th e road fr om San An tonio) flyingaDiamond Beechjet —very similar to an Air ForceT-1. 1spend alot of time goingto Mexico,theCaribbean, and partsof Central America picking up folks who have the misfortune to either get sick or injured and are not particularly en am ored w ith Th ird World m edicin e. Th is n ew en d eavor has played havoc with my golf game, but what the hey, Tm fl yingjets— or as someone recendy said, I fl unked retirement,AGAIN, for thesecond time!” St ev e’s n ew co n t act in f o is 11804 EaglesGlen Drive,Austin,TX78732. Phone: 5 12 -2 6 6 -3 9 78 .

NOT QUITE RETIRED DEPT: I received a notefr om Tom Tavem ey in M ar ch that he has been recalled to active duty to serve as t h e V i c e C o m m a n d er o f Space Command for the next four to six months. Asyou may remember,Tav is a major general in theAir Force Reserves and has been working for Science

ApplicationsInternational Corporation (SAIC) when h e is n ot servi n g as a

mobility augmentee at Space Command. Thanksfor answering th e call , Tav! 1 17

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributed an important sur vey. Thep urp ose of thesurvey is tohear from you. Your participation is very impor tan t to us. We

eam estly wan t toknow whatAOGservicesyou do and do not value. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear t orn as many members asp ossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefail of 2006.)

Yi .

Em Lindsey Parris

'/ 616 King’s Cloister Circle ?

Alexandria, VA 22302

^ 66%^ M e m b e rs

Home: (70 3 ) 83 6-3 60 4

E- m a i l :

10 2 177.10 3 3 @com puse rve.com D e ar A ll

Army Lieutenant Colonel Drenkowski Rep orting for Snip er Duty, Sir!” Dana Drenkowski lays claim to being the last ’68 grad t o se r v e i n c o m b a t whileon activeduty. Thephoto abovewastaken duringa combat patrol that began at Camp Slayer near the Baghdad Airport and then w en t t o Su n n i -c o n troUed areasin the countryside. It appearsthat Dana’s shootingprowessmade

him apopular person tohavealongon vehiclepatrols, so b etw een sh i ft s as an .

Intelligence Offi cer for the USArmy, Dana broketheboredom of long shift s on base wdth hair-raising reconnaissance rides outside t h e G r e en Z o n e . D an a

w r ites, “ Th is w ill b e t he last w ar for th is dude. I ’ve been in fi ve so far : Vietn am ,

Rhodesia, Chad/Libya, El Salvador, and Iraq. Timeto get back to what is left

of my law career.” His current plansare to retire in lune. Thanksfor your years

of servi ce, D an a!

SEN IOR '68 IND U STRYVPVISITSPEACE CORPSOUT POST: I received a great

letter and photofromTom O’Beime,who currently servesa s V i c e Pr esi d en t o f

Operationsfor SAIC in Tysons Corner,VA. Tom hasbeen with the company for nearly 13 years and manages a group of approximately 700 professional ana lysts and technicians to support various Federal Government a n d D o D cu s tomerswith professional services, studies, and analyses r el a t e d t o N at i o n al Security. Tom has been a stalwart friend in helping several ’68ers to fi nd posi tionsat SAIC and mentioned awillingnessto help others. To en h an ce ch an ces of employment in this sector, he strongly recommends that classmates keep their security clearances current.

I trust this findsyou in midst of all the fi nest that su m m e r can o f fer . M o r e

newsand prxthistimethan spacewill allow, but keep t h e c al l s an d car d s an d e-mails coming. The news.

LONGBLUELINE. In early May, another sterling career c am e t o a c l o se

when Bugs Forsythe stepped out of the blue suit, his ceremony offi ciated by none other than Wally Moorhead. Golf and toasts and memories fi lled up a couple of days at Shaw AFB, and those in attendance in clu d ed D ick Wh i t e, Ron Olds, LesDyer, Roy Coppinger, lohn Richards, GraigUpton, and Gary Lindner. Someof thetoastsheaded Graig’sway,asheisretiringfrom Ameri can Airlines. Prior to the big day. Bugs had been over in Qatar running the Com bined Air Ops Center, contributing as only he can through his last days in uniform. Bugs’ retirement leavesWally, Charlie Baldwin (AF Chaplain), Craig Collins (10* AF CC) and Roger Lempke (Nebraska National Gu ar d h on ch o) asthelast men standing. Kudosto Bugson hislong, distinguished career in an d o u t o f u n i f o r m .

Wally Moorhead and Bugs Forsythe— OneLast Dan ce.

INSPIRATION. Many of you haveknown for sometime of Tom Mikolajcik ’s affliction with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and his gritty determination to bring attention and r e so u r c e s t o t h e d i sea se

and to raiseawarenessof itspropensity to disproportionately af fl i ct v et er an s

O’Beirnes and students at Peace Corps Outp ost near Lake Victoria, Kenya.

Thephoto showsTom and hiswife, Pam, visitingtheir you n ger son , Scott , whoisaPeaceCorpsworker in Gwassi Hills,Kenya. Also shown in the picture,

ar e tw o students (Edw ar ds an d D orin e) th at Scott is sponsoring and mentori ng through pri mary school. Principal duties for Scott include providing educa tion classesin hygiene,AIDSprevention, livingwith AIDS, and water purifi ca tion projects.

To do their part, Tom and Pam areworkingwith a charitable organ izati on in Kenya to constmct a dormitory for dislocated students residing in the Gwassi Hills area. Tom says, “You can’t believe how great an impact you can have on so many people with such relatively small contri butions. Seeingyour contri butions‘at work’ - priceless!” Their entirefamily is looking forward to Scott returning home and being able to speak to him in English r ath er t h an Sw ah i l i !

Tom and Pam’s older son, Brian, j ust began teaching elementary school in Northern Virginia near Leesburg.

60* BIRTHDAYDEPT: Neal Starkey isputtingtogether ajoint Class of 1968 60* birthday celebration at Keystone Resort, CO fr om 11-13August. Please get in touch with Neal for the agenda. If interested,RSVPby 1July. Neal ’s contact info is: Phone: 719-593-5597; E: starkeyandassoc@qwest.net.

THOUGHTSAND PRAYERSDEPT: Gary Hall sent an e-mail telling of Carl

“Chuck” Richardson’sdeath tocancer on 5January. I al so r eceiv ed w o r d fr o m

Jim Thompson and Maurice Ecung of Erank Moore’s return to the hospital for heart by-passsurgery. Asof May, Frank isback home and isrecoveringfr om his surgery. Please extend your thoughts and prayers for th ese in divi dual s, th eir fam ili es, an d th eir f ri en ds.

THAT’SAWRAP: Mind theflak;keep ’em fl ying,andkeep th ose cards, letters,

e-mails, and photos coming in. Ciao for now. Tim 1 18

and blue-suitersespecially, a fi nding new to many. H ar v ar d scientists found that men serving in the military between 1910 and 1982 had a 60% greater risk of ALSthan did n o n vets, though no specifi c causal chain waspinpointed. O th er studies show ed th at Gulf War vets have double the risk o f A L S

than did other vetswho didn’t servethere. Recendy,t h e A F Tim es (April 5, 2006) covered Tom ’s ef for ts, an d D ave A sd e

dropped by a copy of the Charleston Rost and Courier (Su n day, May 14,2006) with an extensivefr ont-pagestory o n To m under the title “Mission of Hope.” Though wheelchair-

‘♦'I 57

Sabre Society Do nors

bound,Tom hasbeen makingtheroundson Capitol Hill,working with the

Massachusetts-based ALSTherapy Development Foundati on at its request, and spearheadingALS-related activities in South Carolina at l o c al an d st a t e levels. Selfless, determined, and thoroughly professional - just theTom we all know. Keep him in your prayers, and if there’s space in your donati ons queue, then you now have a charity in which we all have a p erson al stak e.

ACTIVITIES, l immy Cummings is spearheading a group for July’s annual homagetoroadbiking, Iowa’sRAGBRAI. Jimmy, Denny Ryll, Steve Kirby, Chip

Ambrose, Terry Brady, Larry Alexander, Kit Busching, Joh n Bu ck n er , Jef f

Tobolsk!, and othersTBD will be riding, mingling, and participating in this hist ori c an n ual ri de across that st ate— w h ich is n ot so flat asyou think, espe cially when seen fr om abike saddle! On the ’69ers’ evening discussion agenda, now that LanceArmstrong hashung up hissprockets, is determining recom mendations on who you should pick fi rst in the draft lottery for your team entry in the Fantasy Cycling League.

In early April , the “usual ” suspects (with ft i ends) gathered down south for a several-day assault on Alabama’srestaurantsand pubs, t h e Fi n al Fo u r an d t h e Masters, all with some daily action on Alabama’s RTJTrail fr om Birmingham

to Anniston to Auburn. Shovm after the second day’s trials by fire are John Buckner, Les Dyer, Roy Coppinger, Flip Keck, BruceAndersen, Steve Cherry,

D ic k Ra u s c h k o l b

David Wagner (the looming presence in the back), Mike Good e, an d m e.

Amazingwecan still navigatefr omAand B,with thed i v er si o n s an d c ir cu i t o u s

routes and ever-i ypeA individualism, but therewere no major injuries, one sterling round (Bruce fired up a 36 on the toughest n in e of th e w eek), D avi d disappeared aft er the third day, and we unanimously agreed that, whatever unfolds regarding Barry Bonds, an asterisk be placed in the record book by Babe Ruth’s name for his use of performance-reducing su b st an ces.

M e m b e rs 13 0 Luxury Lane Colorado Springs, CO 8 0 9 2 1 H: (719 ) 76 1-576 4 W: (719 ) 47 2-0 30 0/ DSN: 3 3 3-20 6 7 E-mail:Dick.Ra uschkolb@aogusaf a .o rg

Greetingsclassmates! Many thanks to aUof you who voted in theAOG Bylaws election.We had the largest turn out of any class! Lookslike Marilyn and I won’t be moving to Pueblo as soon aswe thought. TheAOG h as sen t out an im por tant survey to all members. 1would deeply appreciate everyone taking a few minutesto fi ll it out. It will provide good feedback o n h o w t h e A O G c an b et t er meet your needs.

By thetimeyou read this, 2006will havegraduated and our legacy Class, 2010, will be getting ready to report to USAFA. Hard t o b el i ev e i t h a s b een 4 0

yearsago 27Junethat weall showed up at Camp USAFA f o r

some fun and games. “Fall out and make corrections!’’ T h o se famous wordsyelled by C/ Col Richard J. Cathcart changed o u r l i v e s f o r ev e r .

Round up the Usual Suspects.

Our ovm Lord of the Rings, Les Dyer, hasjust completed a h at t r i ck i n r ecov ering lost ’69er ringsin hehalf of theclass. Amazingwhat tum sup on e-Bay. The latest belonged to Tom WUlett ,who now resides in Fairport, NY. Though theeBay ovmer’s (an eBay regular,jeweler type) commentson the ring’sbackground had all the trappings of drama and derring-do (“ .. .won in a poker game in a smoke-fi lled room!”), Tom reported to Les that he had lost the ring during a m ove back in 1970, w hen h e w as at Com eU, an d h adn ’t seen it since. It is prob ably safeto say that theClass in general, and Les in specifi c, hashelped spark a more methodical AOG approach to recovering lost rings for aUUSAFA grads.

OTHERNEWS. Gerry Brown , for the timevnth neither o f h i s t w o so n s i n a war zone, writes fr om Virginia’sTidewater that he will likely soon he leaving NASA and perhaps heading back to the DC area, private or public sector. Re placingGerry in that general region will beChip Wood,who is relocating to Virginia’sNorthern Neck,fr om whencehewUl continuehis consulting work asweUas saUthe recently outfi tted and refurbished (new compass and gaUey) SweetPea around the Chesapeake. ’69er crew wanted! Cold ones w aitin g.

In January, Steve Hannah, Randy Walti, andTerry Brady gathered in Denver in honor of Steve’sdaughter’swedding. Randy, Senior V P an d G en er al C o u n sel for General Atomics, will be stepping into another car eer soon , an d St eve continueswith work on the Predator. Terry is a check captain for United on the B 747 -400 .

Father of the bride, Steve, wi th Randy and Terry.

Darrel Whitcomb was on tbe History Channel “Mail CaU” discussing the role of PACsduring theViemam War. On themoveagain isGuy Gardner,whose car eer n ow tak es him to Gai n esvill e, GA , w h ere he has been named the super intendent at the Riverside Military Academy. Aft er the public announcement of his appointment, Guy said “I’ve had a dream of being t h e h ea d o f an i n d e pendent school, of working with young people.” No one better than Guy to lead this prestigious school into itssecond century. Big congrats, lucky River si d e st u d e n t s.

That about wears out my welcome and space this time a r o u n d . B e o n t h e lookout later this summer for an update fr om David Wagner and me on our 40* Reunion Class Gift . All best. Rock on, ’69. Lindsey.

(Edi tors note: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t sur vey. Thep urpose of thesur vey is tohear from you. Your par ticipation is very importan t to us. Wleear nestly wamt to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesurvey isan organized way to give voice toyour viewsan d will guidefutur estrategicplan -

rrn igbytheAOG.Your viewsmatter andwewant tohear fromasmanymemhers aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

V i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e.

M erchandise, Gone But Not Forgotten and More! www.usafa.org

Don’t forget 8 August! On that day at theAcceptance D ay Paradeour classwill make a ceremonial presentation o f Co n 69 trails to members of the Class of 2010. If you can m ak e it , it would be great to have a large turnout . We are paying f o r Sabre Society Do n o rs Contrailsfor 2010 and will have numerous opportunities t o interact with them over the next four years. Speedy M a r t i n wrote a nice introduction to thisyear’s Contrailso n b eh al f o f t h e C l ass an d av UI make some remarks at the parade. All of you will get a copy of thisyear’s Con trailsso you can boneup on that knowledgeyou memorized for life 40 years ago before CRSset in!

Lots of news to cover and too many picturesto get in this issue.Apologiesto thosewho sent photosand didn’t makethecut —will try to usethem in afuture issue. BJBjorklund indicated hevisited Mojave to tour Burt Rutan’s place and hopefully get a peek at the spaceship he plans on riding i n t h e f u t u r e. T h at ’s right, BJhassigned up to beone of thefi rst spacepassengers.Yikes— Cathy are you on board with this?!BJmentioned that ChrisCalvert was recently elected to the City Council in Santa Fe, NM and Dana Demand is going to retire fr om the Guard next January. Mega-kudos to both men! Wild BUI Stealey and MUce KeUey attended The Masters. I keep waiting for someone I k n o w t o b ec o m e a member so 1can get an inviteto play there. 1could die happy then!WUd BUI and Mike wiUnever pass the “couth test” for members though. Several Seventy men (I didn’t make the cut) took advantage of Jim Mulford’sbox at the Pepsi Center to see classmate Gregg Popovich’s Spurs in action against the Nuggets.

Unfortunately, Jim had a gaUstone attack during the game and missed his chance to get his photo in this valued column.

GO SPURS! From lef t ar eJohn Bail ey, Cook Villarreal, Mick Davey, Mark Ewig, and Rick Lesch.

Several classmates attended theMemorial Ceremony and Reception for Skip Bennett.Amongthosein attendancewere Roger Peterson,Tom Waskow,Tony Marietta, Jack Mueller, Larry Bush, Gary Dahlen, and I know I am forgetting someone. Have heard fr om Mike Ryan , Steve Maci saac a n d T o m St u a r t through the e-mail grapevine. Mike Huber is getting ready to shell out some coins for his beautiful daughter Sarah’swedding in Ju n e. Sh e tak es aft er h er Mom — fortunately!

DaveSabey, former member of our Prep School Class, superb football player, outstanding wresder aswell as all around “Wild Man” received an honorary Doctorate Degree fr om Gonzaga University. Speaking of wresding, long time Academy wrestlingcoachWayneBaughman isretiring in July.Waynehasearn ed numerous nati onal honorsover theyears and hasboth w r e sd ed an d c o a ch ed in the Olympics andWorld Championships.Those of us fr om the Prep School have fond memories of 2"‘' Lt. Baughman putti ng us through our paces on the athletic fi elds. Terry Silvester ’s wife, Janet , is Dick Christy ’s sister and they sponsor the OutstandingWrestler Award in Dick’s name.Terry and Janet have been close toWayne for years. On a sadder note, Mrs. Black , wi fe of ou r Prep 1 19

School Commander, Colonel Lee Black, recently passed aw ay.

Marilyn and 1enjoyed a nice dinner with Bob and Peggy McKinney and their daughter Robin and her son. Bob and I solved the world’s problems as we grilled a few burgers. Chatted with Tony Marietta at a recent chapter luncheon.

We debated the meritsof “TheBring MeMen” sign coming down. It wasa lively exchange. I suspect it will come back at some point — maybe not over the ramp, but somewhere on Academy grounds. Had one of those “screw your classmate” incidentsthat caused great embarrassment to yourstruly.Without going into all the details, I owe Mark and Kristie Ewig a dinner and some bas

Best wishesfor a great summer and lotsof good golf and family time! Fill out

theSurvey, donateafew shecklesand I hopeto seeyou 8 August!

(Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t sur vey. Thep urpose of th esur vey is to hear if om you. Your par ticipati on is very important to us. Wfe ear nestly want to knowwhatAOGservicesyou do and do not value. Thesur vey isan organized way to give voice to your views and will guidefuturestrategicplan ning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want tohear from asmany members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

k et b al l t i ck et s. D o n ’t ask !

Pa u l D . K n o t t

Seems Larry Bush and John Soltis plus spouses took a c r u i se t o G u a t e m al a .

Larry sent a picture of John and Larry at somewaterfalls in their bathing suits.

It’s X-rated — see last column and comment about Mick Jagger. Larry and Marleen aregoing to be sponsors for Terry and JoAnn Angstadt ’s son Michael

5 5 6 5 La nt a n a D riv e

w h en h e en t ers w i th 20 10 th is su m m er. Oker an d M on n ica O ’C o n n o r ’s so n

Brian will also be in 2010. The Seventy legacy lives o n ! 1m i ssed o u t o n a v i si t t o the offi ce by John Soltis and Tucker Flaherty — sorry m en — m u st h av e b een working on my golf game or in a meeting on AOG govern ance. Saw Larry Carr — he was out here talking to the Dean trying to get a grade changed on his transcript —only kidding!I gather heteed it up with Rick Lesch an d Jim M ulfor d.

They played from the tips— theheck with that. I want to get up to those senior teeswhereWild Bill plays from.

Dave Sterling visited SteveHoagland in Charlotte and b o t h d r o v e N A SCA RS at the Lowes Motor Speedway. Speeds of 140 MPH were cl o c k e d . D av e sai d i t wasjust likeflying formation. Dave also headed up the Founders Day celebra tion in DC and sent in this picture of some Seventy m en i n at t en d a n c e .

T

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M e m b e rs

Colorado Springs, CO 8 0 9 20 H: (719 ) 570-9 16 2 W: (719 ) 594-0 100 E-ma il: pknott @acninc.net

Thiswill be thelast column that I can be sureof your reading beforeyou head for the Springs and Reunion.You should have received at least one mailing

from the Committee letting you know that we’ll be headquartered a t t h e Wyndham duringthefi rst weekend of October.TheNavy gameshould be nice, but for methebest part of theweekwill berenewingfriendshipswith a special

group of guys.

Onenicething about bigtimeslike Reunion isthat folks decidethat they have stori esthat areworth sharing. Oneperson I heard from recently isBob Rogers: “ My wife and I just sent out last child off to college i n t h e f al l to the University ofVirginia. He is going there on a s o c c e r scholarship. My two older daughters are in the workf orce a n d t h e o l d est i s m ar ri ed .

“We have lived in Northern Virginia since 1978. And w e have been running a healthcare company together since 1985. One divi sion of the company support sNaval hospitals and clinics throughout the US.” One of the newer residents of Colorado Springs is Charlie

32 Sabre Society Donors

Sylling. Heand Candacerelocated from northernVirginia thisspringdue to business. Charlie’sfi rst house-hunting trip happened to

Seventy Men celebrateAcademy FoundersDay. From left areDave Sterling, GeorgeM onroe, Randy Royce, Doug Carlson and Daryl Lundgren.

DougNorton istryingto get agroup of Seventy men to go to Reno for the2006 Air Races. The event is 13-17 September at former Stead AFB ri ght outside of Reno. As you know, our own John Penney is a 2005 national champion and sh o u l d b e b a ck t o d e f e n d h i s t i t l e i n h i s a i r c r a f t — Ra r e B e a r . C h e c k o u t :

www.airrace.org. CJBohn must still be in great shape. He is ri ding for the sixth consecutive time in the Great West Multiple Sclerosis 150-mile, two-day bi cycle ride in July. Good on you CJ! Mark Robbins checked in from Culpeper,VA. He has a fi v e - h o u r c o m m u t e everyday —yikes! He and Debbiehavefour grandchildren, an d son Ch ad, ’96, isan F-15Epilot at Lakenheath. Colonel Jim Head,longtimepermanent profes sor and head of the PhysicsDepartment recendy reti red. Seem s C o l o n el H ead in hisyounger dayswassponsor to several of our classmatesand provided abed and breakfast for their girlft i ends (now wives) when they visited. Heand hiswife must havebeen great hostsgiven theturn out for his r eti r em en t .

Thanks Colonel Head! From l ef t are John Kupko, Ed Rashi d, H ar ry Strittmatter, Willie Schepens, thePhantom, and Larry B u sh .

Did you noti cewe are the number one class in termsof Sabre Society mem bers!That’s the good news— the bad news iswewere o n ce ov er 70 m em b er s.

Now ’s the time to get our numbers up! Better yet how about making a pledge for our next classgift —theVietnam Pavilion alongthe HeritageTrail outside DoolittleHall. Gary Dahlen recently sent you aletter on thisimportant project.

If you are on the fence read DanaArbaugh ’s superb tribute t o o u r cl a ssm a t e John Haselton in this magazine. John was tragically killed in SEA along with eight of our classmates.

Special thanks to Dave and Jan Gaw for delivering the p ictu re of Joe Yor k many of us signed at the Reunion to JoanneYork. Shew as m ost appreciative of our thoughtful gesture.

12 0

coincide with our only real snowstorm of the winter season , bu t th e M ission Inn waswarm and welcoming aswe caught up on the years.W h e n C an d a c e came out to help make the fi nal decision,Andrea and I w er e h o n o r ed t o t r e at them to supper. As Northern Command expands its influence, d ef e n se c o n tractorsare eager to help us learn from our past and avoid making “business as usual ” mistakes, and Charlie is here as part of that p r o c e ss.

Andy Ceroni ’s JuneWeek bride, Trudi, had a scare earlier this spring when she spent time in Denver wi th cranial bleeding.A fri end h a d r e co m m en d ed a tilt tableto help with her back, and evidendy she spen t eith er too m uch tim e or at a greater angle than her circulatory system could copewith.Andy recendy reported that Trudi is pretty much recovered, and that they have a tilt table for sale at a very reasonable price.

A bit of very good news for one of our own. Dave Frostman recently was promoted to Major General in the Reserves.With news from the ceremony is Rich Shumick. “ I was fortunate enough to be present at Dave Frostman’spro motion to major general on March 31st. It was nice t o see D ave an d hi s w i fe, Nell, again, and it was terrifi c to see Dave reach such heights in his career. He thinks his next (and last) assignment will be Cheyenne M o u n t a i n . Ea si er f o r him asheis currendy living in Lafayette, CO. Lieutenant General M i ke H am el , USAFA class of ’72, was the presiding offi cer.

W h o se th e ci vil i an h er e ?

"Me?I’m semi-retired (or is it semi-unemployed?) and currently contract

o u t as an M D - 11 in stm ct o r / ch ec k ai rm an f o r r ec u r r en t an d tr an si t i o n c o u r ses.

I spent eight years on active duty (0 -2A Saigon, KC-135 M ar ch AFB) an d 15+ yearsin the Reserves (KC-135 and KC-10 March AFB, USAFA Liaison Europe).

I retired a Lt Col in ’97.” Thanks for the report, Ri c k .

Late news: TheAOG did get a quorum for the big vote. Thanks to all of you who voted, because it means that we, thegrads, cared enough about thisthing

that wearepart of toexpressour opinion.Next,I hopethat weasan association

keepmovingforwardandstart tacklingimportant things!

If you aren’t alreadybookedfor thebigevents,time’sa’wastin’i Hope to see

you in October!

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributed an important survey. Thep urpose of thesurvey is tohear from you. Your participation is very important to us. We

eamesdywanttoknowwhatAOGservicesyoudoanddonot val ue. Th e sur vey isan organizedway togivevoicetoyour viewsandwill guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and wewant toh ear t om as m an y membersaspossible.Resultswill bereportedin thef al l o f 2 0 06 .)

class of 2008; John Sr. teachesT-37 sims at ColumbusAFB. D al e Bi r ch (Bar

bara) livesin Colorado Springsand worksfor theInternational Bible Society.

Bob Decker askscompaniestough questionsasan analyst f o r H ar r i s I n v e st ment Management in Chicago. Commercial pilots;Terry Lak i n (An n a) com

mutesfrom his La Grange, KYhome to fly for UPSout of Louisville; Skip Evans is a USAir Captain on theAirbus out of Pacific Palisades CA; Paul Stuckey

(Meredeth) iscelebratinghis 16* year with Southwest o u t o f t h e i r Ph o e n ix hub; GaryVanDrie (KD) splitstimeasaUSAir A320Gaptain an d O w n er / Par t ner/VPfor Development of Fidelity Flight Simulation, Inc., which produces high fi delity,low cost simulators. Paul Motley isretired from Delta and ahappy

newlywed toJana; hisfi rst wife, Sharon (MikeKimberling’ssister), passed away after a long illness.

Cl ass of 19 71 3 5 th R eun i on 4 -8 O c to b er

■

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USAFA vs.Navy

Bo b Be ll 1 3 Pa c if ic Ave .

^ 51%^ M e m b e rs

Sinking Spring, PA 19608 (610) 678-3182/ Fax: 678-4513 E-m a i l : ra b e l l 7 6 7 @a o l .c o m

Helloagain,classmates. You haveavery short entrythisgo-around asaresult

of my only receivingthesinglee-mail input fromJeff Hill . He reports being retired from AFSOC since 1997 with a follow-on career i n t h e C r ew Re so u r c e

Management (CRM) fi eld, fi rst with DeltaAir Lines, n ex t w i t h a sm al l c o m

pany,andcurrentlywithVanderbilt UniversityMedical Cent er (V UM C). Th at complexhasabout 900beds,apediatrichospital anda L ev el 1 t r a u m a c en t e r

w i th fou r h elicopt ers.

Jeff directsactivitiestoimplement CRM skillsand beh aviors in to health care, teachingteamstobrief,debrief,usestandardized proceduresand so forth. He

works for two MDs, both of whom have flown in the Space Shuttle, thuswell able to understand thebenefi ts o f t h e sk il l sets mentioned. In addition to being involved in this e n deavor himself, Jeff ’swife, Tina, is a nurse in the af fi l i at e d children’s hospital.

off toVandenberg for preparationsto be a missile o f f i c e r

(photoaccompaniede-mail but hasbeen lost somewhere

23 Sa b re Soc iety Donors

alongtheway). Jeff’sdaughter ismarried to theson o f a r e tired 0 -6, and her husband hasbeen accepted into theU SAF N avi gat or pro

gram. Finally,Jeff saysthat he’snot surehisacademicreputation is improv

ing... fi rst aFalcon,then an Aggie, then aTurtle (U of Maryland) and fi nally a Commodore to round out the set. An open invitation i s of fer ed t o anyon e transitingtheNashvillearea,i.e.all arewelcomeat the HiUhouse! (Hey! I just

got an ideafor post-retirement scenario... mayhit th e road an d vi sit aU th e

folks who have made such offers here over the years a n d h o l d t h em t o i t !!

Hmm mm

where he’s Senior Vice President for the National Foundation f o r C red i t C o u n

seling, theoldest credit counselingand debt management se r v i c e i n t h e U S. CraigMacPherson (Pat) livesin Exeter NH whereheworksfor the Boy Scouts of America. Al Maurer (Sandy) worksfor Agilent Technologiesand regularly

left the city of joinstheColorado ’73Bunchfor Lunchgroup. KellyMcCulIar A sso c i at e V i c e Pr e si

In May 2005,Jeff commissioned hisson Jeffr ey from t h e

ROTCprogramat theUniversityof Maryland,sendingh i m

Paul Modey flieshisfinal DeltaRight with Stalker Reed last Sep tember. As Rrst assignment KG-135pilotsat AimsAFB, Stalker u se d h i s Ch er o k ee 14 0 t o train Paul for hissingle-enginecheck ridewith theFA A i n 19 7 7.

MikeKimberling retired after 30yearsserviceand,w i th w i fe, Sioux , lives in LeesburgVA. New neighborsMikeand Kathleen I tirner are in Wat erf ord VA

)

That doesit for thisnewsletter edition, guys. Thanksto Jeff for being thelone

ranger onthisone. Hopethat wecan havemoreinfoin th e n ext issu e. Keep your calendarsopenfor the35* reunion comingup in 2 0 0 7 !

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributed an important sur vey. Thep urpose of thesurvey is tohear t omyou. Your participation isvery imp or tan t to us. We eamesdywant toknowwhatAOGservicesyoudoand donot val ue. Th esur vey isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand will guidefuture strategic

planning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and wewant toh ear fr om as m an y

Huntsville where hewas director of fi nance to become dent and Controller ofTexasWomen’sUniversity; he’sengaged toThuan Phan.

Bill McKinnis(Sandy)isaprojectmanagerfortheAlaskaDepartmentofTr portation and PublicFacilitiesandlivesoutsideof Anchorage. Dan Pierre an s-

(Denise) retired asan 06and went towork for Jacobs-Sverdrup Engineering CorporateDirector responsiblefor businessdevelopment a n d G SA c o n

as a

tract sales and services. Mark Prill works modeling an d sim ulat ion ef forts for NASA at theMarshall SpaceFlight Center,whileSusan’sjob for theArmy takes her to Alaska on occasion. Out of a USAFA classrepletew i th an im al s. D r. M ark Romain (Clare) was drawn to veterinary medicine. He practices‘companion’ animal medicineand hasexperienceworkingwith birds. His practice, which hehasowned since ’84, sees referralsfor dentistry and exotic pets, aswell as the usual catsand dogs in theKansasCity metro area. BmceWright and Kerri have

returned to Japan; he’snow Commander USForcesJapan a n d F i f th A i r Fo r ce Com m an der at Yokot a. ,ae,C%o^ , du de.

GENERAL OFFICER NEWS: New BGen Dan OHollaren expects t o su c c eed

thecurrent Commander of theOregonANGaround May-June: “ I r et i r ed fr o m Boeingon 31December in order to devotemoretimeto 1) theAir Guard and 2) our new Beach Houserecently completed dovm on theOregon Goast.Tough choice!” Ex-scribe Dan provided updateson quite af ew c l a ssm a t e s i n t h e paragraph below.

membersaspossible.Resul tswill bereportedin thefall of 2006.)

Bo b M u ns o n 1 9 2 4 5 Lin c o l n G re e n La n e

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Monument , CO 8 0 13 2

(719) 487-1464

rm unso n@ade lphia .net

INTRODUCTION: Once again it’s been a pleasure putting o u t t h e C l a ss

News; every quarter it’sfun to re-learn that both as individuals and as a group

we’rehugely successful.

SQUADRON NOTES: John Foreman sent aterrifi c summary o f h i s C S- 3 9 CampusRadical classmates... where,what they’redoing, w ives, et c. Joh n retired fr om the Reserves, lives in Pittsburgh with wife. Storm,whereheworte

at theSoftwareEngineeringInstituteat CarnegieMellon. Son Scot t (’00) i s stationed at Tinker AFB, OK. John Payne and Lela have a son , Joh n , w ith th e

ClassNewsscribeexperienceispromotable:Newly-pinnedB Gen OH oll ar en acceptsanewlaptop from son Paul, daughter Ashley an d wif e, D ian e.

12 1

ODDSAND SODS: Long lost ‘Rebeleven’ Mike ‘Charlie’ Farr (Patsy) is con

sultinginWacoTX,puttinghisOperationsManagement PhD to good use. Pat

'/ R;

Rooney is now in Lancaster OH and still (methinks) fl ying with Delta. John Park and Lynda are still in the DC area where he works in th e A F Person n el

arena as a civilian. Bruce Bennett (Nancy) is also b ack in th e D C area as a civilian working for DIA. Bill Diffl ey (Pamela) fl iesU SAi r, livingin Great Falls,VA and celebrating daughter C a i t l i n ’s NotreDamegraduation.Ern ieMaravilla (Kathy) isin H o u s ton but looking for retirement property in Arizona. N e d Kintzing (Judy) isin Pleasanton, CA fl yingfor Southwest.

Ned brokehisback workingaround thehousebut isfully recovered now. Ed Hawkins retired out of Hickam, is living 25

thegoodlifeinandpitchedbackasaconsultant supporting PACAF. In separate notes both Dan OHollaren and Steve

Sabre Society Donors

Harman mentioned Ed’sskill on thegolf course. Steve, other Hawaii retiree,went on to say [edited for PC, reluctantly, because Steve isso expressive]: “Mary and I will beleavingthew on derf ul Islan d of H aw ai i an

f

Jo e B re z o v ic

1209 Bayou Oaks Drive

Friendswood, TX 7 754 6 H: (28 1) 4 8 2-68 60

^ 49® /^ ^ ember^

0: (281) 244-8325/ Fax: (281) 244-8020 E-ma il: j brezovic@houst on.rr.co m

f

j oseph.brezovicl @jsc.nasa.gov

HelloClassmatesandHappySummer. DoingcatchupfromCh r i stm as ca rd s

and NewYear vnsheshasan advantage—weget to hear more good news fr om classmates. Thepicturedoesmakeonefeel abit warm,though, doesn’t it?The photo isin fr om Bill and Terry Casement (center) with daughter Marie (left) and Janice (right) with Janice’s husband-to-be, Frank. Frank proposed to her

under Eiffel tower. Wow. I hope many of you still remember the day, and nervousness (?) of askingyour girlfr iend to beyour w i f e !

around October... I graduatefromtheGolf Academy of H aw aii n ext m on th

and am hoping to snag ajob in the golf industry.” Another grad living the

d r eam .

Don Ramm knowsI hatethesetypesof notes: “Got anew T-34 to go fl ying in if you areever out thisway.” He’sin theprocessof teachingwife,Tracy, to fl y formation in the skiesover San Diego. Geoff Michael se n t a n i c e n o t e an d photodeliveringhis1978all-original MazdaRX-7toa museum in New Hamp shire. Heregretssellinghis 1972 CorvetteLT-1: “Will I ever forget the trip to WilliamsChevrolet and seeing300 ’Vetteson their lot waiting for our class mates to pick them up?” I hear you, dude; I watched an LT - 1 au ct i o n ed o n T V

for $750K. Warren and Peggy Smith walked in ColoradoSpringsto raisemoney for friend Fisher DeBerry’sFoundation tohelp athletesthat are growing up in singleparent households. MikeNishimuta tellsmeour classwebsitegetsabout

860hitsamonth. Quick check-ins:Daryl Hower fl iesfor FED EX out of Tenn es-

►

see, Bruce Adriance is with L3 Communications at Robins AFB, Joh an n

Radcliff e iswith Project Management Solutionsin Greenville SC, an d Lee Gilmer listshimself asself-employed still in KatyTX

Ha ppy New Yea r Bill Terry Marie

J a n ic e & Fra n c k

Casements send — Happy New Year 2006!

Bill is fl ying the Ll Ol l with ATA Airlines. He has several foreign countries in thelogbook:Japan,Hungary,Kuwait,UAE,Turkey,Kyrgystan,England, Ire land,Germany andoldhomeHawaii. Hehappenedtobein Istanbul during therecord snowstorm.HistouringincludesAir Museum at Duxford, England; King John Castle in Limerick, Ireland; and theTerror Museum in Budapest, Hungary. Terry is a Master Teacher in the Fort Worth area and doing very well.

Onehighlight for her wasconductingtheFt WorthYouth Symphony. As far as I can tell,theoneclassmatethey met with in thetouring and skiingroutinewas Jim and Signe Donaldson.

Tracy and Cathy Cheatham sent ashort note.Asyou may remember, they soldtheir homeinUtahinAugust. They’restill livingin thehanger on 2.5 acres in Crawford, CO. If you ever fl y over the Crawford (99v) 7-25 runway, their hanger/homeisthebluetop buildingat theend of the5000x40 feet at 7,500 feet

CS-28ResidueRoadersgather for GregRenko. Top:MikeTillman, John Regni,

andDuncan Keirnes.Middle:HarryWalker and TonyDeRosa.

B o t t o m : D an

Handlin, DaveBuseandJack Hower. Notpictured:JoePeluso, John Thomp son , an d M ik e H ar m on .

CLASSLEADERSHIPNEWS:I hadmany niceresponsestot h e N ati o n al Ch ar acter and Leadership Symposium report sent out viaemail (I ’ve got 473 ad

dresses). A1Dunlaprecalledthat GenFoglemantaught history when we

w ere

cadets;SteveDalrjro pleadded that Fogleman washisacademi c advisor. There weremany offersto participatein leadership-typeevents, timely because the AOGoffered each classfi veinvitationstotheupcomingGraduate Leadership Conference,23-25July,hostedby our own JohnnyWhitaker.W e u sed o u r cl ass’ demonstrated leadership to score an exUaseven invitations. Ev en t s w il l in clu d e

USAEAsenior staff presentations, cadet panel discussionsan d an A O G Tow n

Hall meeting with open forum. Invitationswent out t o M it ch M it ch ell , John Muse, Bill Harris,Jim Callard, John Kuconis, Rowe Stayton, Rich Comer, Ron Scott,BmceMeyer,MikeMosier,and ChaplainThomasBlase. By thetimeyou read this, theAOG may open up for more invitations if oth er cl asses h aven’t

responded. Gontact meASAPif you’reinterested.

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributedan important sur vey. Thep urposeof thesurvey is tohear from you. Your participation is very important to us. We earn estly wm t toknowwhatAOGservicesyoudoand donot val ue. Thesur vey isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand will gui defuturestrategic

planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we want t o h ear f r o m a s m an y

membersaspossible.Resultswill bereportedin thefall of 2006.)

V i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e.

Merchandise, Gone But Not Forgotten and More! www.usafa.org

12 2

altitude. Call them on 122.8. By thepictureheincluded, th e vi ew is tr em en d o u s.

Radiochecks. Just afewlinesfromclassmatesseeingif th e l in es ar e still

open. Tony Brozena checked in: He is still at the Distributed Missions Opera

tionsCenter (DMOC) at Kirtland doingmod/sim stiff, c o n nectingF-15s,AWACS,JSTARStogether. Tony caUsit “Fun

andchallenging.” Paul andChrisGuzowski sayAhoj (pro

nounced ahoy)! That’sSlovak for hello and goodbyeam o n g fr iendsand closecolleagues. Paul isstill aliveandworking in Central / Eastern Europe. They are less than an hour f r o m

Vienna. From oneofhisTDYshecommentsthat ifyouhaven’t

beentoSloveniayou shouldgo. Heonly hadthreedaysi n

m 19 Sabre Society

Dono rs Ljubljanaafewyearsback but it isastunningcity with mag nifi cent architecture. Other placesof interest such asVienn a, Bratislava, or Budapest areafew hoursaway. CharlieBryant tagged in —just checkingin to say “HI, I am still with Northrop Grumman and enjoying Colo rado Springs.” ChrisCampbell wrotethat daughter’s(Kristi) husband is doing

better in thecancer treatment. (Ohyes,Chrisistakingvotes on: Gramps, Pop, Baba,Granddad, Grampa, or any other namesyou’d liketo of fer !).We h ave till around August — his fi rst!

Theonly other noteI haveisfr om DaveDaley. I haveto get used to hiswork ingastheHead,Seciui tyReview,Chief of Naval Operations(N09N2)Washing ton NavyYard, DC. It seemshereally enjoysbeingpart of the active DoD and

sent in a picture of the Barry and about one of his days at the docks. Hewrote on another day that during one of the reviews, "...I waslooking at Questions for theRecord for theSenateArmed ServicesCommitteeon FY07Military Space

Programs. The fi rst question I read is ‘Dr. Sega, General Ch ilt on , Gen eral Hamel, andAdmiral Deutsch,isTacSat-3fully funded,b o t h l au n ch an d sat el litedevelopment?’ Knowingthat my classmateand Under Secretary of theAir

Force Ron Sega was there to keep the admiral in line makes my review a lot easier!” Dave added that he and Tai-Leewent on a silver anniversary Carib-

bean cruiseearlier thisyear, and he hopesthe next 25 don’t go asquickly asthe fi rst 25! May timeslow for all of you and you livelong and prosper.

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributed an important survey. Thep urposeof thesurvey is tohear from you. Your participation is very importan t to us. We earn estly want toknowwhatAOGservicesyoudoand do not value. Thesur vey isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand will guidefuturestrategic

planning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want to h ear t om as m an y membersaspossible.Resultswill bereportedin thefall of 2006.)

Pa u l K e nt 1 8 1 6 6 S .E. 4 1 st Pla c e

Gronseth wasawarded the“ Wakin Character Award” for h i s eff o r t s as t h e o n e at t h e p e r so n mission element head” in charge of character development Prep School. Phil teachesChemistry there. Therewasa nice article lauding Phil in thelocal paper. Makesusproud. From DaveWallace; “Attached please find aphoto of LGen DougFraser, 11AF/CC,acertified ’75 SuccessStory. With him ishiswife, Rena, my wife. Col JanWallace, and me; the occasion was the

11AFAwardsBanquet at Elmendorf AFB,Alaskalast Friday 3 M arch 06. D oug off i ciated . We w ere th ere b ecause Jan is th e 354 M ission Support Group Com mander at Eielson AFB,Alaska, a part of 1l AF.”

r 4 9 %^ ^ embe^

Issaquah, WA 98027-9717 Mobile: (425) 785-3586

E- m a i l : zo o s c r i b e @m a c .c o m

Recognition isBack. Never knew it left,you say? But th ere h as been n ar y a

word about Hell Week? So a general inquiry was made. B r u c e M i t c h el l r e sponded that in thecurrent environment,it isabsolutely Politically Incorrect to refer to theweek before Recognition as“Hell” Week anymore, so it will not bementionedagain in thiscolumn. Andwith thisPCstuff . I’m guessing Shower

Formationsaren’t aregular occurrenceanymore, either? I ’l l ch e ck o n t h i s.

TheretrospectiveDVD and aword fr om Bili Estelle,who spent a minimum of hundredsof hoursproducingthuseff ort that wowed us on Saturday night of o u r

30th: “How about another appeal for photos?As always, it is literally like

pullingteeth. I had hoped that oncemy fi rst product came out it would inspire folksto sift through their ovm photo archives. So far, no such luck.While it’s fi veyearsuntil thenext gathering, it isnever toolateto start soliciting folkswho haverefi ned procrastinatingto high art .Duringthereunion , at least tw o folk s cameup tomeand saidthey hadlotsof negativesfr om theyearbook and Talon, but I don’t remember who they were. I’d liketo contact th em

and seeif I can get their materials. Einally, therear e st il l l o t s of DVDsavailablefor anyoneinterested.” An appeal f r o m Bill tohelp him identifyaclassmateat thebanquet w h o t o l d

Rena and Doug Fraser, Doug Wallaceandhis wife, Jan. From Jim Burling; “Dick Webber ison thetwo-star nomination l i st an d c el

eb rat ed w i th classm ates on Feb 26th at th e Peterson C l u b . W e d o n ’t h av e t o o

many classmates’ promotionsto celebrateanymore!” Tr u e ! A t l east n o t in t h e AF anyway. John Quattrocki adds (and sendsthisphoto): “Congratulations

onyour promotion—well deservedandgoodfor all whodepend on the fi nest Air Force in theworld. Your time on SERE cadre did notliing to prepareyou for thisbut I am surethe attached photo isfun for you, family and everyone else in t h e cl ass.”

Bill that hehad alot of negativesfr om theyearbook an d Tal on :

“Hewasshort and had agraying (who doesn’t?) goatee.”

18 3rd Annual Graduate Leadership Conference at theZoo Sabre Society this Summer.Wewill hopefully have 10 classmates in a t t e n Do n o rs dance. TheAOG limited each class to fi ve representatives— but our classseemsto have acquired some kind of influence or deference fr om the powers that be. I ’ll quote our cl ass Prez Jim Car l son :

r

“ ’75might well beevolvingto becomeadiscriminatingforce in th e f utu re of theAcademy asthe ’60s-decadeclassesgrow thinner. The Supe is a ’73 grad andweshareabrief span of common experienceand ou tl ook w i th h im an d thoseearly ’70sclasses. That commonality appearsto dissipatewith the ad

vent of the ’80s and later classes. We’re getting to, if not at, the top of our game

with respect to our almamater, classmates. Hopefully,th e rest of th e class w ill get brief impressionsfr om each of theguysbelow,who represent a broad slice

of our class. It will be interesting to see if they draw diff ering interpretations

fr om thesamebriefi ngsand Q&A’sthey receive.” In a f utur e (next) colum n . I ’ll list the attendees and a synopsis of some observations.

Passings. JoseRicardo Castro-Aguirrepassed thislifefor another on April 16th. Hewasthefi rst Salvadoran to graduate fr om U SAFA. The scrib e received word from his CS-20 mate Charlie Buck that hiswife, Katy, passed away, her battlewith cancer fi nished on February 1. Charlie a d d s “ t b e l o c al L aw r e n c e newspaper andTVstation both did nicepiecesabout her (alot of other people had fallen in lovewith her, too).” Katy was the school nu rse in Law r en ce, KS. A delayed story fr om Bran McAllister: My father (WWII fi ghter pilot) died of ALSin 2004. His dyingwish wasto fly in a formation with his son (F-15 pilot) and grandson (USAFA ’04). Weaccomplished thefeat si x m o n t h s b ef o r e h e died, flyingwith Air Combat USA in Fullerton, CA. We had awonderful expe

rience, documented in the local media.”

Classmates. From Charlie Beadling: we are having a 30.5 year reunion for th e CS- 16 Chickenh aw ks th is w eekend (Jan 28-29) in LasVegas. It lookslikewe

will get 12-13 (out of the 15plus-r2non-graduatingclassm ates) in att en dan ce.

Wejust had such agood timeat the30th wedecided to keep it going. From Paul Lotakis (per hisattempt at aClassof ’75Puget Sound Seah aw k s r eu n i o n at a downtown sportsbar):“Asthey say, it wasan ill-conceived plan that was per fectly executed. I wastheonly onethat showed (to my knowledge). It was crowded,noisy and noplacetosit. Everyonegot theresuper early and marked their territory. I looked around and could not identifyany chubby-aging ex cadets. I gaveawaiter 20bucksto snagachair (without a t able) an d a vi ew of

W eb b er an d SERE 19 73

Erom Raider Ramstad,who seemsto behaving too good of atime and forgot he isin his ’50 s: “This isthe NEL of skydiving... 25,400' AGL breathing 0 2 until exit,fi veHercsin tight formation,all theear blocks, sinus infections, hypoxia, stomach viruses, hangovers, bud buzzes, etc, not to m en t i o n ex t r e m e st r ess

and pressureto perform.Yahoo, baby. ThishereisTH E SH OW !” See w h at h e

is talking about here: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafile d b .php?action=guestpass&id=WT208. EromScott Baxter:My son came back fr om Iraq on leavein December and got married—baby is due 26 days fr om n o w . Erom Bill Murray: S tick (Mark Stickney) and I recently got together with

our wives in Dallas for some good food, fellowship and golf! He’s still with Northwest Airlines asan A-320Airbus Captain livingwith the pay cuts, and I’rn still with Lockheed Martin trying to get my salary up to wherehewascut to!”

Erom Kevin Lanzit : “I left the US-China Commission to take ajob with A e Institutefor Physical Scienceson 1March. I am off The Hill and now working in McLean,VA.” Prom Buck Rogers: Michael E. Rogers will be entering the USAPA with the Class of 2010.Young Mike Rogers is excited . H e h as vi sions of beingafi ghter pilot (don’t knowwherethat comesfr om), then Test Pilot and Astronaut, and culminatingin beingthefi rst man on Mars— areal ‘Buck Rogers’

story! I just hopehegraduates!” Prom Rick Pyatt: My wifewasunpackingold boxeslast weekend and found my purpleA-jacket. Amazingly, I could still zip it up. I’m sureI wasstresstestingthematerial but I felt like a peacock anyway.

Still looking for my pointy bonded parka although I think my Dad has it .

Prom Barbara (Michael, aka “Spike”) Johnston: Jack Sh i n e an d w ife D eb bi e

the game.”

just movedtoShanghai with business,and plan tobeth ere for th r ee year s.

look backwards, leaning on A1Bready’s good nature and immeasurable pa tience. What did A1do to deserve this? Erom Dave Clough: C h ec k o u t D al e

ate from Harvard in June.” BG Mark Beesley retires eff e c t i v e 1 Ju n e . Pr o m Duane Jones on Muddy Waters’ retirement: “It was a really nice ceremony.

Chief of Staff took agreat deal of timehighlightingsomepersonal stories about

Eor all things A1Bready, go to http:/ /web.mac.com/flyingboat/iWeb / Bready. DuaneJoneshasbeen honinghisskillsasaweb-sitejockey with a cool Meyerrose in Aviation Week and Space Technology’sFeb. 2 7 t h e d i t i o n . H e retired as a tw o-star an d is now CIO for D irector of National Intelligence.” Phil

Additionally wearevery proud of our only child.Josh,as he is about to gradu

o u r

classmate’sgreat spirit and good works. Dean Cox, Lan ce Gr ace, Ri ck

Pyatt,andI werehappy toseehimsowell recognized. Sad to see him go.”

12 3

and that it’sgreat getting to work with a classmate and superstar likeDallas.

Gen er al Class Stuff : D an Pr ice w ill com m ission son Doug (Classof 2006) on 31May. Doug is headed to pilot training. John Rivera h ad dinn er w i th h is old roomieGregSchneider and wife, Kathy. Gregsent thisphoto.

i Closing.Acomment fromBruceMitchell that probablypretty much sums

u p m ost of ou r refl ecti on s as OU R er a com es t o a cl ose: ‘‘Bentley Rayburn

retiring... 1feel a strange disturbance in theforce. It truly won’t belong until we (’75) are offi cially active duty has-beens.” As Duane “LoDrag” Lodrige adds: ‘‘Bendey hascertainly represented theUSAFA Classof ’75well!” A m en . A n d thelatest from Bentley:“I know I’m nuts,but through an amazing and perhaps providen ti al turn of even ts, w e fi n d ourselves back home in Colorado prepar ing to mn for the open congressional seat here in the 5* D ist rict of Color ado. www.RayburnForCongress.orgjust came on line. John Gaughan is our cam paign manager.O On theother end of life’sspectrum, aword from Bill Taylor: ‘‘Our tripletsturned twoyesterday, soit should beeasy sailing fr om now until they’re 16. . .” Count on it. Bill.

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributed an importan t sur vey Thep urpose of thesurveyistohear t omyou. Your parti cipation isvery important to us. WeearnestlywanttoknowwhatAOGservicesyoudoand donotvalue. Thesurvey isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand wili guidefuturest ategicplanning by theAOG. Youi viewsmatter and we want tohear t om asmany members asp ossible. Resul ts will berep orted in thefall of 2006.)

Da n Beatty

12196 Stanley Canyon Road

Colorado Springs, CO 8 0 9 2 1 H: (719 ) 4 8 8-19 62 E-Ma il: w hrlybrd 76 @aol.co m Da n.Beat t y@usaf a .af .m il

Paris, France, afull-timesenior NATOcivilian (equivalent 2-star r ank ). John issenior intern ational salesrep for Medtronicresponsiblef o r so m e f an t a st i c medical technology that issavingliveshere, abroad, and of our troops in the

^MiddleEast. Johnandwife.Heather,arebusyrenovatingtheir 100-year-old

farm estateoutsideReading, PA. John remindsmether easo n th a t h e l o o k ed tall in thepictureisbecauseheissittingon thearm of thesofa. Remember Greg

is 6' 9" and John only 5' 8".

BruceFreund sent somephotosbut in myjob transition I t h i n k i l ef t t h em o n my homecomputer. My apologiesBruce. DougFry reportsdaughter Capt Kasey (’00grad) returned from Kyrgyzstan and isnow engaged. Jim Hogue returned to Denver for 757/767upgradetrainingwith tw o gr eat in stru ct ors: Bob Iverson and Steve Nickel! Jim also attended a class offered by the USAF

Test pilot school with Terry New. Buddy Lott attended W a d e M c R o b e r t ’s

daughter’sweddingin OKC. MikeMcGinty’swife, Kitty, got t r an sferr ed t o Scott AFB,TRANSCOM.Mikesaysthey built anew housein Sw an sea, IL an d

46%

M e m b e rs

are investing heavily into spa, pool, fi nished basement, landscaping etc., and says the twins are loving the new school.

D ave Sr u l ow i tz an d Su san st ill l ive in San An t on i o . Th e l ast of t h ei r fi ve

kiddosgraduated from high school last year and went off to college. Dave recently earn ed an M.S.degreein Quality SystemsManagement an d a cer ti fi cation asaLean Six SigmaBlack Belt. Phil Vollelungaan d Valeri e al so still live in San Antonio andwould beglad to say hi to any ’76er th at com es in t o tow n .

Ben Thomson,JoeWysocki,and RussLaney went toabeer call w i th several

htt p:/ / www.AFAcademy.com/ 76 Fellow ’76 er s.

Another classgraduatesabout thetimeyou get this, a n d t h e c l a ss o f 2 0 10

(double digits in the 2000s?We are NOT that old) will ent er at th e en d of Jun e.

The ‘Long Blue Line’ grows again. I hope this fi nds you beginning a good su m m er.

I havechangedjobsclassmates. Although I enjoyed my job at theAOG im mensely,I wasoffered an opportunity by an oldArmy buddy to get back to my real passion—theoperationsbusiness. I am now working for a large company on contract to the

Department of Statemimingahelicopter operation support drug eradication programsin Afghanistan. I will beh er e about ayear and it’sgood to be‘back in thegame’!

Onesad note. SteveDaviswrotethat hiswifeof 16y e ar s, Kitty,passed away onApril 8* . Pleasekeep Steveand family

Kathy Schneider,John Riveraand GregSchneider

Gregwill becomeDirector of NATOResearch andTechnologyAgency in

members of ’75. The ’75er’s invited them to ‘‘continue their mentoring of us” according to Ben. Steve Nickel had several contactsin the Denver area. Says hetrained Gary “Monty” Montgomery and Jim Hogueat UA training. Steve saw Craig “The Mose” Moser in the cafeteria at the training center and Jack McGeeabout two dayslater at thesameplace. Stevealso saysRon McElroy is

aB-777Instructor Pilot at United’strainingcenter a s w el l a n d h e saw Sc o t t

Gough at United’s “Ops Desk”.

John Covington sent agood articleabout Cubsplayer Rick Monday stop pingaflagburningjust afew weeksbeforeour graduation. C h u ck O h m s f o r

warded a good report on terrorism, and Lee Cuevas sent a bad j oke about

beingtired. Thanksguys. KimWeber and StuYoungsent a n ew em a i l a d

30 Sabre Society

Do nors in your thoughtsand prayersclassmates.

Our biggest newsitem isthe 30^ Reuni on 8-12November 2006. Dan Jordan (who by theway has passed his doctoral ex am s an d i s n o w

workingon hisdissertation in European History) hast a k en t h e h el m a s t h e reunion chair and hiscommitteeisworkinghard to make this a great event.

For moreinformation go to http:/ /www.usafa.organd l i n k t o o u r c l a ss w eb

dresses. DaveClary sayshe’sheaded fr om NATOjob in Izmir, Turkey back to thePentagonA30. Bob and Ellen Corriearefi nishingalong career with a tour in theEmbassy in Denmark. They will get their last child through college in

May and retire to theWashington DC area in June where Bob hopes to fi nd work as one more beltway bandit.

Jack Catton wntesheloves hisj ob asACC Director of Requirements at l^angley and “Don’t tell Jan, but I almost likeshopping—it’sdif ferent when you’re

page. Markyour calendars and makeyour reservations! B EAT N O T RE D A M E!

Classmatesmoving/movingup: Second biggest newsitem i s K evi n Ch i l t o n ’s

confi rmation to 4-star general and Commander of USAF Space Comm an d. Chili,

again you’vedonetheclassproud! Congrats! Chili rep orts th e n ew Reserve Military Assistant to the 8'^AF/CC isone BG (Sel) Howard ‘Dallas’ Thompson JO I N T H E SA B R E SO C I ET Y! Y O U R M O N EY H EL P S F U N D CA D ET W I N G PRO GRA M S T H AT

WOU LD OTH ERW I SE GO U N FU ND ED. CA L L T H E A O G F O R I N F O .

m .

\A From lef t are Lance Christian, John (Hilde) Hildebrandt, Jerry (M ac) McFarlane, Dave (Flea) Yauch,Joe (PapaJoe) Marchino, Dutch Dutchyshyn,

Jim (Jim m i e) Car ter, an d Ri ck Sin cl air.

12 4

buyingF-22sandAMRAAMs!” Jackpresided over JoeMarchino’s l OApril re tirement withagoodconti ngent of classmatesthere—WadeMcRober ts (Anteon in Hampton)Jim Carter (JohnsHopkinsApplied Research Lab), Lan ce Chr i s tian (still activeduty at AndrewsAFB),John Hildebrand (U SAI R out of Bal ti

more), and Dean Larsen (working for a defense contractor in Virginia.) Jack also seesJoe Shirey alot down at Langley. Lance Christian sent pics of a 20Apr golf outing.

Lancealso saysthey had aBBQ the night prior with M ike Worden , Rob Fisher ,

NormWeinbergandfi vespouses, loanee^sosent apico f C o l K ev i n O ’To o l e ’s Fini flight at Andrews on 14 Apr.

Thisparticular racegetseven moreinterestingby theday— Bentley Rayburn , ’75, hasnow entered theraceon the Republican side an d r eceiv ed so m e u n f o r tunatepublicity asanother USAFAgradthrew hisacti veduty support to Bentley.

As for yours truly, I can hardly wait to see if this ends up being a USAFA on USAFA election. Any of you interested in helping Jay, c an r ea ch h i s w eb si t e at www.fawcett4congress.com. Good luck. Jay. Mike Weinstein (Bonnie) continues with his litigation against the Depart ment of theAir Force over religious proselytizing on active duty. Mike ismak

ingthespeakingcircuit now. You can catch him usually o n C N N o r A B C as th i s

Kevin O’Toole (2™ ' from right)

Again timeto stick afork in it. In caseyou haven’t heard Squadrons 37-40 are comingback! The plan is to have them re-established i n t i m e f o r t h e

arrival of the Class of 2010. The impact for current cadets is that upper class cadets will have to populate the squadron, which will n e c e ssi t a t e a m i n i shuffle for ’07 and ’08. There will also be a realignment o f r o o m s t o a c c o m modate thefour new units— some squadronsmay have to m o v e b ack a c r o ss t h e T e r r az z o .

Afi nal note... if you haven’t updated your info in theAOG database, please go to www.usafa.org and do so. You don’t need to be an AOG member to update your bio info. It will help to havecurrent infowhen we start passing reunion info in the next few months. As always, ifyou are headed to the Springs, let the other locals know. Keep flying your flags and let our deployed troops know

c a se m o v es f o r w ar d .

MAI LBAGALERT: My plea for information last column did not go unan swered — and I’ll make it again now since I am again almost out of updates fr om many of you. Jim Fraser (Karen) has heeded the cal l of ou r al m a m at er, leaving hisjob at the LosAlamos plutonium facility and moving to Denver wherehe isnow the facility manager for GU’sAuraria campusdowntown. Jim commentsthat, “It’s a lot more fun here.” Well ,yeah, but only if you defi nefun

as not being surrounded by nuclear weapons material a n d a t o m i c w a st e .

Congrats on the move guys, I hope to see you on my next trip out there.

Stu Al exander (Betsey) sent in a “you need to see this n o w o r n o o n e w i l l

recognizemeat thereunion” picture, reproduced here:

you havethem in your thoughtsand prayers. TheSpirit o f ’76 i s ST I I X d iv e an d w ell! U n til next t im e... Beatty

(Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t survey. Thep urpose of the sur vey is to hear from you. Your participation is very important to us. We eamestlywant toknow whatAOGservicesyoudoand donot val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guide future strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear from as many members asp ossible. Resul ts will be repor ted in the fal l of 2006.)

Cl ass of 19 76 3 0 th R eu n i on 8 - 12 N o v em b er U SA FA v s . N o tr e D am e

I-

Jo h n J “ Lo u " M ic h e ls , J r.

4 107 Harvey West ern Springs, IL 6 0 5 58 Voice: (3 12 ) 8 4 9-8 150 Fax: (3 12 ) 8 4 9-8 151

43%

^ ember^

E- M a i l :

j michels@mcguirewoods .com

I hopethat everyone is now fully thawed after what seem ed an in t er m i n ab l e winter (at least up here). Thawed out just in ti meto go back into shock over gas prices. In any event, we’ve got lots to talk about this quarter.

MEMORIAL SERVICE: Bill Kittle (Colleen) wrote to publicize t h e m em o rial services for Ed Vom br ock (Coll een). Gravesite serviceswill be held during HomecomingWeek, onThursday, Sept. 28,2006 at 12:30 p.m. at tbeAcademy cemetery. TheAOG has an update on donations in Ed’s memory and other contact information if you’re interested. My thanks t o B i l l a n d t h e r est o f t h e Thunderbirds for keeping us up to date on this.

CURRENT EVENTS: Jay Fawcett ’s (Susan) campaign for Congress in the Fifth District (Colorado Springs) ispicking up steam. Jay has now raised more money than any of the other contenders and is drawing n at i o n al f o c u s o n h i s efforts. Below is a picture of Jay with former Georgia Congressman/head of th eVeteran’s Admi nistrati on , M ax Clelan d . Clelan d, of course, isa highly deco rated an d disabled Viem am vet w h o traveled out to Colorado to put some heft in Jay’s campaign.

Stu and Betsey are living in Raleigh, NC, wi th seven kids ranging fr om 26 to 4. Stu is handling worldwide marketing at IBM and his photo raises several obvious questions, like: How come you ’ve got all that h a i r ? A n d i t st i l l l o o k s dark? And how is that possible if you still have a four-year-old at home? And fi nally — isn’t thisjust so unfair? Stu’s oldest is on active duty with theArmy with the Stryker folks at Fort Lewis and their second oldest, Jessica, isworking on a PhD at South Car olin a. Th e oth er ki ds ar e in vari ous stages of schooling.

Great photo, Stu, and keep doingwhatever it isyou’redoing; it’sworking.

Chuck Curran (Claudia) dropped me a line and photo (w h ich w ill b e in th e next issue) fr om Balad, Iraq. Chuck is working as Northrop’s Regional Man ager for the counter rocket and mortar program over th e r e . I n C h u ck ’s l i n e o f work, things are always looking up. By the way. Chuck’s so n Pa t r i c k m a d e D ivi sion I -AA Al l A m er ican at d efen sive t ackl e. H e’s sticking around for an additional year to get hisMaster’s in biomedical engineering. Congrats on all cou nt s. Ch uck.

Bill Lord (Cindy) getsthe “Refugee of the Quarter” award after he and Cindy

bailed (literally) out of Keesler. Bill wastheWingCCat Keeslerwben K at r in a h i t

last summer and wasresponsiblefor sheltering6,000personnel and evacuating 10,000 more prior to thestorm. Onebillion dollarsin damageslater (I hope Bill did not sign the hand receipt for the base when he took over), Bill and Cindy looked at the remains of their house and werepromptly reassigned to thePen tagon,whereMG Lord isthe Director of Informati on an d Services for H Q U SAF. There is some irony here, of course; Bill and Cindy were married right after

graduati on and reported to Keesler ashisfi rst duty st ati o n w i t h a C o r v et t e an d someweddingpresents. Twenty-eight yearslater,they depart Keesler without

even thewedding presents— they lost both carsand most o f t h e i r h o u seh o l d goods. Bill madeatrip back out to theAcademy to teach about my favoriteplace — cyberspace—to theZoomiesin theCompSci department. Th anks, Bill — I ’m 12 5

glad you guys got out of therewith at least yourselves i n t a ct .

SteveWittman (Betsy) sent me an updateon theclan i n C in cin n ati . A n d “cl an ” istheappropriateword;heand Betsy haveeight kids(I suspect Steve and Stu drank fr om thesamewater fountainswhen they werecadets). Heavy handles sales management activities for Proctor and Gamble an d l ead s t h e U SA FA r e cruitingteam . He’srun acrossseveral of our guysat t h e l at est SA CC in A u stin — Stan Hill (Cynthia) and Bob Rudolph (Janis). Stan iscur rently ' fl ying for Delta out of Atlanta while Bob fl ies for N ort hw est ' and livesin Tucson. Stevealso ran into Mark Mealdns (Gayle) 4 I 1

at theCincinnati airport. Mark isdriving737sfor D el t a an d

I

living in IthacawhereGayleisaswim coach at Corn ell (1guess for Gayle, it ’s “ ’in’ the old Cayuga waters”). Thanks f o r t h e 19 headsup, Steve.

Tom Jones’ (Liz) memoir Skywalkinghas entered its third Sabre Society Do nors printing by Smithsonian Books. Proving that even brilliant peoplearelost in strange situations,Tom asked me ab o u t t h e Scooby Doo reference fr om the last issue. What this really shows is that Tom

did not wastehischildhoodwatchingSaturday morn ingcartoon s. An d John

Visser (Ann) notified me that 1had mistyped the classwebpage address. It’s http:/ /groups.yahoo.com/groups/usafa77. Sorry about those of you who had been incessantly typing the other address.

D i an e Tull i a fi red m e a letter ab out h er life w i th ET i n A u st i n . ET r et i r e d i n

1997 and is now a captain with Southwest. He and Dianev o l u n t e er a s f o st e r parents for an adoption agency, taking care of newborns until the adoption process is finalized. They are also “paying it forward” by training dogs for

certifl ed pet therapy: ET and “Dreamer” work at aneurological r eh ab i li t at i o n

Michelle is 15 and still at home in Burnsville, MN (very pretty suburb of Min neapolis). Tom is a captain for Northwest on theA-320 as they continue to sweat out theupsand downsof theindustry. Amy reportsother ’78ersfl ying in the airlines are: Tom Czachor (captain also on Northwest) who had hip re placement surgery in December of last year; Gary Hughes (captain for Ameri can) who lives in New Mexico but is domiciled in Dallas;

fellow Northwester Ben Troemel whofl iesout of Minneapo lisbut commutesfr om GocoaBeach, EL (heck of a schlep

Ben) and UPT classmate (Reese80-02 if you can believet h at . . . yikes!) Chuck Brininstool who also fl ies for American o u t o f

Dallas. I can’t thank you enough Amy. Got a very cool e-mail from world traveler Scott “Ferg”

Ferguson. He and Mary spent a month on an a Russian i c e

breaker in theAntarcticRossSeawith stopsat McMurdoSt a tion, Scott Base,theexplorer hutsand “morepenguinst h an

23 Sabre Society Do no rs

you can shake a camera memory stick at.” They also est ab li sh ed a n ew r ec o r d for furthest south for asurfacevessel in theBay ofWhales. To spiceup the trip, they did lotsof helicopter “fl ight-seeing” and even had a picnic lunch on the

pack ice. Heappropriately called it the“trip of al ifeti m e” . .. sou n d s like an understatement to me. Asyou can seeby thephoto, i t ’s ab o u t a s c o l d as t h e

Terazzo in January on the pack ice near Cape Hallett with Mt. Hershey in the background. Ferg has been retired from Microsoft for over eight years now and has an incredible web site at www.ForestMoon.com (cl ick on “ Gal ler ies”) with pix of their tripsto London, Italy, Chinaand Spain to name a few.

ThanksFerg,you truly livean amazinglifemy friend.

cen ter w i th chi ldren . In addition , D ian e volun t eers as a v i ct i m ’s ser v i c es v o l

unteer for Travis County,Texas, assisting victims involved in the full scope of

man-madeand natural disastersaffectingthecommunity. N i c e w o r k a n d

thanks again, Diane for writing.

Steve Schwalbe (Ingrid) has now earned his PhD and goesby the handle of “doc”. Congrats, Steve. Steve also saw Ray Johns (Diana) on Ray’s way to a pr esen tation at A U on th e f ut ur e of th e Air Force an d DoD weapons systems.

As Steve noted, everybody loved the presentation except for the U-2 pilots.

CH ECKOU T. Th at does it fr om th e h om e of Basebal l ’s World Champions.

My very best wishes for the upcoming summer and start refilling my mailbag; it’sjust about empty. Be seeing you.

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributed an important survey. Thep urpose of the sur vey is to hear from you. Your p ar ticipation is very imp ortant to us. We earn estly want toknow whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to gi ve voice to your views and will guidefuturestrategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we want to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Bo b Kay 4 0 4 1 1 Tes o ro La n e

M e m b e rs

Pa lm d a le , CA 9 3 5 5 1

Home:(66 1) 274-22 0 1 Work; (66 1) 8 24-64 2 6 Ema il: Robert .kay@baesyst ems .com

Greetings’78ers...

Staying true to my normal form. I ’m sitting on an airliner (th e carr ier sh all remain nameless) trying to get this done two days before t h e d e a d l i n e . I ’m doing my best to not be aslacker and get thisturned in on time... but thetemp tati on isstrong! Lots of heroesthis arti cle— many thanksto you many faithful folksfor contacting mewith some great news. Please c o n ti n u e t o sen d i n f o o r else I’ll have to get creative and you all know how d i sast r o u s t h at w o u l d b e .

Hero (or I should say heroine) of the quarter isTom Keohane’s bride,Amy, who actually sent a hand-written letter (blessyou Amy!) and a great picture (I scoff Tom — you just don’t look 50!) bringing us up to d at e o n t h ei r b e au t i f u l family. Nineteen-year old-twins Jennie and Andrea attend N o r t h w e st e r n University and Miami of Ohio, respectively and, “baby” (Amy’s description)

I had thepleasureof spendingtheeveningwith past scr i b e an d al l ar o u n d

good^ yGreg“Kais” Kaiser last monthonarunthroughColumbus air patch.

Kaispicked meup on basein hishot rod Chevy pickup (h e sai d it w as a m id

life thing— just Iddding) and then proceeded to his very cool house on the lake. The ever-lovely Kim joined us aswe pressed to o n e o f t h e co o l est r e st au ran ts in th e south call ed Prof itt ’s Porch (th ink I buffooned the spelling but you Columbus alumsknow of what I speak). Massquantitieso f r ed b ean s an d r i c e (best ontheplanet)wereconsumedaswecau^ t upwithlife in general. Kais is an intern ation al M D - 11 fi rst of fi cer for FedEx an d is loving life ashe literally travelstheworld. Kim hasseveral urban renewal projectsplanned for their housethat Kaiswfl l manage. Thenext morn ingaft er an exceptional breakfast at The Kitchen (another Columbus landmark) I took Kais o u t t o M r . Rh i n o

bringingback somegreat memoriesof hisPhantom daysat Cl ar k an d K efl av ek

(think I misspelled that one too). A couple of his buddiesj oined us (fellow Zoomie Rich Briner among them) for the show and tell. I know it ’s painful looking at my ugly mug again but Kais is preserved well and thejet looks cool!

Rick Searfoss and I fi nally got together for lunch last month at MojaveAirport.

Rick is keepingvery busy teaching at the National Test Pilot School and fl ying

rocket-powered airplaneswith Dick Rutan for aMojave“ m a d sci en ti st ” c o m

pany. Heis on the road often as a moti vati onal speaker. That plusJulie and his threegirlskeep him busy at home. It wasgreat catchingup on hisendeavors.

Jim Jackson wrote and is extremely active as a Reserve BG and temporary The KeohaneFamily 12 6

com m an der of th e AF D oct r in e Gen t er at M axw ell . H e i s t h e M o b i l i z a t i o n

Assistant there but wasput on extended active duty an d G -se ri es o r d e r s af ter

Maj Gen Bentley Rayburn retired in April torun for congressin Colorado (good luck Bentley). Jim will servein that position until the new replacement arrives in June. He also said that there are several Reserve guyswho work at the center and that it is truly “Total Force" in action. In his free t im e, h e lives in Flori da and is a captain for Southwest. On an interesting side n ot e. I ’ve babbled for a coupleof yearsthat wehaveto havethemost general offi cers of any USAFA class and Jim mentioned that Lt Gen Stephen Lorenz, f o r m er C o m m an d cu r rent Air University commander, saysthe same thing. Yep, ’78 is great!

Finally,somesenior offi cer notes.Tanker Snyder and Ed Ri ce ar e b o t h o n t h e

PACAF staf f;Tanker isXP and Ed is the DO. While Del Eulberg waits to put on his second star, he will be moving from Scott air patch back to the Beltway as THEAE Civil Engineer (congratsDel!). Kevin Kennedy isalso waiting to pin on and will be moving FROM the Beltway to Langley as commander o f t h e A F Command and Control, and Intelligence, Surveillance an d Rec o n n a i ssan ce Center working for the SECAF. Bill Chambers fi nally got out of the personnel biz in the Pentagon and is now in lovely Kabul (not sure th at ’s an even trade) asthedeputy commander of theCombined ForcesCommand. Other guys on the two-star list are: Doug Raaberg, who will be the new ACCXP, Keye Sabol who is CINC manpower on the air stalf , and Mark Zamzow w h o w i l l b e m o v ing to Randolph as the new director of Intelligence and Air, Spaceand Informa tion Operations at AETC. Congratsto you guysand I hope I didn’t miss anyone, but probably did.

On that happy note. I’ll will sign off for this installment (sin ce I ran ou t of space—loveit when that happens!) and thank all of you contributors once again. Consider thismy semi annual call for any infothat I can put in here. You have now had to look at my ugly mug for the last two ar t i cl es an d t h a t ’s w i th info. Imaginewhat you’ll haveto endure if nobody sends anything! May you aUhave a healthy, blessed and enjoyable summer. ’78 is GR^ T! (Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t sur vey . Thep urpose of the sur vey is to hear from you. Your par ti cipation is very important to us. We earn estly want to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not value. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guide future strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefal l of 2006.)

Jo h n “ J.R." Da lla s 1 6 1 2 Ra n n o c h Tra c e

4 1%

M e m be rs .

Fort Smit h, AR 729 08 (479 ) 64 8-04 33 j rda llasf l 6 @ya hoo .com

Greetings, Class of 1979. 2005 fl ew past! I pray that you all are fantastic, healthy and safe. Enjoy!

I spent the summer working for BGen Frank Gorenc at Balad Airbase, Iraq.

Fran k’s th e 332AEW / CC: I w as h i sVi ce Com m an der for a couple of months.

Frank should leave Iraq in July but not sure of his ‘next stop.’ He fl iesPredator missions, commands 6,500 folks at four bases, and runs a 2 4 / 7 w ar w h il e an swering straight to the DFACC. Not bad for a USAFA CE major.

Not surewhen thismagazinewill hit thebookstoresnear you but I’m leaving my 188PW/ CCjob on 7 May. Going to state staf f for awhile but most impor tantly, I ’m back to Am erican Airlines. It’s been nearly fi v e yearssinceI fl ew the‘SomethingSpecial in theAir’ jets. Will

fl y767s(DFW). My last F-16fl ight’son 6 May. 19out of 27

fl ying the F-16 isn’t bad for a kid from Arkansas. N ew e - m ai l —jrdallasF16@yahoo.com.

Okay, a check of my saved Christmas cardsreports thef o l

lowing:MarcMilligan reportsthat heclimbed^ 20,320f eet

5

of Mt McKinley. HisChristmascard photo showsfi vepeople; Sabre Society D o n o rs I have no idea which one’s Marc, but good on ya! As I si t h er e in Arkansas in a golf shirt and shorts in April, I c an ’t see h o w dealingwith that temperature isthat much fun, but each h i s o w n . H e al so sen t a photo of him refueling his airplane in Provideniya Bay, Russia. That’s a first for theclass! Tom Talbot wrotefrom thesnow country and reportshisdaughter’s in school at WyomingU and son’sfi nishing high school. Tom, Em sorry tohear about the deathsin your family. Y’all arein our prayers. O u r b est t o L eA n n w i t h h er loss al so. M ik e Wat son w rites fi -om th e 19* h ole at the LukeAFB golf course wherehereportsthat with two sonsnow at USAFA, li feisgood! Class of ’07 and ’09. Cool. Mike(Bonnie) just celebrated #26. Bonnie’s a sai n t !

Ken (Jill) Impellirezzi wrote that Ken is still with Delta asa757/ 767 Captain.

Flyi ng out of Cincinnati. Daughter is at OhioState; son at N. Kentucky Univ; son in high school. Still have that boat? John Susall a (Kathy) celebrated #10 and built the new house in the country. Sti ll fl ies asa DC-9 Captain with NWA. USAFAALOjob still. Thanks, Sus. SteveLepper (Kathy) wrotethat they and the dog left Hawaii and are back at BoUingAFB. Steve’st h e c o m m an d e r o f t h e A F Legal ServicesAgency, and has the 26-foot boat that Kathy always wanted.

She’sthe‘skipper.’ Jen is a USAF LT at Keesler; other daughter Helen is at CSU. Steve, I ahhh have thislittle legal issuewith the ahhh AF... any help for a class mate available? Hahaha. Thanks for the update!

Rich Peters (Lori) celebrated #25. Daughter’s at CSU an d in ROTC; h e w orks

asagovernment contractor with SI International since 1999. Data he got for me: Ralph Trapaga (Maureen) has three daughters and b e e n w i t h D e l t a f o r 19yrs (767 CA ATL). Ralph reports that Rob Parsons (DAL 737) spent Superbowl Sunday with him; that he, Rob and Steve Barnes are in thesameSunday School

class: th at M ik e D on atell i ’s involved in th e ALPA Un ion ; t h at St ev e D i c k so n i s

the DAL Director of Fit Opswith Kurt Shul ar ashis General Manager of Flight Ops. Thanks, Ralph!

Ralph Trap aga wi th his 767-400.

Phil Finch isgetting gray headed more and moreashisgolf skillsdeteriorate.

Beverly keepshim grounded between hisNWAAirbusCaptain trips. Daughter Amanda auditioned for American Idol in Chicago, but Simon didn’t pick her.

What ajerk. Shehastwo CDsout in Europe. Opened for Merle Haggard last October. That ‘break’will arrive. Eingers crossed! Steve M a t h ew s n ev e r an swersmy phonecallsbut I’ll includehis info anyway. AirbusCaptain in Miami for AAL; commutes from Chicago. Don’t we have a crew b a se i n O RD ? N ev er could fi gure Steve out. Caroline is a saint also! Chuck F r an ce sh i w r o t e f ro m Denver that he started his own company (ConventusSolutions), that he kept up with Laura in a triathlon but had double knee surgery af t e r w a r d s! O u c h !

Congrats on the grandbabys. Chuck!

Fr om AF Magazine {]an 06 issue) — an article about targeting pods makes m en t ion th at LTGen Bu ch an an (for m erCFACC) cr edit s th e idea of putting Litening pods on F- 16s in Iraq to our own Bill Rew . B il l ’s n ow t h e 5 7 FW / C C at Nellis. Fantastic! Greg Brundidge has moved to DepDirector Operational Support Modernization at the Pentagon. Erv Lessel has moved from WrightPat t o th e D ir ect or of Com m u n icat ion s, OSAF, Pen tagon .

Pr om th e e-m ail t r ail . Joh n Par do w r it es - fi ve ’79er s c o m m a n d A F R O T C d et ach m en t s — Joh n ’s at Bo st o n U n iv ; Ken H o l l en b eck ’s at EmbryRiddleUniversity,AZ; EricAsh’sat North Dakota State; Scott Gr unw al d ’s at U SC,

CA; and Mark Fish’s at Loyola MarymountUniversity. They all have ROTC summer Field Training positions to keep busy!

Randy (Donna) Helmswritesthat he’stheDeputy Director o f CA PST O N E at Ft McNair — the program that educates generd and flag offi cers. Reports that Robin Rand, Don Lustig and Mark Owen are in classnow (Feb); th at Il ick Davis, Steve Schmitt , and Neil McCasland have been through recently; reportsthat D on Cohi ck (SWA) is in SanA n ton io; Ed (M ar ie) W il son ar e i n ST L o u i s w i t h

Boeing; and that they are great — three kids out of the h o u se b u t i n sc h o o l .

Tru Eyre (DAL) should be home (May 06) from four months in Baghdad by n o w . Rich Berkebile (Lydia) writes that he’s retired but t each es Join t an d Multinati onal Operati onsand Homeland Security at theArmy Staff College in Kansas. He’s an Army civilian, with both children at U n iv of N eb raska. Jack Humphrey (Debbie) isa classmatethat went Army at graduati on. He’san Army 0 -6; the ROTC Brigade CC at Fort Carson. Responsiblefor 20 ROTC programs in eight states. Had assignments to USMA, USAFA emd Jam es M adison . Jack has an Army 2Lt son and a daughter at James Madison. Th an k s, Jack!

Mark Miller sends that he’s a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and the Head I d.

»

m

m

&

12 7

of theSportsMedicineprogram at theUniversityoM rginia;th at h e’s w r i tt en 12

books in h is fi eld ; is an 0 -6 in th e Reserves; son i s a doolie (Class of ’09); an d

that he followsAFA football to this day. Thanks, Mark.

Gary Curry’s doing contract work with Lockheed on Minuteman stu f f; sell ing cars as a dealer; working in the Army NG; part o w n er o f a B - 2 5 o n t h e airshow circuit (came to Ft Smith in March for my Airshow!); and tows gliders at U SAFA for the cadets! Oh — n o tim e for a love life. Go fi gure! Dave Hartley (AAL) hastired of commuting—will now fl y 777sout of ORD. MikeEnglebrecht (DAL 767 NYC) shar es h is tim e betw een Colorado, Florida an d U t ah . T h an k s

Gary! Rob Rowe writesthat heleavestheAF Reservesthissummer; hisquadru plets turn l Osoon; still test-piloting the U-2 in Palmdale.

Updateyour infowiththeAOG;especiallyyour e-mail addresses! It’simportant!

Have a great 2006! Classof ’79 — till the day we die! Joh n “ J.R.” D al las (Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an impor tan t sur vey. Thep urposeof the sur vey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very important to us. We earn estly want to know whatAOGservicesyou do an d do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Do n Mye rs 4 0 1 Cha mbray Hill Peacht ree City, GA 3 0 2 69-4 247 (770 ) 631-14 29 E-ma il: DMye rs8 0 @hot ma il.com

48%

M e m b e rs

Class Home Page: htt p:/ / usafa80.t ripod.com A great opportunity for all of uswas the Heri tage M ar ch a t t h e Z o o o n 2 8 April. Marianne (Owens) and Dave LaRivee (Vice Comm) t o l d m e a b o u t i t during the 25'*’ reunion. This was the second year they’ve h a d i t . T h e w o r d might not have gotten out, but we’re invited to join our cadet squadron for a late eveningmarch to theAcademy cemetery for amoving cerem ony (taps, 21gun salute, bagpipes, laying of awreath, etc.) I wasmadeto feel at homeby CS02 and got to sharewith them (and to listen) during dinner, while at thesquad ron, and aswe made oUr way down the hill in a casual f o r m a t i o n b ef o r e t h e drumbeat met us near the cemetery. Af terwards, reflectively and silently, we

madeour way back up. Near theBOR, theAcademy staff/faculty l i n e d t h e

sideswith flashlights, showing their appreciation for grads who have given their all to the country and to thosewho might be asked to go into harmsway in the future. More of us need to be there next year.

Aging Gracefully? Tom Arata has a lesson for us: “I d i d t h e ov er - 4 0 at h l et e thing and blew out a knee, had surgery and rehab— doing m u ch b et t er n o w ! ” Right afterwards, hewaspromoted to Ecolab’sVice Pr esi d en t G l o b al M ar k et ing,Antimicrobial Programs. (I’m trying to fi gure o u t w h et h er t h e l esso n i s t o avoid overindulging in atliletics or to get hurt and look for the sympathy vote at work.) “In just afew weeksinto the assignment I havebeen up to my eyeballs in pandemic planning, mad cow in Canada and Japanese t r ad e i ssu es o n f o o d safety — pretty cool stuff!”

Moving on. Deb (Dubbe) Gray retired 13 Apr at theArnold H al l B al l r o o m after doing great fi rings at theZoo. They had planned on adopting a little girl from India, but some problems with re-inspections of orphanages under a new international convention have slowed the process. H o m e i s i n t h e Fayetteville, NC, area, where Deb’s parents reside.

Amie Flores left hiscommand of the MaintenanceGroup, at M cC o n n ell an d isDirector, Combatant Command Support, Defense Distribution Center, N ew Cumberland, PA Brig. Gen. Stanley T. Kresge,379th A r ExpeditionaryWing CC, M Udeid, Qatar,will becomeUSNorthern Command Policy and Planningdeputy director, Peterson AFB. Col. Charles K. Shugg, 366th Fighter Wing CC, Moun tain HomeAFB, will slide into the 379th AEWWing CC p osit ion . Seem s Paul (Ricki Smith) Selva isgetting another star whilecontinuingat USTransportation Command (Scott AFB). And Jerry Siegel istheViceWing C C at Van ce .

Susan (“Boomerang”?) Helm s is back at Patrick AFB; this time as theWing King. (She was at Patrick and recently spent a short stint at Randolph.; Fl ori da Today said she’ll oversee all the launches from Cape Canaveral, including the spy satellites that are the “central nervous system of today’s

armed forces, and essential to waging thewar against t e r r o r i sm a n d t h e conflictsin Iraq and Afghanistan.” And 1thought those werej ust big fi re

works going off there Marge (Glazier) (Jay-i-2) ScheUis back from Bogata. They’ve settled, postAF, in Yorktown,VA— after letting the girls decidewhere to visit. (Multiple Six

Flagslocationsand 10,000milesin six weeks!) They love th e locati on , sch ools,

and their new church. Jay is a military consultant with C2. Unfortunately,

their overseasmoveback to thestateswasvery damagingt o t h e i r h o u seh o l d

goods— the ship (and containers) must have sunk and been re-floated. They likethefact that they can go outsideor shoppingwithout bodyguards.

Kurt (Sharon-r3) Green successfully sailed across Lake Michigan in his Catalina22 and now works in theAccounting Department a t Great Lakes Naval Base (Chicago, for youAF-oifi y types).

GivingBack. Mary Daley recently lost both parents. “ I m i ss .4 them both dearly and am learning to apply the gift o f t h ese t h e r eaf i f r experiences (yes, there is always a gift). Minewas mation, in a profound way, that life isvery precious a n d w e 17 often takeit and what Our Lord hasin thejourn ey for granted.

KM

1am determ i n ed to live in th at aw ar eness an d as a result , am

takingon somefresh challenges.” She’sgoingtowalk i n t h e

Sabre Society Do nors

Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Half Marathon for the f un , exercise, and to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Also in thefund-raisingbusinessisbankVicePresident L^ ryDePatis. Larry’swork ingwith Jerry ’s Kids (the MDA). Both he and Mary havew eb si t e ad d r esse s f o r their proj ects, but for brevity sakeyou can just contact them through AOG WebMail if you want more info. (I ’m sure, likeyou, t h ei r em ai l a d d r e sse s ar e up to datewith theAOG.) More (Class) Giving: “Last fall, a number of our classmate v o l u n t e er e d t o assess and develop a purpose and fi nancial goal for the class’ gift fund. That work resulted in our debating and passing these two binding motions (plus some administrative authority stuff): ‘We move that Allison and Deb develop

a design (or designs) to memorialize our ATOs in essentially t h e sa m e

way(s)’59’sATOs are remembered and work with USAFA/AOG l ead er s t o h av e that memorial(s) installed. They may spend up to $5,000w i th o u t fu r t h er f un d ing team action and may return to the team with a motion to spend more as they see fi t.’ This motion will likely result in our AT O s’ n am e s et ch e d o n w i n dows in Doolittle Hall just as ’59 did. There’s also a bronze plaque for ’59’s

ATOs at th e en t ran ce t o Am ies t o con si der. ‘We m ove t h a t t h e c l a ss f u n d an

annual ethicssymposium modeled af ter the current national leadership sym posium . The events should beorganized and conducted by ’80 grads, many of whom arein prominent militaryandbusinessleadership positions. The events should be organized around annual ethics award(s) modeled a f t e r t h e n ew cadet h on or an d ethi cs aw ard m edall ions. Th e details on executing thisinitia tivewill follow in due course and must consider inputs f r o m cl a ssm at e s an d USAFA’sleadership with optional inputs from other so u r ces.’ W e en v i si o n an annual event anchored on ethics awards in several categories. Our goal is to

focusattention on thereal-world, point to theAcademy’score val u es, an d

bring some positive press to our school. More importantly, t h at n at i o n al a t tention will also draw signifi cant, real-world ethics experience to the cadet wing for motivation and inspiration. Matt Neuenswander [dn eu en sw an der @kc.rr.com] and I [Ed Herlik] signed the fi rst fundraising l e t t er . I t w i l l b e f o l lowed vUth a call and another letter. The point is to inform and engender support from you for this ethicswork - it won’t happen without your buy-in.

We’re all in this together: our classmates will select eth i cs aw ard ees, escor t them to USAFA, conduct the symposium and bring life l esso n s t o c a d et s. W e encourage anyone in the class to contact anyone on your gift team for details an d to volun teer tim e. We also in ten d this to be an exceptional opportunity to give back to our nation and USAFA.” Presented to the class by: Dan Bloemer (Bloemer@aol.com), Keylor Eng (KeylorEng@att .com), Deb (Dubbe) Gray (ddagray@earthlink.net), Ed Herlik (Elj efe80@aol.com), C h a i r m a n A l l i so n (Hilsman) Hickey (Allison.Hickey@pentagon.af.mil), Tanya (Senz) Regan (TanyaSRegan@yahoo.com), andDocWarr (Dartanian.Warr @Hanscom.af mil).

Outta space and time. Enjoy summer! Don (Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an impor tant sur vey. Thep urpose of the sur vey is to hear from you. Your par ti cipation is very imp or tan t to us. We earn estly want to know whatAOGser vicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and wil l guide future strategic planning by theAOG. Your vi ews matter and we wan t to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will berep orted in thefall of 2006.)

Vi sit the AOG Web Site - Merchandise, Gone But Not Forgotten and More! www.usaf a.org 12 8

Ric h Tre nt m a n 1 1 1 0 2 As b e e St .

Falcon, CO 8 0 8 3 1-8 170 Hotn e: (719 ) 4 9 4-8 4 38 Work: (719 ) 23 4-0754

J im Ra t t i

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1 6 1 E. 2 4 0 0 S .

^ embei^

C le a rf ie ld , UT 8 4 0 1 5 - 1 9 1 9

(8 0 1) 4 97-0 9 8 9/ DSN: 58 6-3 34 4 ratt ij m@m inds pring.co m htt p:/ / usaf a8 2 .org

E-m a i l : t re n t m a n @u s a f a 8 1 .c o m Cla s s W e b s it e : w w w .u s a f a 8 1 .c o m

Howdy ’81ers! Our 25* isjust around the com er and I have a feelingwewill havea great turn out. Theemailsare starting to pick up with affi rmatives, email changes, and volunteers for squadron representatives. It will be great to gettogether cmd more importandy, beat Navy!

On to class news. Scott Land ran into Frank Gallegos at STRATCOM . They met down in the cafeteria to catch up on old times. Frank retired last year as theWing Commander at VandenbergAFB and now lives in O m ah a . H e i s a contractor at Offutt AFB. Scott has been busy moving from STRAT job to job, of course, due to h is b ril lian ce! Paul Sull ivan h as been busy with repairs from Hurricane Ivan in the Florida panhandle and preparing to move near Gainesville, FL. Paul crosses pathswith DaveScholl, Pam (McGinty) Sanders,BmceStark , an d C h r i s C o o k . Pa u l fl i es f o r D e l t a o u t o f A d an t a an d i s i n

the Reserves as an Academy Liaison officer. Most impor 13 tandy, Paul plans to attend our reunion.

Amy Markert hasbeen a busy traveler. Amy iswith Nortel S a b r e S o c i e t ' Do n o rs working USAF accounts in Cal ifornia, Nevada, Utah, a n d thePacifi c. Amy keepsin touch with Silvi (Kiisk) Steigerwald.

Amy saysthat Silvi travelsquite a bit, too. (India,Australia... nice) Amy talked with Janice (Gunnoe) Hughes before Janice headed out to India to join her husband at amissionary organizati on. Amy plansto beat our reunion. Sammy Angelella is at Misawa, Japan and promised me a picture w i th Jef f H ar r ell , Joan Cunningham , and him on avisit to Cannon AFB, b u t I h av en ’t r ec eiv ed i t a s o f t h i s d ea d l i n e . N ed R u d d i s an F - 15 E si m u l a t o r instructor for Boeing at RAF Lakenheath, UK and plans to attend our reunion. N ed h a s b e e n i n En gland for about ayear now. Danny Crews hasbeen busy flying for Northwest.

Danny will be there this fall.

Good old Alex Baggett emailed with some colorful language giving me grief for not acknowledging messages he left me. Of course, he left messages on numbers I haven’t had in almost threeyears. Alex will be at our reunion. Larry Ching emailed from Hong Kong before heading back to A l a sk a o n a m o n t h long trip. Larry will be making his fi rst trip back to USAEA since graduating at our reunion. Randy Worrall has been busy not only working o n o u r r eu n i o n , but talkingwith Delta pilots about their new contract. He spent the evening at Mark Emerson’shouse in Park City, UT on his roadshow. Mark’s oldest plays lacrosse at CU and hisyoungest is a HSsophomore and co-captain of the la crosseteam. Randyalsoran intoJohnGri ^ andDaveChapman whiletrav eling in Utah. John finished upgrade training to be an MD-88 captain and Dave is a 767 captain. Freddie Stewart stumbled upon i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t a French exchange cadet that CS-29 hosted, Gerard Latour. Gerard or “Gerry ” is n ow Colon el (Ai r) Latou r. Bob Br i t t h as been b ack in the states for a year now. Bob was an A- 10 subj ect matter expert / simulator i n st r u c t o r a t Spangdahlem, Germany, but is now with theANG at Springfi eld, O H a s an F 16 sim u l at o r i n st r u ct o r. W el co m e b a ck !

I had a nice lunch in May with Tom Maloof and Lauri Cross. Tom’s keeping busy with Delta and his law practice. Lauri is busy with work and wedding preparations. Both have horses, so they discussed horse “stuff” at length. I had invited Blane Hook, but he had to teach an algebra c l a ss.

We still need squadron representati vesto contact classmates and arrange a get-together for Saturday night. Randy, myself and others are fi nalizing other reunion items to ensure a great time for all this fall. Please m ak e reservations, check thewebsite (www.usafa8L com) and contact your f ell ow ’8 1e r s t o en courage them to attend. This will possibly be the last a r t i cl e b e f o r e o u r r e union and I know it is a bit lean, but expect lots of pictures and informati on in the Fall article. I’m approaching fi veyears of writing t h ese so o n . I s th a t an ’8 1 scribe record... Dennis, Marty? I ’m very exited to see everyone this Fall and hope all of you have great summers! Go Falcons!

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an impor tan t survey. Thep urpose of the survey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very imp or tant to us. We earn estly wan t toknow whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesurvey is an organized way to gi ve voice to your views and will guide future strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we want to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

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^ ember^

GreetingsRedtags!

It should come as no surprise that we have had general offi cers, test pilots, captains of industry, published authors, astronauts, politicians, and doctors among our classmates. But now we can add “Hollywood act or ” t o th at li st , as JJJohnson recently starred in the highly acclaimed m ovi e Un i ted 931JJ is a real-life United Airlines 757 Captain and was cast as Jason Dahl, the pilot of the ill-fated Boeing 757 which crashed into a fi eld n ear Sh an ksvi ll e, PA on September 11* , 2001. He enjoyed a good bit of fame and notoriety as the movi e premiered in lateApril, making numerousTV appearances and giving in tervi ew s for Tim e, N ewsweek, N Y Tim es, an d a host of other publications.

He was a special guest at Robert DeNiro’sTribecca Film Fe st i v a l w h er e t h e moviewas the opening feature, and he appeared on CNN an d I n si d e Ed i t i o n as w ell .

From left areJJJohnson, Paul Greengrass and Joe R o m a n k o .

Here’s a picture of JJ and American Airlines pilot Joe Rom an k o w i th t h e producer and director of Uni ted 93, Paul Greengrass. I t w as t ak en i n L o n d o n in December of 2005 during the fi lming of the movie. Joe w as in London on a trip, and he and JJwere invited to a party at the d i r ec t o r ’s h o m e .

Of course, I went to see the fi lm as soon as it opened h er e i n U t ah an d I m u st say it wasvery well done. Paul Greengrass waszealously committed to giving an accurateportrayal of the events of that day, and i t sh ow ed .

He chose to use real pilots, flight attendants, air t r a fi c c o n trollers and so forth throughout the fi lm, and many people portrayed themselves. Overall a very stirring and thoughtprovoking movie. Well done, JJ! A n o t h e r m e m b er o f o u r c l ass h as h ad a b i t o f m ed i a a t t e n

9 tion too. Actually his kids get more of it than he d o e s. I ’m speaking of course of Scot Shier. Scot and Patty had quin ts in Sabre Soci et y Do n o rs January 1996, and the children have been thriving ever sin c e .

They just celebrated their 10"' birthday with a gala c el e b r a tion held at the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.The three girls and two boys— Hannah, Sarah and Rachel and Jonathan and Joshua— each r ec eiv ed laptop computers from the hospital . The hospital also gave the quints a free sleepover camp at SeaWorld in San Diego, including a swim with dolphins.

Chaplain (Col) Greg Tate sent a quick note and this picture of the USAFA grads attending National War College. Greg is in the back row , th ird fr om th e

Cl a ss o f 1 9 8 1 2 5 th R e u n i o n 4 -8 O c t o b er

USAFA vs. Navy Greg Tate and his National War College classmates.

12 9

left, and as I calculate it is the “old man” of the group. The rest of the folks pictured arefr om the classesof ’83 through ’89. By the timeyou read this Greg will be off to his new j ob in the Office of the Chief of Chaplains as the Policy, Readiness and Budget Division Chief.

In other new s, Jon Kim m in au’s w ife, I rish (’83), sent a quick note after catch ing up on her Christmas correspondence. She, Jon and the family are cur rently stationed at Davi s-Monthan but will be headed to San Antonio (j ob unspecifi ed) sometimethis summer. John Amr ine is currently an Ops Group Commander at Buckley and will depart thissummer to betheDeputy Program Director for SBIRSin LosAngeles. Chuck Beckwith stopped by with a quick update to let meknow that he’ssti ll gainful ly employed a s a co n t r act o r at Sco t t APB. And, I was TDY to D.C. a several months ago and bumped into Don Schilpp at the Lockheed Martin offi ce in Crystal City. D o n r et i r ed i n 2 0 04 an d works legislative liaison issues for LM. Speaking of retirees, I recently got a reti rement announcement for Marianne (Cafi ero) Young. M ar i an n e w a s at Scott for her last assignment, but I don’t have any information on her post retirement plans.

One fi nal note. 1hope that all of you voted in the r ec en t A O G b all o t i n i ti ati v e concerning theAssociati on’sby-laws. You will soon have another opportunity to shape the future of your organizati on. It’s agreat way to makeyour thoughts

to An drews in January (he’s working at the Pentagon), and get this, John and

John live on base, about tw o fr isbee throw s fr om each other. Rumor has it they

carry their USAFA commemorati veWmg/CC sabersas they go on their nightly after dinner walks. Here it is prints, guys— plan that big summertime party, and you’ll have at least one out-of-towner sleeping on your couch — me!

Hereisanother interesting number— below zero. That wasthetemperature in Colorado Springs while Jerry Varner was in Honolulu, t em p eratu re 87F, writing me a Christmasletter. And another great number fr om th e Var n er ’s, Pam and Jerry — 20 years of marriage— Congratulations!

Another number leapsout at meas1pemseafew moreChristmasphotos. 5%.

That is the collective % bodyfat of the Robert Gregor and Jeff Fiebig families based on theboating photo of the Gregors and candid Fiebig snapshots. Rob ert is still flying for UPS. Jeff left United to be a full-time businesstycoon, and also has 0 -7 in the Reserve squarely in his sights. Stand by for thepin-on date.

Maybewe could borrow some of Zaz’swine stash to celebrate!

c o u n t . See t h e ed i t o r ’s n o t e b el ow .

With that. I’ll let you get on with your summers. May you andyours b e saf e and happy throughout! Ratman (Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an important sur vey. Thep urpose of th e sur vey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very important to us. We earn estly wan t tokn ow whatAOGservicesyou do and do not value. Thesurvey is an organized way to gi ve voice to your views and will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter an d we want to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Jo n Dures ky 2 0 7 K n o b H ill D r iv e

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M e m be rs

W a rn e r Ro b i ns , GA 3 1 0 8 8 Ho m e : 4 7 8 -9 5 3 -3 14 1 Ce ll: 4 7 8 -3 9 6 -7 7 8 7

Dures kyJB@a o l.co m

Greetings, Classmates!

As 1stm ggleto fi nd an appropriate genrefor my annual Class N ew s tom e, I ’ve decided to put in a plug for theAOG fi rst. Very soon, you will receive a survey fr om theAOG— please Bll it out and return it!! TheAOG B o ar d m em b er s w an t to fulfi ll the desires of the members-at-large (within reason, gutter-brains), and sending a survey and collating the data is oneway to do this. So take a few minutes out of your busy day, mail in the survey, and let your voice be heard.

Since I’m still rambling abit, how about theAcademy-wide discipline“buckup,” designed to instill a moremilitary mindset amongthe Cadets? My humble opinion isthat the USAFA leadership is on theright t r ac k th i s ti m e. T h e C ad et s might howl about not being able to get cell phonecalls and text messageswhile takingaGR, but if they try to get around that reg, or any other of thenew changes, then it’s a blast fr om the past, for sitti ng confi nements and marching tours are back in style! Naysayers will say that no one in the “ r e al ” A i r F o r c e m a r c h e s punishment tours, but marching around theterrazzo suregave aperson ample time to reflect on his or her transgressions. Next up — mandatory issue of Member’sOnly jackets, tight jeans, and short running shorts. If you held on to all that old stuff like I did, you just saved a bunch of money buying clothes, becauseyou are in style, once again.

This paragraph is brought to you by the Number 67! C u r i o u s? T h at i s t h e number of bottles of wine that John and Monica Zazworsky had shipped fr om Germany asthey PCSed toAndrewsAFB,whereJohn ist h e 89* O G / C C . So u n d s like ahospitality check to theZaz household isin order. I know just who should lead thecharge, noneother than theone and only John H est er m a n . H e PC Sed

The Gregor family li ving large at the lake.

Ray Blust sent me a few emails fr om classmates who c l ai m t o n ev e r h av e been m enti on ed in a Class N ew s colum n , so r Uend th at drought. Ron Graves ison aleave of absencefr om UAL,working at Langley AFB in an AGRpositi on, trying to accumulate enough time to secure an active-duty retir em en t . H e, Tonia, and the kids loveVirginia and plan to make i t t h ei r r et i r em e n t h o m e .

DuaneWilliams is an American Airlines 767 FO flying out of D all as, m arri ed with two girls and two dogs. Ed Fisher is teaching in the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, married to a “Doll of awoman;” they have two kids, and lovelife. He passesword of thetravelsof two o t h er r ecl u se cl assm at es w h o also never have been menti oned in this column. Andy Byers flies for UAL out of Chicago, married for 19 years and counting, wonderful w i fe, Pam , an d tw o sonsages 14 and 11, so he and Pam no doubt havetheir h an ds f ull ! Last recluse, Andy Kohlan, just retired after a career spent mostly in th e RC- 135, an d n ow “vacationing” full -time, living the retiree dream.

Eli Powell had an interesting year. He spent six months deployed as the Commander of theAF Hospital in Balad, Iraq, smack i n th e m i d d l e o f th e Su n n i triangle. He made various national news stories about the outstanding ac complishments of him and his staff, including being profi led in the March i ssu e o f M en ’s H eal th . H i s 2 00 6 ad v en t u r es w il l fi n d h i m PC Sed t o A l ask a . San d

and sun, sun and snow — eventually Eli wil l be Surgeon G en er al o f t h e A F an d settle down in one locale, but until then, happy packing!

Tom Solomon checked in. He’ssti ll employed with Delta, n o sm all f eat th ese days, but has an eye on the "outside” world. He and Gay (Langstrom, for those who forgot) are in the home-building business too, design ing eco-fr iendly houses in the south Atlanta area. To m al so ridesa Harley with hisson, so it appearsthat hisyin and yang k are in perfect balance. (last Chris Moulton should start his own fan club! On my ever!) deployment last fall, I ran into many C-130 crewdogs 15 fr om Dyess, where Colonel Moulton isthe DepOG,who j u st gushed over Chr is — great l eader, pil ot , gym rat Sabre Society Do n o rs extraordinaire, hanger of the moon, etc. I would counter with a surprised question, “Are we talking about the s a m e guy?” Turns out we were. Chris is another guy who t h e A F c an ’t d e c i d e w h at to do with. Every assignment comeswith the promise of stability, family time, and thelike, then reality setsin. Puttinghisfarnily fi rst, Chri sisgeo-bacheloring it in Dyess, racking up fr equent fl ier miles back to Scott AFB, w h ere th e rest of

m

t h e M o u l t o n c l an st i l l c al l s h o m e .

Th e H est er m an s i n m uf ti .

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If you remember Ray Blust’s article fr om the last edition of Checkp oin ts, he wrote a glowing account of my retirement, so I want to publicly thank Ray for the article, and also thank everyone who made the trip t o w o n d er f u l W ar n er Robins, GA to share the event (see picture in previous editi on). Al so th e em ails and calls fr om many of you were priceless and made, an d con tin u e t o m ak e, me smile. Tm now worldng for AirTran Airways, domiciled in Atl an t a, an d — Yikes!— paying state incometax for thefi rst time, no longer a resident of Reese AFB, UPT Class of 84-07. And all good things come to an end.Airline flying is abit different fr om theAF, especially the curiousnoti on of wearing one’swheel cap indoors. As I hang out in the crew room in ATL, a f ew o t h e r ’8 3 e r s h av e

moseyed by, also wearing their hats indoors. Cleveland McCray, John Crow, and Carl McDaniel arecompany-mates. Clevelivessouth of Adanta and keeps his off hours full with raising his two athletically-inclined son s. 1saw Joh n when hepoked his head in the cockpit when 1was on the second leg of my first day on thej ob. He laughed at how far behind the j et 1w as; bu t t ake solace, John, I eventually got that weight and balance form fdled out. Now if 1got it done correcdy, that remains to be seen! Carl is, like m e, a new b ee, an d sin ce heisoneclassbehind me, 1can laugh at him ashemuddlesthrough thefi rst few weeksin the new environment. All you airline guys and girlsout there, I’m sure you can look back on your fi rst days, and feel our pain!

Paying homage to my editor’sword count restricti on, 1am out of space. For the next edition, wewill have a new yet-to-be determined scribe. If you have info for him / her to write about, email it to Ray or m e so t h e n ew sc r i b e h a s some ammo to inaugurate his/her column.

As always, it has been great chattingwith all of you. The standing invitation tohospit^ tycheckmeisalwaysopen,especiallyforyou Atlanta-based class mates. Your place or mine; caUand let’s make it happen!

Check six, three in thegreen, makeback-up off-sitefi les, and enjoy watching your kids grow up - they spread their own wings and leave the coop way too

soon.Jon Dures%

(Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an impor tant sur vey. Thep urp ose of the sur vey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very impor tan t to us. We earn estly want to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not vai ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to gi ve voice to your views and will guide future strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

M i k e Je n s e n ■

1 2 0 3 5 M i la m Ro a d

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Colorado Springs, CO 8 0 9 0 8 (80 0 ) GO-AFA-GO m ichae lj e nse n@re max.net htt p:/ / www.usaf a8 4 .com

Got a great note from Jon “Monster” Huss (along with a very distinguished looking picture) so you will fi nd the actual fi nd photo d o c u m en t at i o n o f th e eight members of our class that attended Air War College i n th e 0 5 - 0 6 sc h o o l year. All of them (except Andrea) were in their last year of eligibility when selected, so they may be the last of ‘84 to come through. They will (except Andrea) pin on 0 -6 before graduation. After graduation, D av e “ M o o n ” M u l l i n s isheaded to Kadena to be the 353^‘‘ SOG Deputy CC,A 1B u r k e i s h ead ed t o t h e Missile DefenseAgency at Shriver in C-Springs, Benjamin “Alvin” Drew is go ing to the Johnson Space Center, Mike “Anger” Newman i s h e a d e d t o I z m i r Turkey to be tbe TAC EVAL Division Chief, Joe “JoeBob” H e r r o n w i l l b e t h e Deputy CC of the72P' Air Mobility OperationsGroup at Ram stein , Bob Nu an es is staying at Maxwell to work at theAir Force Doctrine Cen t er, An drea Cl ar k will return to SAF/XC in DC, and Jon and hisfamily areheading to NORAD and the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center.

Also got an updatefrom Jim “Kali” Kaliamos,who isseen here w ith JC Cur ran , and Doi Heckler , in Monument, CO in May. Doi was in t o w n f o r t h e d e d i c a tion of the Memorial Pavilion at the cemetery. JC (Southwest) an d Kal i (UAL) areboth 737 Captsand Doi isa Capt of Industry in H o u st o n . H i s r est au r an t s ar e stiUdoing great. Doi and Kali hung out while hewas here, toured U SAFA , an d met up with JC for coffee at the local java hut. Kali’s been in touch with Troy Dixon. Troy’sback in the States at War Collegewith theArmy in Pennsylvania.

When hegot back if om Japan hemade apassthrough Houston and stopped in at D oi ’s. Nit N oi Th ai , th e Best! 1can att est to th e validity of that statement! Kali also ran into Ed Baca in Chicago; they grabbed some chow in the employee cafeteria and played "catch up”. Thanks Jim! Jim brought up a wonderful event. The memorial pavilion ribbon-cutting was held on May 12,2006. USAFA (and our class) did great things to raise the $4M for this project. Thank you to all who donated and pledged to thiswon derful tribute for those who have passed before us. It truly is a fi tting tribute, and the hope is to have it completed this time next year. 1will keep you in formed. This project was identifi ed 24 years ago, and w a s n ev er f u n d e d . I t i s somethingwe can all beproud of, and by keeping it pri vate, it will remain ours, not Washington’s. 1am working on the website to make it m ore infor m ative, and also workingwith theAOGto better our programsan d in f o r m ati o n st r eam s to you. Please check out how your donations are making a d i f f e r e n c e a t wviw .usafa.org.

Drop me a line. GO FALCONS! And check out our website a t w w w .u sa f a 84 .c o m . Jen s

[Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t sur vey. Thep urpose of the survey is to hear from you. Your par ti cipation is very imp ortan t to us. We eam esdy want to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guide future strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Quint e l Willia ms 8 9 8 0 Pea body Court Colorado Springs, CO 8 0 9 20 (719 ) 28 2-4 33 3

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Fr om l ef t are Bob N uan es, “Al vin ” Dr ew, “JoeBob ” H err on , “M on ster " H uss,

“Anger ” Newman, A1Burke, “Moon” Mullins, and Andrea Cl ar k .

Jon has seen the 42"'* Air Base Wing Vice Commander C o l Pa u l “ P i ck l e” McGillicuddy frequently around Maxwell. He also had several orangewhips with Carl “ Ups” Farquhar at theannual Senior ServiceSch o o l JimThorpeathletic competition at CarlisleBarracks PA in early April . He graduated from ICAF in May and stayed on a s a n instructor. Ken Rozelsky wasthere on the ICAF team a s w ell .

Garrett “Turbo” / ’’Elvis” Thompson stopped by in April o n h i s wayto Randolph and PIT(forthethird time). Hewill b e h ead ed 7 to Laughlin AFB near Del-Rio-by-the-Seaassoon asthey pro fi ciency advancehim through theprogram. Jon also saw D av e Sabre Soc i et j

“Devo” Devol overChri stmasbreei ;whenhisfamilym o o c h ed

Do n o rs

a coupleof nights of hospitality off of him in Tampa. H e i s st il l President of BGI LLCand commutingto theFt Smith Guard unit to fly F- 16s. Jack “Ripper” Forsythe was in tovm in March for the OG/ CC c o u r se . H e w i l l b e runningtheopsshow at Holloman startingthissummer. Great updateMonster, looking forward to having you up here in the Springs.

Hi everybody In February Dan and Kri stin Martinez sent a birth announcement fo r t h e i r fi rst child. They had a daughter named Carlita Rose M ar t i n ez . C ar l i t a ar ri v e d on Jan. 19,2006. The Martinez’ said Hops, their faithful dog, begged them to keep her... so how could they refuse. Carlita looks adorable in her picture.

Congratiti ations Dan and Kri stin!

Also in February, 1saw LtCol Rob Dooley at Headquarters N o r t h A m e r i c an Aerospace Defense (NORAD )/ US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) a t Peterson AFB. Rob isthe deputy executiveoffi cer to t h e C o m m an d er , N O RA D / N O RT H C O M . Ro b a sk ed i f 1 h a d se e n t h e l a t e st c o m m an d screening list and I hadn’t. But 1told him that I h e a r d Sc o t t

Henderson pinned on 0 -6 colonel and moved to Patri ck A F B , FL to take command of the I S"’ Logistics Group, although 1 hadn’t seen it on an offi cial list or anything. So Ro b f o u n d th e offi cial command list on hiscomputer and printed a copy for m e . T h an k s Ro b . ’8 5 cl ass m at es o n th e o f fi ci al U SA F “ 2 00 5 C o m m an d Sel ec ti on List ” ar e Paul G. Bell - V ice Com m an der, Carl H . B l o ck -

6 Sabre Society Do n o rs

Comm Group, John C. Colombo - Fighter Group, Ian R. Dickinson - ABWViceCommander, Bmce C. Emig- ViceCommander, Sc o t t A .

Henderson - Materiel Leader Group, Richard A. Kl ump, Jr. - Mobility Wing, John E. Marselus- Eighter Group, Neil B. McElhannon - ABW Vice Comm an der, Mary E. Peterson - Mission Support Group,Timothy M. Ray - Bomber Wing, WadeJ. Thompson - Fighter Group, Elise M.VanderVennet - Intel Group, and Burke E.Wilson - Space/ MissileGroup.

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Congratulationsto all of our command screeninglist folks! I havepicturesof a couple of the folks from the list to share. The latest picture I have of Scott H en der son is on e th at h e took w i th Ch arlen e (Jar di n) Harding and me at our 2 0 * Reu n i o n l a st f all .

zoo” through our graduation and early into our post-graduation year s. Bu t somehow we lost track of each other for a number of years, until recently.

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ing hack to our old stomping grounds with his wife an d ki d s in th e Ju n e timeframe. He told me that he’d gotten ajob as a program manger with the Harris Corporation through a non-classmate, academy grad friend that he used to work with. CongratsVernon!

Finally, I have space in this issue of Checkpoin ts t o m e n t i o n th at I ’v e b e en able to recon n ect w i th a form er classm ate fr om th e cadet wing and the prep school — Thomas M. James. Thomas and I stayed in touch o n ce h e l e f t “ t h e

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From left are Charlene (Jardin) Harding, Scott Henderson an d Quin tel Wil -

l i am s .

Thelatest pictureI haveof Neil McElhannon isoneth at h e took w ith m e, al so

a t o u r 2 0 * Reu n i o n l a st f al l .

Around our 20* reunion dmelast fall , Thomas and I got reconnected through one of his nephews (Keith James) who is on active duty and was able to verify that l am ... me. Thomassaid heiniti ally found some i nf o o n m e an d a f ew o th er graduates on the Internet at theWay of Life Committee alu m n i w eb site. Well , after our reunion last fall, I went to my hometovm Chattanooga, TN for my 25* high school reunion at The McCallie School. Thomas was kind enough to dr ive for several h ou rs fr om N or th Car oli n a t o see me. We had great time catching up on things. Thomasgraduated fr om college in N o r th C ar o l i n a an d heworks for the USPostal Service. He asked me to pass along a big “HELLO” to everybody. Of course, I have his contact info. Please let me know if you’d like to reconnect with Thomas, aswell, and I’ll get you in touch with one an other. T il the next time...Quintel (Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributed an important survey. Thep urpose of the sur vey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very importan t to us. We eam estly wan t toknow whatAOGservicesyoudoand donot value. Tbesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views an d will guidefuturestrategic planning by theAOG. Your vi ews matter and we want to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will berepor ted in thefall of 2006.) !l 3 .V

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B o b Co le l la 9 3 0 1 Ha r n e s s Ho rs e Co u rt

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Springf ield, VA 2 2 15 3 (703 ) 4 55-3176 Ce ll: 3 1 8 -2 2 0 -6 4 6 4 r k a s c o le l la @c o x . n e t

D ear Fell ow Gradu at es,

Qu in t el Willi am s (l eft ) an d Neil M cElh an n on

I don’t have any other pictures of folks on the command screening list to share. But sincewecan haveup to three picturesin each issue of Checkpoints, I ’ll share another picturefr om our 20* Reunion last fall. I saw Monica Eady, Liz (Alderete) Blomquist, and Mike Black chatting it up so I couldn’t resist taking their picture.

Greetings, I am off to Egypt and Morocco thisaft ernoon on my Nati onal War College “Field Studies” trip/ Boondoggle. I don’t think I have had quite a nice vacati on sinceCONUSFieldTrip circaSummer 1983. Every 20yearsyou should really get out and “explore the space.” I have all the necessary equipment packed to fi ght of gastrointestinal disease, so wish me luck (I packed aj ar of peanut butter in case of emergency [virgin jar, no less]).

THE BIG NEWS: This is likely the last issueyou will receive p ri or to our 20Ye ar Reu n i o n . So m o st o f th i s ar t i c l e w i l l b e fi Ued with information to get you ready to renew old friendships and maybe, fi nally, put to rest the recurring nightmares you have been having about the 6* Floor o f Fairchild Hall - so in that light, and with aUduerespect to the many “Whisperers” out there, let me be, for this issue, y o u r “ZoomieWhisperer,” and get you back to the “other si d e .”

First, the Date: 27 September through 1October 2006. T h e Falconswill play the University of New Mexico Lobos an d i t 2 should be a beautif ul fall weekend. Best place to get m ost up to date information is USAF Academy AOG website Sabre Society Do no rs www.usafa.org- go to “ClassReunions” link and then cli ck o n our class. Thereisalink on thewebsitedirectly to theV\^ dham Hotel which will be our sponsoring hotel. You can also call the hotel directly at

(719)260-1800. Ifyoum^ eyour reservati onbyphone,b e su r e t o t ell t h em B o b

From left are Monica Eady Liz (Alderete) Blomquist, an d M i k e B l a ck .

While I wasat Peterson AFB one day in April, I stopped by to see Rob Dooley again. We compared notes on our respective Promotion Rec o m m e n d a t i o n Forms (PRFs) for our 0 -6 promotion board on 15 May 06. Whilewe agreed to keep the details of our PRFs private, Rob told me I could put thefollowing info in thenext Checkpoin ts. He said he’d recently and surprisingly been contacted and offered the Air Attache position in France and he’ll start with language training in June! Congrats Rob. While I was at work checking my classifi ed e-mail one day, I noticed a Lieu tenant Colonel Tom Currie listed on the National Military C o m m a n d C e n t er (NMCC) briefi ng team message. I called the NMCC to see if i t w as o u r To m an d it was! We had a nice conversation that day and we’ve h a d sev er al si n c e . To m said I could report that he’s happy to be leaving the Pentagon this summer to attend the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, AL. Starting in June, he’ll get to spend some quality time with hiswife and fi ve children. CongratsTom! Vernon Moore called me recently. He told me that hew a s a B - 52 El ec t r o n i c Warfare Offi cer. He said he’sretiring soon and movingto the Colorado Springs, CO area. Hewanted my advice on a few things. Fortunately, I was ableto give him thekind of informati on hewaslooking for. Hew as r eassu r ed ab o u t m ov 13 2

sent you and that you want the USAFA ’86 rate (oneof thosetwo piecesof infor mati on isactually important). Ifyou call the 1-800 num ber for Win dh am hotels, you won’t get the discount. You have to call directly.

When you go to thewww.usafa.orgwebsite, if it isyour fi rst time, please go to the “First Time U ser” link and update your personal information. If you don’t have access to the Internet (hey, nice cave) you can call Lani Wing at the AOG at (719) 472-0300 ext 136 and also update information and/or sign up for reunion events (but much easier for all involved if you do it online). Email Lani at Lani.wing@aogusafa.org.

Mike Meader, Class President (Ran a clean campaign, no hanging chads) is looking for volunteers and if you go to the Class Reunion websiteyou will see that many squadronshave reps and there are also reps f o r so m e o f t h e ev e n t s.

If you would like to help, Mike’s email is msmeader@comcast.net.

Cl ass of 198 6 2 0 th R eun i on

2 7 Sep t. - 1 Oct.

U SA FA v s. N e w M ex i c o

There isalist of graduatesthat have goneunderground sincegraduation and theAOG has no contact information for. If you have seen or know where any of the following folks are located and have a way to get in touch with them, pleasepasstheinformation aboveto them, ask them to update their Bio on line, or drop Gary Burg, Mike Meader, Lani Wing or m e a l i n e : Missing Grads: Sally Anschuetz, Michael Brown, David Carey, Phil Celestini , Karen Clark, Peter Davey, Kelly Davila-Martinez, Mike D avi s, Jon -Ch ase DeClerck, Kraig Evenson,Vincent Feck, Lloyd Gencay, Bill H an n a (Saw him at the Pentagon), Martin Hilliard, Don Hudson, Lloyd Johnson, Joseph Jose, CharlesKinamon, Kyle Kingsford, Eric Leidheiser, Michael M ar es, M ike M ar tel, Keith McCoy, Dan Miller , Ed Minahan , Mike Panarisi, Greg Pshsnychniak , Marcus Quint, Carlos Quiterio, Anita Ritenour , Cosmo Ri ch , Ch ris Roed er , James Ryan , Leigh Ann Scarboro, Jimmie Schuman , Terese Schw ar tz, Todd Scott, John Sepanski , Carlos Silva, Stephen Skotte, Pet er Sloan , Kh anh Tr an , Chr is Tuason , Pat r icia W h it e, Alber t W il l i am s, Calvi n W iUi am s, Joh n W ill

iams, Gary Wolfe, and Sean Wright.

Sch e d u l e o f Ev en t s:

27 Sept,Wednesday: Registration w/ Evening Social at Wyndham Hotel 28 Sept, Thursday: Golf Tournament Prep School Mini Reunion Class Reception - Wyndham Hotel 29 Sept , Friday: 1000-1130 Open House- Cadet Area- [To th e C- Store!]

1130-1230 Lunch w/ Cadet Wing- Mitchell HaU 110 0 - 13 0 0 8 6 L u n ch B u f fet - D o o l i t t l e H al l

12 15- 1300 M eet w ith Cadets - In dividu al SA RS [Th ere I w a s . . .W h e n I w a s h er e . . . ]

1230-1600 Open House- Cadet Are 1330-1500 USAFA Briefi ngs- Fairchild Hall, Room H 1 1500-1530 Class Meeting- Fairchild Hall , Room H 1 1615-1645 Homecoming Memorial Ceremony - Memorial Wall 1646-1700 Class Photo - Cadet Chapel 1830-2300 Class Social and Dinner - Wyndham 30 Sept , Saturday: 0900 -1130 - Tailgate - Falcon Stadium, L o t 3 12 0 0 - F al c o n s B e at L o b o s

Post Game Party - Falcon Stadium, Lot 3 Late Night Rejoin - Wyndham Check theAOG website for updated times and to sign up for events. Lunch on Friday is a pay if you go, depending on where you g o .

As for this issue- 1think I have space for one photo - t h e I CA F cl a ss o f 2 0 0 6 .

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In thefront row are Rob Kaufman , ’86; Ken Rozelsky, ’84; Pat M or den t e’87; and Lee Rosen, ’88. Second Row: Didi Kuo ’88; Tom Sharpe, ’87; M ark W ill

i am s ’87, an d M ar k Beierle, ’86. Th ird Row : Sean Herr , ’87; Tim W il l iam s, ’85;

and Jeff Hupe, ’86.

That is all for now - please get out and beat the bushes to scare up fellow graduates for the reunion. See you there! Bob Colella (Edi torsnote: TbeAOGhas distributed an importan t sur vey. Tbep urposeof the survey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very imp or tant to us. We eam esdy want to know what AOGservicesyou do and do n ot val ue. Th e sur vey is an organized way to gi ve voice to your views an d will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in th ef all o f 2 0 0 6.) w ', i ..

Sha ro n (Hullinge r) St e hlik

gQQ Lynalilo Home Road, I I J Ho n o lu l u , H I 9 6 8 2 5

M e m b e rs

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Phone and Fax: (8 0 8 ) 54 2-8 8 1 1 nulo ha na@gma il.com o r s ha ro n.st eh lik@paco m .m il

(Ten Sabr e Soci ety Donor s)

(Edi tor ’snote: Sharon wrote to say shehas been on mateml ty leaveand rather busy sincegi ving birth to a heal thy boy nam ed Redmond R o b er t St eh l i k o n

M ar ch 2 7^ . Sh e h as n o t b een a b l e to ch eck h er em ai l s a t w o r k b u t w ill b e b a ck

for thenext issue. Drop heTan email at nuiohana@gmail .com. Also, for your informadon, theAOGhas distributed an importan t survey .

Thepurposeof thesur vey is tohear fr om you. Your par ticipation is very impor tan t to us. Weearnestly want to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not value.

Thesurvey is an organized way togive voice toyour views and will guidefuture strategicplanning hy th eAOG. Your viewsmatter an d w e w an t t o h ear f ro m a s many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in th e fall of 2006.)

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M a r k Pe t e rs

M e m b e rs

2 4 3 7 B e d f o rd Ci rc le

Bedford, TX 76 0 2 1-18 23 (8 17) 9 37-9 69 6 pylt @ya hoo .co m

H i 88 !

I’ll be uncharacteristically bri ef asI had only afew inputsthistime. This short note came from Kitra Roth, spouse of Doug Roth (currendy i n Tu c so n , o r so I believe). “I met my husband (Doug, CS-10) in Feb. '86while I was in college in Colorado and we marri ed on June25, 1988. Wewent through pilot trainingwith Scott Cary at WilliamsAFB and then werereunited with him onceagain at DavisMonthan AFB several yearslater. Scott did get out an d f li es f o r A l a sk a A i r l i n e s now. Scott hasbuilt afabuloushomeonWhidbey Island,Washington,wherehe lives with his wife and four children. They are doing really well. Doug is currently theDOof the43rd EECSand is [w as] deployed. This isour second assignment to Davis-Monthan and weloveliving inTucson! We’vebeen marri ed 18yearsand haveoneson,Austin who is 12yearsold.” Kitraalso f o rw ar d ed an address for Scott and Susan Cary: 3629 Saratoga Rd , Lan 11 gley,WA,98260.

Tom Sadlo dropped me a short noteway back in January: Sabre Soc iet y Do no rs “My family and I are at Aviano AB, Italy, where I’m fi nishing my 4th year in command. I also had an awesome time c o m manding the ELRSat Baghdad International Airport this su m m er — w e h av e theworld’sfi nest Airmen serving our country! I’ve r u n i n t o sev er al cl assm at es and got in touch with CJBeoddy, who recently had his k n ee r e c o n st r u c t ed at theUSAFA hospital, along story that he’ll have to tell. He is currendy in Doha, Qatar, where he is theAir Attache. He can be reached at 9 7 4 4 8 8 4 13 9 . D av e Bri ar is a SFS/ CC at N ellis, D arri n D an i el is at Robin s asa C-5 test pilot, and Ed Rix is fl oating around doing stuff for the government.

I don’t know if thiswill show up in time, but thisyear’s Graduate Leadership Conference is scheduled for 23-25 July. The conferencewill include briefi ngs and interaction with the USAFA leadership, tours of BCT, global engagement, and the airfi eld, cadet panels, and an AOGTown Hall meeting. Please call or email questionsto:Wayne H. Kellenbence, Col (Ret), U SAF, ’78, Director,Alum ni Programsand Special Projects, 719.472.0300, xl 20, or Fax; 719.333.4194. Lasti y, if you’ve not written your trusty scribe, it’s not t o o l a t e t o st a r t !

(Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an impor tan t sur vey. Tbep urposeof th e sur vey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very impor tan t to us. We eam esdy wan t to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guide future strategic planning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thef al l o f 2 0 06 .) ’ ’

Pa u l W . T i b b e t s ,

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Whit eman AFB, MO 6 5 30 5 Home: (6 60 ) 5 6 3-30 9 5 E-ma il: p2 a2 @cha rt er.net

Greetings classmates! Any web-saw y folks out there; here’s one more plug for your help. One way to increase our ability to communicate t o al l ’8 9 e r s i s through a classweb site. Thiswould be a useful tool for up-to-date informa tion and real-time collaboration. If anyone is interested in taking on this re sponsibility on behalf of the class, please let me k n o w . T h e A O G h a s m a d e space available through their web site, so you don’t need your own domain.

Check it out at http:/ / www.usafa.org, and then select ClassWeb Pages. All we need isyour energy and creativity! On to the news.

Our fi rst letter isfr om Dennis Dabney, who wrotewhile deployed to theAOR ISO Operation Iraqi Freedom asthe386"'’ Expeditionary Maintenance Squad ron commander. He pinned on lieutenant colonel after only being in thejob two weeks, and was humbled to be promoted in a combat zone. In a relatively short time Dennis ran into fellow commanders Polly Montgomery (’86), Mark Czelusta, andT.J. Coulter (’90). He also workswith Tyron Wright (’00) who is pulling exec duty. He is grateful for the opportunity t o ser v e i n a f o r w ar d ar ea and says it is an experience he will never forget.

At home, after assignments at Casde, Kadena,Tinker, an d D over, D enn is lef t Air Mobility Command staff as the Executive Offi cer for the Director of Logis13 3

tics and is in his second year as the squadron commander o f t h e 6 2 "‘‘ M ai n t e nance Squadron at McChord AFB,WA. He and his wife, Teresa, h ave b een married for four years and have a son Derrick (3) and brand new daughter Maya Denise (2 months). Dennis has kept up with cycling an d r o d e t h e 2 0 6 mile Seattle to Portland Classic last year, fi nished sev e r al 5 K s a n d h i s fi r st triathlon. He and Teresa took an overnight seakayak trip around Vashon Island and hiked Olympic National Park. Dennisalso got to snowboard in waist deep powder in the Northern Cascades. He and thefamily havethoroughly enjoyed their tour in the Pacifi c Northwest, and departed for the Pentagon this sum mer. Good to hear fi -om you Dennis!

one.’ Well , Paul , I alm ost h it a tr ee. Wh en at last i t b ec am e o b v i o u s t h at so m e

thingwas developing between us, quite frankly, it sc ar ed u s t o d e at h . W e d e cided to pray about it for awhileand seewhat happened. Well, what happened was God’s divine provision in the wake of devastation. I b e c am e c e r t ai n b e yond any shadow of adoubt that God has saved Stevefor little Ben an d m e, an d us for him. That wasyears ago, now.

“So, our little family hasgrown. Benjamin hasgonefrom that littlefi ve-yearold to ayoung man of 14. He is so much his father, and he’s already eyeing the Zoo. OH NO! In addition to our precious Ben, we have b e e n b l e sse d w i t h Brad, who is now four, and little Mary-Marlowe, who i s si x m o n t h s o l d . L i k e Job in th e Bible, God h as restored to m e 100-fold w hat wastaken away. I am so thankful and humbled at His grace! “ St ev e l eft th e A i r F o r c e i n 199 8 an d w en t o n w i t h A m er i c an A i r li n e s. H e f li e s

Dennis, Teresa, Derrick, and Maya Denise enj oy th eholidays together.

Next we hear from Mario Peddycord-Francis, who has actually been the wife of two of our classmates. Shehasavery touching story, so I wil l let her tell i t i n h e r o w n w o r d s:

“I said that I had been thewifeof two ’89 grads, and that isan interestingstory of God’s grace and provision. I was the wife of the l at e Jam es R. (Ri ck) Peddycord. Hewas on wing staff your senior year at the academy. Hewasthe wing honor-education ofi icer, if I am remembering that correctly. We married about aweek aft er you guys threw your hatsin the ai r . A t t h e t i m e o f h i s d e ath in 1997,hewasacaptain flyingAC-130 Gunships at Hurlburt F i el d . W e h a d been home on leave (in North Carolina) for four dayswhen the accident hap pened. He and hisfather were flying near their family f a r m and their airplanes collided. We’Unever know for surew h at happened that day, but welost them both. At the time, o u r only son, Benjamin, was fi ve. Needlessto say, I thought m y lifewas over. Thankfully, God had other plans.

“Throughout our Air Force career, I had been trying to get N o n e Ye t Steve Francis married off. I met Steve at the Ring D an ce th e day that Rick and I got engaged. Then wewent to pilot t r ai n Sabre Society Do no rs ingtogether at Sheppard. From the day wearrived in W i ch i t a w i f e .

T h e FaUs, I made it my personal mission to get Steve a yearspassed and I never quit trying to set him up with eligiblewomen. Boy, does Godhaveasenseof humor. Strangelyenough,^ erdifferentAF paths,weended up all stationed at Hurlburt together- Rickin theGunship, an d St ev e in Pav el ow s.

To no avail, I continued my mission to secure him a spouse. Hewould come over to eat and belly-acheto Rick about how he didn’t u n d er st an d w h at G o d w as up to. Hewanted awifeand family so badly, but all theseyearswerefl yingby and s^ hewasalone. Rick would tell him that hewould never regret waitingfor who the Lord had for him. Oh, how many timesI heard Rick tell Steve, ‘I just know God has someone special for you and it will beworth t h e w ai t . ’ “In the months following Rick’s death, Steve remained a d ear fr i en d . It w as my little Benj amin who takes credit for the matchmaking. Wewere driving home from the cemetery one day and Ben looked at me and said, ‘Mommy, I want ababy brother, and I think you should marry Steve Fr an c i s so I c an h av e

the 757 and 767 intern ational routes. Heenjoysit so much, although ashesays, ‘It’shard to go from fl yin’ low and fast to flyin’ so asto not spOl the coffee in fi rst class.’ Currently, however, he is serving in Iraq with h i s N o r t h C ar o l i n a G u ar d unit. He’ll be gone until late summer, and we will be so glad to get him back home! He’s over therewith another Zoo grad,AJGaston. W e ar e ab l e t o em ai l and he calls on the sat phonewhen he can. He says that the living conditions are ‘interesting’ and that you certainly wouldn’t want to roast any marshmal lows over any of the campfi resyou find around thelatrines! Too ft mny. Amaz ingly, they have Hagan-Daz ice cream every night. Steve said, ‘If I h ad to ch oose between no plumbing or ice cream every night. I’d choose th e i ce cream , n o contest.’ Not me. I’d have to have me some indoor plumbing!”

Mario, I was deeply touched by your letter. Thanksfor taking the timeto tell us your story. If anyone is interested, Mario started a ministry based on her experienceswith grief. Check it out at: www.widowsmightministri e s . c o m .

That’s awrap for this quarter. Let me hear from you! Best wishes to you and your families. Take care and God bless.

(Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an important sur vey. Thep urpose of the survey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very imp ortan t to us. We earn estly wan t to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guide future strategic planning hy theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear t orn as many members asp ossible. Resul ts will berep orted in thefall of 2006.)

Ja m e s S a n c h e z 8 3 0 1 Em e ra ld Ci rc le

^ 38%^ M e m b e rs

Nort h Richland Hills, TX 76 18 0 Cell: (8 17 ) 8 8 1-63 57 W e b : W W W .USA FA9 0 .CO M

E-Ma ll: a lo hat ige r@gma il.com

Steve Senn : Sophie (deFreitas) and I are at USAFA. I ’m th e H ead JV Footb all Coach and she is the Chief of the Spanish Division.

Paul Kasuda: On my way to Kunsan to be the cop commander o u t t h er e f o r a y e ar .

Amy (Cholister) Schwalber: I am in theAKANG in Anchorage. Blake Matray isalso with theAKANGout of EielsonAFB (168thAir Reft ielingWing) fl yingKC135R.

Lou Seliquini : I am currently the 56 LRS/ CC at Luke. Ted Grady and Tom

Ki t ch en s ar e b o t h C - 17 A i r cr aft C o m m an d er s in th e A F Reservesup at McCord.

B r i an M c C o m b s w as t h e O SI D et a ch m en t C o m m an d er at Ro b in s. H e w en t t o

the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey. I pin LtCol in July 2006 and will be assigned asthe Chief of Security Assistance in the Embassy in Rome in Dec 2 00 6 .

Kolin Rathman: I’m at Scott but will be leaving thissummer to go back to DC.

Dj ibouti, Africa: Kim (Juline) Fleming (1991), Jody D ix on, Jor dan Kri ss, an d

K o l i n R a th m an n .

Gil Ferguson: I’m currently at Fort Benning for Command an d G en er al St af f College. I’m headed back to Bragg this summer, to 7th Special Forces Group.

Gregg Murray: I separated in 1996 and have been a self employed Java Con su l t a n t / C o n t r a ct o r si n c e 19 9 9 . V i c t o r i a an d I h av e tw o son s, Jar rett (7) an d

Shane (5). Last August we moved from Texas to Fountain H ill s, AZ .

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Kevin Campbell : I’m in the Maryland ANG on assignment to Nellisfor flight

testingoftheA-IOC. Last July I becamethesquadron co m m an d er f o r th e 175t h MXSand I pinned on LtCol last week.

Tim Lambert : I’m at Little Rock fl ying the C- 130J.

Cathy (Beddow) Almand: Daveisnow at Hickam —535th A S D O .

Bill Gideon: I’m at NellisAFB, having PCSed from Wright-Patterso n .

Karl Hall : I’m at Scott doingmy staff j ob. I’m the c h i ef o f C - 13 0 E / H / A M P requirements.

Jon Urbanek: I’m fl ying the KC-135Rwith theWLANG. C l a ssm at e s h er e i n clude: Matt Butler, Gary Stefanich, Dan Yenchesky and M a t t W a t so n . W e’r e expecting twins in Aug 06.

Jay Faltin: I work for Trane and I live in Louisville, K Y. D an a (W h it e) N elson : I ’m at An drew s as a Reservi st flying KC- 135s.

(2 months), and I love RAF Lakenheath and England. I’m getting ready to enter my second year asthe 48th Munitions Squadron commander and pinning on Lt Col 1 Ju n .

Parker Shipley: I’m in Milwaukeewith my wife, Monica, an d 22 - m o n t h -o l d son Grant. I’ve been an FBI Special Agent for seven years. I cross-commis sioned and went Army to Ft. Benning, GA, then Panama for three years and back to Benning. I switched to intel and went to Ft Lewis and I got out in 1999.

My wife is also an agent.

Andre Briere: I’vejust fi nished up my DO tour here at Mildenhall and Cathy, the kids (Andre and Reagan) and I are headed to DC where I ’ll beworking on the Joint Staff (J-5, Politico-Military Af fairs). I pinned-on 0 -5 this week.

Dave Murphy: Krystal (Guenther) and I are heading to Misawa. I’m going back to theViper and told I’ll be heading to the 13th FS, and Krystal will be the Base Bioenvironmental Engineer.We’ve enjoyed Colorado.

Dan Dirnberger: Mary and I celebrated the birth of ou r th ird chi ld , An dr ew .

I’ll be moving back to San Antonio this summer. I’m returning to the Neonatal I n t en siv e Car e U n i t a t W i l f o r d H all M ed i cal C en t er at Lackland and am looking forward to catching back up with classmates in the ar ea (Paul Sh erm an , Steve MUey).

Shawna O’Brien: I ’m at theAEF Center now and (fi nally) rejoined assign mentswith my husband. Theview of the deployment “machine” f ro m h er e i s something else—you’d be amazed to see all that goes o n b eh i n d th e sc en es t o get Airmen to the fi ght!

Oklahoma Ci ty: Steve Stoner, Dana (Whi te) Nelson, Mike Sh ower, Ki rk McDonald, and Curt Wagner.

Bill Harkins: I’m at McGuire Flyingwith the Reserves, b u t w a s al so h i r e d at

F ed Ex l a st M ar ch .

Wes H al lm an : I am n ow a Lt Col an d th e D O of th e 44FS flying F-15Cs at

K ad en a .

Jeff Wilkinson: I’m at Hunter Douglas. Brian (4) and Jessica (2) are keeping Mom (Jana) very busy.

Raj Naik : I’m going to school in Vegas to be an Echo cardiographer.

Steve James: I’m stationed at Nellistesting the F-22. K ev i n Huyck departed last December and is now an F-22 IP a t

Tyndall. Shaun McGrath isalso hereat AFOTEC. We’ree x

Ri c h ar d so n .

pecting a third child later thisyear that we’re adopting ft -o m Ethiopia.

D an H au ck : Scott Fri cken stein is th e 15 SVS Com m an der

and just pinned on LtCol. I’m the Flight Commander f o r th e

PACAF Com m an d Cen t er, b ut PCS in Ju n e t o th e D efen se

N o n e Ye t

Sa bre Soci et y

Do n o rs Threat Reduction Agency offi ce in Albuquerque. Missy an d I have two girlsAmanda (8) and Grace (4).

Chris Bryant : I work for USA.NET, and have worked there si n c e ’9 7 .

Mark Ladtkow : I left the Active Duty in 2004 from Eglin w h e r e I fl ew a n d instm cted in E-15Cs. I joined the HIANG and I still fly as an Instmctor Pilot in theF- 15A. Other classmatesin theHIANG areJeffi -ey Tidwell and Steven Early.

My wife,Andrea, and our three children, Luke (13), Lau rent (11), an d Lan don (3) are enjoying our "last assignment” in Hawaii.

Gary Haines: Robin, the kids, and I are now at Scott. I’m working at theAF CommunicationsAgency, or aswe call it “Air StaffWest”.

Rob Watwood: I ’m an Army offi cer stationed at MacDill with my wife and two kids (age 3 and 4) when not deployed.

Chip Weaver: I’m the Chief, 117 OG/ OGV at Birmingham l A P I ’m in t h e A l a

b am a A N G an d l i v e i n T r u ssv i l l e A L .

Kevin Tolley: I am in the DFW area working for L3 Communications - L i n k Simulation and Training. Joy and I have two kids,Arabella (9), an d Ari (4). M att Morgan lives nearby.

MikeContratto:l^urieandI havetwodaughters,Sophia4 an d L iz a B ell e 2

and we loveAlbuquerque. My AEF rotation last summer was at the Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. I’m the Director for Test in theAirborne Laser System Pro gram Offi ce.

Bryan Batt: I am working for DCMA at the Lockheed Depot i n G r een v i l l e SC as the Govern ment Flight Rep and C130Acceptance Pilot. I m a d e L t C o l a n d should pin on in July.

Jef f Bozar d : I ’m n ow in t h e 12 1FS (D CAN G) at An dr ew s A F B .

Greg Newman :Wedding date set for Fri 9 June in Philly. Robyn and the kids (all 5) are pretty excited. Job at Lockheed in DCMA is going well. Lots of time for the kids, air craf t deliveries to Israel, Om an , Chile and starting soon to Greece an d Po l a n d .

Jay Aanrud:We’re going to MisawaAB, Japan. I’vebeen fl ying theViper since 1998 after a stint in the Canadian Ai r Force on exchange t o M o o se Jaw ,

Sa sk at ch ew an .

Ferrelle Smith: BTW,wehad a Mighty ’90 lunch for all those Red Taggerswho are teaching at USAFA. From left are Dave Murphy, Sophie (deFr eit as) Senn , Ken Kemper, Dave Jones, Jeff Compton, Charlie McIntyre, Liz (Grupe) Orie, Steve Orie, Ferrelle Rodriguez-Perez Smith, RussMaclean, and Joe “Big Dog”

John Mateer: My wife, Paraskevi, and two sons, Kostas (4 yrs) and Nektarios

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an impor tant survey. Thep urpose of the sur vey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very importan t to us. We earnestly want to know whatAOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guide future strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we want to hear from as many members asp ossible. Resul ts will be reported in the fall of 2006.)

Ca rs o n Ta v e n n e r

M e m b e rs

PS C 7 8 , Bo x 7 3 2 8 A PO A P 9 6 3 2 6 -0 0 7 3

DSN: (315 ) 2 2 5-4 34 0 E- m a i l : t a v e n n e r@h o t m a i l .c o m

Hello, friends! First, many thanksto my buddy Davef o r t h e l ast co l u m n . T h at was really nice; came right on the heels of having lost my wife’s father to a car crash, which of course made for more than just a bad C h r i st m a s. N o t t h at I don’t lovewriting to you, but that season it was super special to have someone else on guard. Thanks Dave!

Since this column has markedly less news, and I know it ’s because you’ve held out on me, waitingwith baited breath for reunion n e w s .

I ’ll t ak e t h e ext r a t im e t o add i n th i s ar t i cl e: 1) F o r r e u n i o n info, go to the classwebsite: www.usafa91.com and 2) Wh il e

you’rethere, updateyour home,work, etc information, okay?

We haveway too much outdated info!

Thisismy last column from Japan; sinceI last wrote t o y o u , I ’ve learned that I ’m being reassigned to DLA- that’s right, BollingAFB here I come! I ’m headed to my dream job t o o : China analysisat the national level! Can’t wait ... it will be my fi rst real experience in that area since our cadet year s. Troy

11 5 Sa bre Soc i et y Do n o rs

Th om as, Bill Caseb eer an d Lourd es (Fall ace) D uv al l w i l l r em em b e r w h at I ’m

talking about when I mention living in the SP barracks t h a t su m m e r. W h at a good set of memories those are. DC friends, get ready to get together in Georgetown!

So, the email address is still good - always is, alwaysw i l l b e . T h e sn ai l m ai l won’t be; but that’s okay cuz no one ever uses it anyway.

13 5

vania but will eventually spring fr ee of the trap and r e t u r n t o t h e G r ea t A l m a Mater, back infl uencingyoungAir Force mindsat Ye Olde English Department and marking up papers confusing “your” with "you’re.”

That’sit fornewsyoucan use!Wh teme, I’m lonely! And havea SU PER SU M M E R! You ’re Scri be, Tav.

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t sur vey. Thep urposeof the sur vey is to hear from you. Your par ticipation is very imp ortan t to us. We earn estly want to know what AOGservicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we want to hear from as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Ja m e s S . M e ht a 8 5 0 9 Cus t e r Co u rt

Josh Smith got married in March! Pictured areMike Gingras, Chris Sulli van, Dan Zubryd, Jim Parco, and Josh.

Jason Crandall , like many of you. I’m sure, is sweating hisheiny off in ajet in the desert. Got a terrific spew-mail from him on the chow (good), regs (re stricted), life (boring), and future (unknown). He said hejust turned 30, so obviously the years have been good to him. Thanks, Jaso n !

Turnsout GEsent Shannon Curry to Seattlein2004,aft er Ed Stack actually helped him get an interview. He and Ed are doing the samejob, but Ed’s in Chicago.

Shannon’stheDirector of Service, in charge of the guyswho go to hospitalsand clinicsto fi xX-ray/CT/MRI /Nuc Med machinesand hospital imaging systems.

Covering250customersin NWWashington andAlaska“isadangtoughjob,but GE treats m e better than the airlines did, an d I have agreat crew of 31guysto help me.”

Shannon saw Ed back “at a big get-together in Orlando in December. He’d just fi nished atwo-year AD rotation and wasjust back fr om Kuwait,fl yingC- 130s. He kept all of usvery up-to-dateon hisactivitiesthere... I still occasionally hear fr om Jon Pece. He’s still in th e Reserves at Fai rch ild last time I checked. We both got ft irloughed fr om AA at thesametimein ’03. Other than an occasional rotation, I ’m not sureif he’sdoing anything on theoutside.”

Billy Barnes is still playing volleyball competitively: earlier thisyear he took a Pentagon team to Ashville, NC. He spent last year at IDE-Northern Option (AFIT-IDE), got a follow-on to the Pentagon and isworking as the Exec to the Director of AF Test & Eval. Billy says “Not a whole lot you can say about exec work if you’veever doneit, if you know what I mean.” Yeah, weknow what you mean! Either seen it... or done it. Good on ya, Billy! While at AFIT he saw quite afew ’91ers, but mostly hung out with fellow “pocket protector” Ops Research ersRoy “Frenchy” Fatur (follow-on to NORAD, C.Springs), Pau l “ C o m a” V i l l em (follow-on to PACAF staff, in Hawaii), and big dog M a r k “ M a r k ” M cD o n a l d (foll ow -on t o SAAS, at M axw ell ).

Mark to Paul: “Here’syour replacement beer, dude!”

Kit Bobko. Now isn’t that anamethatjust inspiresthebest in you? Maybel ’m just partial to the name “Kit” - think about it long enough, you’ll get it. But if you agree with me, and you’re interested in supporting good government in California, then you’ll go check out www.KitforCouncil.com! T h e r e a r e l o t s of cool games to play, particularly the intriguing “ M i r r o r o f T i m e ” o n t h e B i o page in which you can see theyoungwhipper-snapper you knew in classsud denly transformed into a 30-something year old stud! Or, is it the other way around? I played with it for at least fi ve minutesuntil I gave up on fi guring that one out ... way too freaky for me, man! Not sure what m y score w as.. . M t , all j oking aside, good luck with your campaign and I hope you receive a lot of support fr om the class!

I’ll closewith newsfr om one of my other idols. Max Despain. You might have thought that Max wasworking hard, but actually she’sfi nishing up her PhD (U of Delaware) in English Lit! Yes, that’s right, she’s actually been under torture for thepast several yearsand herewe all thought it only took placeat deployed locations! Late this fall shejoinsthe huddled masses of 0 -5 selects (I h ave no doubt she’s been picked) slaving for SAP at the Pentagon. She’ll be in Pennsyl13 6

LMembers J

Las Vegas, NV 8 9 117 (70 2 ) 6 52-34 3 3 DSN: 68 2-8 8 9 8 j a mes .meht a@ogn.af .m il or Ja mes me ht a@ea rt hlink .net

Happy Summer 1992! I’m overwhelmed this quarter with your inputs. It’s good to squeeze in as much info as possiblevice trying to stretch out meager inputs. Keep it coming.

Longtime friend & Tar antula. John Miltner recently PCSed to DyessAFB aft er spending threeyearsat Ramstein wherehe traveled alot. John isassigned to the337TEStesting B-1B avionicssoft wareupgrades. W h i l e Abilene is not quite as exciting as Germany, he is having a house built to his specifications and wants to incorporate many of the “green” technologies available today.

Lou checking in fr om LA . Lou Bremer sent me a 14-year update. Even though it seemslikewe graduated yesterday, i t s has been quite a while. Here’s Lou’s last 14 years: “After cross-commissioning into the Navy, I went to SEA L Sabre Sociefr Do n o rs Training and graduated in 1993. 1was in theTeamsfor eight years, fi rst serving SEAL Team 3 in San Diego, then as a Pl a toon Commander at SIA LTeam 8 in Virginia Beach. We deployed to Europefor six months, including three in Sarajevo asthe Quick React i o n Fo r c e . I t w a s an

activedeployment leadingup to theKosovo air campaign.

“ My exit timing could not have been worse, asI left the Navy in Fall 2000just before the Spec Opswar of the millennium and started an M BA at t h e U n i v er sity of Chicago. I believefellow classmates and SIA Ls SteveVan Landingham and John Doolittle are still in and taking the fi ght to the enemy.

“While at the University of Chicago, I met my wife, Brooke, and got married in June2004. Aft er graduation in 2002,1launched a car eer in I n v estm en t B an k ing at JPMorgan in New York. After threeyears, I joined Morgan Stanley in LA , where I am currently aVice President. I have been in L.A. for ayear now and things are going well.” Thanks Lou, write back before 2 0 2 1!

Lou’shero shot (beforehis banking days).

Regular writer. Over the years, I have received regular updates fr om Tania (Dutko) Daniels. Tanya and Jeff recently welcomed their fourth child , Nath an Jeff rey, in January. They left Charleston for Seoul, Korea in May where Jeff is on the USFK joint staff at Yongsan Army Garrison. Tania left her Reservejob as an Academy Liaison Offi cer and is going inactive— she has too many other things to do raising four kids, moving across the world and homeschooling two daughters.

She had great info on a number of classmates:Andi (M cElvain ) St an fi eld is living in Phoenix and working as a school teacher. Jenny (Young) Crittell has two children and stays at homewith them living in Texas, but still m ain tain s a Reservej ob in engineering. Tina (Bragdon) Hagen has t w o c h i l d r e n an d i s living in Colorado Springs. Joelyn (Taylor) and Scotty N o w l i n a r e st i l l st a tioned in England with their four children. Tim Stong a n d El i ssa h a d t h e i r third child, fi rst daughter, and have recently left L i t t l e Ro c k w h e r e T i m w a s flying C-130Sfor the schoolhouse. Kim (McQuarrie) Tebrugge is living in

Olympia,WAwith her twodaughtersand isaReservepublic affairsoffi cer. Tom Torkelson and Debbiehavethreeboysand haverecently lef t Travi s for Oh io.

Awesomeupdate!Thanksfor thee-mail and anyonein Seoul should stop by

Ellsworth,Barry Coletothe70ISSat Ft Meade, and Danielle Bern ard going to

Halfway tomy limit andlotsleft toprint. Thislongupdateisfrom Andy Elbert. Andy’sseparatedfromactivedutyat GeilenkirchenAB, Germ any on 1 Aug05. Whilethereheheldmanyjobs,but hislast was theAircrew Training Squadron’sDirector of Operations. After that, Ron Th or n t on (n ow a N avy

ACSCfaculty,and 1am goingto SAASS. Onceagain I am out of space...until next time: Semper Ex c el si o r . Ja m e s.

and visit asTania would love to see a familiar face.

ReserveOffi cer) sworeAndy into theReserves. Andy is an IMA asthe Special Airlift OperationsDirector at Ramstein ABin the 16AFAM OCC. In civili an life,

Andyisapilot for Ryanair flying100hoursamonth as a B737-800 Captain. He

is based in Frankfurt -Hahn (old Hahn air base) and lives in Heinsberg. He often seesmanyAmerican military and familiestouringEurope in his cabin.

AnyoneflyingRyanair fromHahnshouldlistentotheCaptain sPA beforepushback... if it sounds like an American, it’sAndy since he is the only one out of

the 853 ESG at Hanscom. Kevin Wilson’s next assignment is at H ill, an d Ver n Conaway goingtoWarner-Robins. MikePriceheaded tothe Mil Group in Bolivia. Finally,Tom Burtschi and I arestayingat Maxwell;Tom will join the (Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an important sur vey. Thep urpose of

thesurvey is tohear from you. Your participation is very imp ortan t to us. We

eamestlywant toknowwhatAOGservicesyoudoanddon ot val ue. Th e sur vey isan organizedway togivevoicetoyour viewsandwill guidefuture strategic planning hy theAOG. Your viewsmatter and wewant to h ear fr om as m any membersaspossible.Resultswill bereportedin thefall of 2006.)

M ic h a e l D . S u n d s t e d 1 8 0 5 M a c a d a m s Pla ce

Hahn. Stop in thecockpit after theflight and say h ell o !

M e m be rs

Alexa nd ria, VA 2 2 3 0 8

Hisupdateincluded infoabout RonThornton andJon Olekszyk. Ron is flyingNATOAWACSandJonisAndy’ssupervisor at Ramstein. Jon and Andy

ZA

(703) 768-5664/ Cell: (571) 218-0586 E-ma il: Bravecw boy@cox.net Class Websit e: www .highf light .com

graduatedfromthesameUPTclassandspendtheir Reservetim e rem in iscin g about the old days.

Welcome to the summer! My apologies for not having th e class lett er in th e

last edition of Checkpoints. Both theAOGand I had changed our email ad

dresses and were unable to connect. Now that we have m a d e t h e el ec t r o n i c

connection... It’sbeen busy hereinVirginia, but f u n n o n e theless! I just had agreat springbreak with my family- 1got toplay the#8,#4,and#2coursesat Pinehurst asw ell as w at ch

myfamilyhaveagreat timeat Disneyvdth somefriendso f thefamily. Wearedoinggreat and gettingready for a w o n derful summer - timeto get theboat out and theskispol

5 Societ)' After meetingup with Julie (Nep) Siff ’shusband,Andrew, Sabre Do n o rs at thetough lossin therain to Navy, sheemailed m e an u p dateon her family. Shelivesin Fairlington,VAworkingat th e 480InformationWarfareplansat Langley,VA part time. H er b r o th er i s n ow a 2 -

i sh e d ! O n t o t h e n ew s . . .

degreeat USAFAandlookingforwardtothepossibilityof pilot training. Hope

Andy and Jon

Savingthelongest for last. Michael Bob Starr fi nishedup ACSC and got a bunch of ’92erstogether for apicture. Hethinkshisisthebiggest update since graduation—sinceI don’t trackthesestats.I’ll give

it t o h im .

fully our familiescan get together and we’ll havemore to update.

Hank Buck and family, Natalie, Pierce, Jocelyn and Ch ar i s are m ot ori n g

a fab ul ou s throughtheir timein Korea. They sent theregardsfor al l t o h ave t o t r av el a s a

Christmasand New Year. They havehad many opportunities

familybeingout in thePacific. Theyhavetraveledon two great trips to China and Thailand! They will know soon wherethey will benext - their time up in

KoreaisupinJuly06. My,howtimeflieswhenyou’rehaving fun. Natalie can arrangeourvacationsanytime! Thanksfor theupdate.

ACSC Glass: (back row) Jason Wolf Scott Yancy, David Kin cai d, M ik e M o te, Bill Bosch, Michael Bob Starr, Kei th Reeves,Aaron Steffens, ChrisHays, andJJ Menozzi; (front row) Don Grove, Tom Finneran, SteveM ar tin ez, Ch uck For d, Scott Gundlach, Clarke Pleasan ts, and Don Johnson.

Michael Bob’supdateon 43 of you: “DaveKincaid goingt o SA P / L L , A ar o n

Steffens to SAF/ IA, Chuck Ford to AF/AI M, Tim Sundvall to AF / XOXS, an d

EnriqueCruz will alsobe“in thePentagon.” PACOM w ill b e th e new h om e for MikeMote (J39), Bert Bryson (J45) andJayCopher (J5),w h ile Jason Wolf w ill beat PACAF/Al . ThreearegoingtoACCat Langley: Scott Yancy (A5), Mike Koscheski (also A5) and Keith Reeves (A8). Three- Skip Pribyl, Mike Dean , and Mark Baroni- going to Ramstein AB. Also in Europew ill be Jon Letsin ger (RAF Lakenheath, 493 FS) and Rob Cook (Poggio Renatico, Italy, Chief of

MobilityOpsfor NATOCAOC5). TomFinneran andMohan Kr i shn a goin g t o

Offutt in the55WG. Bill Bosch going to 15AMOSat Travis, joined by Dan

Dewenter , a reservist in the 312 AS. M ark Ely going to Randolph to be the assignmentsguyfor bomber pilotsat AFPC. Scott Gundlach has a personnel job at AMC/Al at Scott. Several classmateshaveDOassignments: Clarke

Pleasantsgoingto54HSat Minot,Don Johnson goingto 445 FT S at Edw ar ds,

BrookeLeonard goingto Eielson,and JJMenozzi will b e a T -3 8 D O at C o l u m bus. Hiswife, Kelly (Kirkpatrick) Menozzi, also goingto Columbus, joining theT-1squadron. SteveMartinez goingto command the60 7 A SU S a t O sa n , whileByrl Engel will command the99 SSSat Nellis. Fred Taylor going to the NROOpsSquadron at Schriever. ChrisHaysgoingback to U SAFA as a Lead ership/Psychology instructor. John Kubinec isgoingtoWright-Patt to be exec

for theAFMC/ CV, and Clint Hinote going to A1Udeid asChief of Strategy in the

CAOC. Brandon Baker goingto 12 RSat Beale, John Nicholst o t h e 3 7 B S at

Hank, Natalieand family on the Great Wall of China!

Terry (Hoeft) Sheppard updatesusfrom theAir ForceAcademy wherew e hopeshegetseveryonein line. Wehaveahealthy doseof Academy grads all

fine alma mater. In addition to the slew of academic i n st r u c t o r s l ik e Charlene Purtee, we have Gina Hilger , Zach Barber and Larry Card there as AOCs. Oh my goodness! I hopefor theloveof all that is good you are having mercy on thoseyoungkidsknowingthetroublewegot into during our 4* class year! Congratstoall ofyouonyour challengingjobs! Terry has obviously not ov er o u r

hadany sort of problemsinher squadronbecauseshew i ll be h eadin g out t o

A C SC th i s su m m e r.

Matt Yocum checked in well and rested from his honeymoon w i t h h i s n ew beautiful bride,Ann Marie! They are both in Washington, DC but enjoyed life in Maui for a brief bit. Matt is a phenomenal writer and will be a known entity in thewritingworld before too long. Hehasa couple of great works in the works- one is a conspiracy thriller taking place at theAcademy titled Honor.

MLAbaby! Healso conspired with DCComicsandwasa t ec h n i c al a d v i so r t o Geoff Johns on his Green Lantern Comics. He is currently going through Hebrew Languagetraining on hisway over toTel Aviv t o b e a n a ssi st a n t a i r 13 7

attachefor threeyears!Wow- I’ll seeyoutherehopefully- wefly through there

ahunch. Hisbosswill heaformer graduate, now Colonel D av i d O ’M e ar a .

Iwasabletotruckthrou^ theD.C.West trafi con1-66 to havea great dinner

atApplebeeswithJoeSucich. Heandhisfamilyaredoingvery well. Joewill

soon be on hisway to Captain at Jet Blue. He still works part -time at the C-5

umt at KeUyField in San Antonio! HeyJCristin! It’salwaysgreat gettingtogether and tryingto solvetheworld’sproblemsover asalad and a tasty beverage. See

you n ext tim e Joe!

Thanks for all the updates and I look forward to more. Another graduation

soontobedown. Wearegettingdeeper anddeeper intothe mix. It’s starting

to becomealongBLUEline! Regards- Mike

(Editorsnote:TheAOGhasdistributedan important survey. Thep urp ose of

thesurvey is tohear from you. Your participation is very imp or tan t to us. We eamesti ywm t toknowwhatAOGservicesyoudoand donot val ue. Thesur vey isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand will guidefuturestrategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear ifom asmany membersaspossible.Resul tswill bereportedin thefall of 2006.)

C.C. M . M a s ot t i

^M e78% ^ m ii e r s

CM R 4 8 0 Bo x 1 1 6 8 A PO A E 0 9 1 2 8 -1 1 6 8

W: 0 11-4 9-711-68 0-4 13 1 C: 0 11-4 9-16 2-2 97-2 2 2 1

N ew m ari tal bli ss; M att an d An n M ar i e in M aui .

Matt updates us on Dave Keener who also lives in the D .C. area w i th w ife, Misty,andtheir threechildren. Heisaproject engineerfor Raytheon. LeeBosch liveswith hiswifenear Phoenix,AZ and servesas a fi re-fighter and paramedic.

Troy Kitch andwifeliveon Oahu,HI workingfor theUSgovernment on POW/ MIA issues. He travels a lot over in the Pacifi c to Cam bodia an d Vietn am .

Got a quick updatefi rom Char (Melick) McReadie. Shehasmoved toVirginia Beach,VAand doingvery well. They moved in July and it’s been non-stop since. Shehasrun into several non-’93gradsdown there. Her Mary Kay busi

nesshasbeenexplodingandshecontinuestorack-upth e autom obil es for h er

exceptional performance. Her son isnow taller than h er, but sh e can stil l tak e

himif hestepsout of line- remember that if youare reading thisJordan! Rob

isstill playinghockey (ouch) and workingwith theAir, Land, SeaApplications

Center at Langley,VA! Brendan and Becky Harris sent meanother wonderful lett er, but with out th e longwords- either hehasan abridged version for me or Alabama iswearing

DS N : 3 14 -4 3 0 -4 1 3 1

E-ma il: masot t ic@e uco m .m il

(Thr ee Sabr e Society Donor s)

(Editor ’snote: Wedid not receivean inputf romC.C. th is issue. P l ease send h er

your inputs andphotosf or thenext magazine. Also, th e A OG h as di str i b uted a n irnportantsurvey.Thepurposeof thesurveyistohearhzomyou.Your par ticipa tion isveryimportant tous. Weeamestlywant toknowwhatAOGser vicesyou do anddonot value. Thesurveyisan organizedway togive voice toyour viewsand

wili guideiiiturestrategicplanningby theAOG.Your viewsmatter andwewan t tohear ffomasmanymembersaspossible.Resul tswill bereportedin thefall o f

2006.)

R. Tra v is K o c h

hislanguageskillsdown. Heand Beckyaredoinggreat. Fr om w h at I h ear, Brendanwill bequalifi edasanhonoraryredneckveryso o n . H e h as t w o

1072 Napa Way

(850) 882-0563/ DSN: 872-0563

Cell: (8 50 ) 4 99-8 24 2

richard.koch@eglin.af .mil

challenged at thesticksand thetriangle. Their chUdren M i ch ael an d Eli se a r e_ doinggreat. Brendan and family havehad their work at ACSC be recognized

t ravis koc h@ya hoo .co m

so much that they earn ed afollow-on school slot at th e School of Advan ced Air

and SpaceStudiesnext year! Congratulations! It will bevery interesting to s_e_e_ who w ll be promoted two below and one below to Lt Col, b u t i f B r e n d a n

“ain’t” there,buddyI’mouttahere! CongratsBrendan and Becky!

NathanHobbessent agreat Christmaslett er updatinguson hisfamily’sevents.

They traveled totheElvisPalacein LasVegastorenewtheir vow s. Wait a m in ute; Nathan really doeslook like Elvis! After the birth of th eir n ow seven -m on th -

old son, hiswife, Kellie, had quiteabattleafter her pregnancy. I am happy to say that through inner strength,family strength and a lot of praying- Kellie is

okay. Nathanweapplaudyour family’sabilitytorallyan d w e are th ankf ul th at Kellieisokay! Nathanhadsomegreat newsontopof hiswife’s recovery in that

(Five Sabr e Society Donor s)

(Editor ’snote: Wedidnot receivean inputf romTravisth is issue. P l ease send h im

your inputs andphotosf or the next magazine. Also, th eA OG h as di str i b u ted an importantsurvey.Thepurposeof thesurveyistohearffomyou.Yourpar ticipa-

tionisveryimportanttous.WeeamestlywanttoknowwhatAOGservicesyoudo anddonot value. Thesurveyisan organizedway togive voice toyour viewsand will guidefuturestrategicplarmingby theAOG. Your vi ews m atter an d we wan t

tohearifomasmanymembersaspossible.Resultswill bereportedin± efall of

2 006.)

hewaschosen tobeChief of Command Post - athankless,very diffi cult job! He

leads15+controllersandhashisownsecretaryaswell ashisown parking spot

'

- that’show you know you havesurvived. Thanksfor the great update and

V' \

n ew s!!!

CongratsgotheBrian (Rug)andTigger Bumswhorecentlyhad a han dsom e

son, Michael Brian Bum s. Hewasbom on 22 March and has already picked up a microphone to sing hisrendition of “Mack the knife.” Brian and family a r e moving up to D.C. where Brian rvill work in A3 at the Pentagon. Congrats!

M e m ii e r s

Niceville, FL 3 2 5 78

m o re

"cowffi ppin" events and one moonshine brewin’ event to log off and then his trainingfolder iscompleteat ACSC. Becky hasstarted a family enrichment program called KINDERMUSIK! MaybeI can secureaslot - 1am still pretty

Melissa S. Cunningham

15 6 68 Cand le Creek Drive

Monument, CO80132 (719)487-3071/DSN:333-4405

^ 63® /^

' M e m b e rs

Melissa.cunningham@usafa.af .mil or

melcu nning ha m@ms n.co m

Congratson to theAP’snewest Majors! Each month I’m seeing more of the

tab’ssportinggoldoakleaves! Theylookgoodonya! The other big newsisour

'i

m

L

V

i

upcoming reunion. Hopefully, you have received Todd C o o k ’s l et t er o u t l i n ingthegeneral eventsfor 27Sep - 1Oct 06. Theformal eventswill take place at theAntler’sin downtown Colorado Springswhich is only walking distance from some our familiar haunts. It should be a riot! So mark your calendars

n o w .

"

Last article I highlighted several of our class doctors an d h ave sin ce h ear d from a few others that I would like to include this t i m e ar o u n d .

Rob Eller hasbeen in civilian medical trainingfor the last nine years. He

went toVanderbilt for medical school followed by afi ve-year ENT residency in Birmingham,AL. In Birmingham heworked with Ed A n d er so n . E d w a s V

KI

■ ' Brian, Tigger andlitdeBrian lookinggood!

13 8

Vi si t t b e AOG Web Si t e

r ^

Merchandise, Gone But Not Forgotten and More! www.usafa.org

that sheisalso servingin theJAGcorpsand doingw ell . Kristen Pet er sen is also a JAG stationed at McGuireAFB.

Rob and Kristin Eller — Up theCreek and managed tokeep their paddi es. marriedlast springand isstationed at Landstuhl Regional M edical Center spe cializingin Orthopedics. Thisyear Rob isin Philadelphiaspecializing in lar

ynx surgery andthen it’soff toWilford Hall. Heislooking forward to being around classmatesagain. Followingmedical school, Rob m arr ied Kr ist en , a

pediatrician,andnowthey areexpectingtheir fi rst child in May — which he

stated might bemoredauntingthen all of their medical training.

Keyan Riley iswrappingup athoracicsurgery fellowship an d th en w ill tr an sfer to Eglin AFB. Hewent to med school at theUniversity o f U t ah an d t r av el ed t o Keesler AFBfor residency. Hewason-call at theBiloxi,VA hospital and rode out thestormwith hisfamily when Katrinaripped through last year. He looks forward to seeingusthisfall if thedesert deployment cycle permits.

Now that we’vecaught up on our Doc’s,I thought I’d passalong some info on our JAGs. Jen Graving (Maceda) married SteveMaceda’95ayear after gradu ation. They areboth stationed at Scott AFBwhereSteveis an Int el of fi cer an d Jen isfi nishingup her fi rst JAGassignment at thebase legal offi ce. Jen left

Viva Las Vegas: Sarah and Jejf Stockwell tie the knot.

Jeff and Sarah Stockwell tied theknot April 2005 in LasVegas. Zoomie saberbearers in attendancewere Scott Morrison, Stan Cole ’92, D ave Ler ch er an d Ollie Erickson. While vacationing in Belize for their honeymoon, Jeff and Sarah ran into DougBrock duringaScubadivingexcursion. Doug is currently enroute to an Air Attache assignment in Croatia. Jeff iswinding down an as

signment at NellisAFBasaUSAFWeaponsSchool instructor. In Ju n e, h e is PCSingto Randolph towork intelligenceoffi cer assignments.

USAFA as an Intel officer, but in 2001waspicked up for the Funded Legal Edu cation Program (FLEP) and went to pursuealaw degreeat the College ofWil-

liamandMary. Thissummerwill begin a15-month separation for Jen an d Steve asJen headsoff for ayear deployment in Iraq an d St ev e

completesadegreeat theNPS. Hopefully,AFPCwill sm il e

on them and stationed them back together after Jen’sr e t u r n .

Coincidently, ’96er’sBryan Huffi nan and DaleReidel w e r e also picked up for FLEP/ELPduringthesamegroup so they

enjoyedamini reunion at Maxwell for their JAGtrainingi n

Fall ’04. Dale is at BollingAFB married to Jen Kornacker whoisfi nishingupvet school in Ohio. Bryan Huff man st art ed out as a Nav. He married Lara shortly after graduation an d

1 Sab re Soc i ety Do n o rs

they headed to PensacolaNASfor primary navigator t r ai n

(C- 130s) at ing. After advancedtraining,hejoinedthe50'*’AirliftfSquadron o r th e Ex t en d ed L e av e

LittleRock. After several deployments,hewasselected Program (likeJen,but hehad to fi t thebill for school). Since graduation in ’04

he asbeen stationed at Davis-Monthan as the Chief Justice. Bryan and Lara have one son. Coats, and a daughter on theway this M ay.

I also heard from Erik Coyne who is fi nishing up his Law Degree and study ingnow for theBar thissummer. Hejust found out that he and Tracy Dupree

(Coyne)will beheaded for Mountain Home,ID in August. Af ter m any year s on

the east coast, they are ready to enjoy proximity to the mountains again. He

staysbusy astheEditor and Chief of theUniversity o f B al t i m o r e L aw Rev i ew .

Thebiggest newsisthearrival of Annalisewho isnow growing like aweed and successful potty trainingof their son Connor. Congrats!

I alsotracked dovwi Rodney Bullardwho hasbeen phenomenally b l essed in thelast fewyears. After graduation,heworked at USAFA i n A d m i ssi o n s o f fi c e and studied for theLSATs. After ayear,he left USAFA and spent ayear in Person nel at Hanscom AFB. He was picked up for law school at D u k e u n d e r E L P a n d l a t e r as t h e A r ea D e

program. Heworked at Keesler astheChief Justice fenseCouncil. Recently hemarried hischildhood sweetheart Silvette. They wereactually bom in thesamehospital threedaysapart an d l iv ed ar o u n d th e comer from each other growingup. They weremarried i n th eir h o m et o w n o f Atlantaand arestill tryingto squeezein ahoneymoon. What would keep him h as b een a W h it e s o busy to delay a honeymoon? For the last year, Rodney HouseFeUow workingfor thehead of NASA in D.C. Thepast few monthshave been full of tripsto Moscow,Fukuoka,and Montreal. He says it is an incredible

Reichen (Ri ck) Lehmk uhl an d Marcia Cross of Desperate H o u se w i v es.

I received agreat email fr om Reichen (Rick) Lehmkuhl updating me on his many adventuressincewinningthe$1M prizeon theAmazing Race (4). Since,

he’s started The Reichen Group (www.theReichenGroup.com) w h i ch i s c o m promisedof hissuccessful real estatecompany,modeling,print sales, and The Reichen Show. He has had several guest appearances on sit com s such as th e Drew Carey Show, Frasier,theYoungand theRestless, and Days of Our Lives.

He shot a movie last summer called “The Scorn ed.’’ H e h as h ad several m od elingshootsmost recendy with GQandVogue. Hehasa new daily talk show “The Reichen Show ” which istaking off . As the creator, producer and host, he

took hisideato theQTelevision Network. Now Reichen has a 20 p erson t earn to help producetheshow. Hehasabook coming out th i s fal l cal led , “ H ere’s What We’ll Say” about hisexperiencesat theAcademy. I ’m su re it w i ll b e th e buzz of many TV/radio showsasthereleasedateapproaches. Ev e n i n t h i s whirlwind, he still fi ndstime to take evening cruises on the Santa Monica Bay

and go divingout in CatalinaIsland whenever hecan. Ch eck out hi s w eb sit e t o for m ore inform ation on h is diff erent ventu res.

I’verun over my word limit for thisissue! God Blessand Seeyou Soon! Mel

(Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t sur vey. Thep urpose of

thesurvey is tohear from you. Your participation is very impor tan t to us. We earn estly want toknow whatAOGservicesyoudoand do n ot val ue. Th e sur vey isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand will guide future strategic planning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want to h ear fr om as m an y membersaspossible.Resultswill bereported in thefaUo f 2 0 0 6.)

programandwouldencourageclassmatesthat areinterestedto apply. Rodney

Cl ass of 199 6 10 th R eun i on

and is presently a DallasBusinessman/ Entrepreneur.

Linell Bartholic (Letendre) is stationed at USAFA teaching c o u r se s i n t h e legal studiesmajor. In January shegavebirth to ahealthy baby boy, Ethan Tucker Letendre. In March, she received her line number to Major.

I haven’t been able to fi nd Jen Word, but other classmateshave passed along

U SA FA vs. N ew M exi co

hasalso kept up with Daniel Palmer who isplayingfor the Miami Dolphins

2 7Sep t. - 1 Oct

13 9

Melvin E. Maxwell, Jr. PSC 2 , Box 7518 A PO A E 0 9 0 1 2

70%

M e m b e rs

Work DSN:(3 14 ) 4 8 0-56 28 W: me lvin.maxwe ll@ra mst ein.af .m il H: mel_ maxwe ll9 7@hot ma il.com

Hey all.

Congrats to all you Major-selects out there... we’re almost grown ups now.

It was fun looking over the promotion list and read so m e n am es I h av en ’t see n

in awhile. And congratstothoseof you hard chargersw h o w ere on th e school list. Por thisupdate, I received someinterestingnewsfr om some fellow grads who left theAir Forceand areexperiencinglifefrom the other side. First off,

I received an email from the fabulous Carol (Palmer) Faison. She began her email by apologizingfor allowingeight yearsto go by without saying a word to me— whatever girl! (Besides— it’sbeen ninebut I know how you ladieslike to try to forget years from your age!) Carol and her h usb an d of six an d a hal f years,Lamonte, aredoingwell. Rather than paraphraseCarol’swords. I’ll just let her passthe latest in her life.

coffeemanufacturing]! Asyou can imagine, HurricaneKatrina blew through

andchangedeverything. Byron spent theendof last y ear in recon st ru cti on

modehelpingto get thebusinessback operatingand his h ouse rebuilt . Af ter

thingscalmeddown,hemadeanother changeandalongwith hiswife, Christy, and their two year old son. Max, moved to Tennessee w here h e w orks in Bu si

nessDevelopment for JacobsSverdmp. Byron and thefamUy arereally enjoy ingtheir new lifein thehillsof Tennessee. Byron says he misses theAir Force

but his new position keeps him in touch with a lot of DoD and NASA people, so runninginto some ’97ersisstill likely. TheFalconsplay in Knoxville, Ten

nesseethisSeptember. Devin BlossandTrent Causey ar e b o th d ovm in M em

phisat FedExandwehaveticketstothegamesomaybewe’ll run into Byron.

Just to keep everyoneon their toes, hereis some news about a classm ate w ho left theAcademy but is still in theAir Force. I’m su re m any rem em ber H eath er

Cohea. Heather (now Swanson) iscurrently flyingC-17si n

theReservesout of Charleston andrecently dropped

m e a

lineto passon updateregardingsomeof the“exes”. H ea th er

left theAcademy and went to Purduewhere she finished u p

her Aero/Astro Engineering degree. Then she went to

EdwardsAFB,CAasamissionplanner for theARIAprogram

for a coupleyears as SrA. Next, shewent to CU-Boulder f o r

her Master’swhenshegot pickedupfor aReserveflyingsl o t .

Heather went to off to UPT at Laughlin APBin Del Rio. Ro b

HamiJ] washer tweet flight commander and Matt Anderson

2 Sabre Society Do nors

wasoneof her tweet IPs. (Incidentally, I recently ran into M att at th e Ram stein

commissary pasta bar. Matt and the rest of hisC-17 crew werelooking to catch

a rideback hometo McChord.) Heather and her husband, D er ic, l ive an d work in Colorado when sheisnot commutingdown to C h a r l est o n . H e r f u l l timejob isasan aerospaceengineer for Lockheed Martin i n B o u l d er. O v er t h e years. Heather hasremained closewith acoupleother “exes”: Rose (Sammon) Walsh isan occupational therapist and ownsher ovm com p any. Rose lives with her husband. Matt, in Pt Collinsalongwith her two girls, Kaitlin (almost three) and Karoline (born last December). Anna Bar becameadermatologist and iscompletingafellowship in San Prancisco.

Alright all... that’sall we’vegot for thisupdate. Hope all is treatingyou well.

Drop me a line when you get a chance. Until next time... M el

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributedan importantsurvey. Thep urpose of

Lam on t e an d Car ol (Pal m er ) Fai son

“I am a Performance Improvement Coach for Bank of America in LasVegas, which means I teach all of the Tellers and Personal Bank er s for m ost of th e Pacific Southwest Division. Thejob issomuch fun because I get to teach and

thesur vey istohear fromyou. Yourparticipation isvery important to us. Weear nestlywanttoknowwhatAOGservicesyoudoanddonotvalue. Thesurvey isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand will guidefuture strategicplan

ning by theAC)G. Your viewsmatter and we want tohear from asmany members asp ossible. Resul ts will berep orted in thefall of 2006.)

K a r i n M c W h o rt e r

PSC 3 , Box 3 77

travel which havealwaysbeen my dreams. I alsojust com p et ed in th e M r s.

NevadaPageant and took home4'*’Runner Up. It wasso m u ch f u n ! L am o n t e

A PO A P 9 6 2 6 6 -0 0 0 4

Faison International) and aYouth Prevention Specialist. O u r b u si n e ss h a s taken off and heisfully dedicated to seeingyoungpeople successful. I am so

m c w h o rt e r@i- m n e t .c o m

IS

From CONUS: (3 0 3 ) 8 47-4 118 From Korea: 0 50 5-12 2-728 8

afantastic husband. Motivational Speaker for our company, (L a m o n t e

proud of him for his heart! Check out our web site for m ore in form ation . It is www.lfaison.com. Wedon’t haveany kidsyet;just really enjoying each other!

“Of course I keep in contact with Genie (Jackson) Henderson. Sh e an d h er husband, Dionni,and their son Thair (now eight) aredoing well and actually

arein theprocessof PCSingto LasVegas. (Thecity w i ll n ever b e th e sam e!)

Tanji Johnson is fantastic asusual in her world of flmess. She’s quite the celeb

64

^ Membei^

K a r i n .m c w h o rt e r @o s a n .a f . m i l

I hopeeveryoneishavingagreat summer... it’shard t o b elieve it h as b een eight yearssincegraduation. It iseven stranger to me that those of you st ill o n activedutywill bemeetingamajor’sboard thisyear. Remember when Major’s se em ed o l d ?

rity and haswon morefitnesscompetitionsthan I could c o u n t ! Sh e n o w h a s her own clothinglineand posingvideo, (all availableon her w eb site, w h ich isWAVw.tanjijohnson.com). Asyou can seeby my pictureshe obviously has

Thingsaregoingwell herein Korea. OnApril 261gavebirth to Anna Kathryn McWhorter at theArmy hospital in Seoul. Sheweighed in a t 7 l b s an d w as b o m amerehour and ahalf aft er our arrival at thehospital. Everything went well andAndrew and I areadjustingto lifewith atwo-year-old an d an i n f an t .

Angela, David and daughter AvaRay Byron Bright left theAir Porcein May of last year an d w en t to w ork as an

Karin and Anna Kathryn McWhorter This quarter I have four short updates. The fi rst is from Ch ri st ian Gil e. H e separatedfr om theAir Porcein May 2003whileworkingasa Program Manager at LosAngelesAPB, CA. Heisnowworkingin downtown Colorado Springs a s acommercial real estatebroker. Hemarried agal named Kimberly and they

mebeat inbodyfat;but lifeisgreat. Also,I recentlyran into David Ray and his wife,Angela, who live in Tucson,AZ with their beautiful daughter Ava. I’d love to hear fr om everyoneout there! Missand loveeverybody. Blessings! Carol”

Operations manager for Polger’s Coffee in New Orleans ( Test Pi l o t Sch o o l t o 14 0

havealittleguy named Caleb who isalmost 18monthsold and they are trying for their second. He recendy signed up asthe Rampart Chapter AOG 1998 rep and wanted to let everyone know that if they are ever in Colorado Springs or

planning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want to hear from as many membersaspossible. Resultswill bereported in thefall of 2006.)

thesurroundingareasthey can contact him and attend on e of t h e Ram p art Chapter meetings. Hecan bereached at: Christian Gile, PO Box 62324, Colo rado Springs, CO80962. Cell: 719.360.0417.Work: 719.535.0500.

TQSenkungu (Mukasa-Mugoye) wroteto say that herecently t r av el ed b ack totheAcademywherehegot toseefellow gradsSteveand Candice (MacBrayer) Pipes and Rob Pryor (’97). Steve is now the defensive c o o r d i n a t o r f o r t h e Academy’sPreparatory School football team,Candiceisan English teacher at theAcademy, and Rob Pryor isback at theAcademy aso n e o f t h e a ssi st a n t

Ja m e s W . B u s c h 2 1 0 2 Co rt e Co n d e s a

lation s, M ar c.

Zd

Chula Vist a, CA 9 19 14 (8 0 1) 30 9-16 72 Buschf l 6 @ya hoo .com

Ja m e s .b u s c h @h i l l .a f . m i l

(Two Sabr e Society Donor s)

b a sk et b al l co a c h es.

Marc Levds also wrote in to say that hiswife, Susan, gave birth to their fi rst child, a son (Marcus), back in June of 2005. To makethingseven more exciting, he decided to separate from the Air Force in February. They headed up to Cambridge,MAthisspringand hewill start theMBA program at the MIT Sloan School of Management in the fall. According to him “they must be seriously loweringthe standards if this Math 130veteran can make it to MIT!” Congratu

69%

M e m b e rs

(Editor note: We did not receive an input f rom Jame.s th i s i ssue. P l ea se send h i m

your inputs and photosf or the next magazine. Also, th e A O G h a s d i s tr i b u t e d an important survey. Thepurposeof thesurvey istohear from you. Your par ticipa-

tionisveryimportant tous.Weeamestlywant toknowwhatAOGservicesyoudo

and do not value. Thesur vey isan organized way togive voice toyour viewsand will guidefuturestrategicplanning by theAOG. Your vi ew s m a t ter an d w e w an t to hear t om asmany members aspossible. Results will bereported in thefall of 2 006.)

Ja s o n “ JW ” S im m o n s

PSC 2 , Box 7077

M e m b e rs

:4

A PO A E 0 9 0 1 2 Mta r rjNiij M

S im m o n s @US A FA 2 0 0 0 .c o m

If:

Update: On Friday, 12 May,welost Kristin (Bozarth) B u r so n af t e r a t w o -

year batde with cancer.

M a r c L ew is a nd son M a r c us a t the bea ch.

Lastly, I received an update from Mike Connors. He a n d C a r l a Sl o a n e a r e now married and living in Washington, DC. She is a M ar in e JAG of fi cer (de fense attorn ey) at Quantico and he isworkingpart tim e as a bari sta at Starbucks (hisdream job!) and substitute teaching in D.C. Hewas recently accepted into the D.C.Teaching Fellowsprogram which takespeopleli k e h i m w i t h n o t each ingbackground and placesthem in high needsurban schools. The program is affi liated with American University and he isvery excited about beginning h i s n ew c a r eer .

He and Carla recently traveled to El Vado, NM for a sm al l r eu n i o n w i t h o t h er ’98ers (pictured in the photo). Adam “Coop” Cooper put everyone up at his family’sranch on theChamaRiver for theweekend and they had ablast! Coop isout of theAF and ishelpinghisd ad ru n th e vacation ranch in El Vado and isalso an engineer working f o r the county controllingthedamsand hydroelectri c power s t a tions. He hastwo beautiful children and still spendsh i s f ree timehuntingwild animalsand “cowboying” up. Scott “Smitty” N o n e Ye t Smith isflyingF-15sat Kadenaand ismarri edwith adaughter.

He came all the way from Okinawa for the festivities! Ri ch Sabre Society D o n o rs Hemmings and hiswife,Viktoria, are currently at Nellisi n Vegas. Rich isfl yingPredator UAVsandViki isworkingo n h er Master’sin Biology at UNLV. Mark Sundlov and hiswife,Tonia, are living in

Madison,WI . Mark separated from theAF after a career i n m i ssil es an d i s en rolled in a Master’s program in Public History at the University ofWisconsin Milwaukee. Tonia isworking at aprominent cancer research cen t er in M ad i so n .

Classm ates,

I heard from quiteafew of you thisgo and I appreciated all the great inputs.

Some folks brought up a somber subject, but somethingw e n eed t o ad d r e ss I d on ’t kn ow ab ou t al l th ose th at h ave fallen , eith er in battle or other. If you know of any classmatesthat havefallen,pleasetaketim e to send m e a m essage

about it ; we need to update our “Gone, but Not Forgotten” p a g e o n USAFA2000.com, to ensure we as a class acknowledge o u r aw e so m e c l a ss mates. If you have something special you’d like to add about any fallen Two Grander, please let me know and I’ll add it to their page, including stories of fun times or a story about their great character.Thanks i n ad v an c e .

1’m still at Ramstein AB, Germany: loving traveling all over Europe and

taking advantageof cheap Ryan Air flights. 1recently PGA e d t o t h e U SA F E Computer SystemsSquadron in the Long Haul Comm branch, so I ’m up grading architecturethroughout Europewith variousprograms when I’m not out having fun. Some other classmates that have had exciting times re cendy—Brooke (Effl and) Rillos, Matthew Rillos, and Matthew Zitzisperger embarked on an awesome adventure this past September. Many of the high

lightswill soon be televised on NBC, with the title of “ Treasu r e H u n ter s,” premieringon Father’sDay; to learn moreabout “Team A i r Fo r ce” ch ec k o u t

w vw .n b c.com / Treasu re_H u n t er s. In ad d it i on t o th eir reality TV show ex

perience, Brooke and Matt areexpecting baby number three in early De cember.They are anxiousto see if God gives them another strong-willed litdeboy, or perhapsasweet litdegirl, but so far it has been boys only for the tw o .

I heard fr om Bessie Fon ten ot . She lef t th e AF last August to pursue a PhD in Cardiopulmonary Physiology at East Carolina University in Greenville, N C; her aspirations are to become a college professor. A n o th e r D o c , Pat Par so n s ,

graduated from Dental School at theOhio StateUniversity i n 2 0 0 4 a n d h a s

since gone to Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency at Langley where he graduated with distinction last year. His r ew ar d — Pat i s i n t h e RO K at Osan AB and served as ageneral dentist but only after being “ selected” asthe

WingDeputy POCfor thePOTUS/ FLOTUS/ SECSTATEvisit, a n d h a s n o w

been “promoted” to Medical Group Executive Offi cer, pushing paper rather than treating patients... scandalous! He ran into both Jon Friedm an an d N ate D ill er an d had a ch an ce to m eet th eir w ives an d rem ini scence ab o u t so m e o l d

times. Both Jon and Nate are flyingVipers at Osan; Don Walpole is also there fl yingA- 10s. Tom Still is down at Kunsan fl yingViperst o o . Ed Ge r m o se n w as at Osan al so as w ell , but w e’re n ot sure w hat h e does. Pat has Spangdahlem as a follow -on so he an d I w ill h ave to sh are a D u nkle or Al t b ier (or b oth ) before

From let at top areScott Smi th,Adam Cooper, MikeConn ors, Ri ch H em m in gs and Mark Sundl ov. Bottom: Vik toria Hemmings, Carla Con n ors (Sl oan e), an d

I bead out of Germany in Feb ’07.

Some Doctor classmatesare integratingother Doctorsas w ives; M att Schm itz

To n i a Su n dl o v.

Thanksto everyonewho wrote in and sent photos. Have agreat summer and drop me a note if you get a chance. Karin (Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an important survey. Thep urpose of the survey is to hear t om you. Your participation is very imp ortant to us. We earn estly want toknow whatAOGservicesyoudoand do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guide future strategic

V i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e

M erchandise, Gone But Not Forgotten and M ore! www.usafa.org 14 1

recently got married to Dr. Gillian Rickmeier, an ERPhysician and 1998 Univer sity ofVirginia graduate. Matt iscompletinghissecond year of residency in the Orthopaedic Surgery program at Wilford Hall in San Antonio. They weremar ried in an intimate ceremony on the Carrihean island o f St . L u ci a o n V al en t i n es Day with their immediate families in attendance.

NewlywedsMatt Schmi tz with wife, Gillian.—.Paul and Sar ah Sch w en n esen The high-speed comm offi cer that I am (aka: dork), I was readingAFCEA’s Signalsmagazine and ran across a picture of Sarah (M cGu an e) Schw enn esen accepting one of those mega-huge cardboard checks on b eh al f o f H an sco m CGOC. Sheismarried to Paul Schwennesen and they areenjoyingajoint assign m en t t o H an sc o m A F B w h er e Sar ah i s Ch i ef o f t h e A i r BaseWing Public Af fairs offi ce and Paul istheAcquisitionsE-3WeaponsSystems Branch Chief They are takingadvantageofagreatassignmentandareslat^ to completeHarvard master’s degreesthissummer,aft er havingtaken abrief sabbatical (co u r tesyof USAF) in Ecuador andAfghanistan respectively, in 2005 .

Thebig newsisthat they areexpectingtheir fi rst baby in Octo ber! Paul isactively pursuing abillet asa Special Fo r ces C o m bat RescueOffi cer and isattempting to grow gillsw h i l e Sar ah ispursuingIntern ational Affairsand islooking at th e St at e D e N o n e Ye t partment for a new career.

Ann (Hadey) Redd graduated fr om law school and isheaded Sabre Society Do n o rs to Tinker AFB, OK for her fi rst JAG assignment. Her husban d , Dejon, got an AFTTassignment and will begettinghism ast er ’s degree fr om the Universi ty of Oklahoma while they are there. Trinkle Bryan is still hanging out at Barksdale and loving every minuteof it. He got abreak fr om his fabulous duty station for SOSrecenti y and has signed the dotted line to go play fun gameswith theArmy for 2-3 years. Kristopher Malloy is nearly com pletewith his365-day deployment to Iraq supportingt h e M u l ti -N at i o n al Fo r c es as the Commanding General’s Command Briefer. He’ll return back to Pope AFB, and immediately PCSto the 30* Intelligence Squadron at Langley: what little time he’s had on his short tour to Baghdad has been taken up with com petitive running and triathlons and his classwork for the master’sprogram he continues to procrastinate on. Danny Brown iswith t h e 7 7 7 EA S a n d 6 1 A S when he’s not scouring the desert skies. He moved to L i t d e Ro ck i n M ar c h ’0 5 and hasbeen deployed to Balad flying HerkssinceApril; m ean w h i l e h e an d h i s fi ance miss Europe and him being home.

Logan Sisson passed my email to DougWhite and this is th e fi r st w e’v e h ear d fr om him since graduation. Back in 2000, Dougwent toVandenbergAFB, CA for MissileIQT and then toMalmstrom. Duringhisfour years there he pulled 239 combat (24hr, underground) alerts and was hired to the Instructor shop for hislast year. In 2004, he married his girlfr iend of two years, Michelle, fr om Tripoli, Iowa.They had their fi rst child. Aria Rose in July '05.This last Septem ber, they PCSed toVandenberg, wherethey are now stationed. Dougworks as a MissUe IQT instructor for the REACT (Rapid Execution and Combat Target ing) B System and enjoys be part of the nuclear deterrence t r i a d .

cules and last year spent a few months at the illustriousAM D. He is now very much enjoying being at homewith hisnew bride; no c h i l d r en ar e o n th e r a d ar yet. Matt (Russell ) and hiswife, Erika, havejust exchanged the swamp for the

desert asMatt transitionsfr om MoodyT-6Faip to LukeF - 16 B - co u r se stu d en t .

They havemanaged to try and maketheOct graduation day a bit more inter

esting by having it aligned with the due date of their fi rst kiddo. Fighting and winning in the sam eViper class are Scooter White and Jason Hrynyk.

Amber Clark (Geidel), Theresa Weihrich (Vick) and Ellen K o w al c h u k (LeVaughn) had a brief get-together last summer at Tyndall. Amber is in Med sch ool at Okl ah om a, Th eresa an d Ell en ar e IM A Reservi sts staying homewith kids. Theresa isduewith baby #2 in June and Ellen isduewith #2 in September!

Am ber, Th eresa, an d Ell en wi th th eir babi es.

William Swan , wife. Harmony, and daughter Savannah (19 months) fi nally reached their next assignment at Cheyenne Mountain Air Station , CO.Will is assigned to the 1st Space Control Squadron. Hisjob (space surveillance) en tailsdetecting,tracking,identifying,and catalogingALL man-made objects in space. Currently he’s attending class at Schriever A F B .

Susan (Murphy)Adamson and DavidAdamson areboth gettingsett l ed in t o

their new assignmentsat NASPensacola, Susan asaT-1Instructor Navigator in VT- 10 an d D ave as a T-6 Instr uctor Pil ot in th eVT-4. Sometimesthe dayscan be long, but it is nice not to worry about being separated during deployments.

ThisAugust they will welcome the newest addition to their family when their fi r st c h i l d i s b o r n .

FitzGlasgow provided updatesfr om Kirtland. Hiswife, Rachael (Westergren ’01),just PCSed to there and Fritzseparated in Sept ’05 and is in his fi rst year of Pharmacy school at UNM . Before he got out, he worked with Lindsay Brocklesby in AFOTEC Det 3; she’s engaged to be married to Tony Shucosky (civ) in June. Adam Scbmidt and his vdfe, Lindsay (McRoberts), w o r k e d dow n the str eet fr om Fritz in SM C D et 12. Adam an d Lindsay have two kidsand have since separated to move back to Oklahoma. Adam R e ssl e r w a s m ar r i ed in January at Colorado College; he had over 17 groomsmen, all squadronmates fr om his BCT/fi rst squadron, CS-7; he is currendy flying C- 130s out of Alaska. Abram Baker is a personnel offi cer out at Andrews and he’s already started hisown publishing company in hissparetime. Fritzisdoing agreat job staying connected to USAFA buddies I ran into Bridget (Blanco) Graham at a BBQ recently; she’s going off to do somework in the desert and planson getting out soon aft er to spend moretime with Army cross-commissioned hubby. Matt Graham, and plans on having some babies. I also ran into Kay Hasson at a local watering hole; shewasjust passing through and has been fl ying all over the globe.

It’sgreat hearingfrom so many classmatesin preparation for th is editi on ;

please keep the updates coming and I’ll get them out there for everyone. Oh

yeah, hasanyoneseen thelatest copy of Airman Magazine? Kri st en Bak oti c, leader of the CAT team at Camp Katuu, Palau, can be seen th ere (w w w .af .m il / news/ airman/ 0406/ duty.shtml) with her hand in the mouth of Cody, their mascot puppy. If you happen on to newspaper or magazine (oth er th an th is fi nepublication), please passit on to usor post it to our message board (linked fr om U SAFA2000.com ). Th at ’s it for th is tim e

Fa it h Dunn (Hit chcock)

2 0 3 S e a t o n Ci rc le

66%

M e m b e rs

Montgomery, AL 3 6 1 16 Fa i rt h D 0 3 @h o t m a i l .c o m

’Ol ers,

DougWhite and Family.

Jon Sh aff er m arried Lisa G. H arris in Charleston SC in Apr ’05 and they quickly

moved to DyessAFB. Jon is now an Aircraft Commander for themightyHer14 2

(Two Sabr e Society Donor s)

Sorry I haveno updatesthistimearound. I haveseparated fr om the AE m oved and changed my email addresssincethelast update. I w il l co n t in u e t o w r i t e t h e Checkpointsarticle so pleasesend your updatesand picturesto the following: FaithD03@hotmail.com. Thank you and hopetohear fr omyou soon! Faith (Edi torsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t survey . Thep urpose of the survey is to hear from you. Your participation is very imp or tant to us. We earn estly wan t to know whatAOGservicesyou do an d do not val ue. Thesur vey

isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want to h ear f r om as m an y membersaspossible.Resultswill bereportedin thefall of 2006.)

Tony Carson

4 6 6 Av e n u e D

Conor Teegarden and his fiance Beth, Gerard Carisio an d h is w i fe, Tom Greenaway and hiswife, Simon Richie,Tim Conley,JBKoenings, Ryan Olish, Luis Palacios, Justin Jones, and Jeanae Jackson.

A photo of the couple is below.

62%

M e m s e rs Zd

Dyess AFB, TX 79606 ant hony.carson@dyess.af .mil

Class Websit e: www .usaf a0 2 .org

(No Sabr e Society Donor s Yet)

(Editor ’s note: Wedid not receive an inputf rom Tony th is issue. P l ea se sen d h im

■i

inputsandphotosf or thenext magazine. Also, theAOGh a s d i s tr i b u t e d an important survey. Thepurposeof thesur vey istohear t omyou.Your par ti cipa tion isveryimportant to us.Weearn estly want toknow whatAOGser vicesyou do

yo u r

and do not value. Thesur vey isan organized way togive voice toyour viewsand

will guidefuturestrategicplanning by theAOG. Your viewsm a t ter an d w e w an t tohear from asmany membersaspossible.Results will bereported in thefall of

2 006 .)

Richa rd Giles Whit ing, Jr. 1 8 Ta l la w o o d La n e

68%

M e m b e rs

Elgin, SC 29 0 4 5 (9 17) 68 7-776 2 Richard.Whit ing@post .harvard.edu

Most of uswalking acrossthe graduation platform back in May of 2003 had reconciled ourselvesto spending no lessthan fi veyearsservingin theAir Force and many more probably saw themselvescontinuing in this career for longer.

Theunexpectedchangesbrought about by force-shapinghave, however,given many of uspauseto reconsider our plansan d hasreshaped our plansfor us. AFPChasnot released any of

Academy gradsvoluntarily punching. Thisisby no meansa

bad sign nor does it speak negatively concern ing our c l a ss o r

national “Red Flag”-ish event. While hewasthere, he saw many veterans of the GWOT: Jill (Erdman) and Nathan Rogers who are at McGuire flying KC- 10s, Jeff Jenkins who is at McConnell flying KC- 135s, and D an M u n so n w h o i s at RobbinsflyingKC-135s. Dan somehow convinced hisgirlfriend to marry him this fall and will be having the ceremony in Seattle,W A t h i s f a l l . N a t h a n i e l Jackson was down the road flying KC-135s at Al Died AB, Qatar, which he probably likesbetter than hishomestation Minot AFB, ND. And speaking of cool placestobe,Jon Baylessisamissileer and ispulling alerts at Minot - wow t h at so u n d s f u n .

Like many of you, Barbara (Soucy) Golf is planning to take up theAir Force’s

offer on early separation to work full-time on her doctorate, among other things. For everyone else separating, please get in t o u ch t o l et t h e c l a ss k n o w

what you’regoingtobedoingand toensurethat wecan keep in touch with you

insomecases,thou^ I certainlyhopeit isonlythebarest few, if cial numbersconcerningthedemographicsofvoluntary sep a rationsand I writethis article one day before the involuntary list comesdown. That said, rumorsindicatea high n u m b er o f

Apart fr omweddings,KenyattaRufBn fi nally experienced th e “ real A ir Fo r ce” when hedeployed for thefi rst timein March toAl D h afr a AB, UAE for an in ter

N o n e Yc i Sa b re So c ie t D o n 0 r ,s

our patriotism. In fact, thedissymmetry can easily b e i n t e r pretedtosuggest that Academy gradsaremoremarketableand generally have better opportunitieson theoutsidethan their counterparts. Certainly thereare other possibleexplanationsaswell but astronglogical argument can bebuilt in USAFA’sdefense as to why grads are choosing to separate early.

But enough of that for now, here isa bit of class new s: Tw o 25ers, John Sciut o

an d Brooke Sciut o (Sch ul er ), w ere m ar ri ed on 12 Nov 05 in M oun tai ntop, PA.

The bridesmaids included Lindsay Erickson (Howard) and Morgan Ellison (Bennett). The groomsmen/saber bearers included: TJ Zaremba, Kyle Clinton, Dan Montes, Chris Rondeau, Mike Fleming (’05), an d B r i an Sc h m i d t (’05) for a big “Redeye” reunion. John is headed to McConnell AFB to fly the KC-135 and Brookewill be leaving her Acquisition job at Tinker AFB in July to start her fi rst year of medical school at USUHS.

- our fi rst class reunion will be here sooner than you think. I would also like to send condolences on behalf of the class to the fam ily and friends of Taryn Robinson (’05) who passed away earlier thisyear fr om injuries suffered in a plane crash. Here’s a toast...

As a fi nal update, I ’ve decided to separate fr om active duty and will be start ingwith McKinsey & Company in NewYork thisfall. 1will certainly miss many

things about theAir Force and more things about being so c l o se t o f el l o w

Academy grads but am excited about my new career. Keny Ru fi n w i l l t ak e over the majority of the responsibilities for class updates and can be reached at Kenyatta.Ruffi n@cannon.af.mil. I do hopeto stay in touch with everyone and have included my personal email address in the header of this message -

pleasedon’t hesitatetowrite, I look forward to stayingi n t o u c h .

All the best and most sincerely, GilesWhiting.

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhas distributed an importan t sur vey. Thepurposeof the survey is to hear t om you. Your par ti cipati on is very imp or tan t to us. We eamestlywant toknowwhatAOGservicesyou doand donot val ue. Thesur vey isan organized way togivevoicetoyour viewsand will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your viewsmatter and we want to hear t om as many

membersaspossible.Resultswill bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Breezy (Lo ng) Hedd inger 2 5 3 1 W. 2 2 5t h Place, Apt . D Torrance, CA 90 50 5 (719 ) 2 13-3 20 5 bheddinger@losangeles.af.mil

68%

M e m b e rs

Deployed and Lovin’ It! Shannon Lothrop is over in Turkey and thoroughly enjoying the challenge

o f In t el w o r k o v e r se a s.

Angela (Segura) MeyerandAndyDulin “tookadvantageof areally cool photo opportunity to spread theword t h at t h e

Lee Staab and Jaimie KoUer , both fr om my Loosehawgs squadron, were also married thisspring. In att endance: Stuart Fraser and hisfi ance Stephanie, V i si t t h e W eb Si t e

www.usaf a.org

Class of 2004 is deployed with some of the greatest A F asset s and people in theworld!” They “hope to give our class s o m e prideand show theother classesthat theClassof2004truly is out there makingthingshappen.” (See photograph at the top

N o ne Yet

Andy Dulin and Angela (Segura) Meyer are deployed to

S a b re So c ie t .

D o n o rs

of th e n ext colu m n .)

Southwest Asia (AEF 9-10) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

WeddingBells: Zachary Payneand LaToyaSipleswill tie the knot on 27 May 2006. Dave Goodale asked his charming girlfr i end Jacque to marry him on 25 March 2006 along thebeach near CorpusChri sti —pictureperfect! Best Wishes.

14 3

t

Another Batch of ’04-Grad USAF Pilots: Michael Heddinger, C-130, Dyess AFB,TX; DaveGoodale, C-17, McChordAFB,WA;Tyler Young, C-130, Dyess AFB, TX; Hilary Thomas, C-5,TravisAFB, CA; Jon Roe, F-16; Rory McLean, C17, McChord AFB,WA;Andrew McLay, KC-135, RAF MUdenhaU, UK;Anthony

Park, C-17, Hickam AFB, HI; Brian Watts, F-16; Ryan Roper , F- 15E; an d Brad Young, F-15C. Congratulationson earningyour wings!

I’m deployingin July for six months,sopleasesend subm ission s for th e n ext two quarters to Jeff Gould (Gould.Jeflrey@laughlin.af.mil) and check the glo

bal for changes, sincehe’sgraduatingUPT and PCSingsoon). Th ank s, “ h ave a great summer,” and don’t be a stranger.

(Editorsnote: TheAOGhasdistributed an important survey. Thep urpose of thesurvey is tohear ifom you. Your participation is very imp ortan t to us. We

■

/ '

3

earn estly wan t to know whatAOGser vicesyou do and do not val ue. Thesur vey is an organized way to give voice to your views and will guidefuture strategic planning by theAOG. Your views matter and we wan t to hear If om as many members aspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2006.)

Special Delivery: In Febmary2006thestork brought Gabriel Philip Filbert to proud papaTom Filbert and hiswife, Leslie. Thislittleguy already has a lot of history for anewborn—“Philip Filbert,” Tom’sgrandfather m an y gen erati on s

Jo h n Ta m a s it is

3 13 Hunt ingt on Chase Circle Wa rner Robins, GA 3 10 8 8 (6 10 ) 8 50-3 3 52

back, was commissioned by Benjamin Franklin to serve as a captain in the Pennsylvania Militia during theAmerican Revolution. May this new Filbert haveahappy, healthy lifelikehisgreat-grandfather—and his daddy!

A

72%

M e m b e rs

To m b o 0 1 2 @h o t m a i l .c o m

(No Sabre Society Donor s Yet)

t '.

(Editor !ynote: We did not receive an inputf rom John th i s i ssue. P l ease send h i m your inputs and photosf or thenext magazine. Also, th eA OG h as di str bi u ted an important survey. Thepurposeof thesurvey istohear if om you. Your par ticipa tion is very important to us. Weearn estly want toknowwhatAOGservicesyou do and donot value. Thesurvey isan organized way togive voice toyour views and will gui defuturestrategicplanning by theAOG. Your vi ew s m a t ter an d w e w an t to hear from asmany membersaspossible. Resul ts will bereported in thefall of 2 00 6.)

is?-?

V i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e

i

www.usafa.or g Send the AOG your new address now.

Gone But Not Forgotten: (Fr om p age 108)

A Mass of Christian Burial was held at the St Ephrem’s C a t h o l i c Church with internment at Resurrection Cemetery, both in Ben sal em , Pa. with full military honors. A “missing man formation” was flown by members of the 3'^'' FTS of Moody AFB.

To m Fil b er t an d h i s so n Ga h r i el .

Sco t t E. Cr aven , '02

H e fl ew over 680 h ou r s i n th e T-6A an d am assed over 900 total flying

upon his death.

Scott is survived by his parents. Bob and Linda; sister M e l i s sa C r a ven , sist er Juli e and brother-i n -law Gus Haralam bous, a s w e l l a s

University presented an honorary degree, in Scott’s n a m e t o h i s f a m ily at their home.

and students. (Cap t. Jonas Freel,’02, Scott ’s Best Fr i en d; M eli ssa Cr aven and Julie Haral am bous, Scott ’s sisters)

hours. Scott’s radio call sign, “DEALR 77", was retired perm anently

Scott had started work on his Master’s Degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. Over Memorial Day Weekend 2006 , t h e

nephew, Niko. Scott’s love, warmth, dedication, honesty, a n d f u n loving attitude will be sorely missed by family, friends, colleagues,

Scott loved children and while at Moody AFB, he volunteered t o

participate in a mentoring program at the Sallas-M ahone E l e m e n

tary School in Valdosta, where he was given the nickname, “ Sc o t t i e the Hottie”, by the school staff. The program was designed to help children whose parents are deployed overseas. His initiative i n e x panding the scope of this program led to its being r e n a m e d t h e Sc o t t

Craven M entoring Program. During a memorial service f o r Scot t , a tree was planted on the school grounds in his honor. A t t h e b a se o f t h e tree, a granite stone has been placed with the inscription, “In Loving Memory, Capt Scott Craven, Our Mentor, Our Hero”.

Scott was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain a n d

aw ar d ed t h e A i r For ce Co m m en d at i o n M ed al .

At press time we had learned of the deaths of the fol lowing graduates: Mr. Charles A. Kaake, Jr., Class of 1959, who died o n April 29, 2006, in Croydon, Ind. Lt. Col. (Ret) Stephen H . Lawr ence, Class of 1965, w h o

died on Feb. 15, 2006 fr om complications of surgery f o r

an an eu r ism i n H o u st o n , Tex as.

Col. (Ret) Joseph C. Hurst, Class of 1966, who died o n April 21, 2006 of a stroke in M elbourne, Fla. M aj (Ret) Albert T. Reed, Class of 1966, who died on Jan 2 1, 2006 of can cer i n Boi se, I d ah o .

Lt. Col. (Ret) Jose R. Castro-Aquirre (foreign cadet),

F o r m o r e cu r r en t i n f o r m at i o n ab o u t

graduate deaths, please vi sit the AOG w eb site. www.usafa.org

14 4

Class of 1975, who died on April 16, 2006 in San Salvador E l Sa l v a d o r .

Our sincere condolences to the family and friends of

these graduat es.

>

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Not re Dame

Nov. 18

Utah

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