Checkpoints March 2012

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VIA R C H 2 0 12

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USA FA A l u m n i Mag az i ne

T H E A O G U N V E I LS A N EW TA G L IN E

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Tex t CHAT t o 71212 t o r ea c h a n a d v i s o r

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f Ai rForceReserve

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A part-time job in the Air Force Reserve made a difference. It gave me the time and financial support to continue my education and begin a civilian career.

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to serve but stay close to home. And I d is cove r e d t h e A ir Fo r ce Res e rv e is

offering signing bonuses up to $20,000.

If you've served in any branch of military, you can j oin t he Air Force Reserve without repeating Basic Training. I kept my rank as well as t he sense of service a n d t e a m w o r k I’v e l e a r n e d t o l ov e . B e s t

of al l, I now serve my count ry f rom

w h e r e I c h o o s e t o l iv e .

A IR

F O R C E

R E S E R V E

GUI DI N G A N D P RDT E CT I N G A M E R I CA

Talk to an advisor at 800-237-8279 or log on to AFReserve.com/ AFA A * Use a smart phone wit h a QR code scanner app to lear n more about part -t ime career opport unit ies ** Message and data rates may apply. Text CHAT to 71212 t o in it iat e an SM S c onv ers at io n w it h an Ai r Fo rc e Reserv e advisor. Text STOP to 71212 to opt out . Text HELP to 71212 for more information. This program employs operators who are paid to participate in chat. Hours of operation: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 11:00 pm EST. See program terms and conditions and privacy policy at http://sms.afreserve.com.

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CY B ER FO G O F W A R

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The cadets of the Cyber Competition Team prepare to

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Shredding t he Rockies wit h t he Falcon Ski Team.

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prot ect our digit al borders.

T H E D IV ERSITY M O SA IC

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The USAFA community works tirelessly to bring the Academy diverse perspect ives from all walks of life.

A RCHIV IN G THE A CA D EM Y' S ATT IC

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McDermott Library's Gimbel Collection is being archived a n d some amazing items have recently been rediscovered.

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O N T H E C O V ER

The Association of Graduates new tagline will project purpose, strengthen brand recognition and increase visibility.

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Volume 40, num ber 4

Checkpoints(ISSN 0274-7391) USPS898-080 ispublished quarterly in March, June, September and December by theAssociation of Graduates, U.S. Air ForceAcademy. (Phone: 719-472-0300, DSN: 333-2067. FAX: 719333-4194, E-mail: editor@aogusafe .org.) A portion of your duespaysfor your magazinesubscription. Additional copies may be purchased for $2.50 each, plus $4.60 for shipping. Periodicals postage paid at the U.S. A i r Fo rce

Academy, Colo., and additional mailingoffi ces. POSTMASTER; Send changeof addressto Checkpaints,Association of Graduates, DoolittleHall, 3116 Academy Drive, USAF Academy, CO 80840-4475. The Fd itorial Board serves the Checkpoints mission by providing a top quality magazine to the Air Force Academy’s broader community,

Together, theeditor, VPof Communications, ExecutiveV P and the AO G C EO collaborate

en su re th at al l

articles meet the standards of excellence readers have come to expect of Checkpoints. TheAOG reserves the right

to publish omit submissions at its discretion. Opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors. staff . T h e They do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policy or attitude of the AO G . its offi cers or the editorial appearanceof advertisementsinthispublicationdoesn o t co n st it u t e endorsement by theAOG of the produas or services advertised. Copyright, Association of Graduatesof the U.S. Air Force Academy, March. 2012.

C h e c k p o in t s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

3

C O L U M N S

C E C

U pdat e S E R V IN G TH E L O N G B L U E L IN E

How theAOGsNew Taglinewill Project our Purpose, Strengthen Brand Recognition and IncreaseVisibility

BY W ILLIA M " 1 " T H O M PSO N 7 3

A O G PRESID ENT A N D CEO

“BEALL YOU CAN BE.” “Just do it.” “Aim high.”

Weareall familiar with thesewell-known slogans and in just afew wordssomeof history’sbest taglines havetranscended generations, gender, race, religion and socioeconomic standing. Taglineshavelong been oneof thekey and most recognizabletoolsin creating brand visibility and recognition. They oft en bring t o mind great memories, evokestrong feelingsand can reinforceand cement abrand deep into our subcon

scious. Sometimes they’re so good that they surpass and outlast the brand they were created to elucidate.

“DiamondsAre f orever” isknown by many of usas

the 1971JamesBond thriller starring Sean Connery or for someof our younger grads, asthehit tuneby theartist KayneWest. Thetaglinewasactually created by theDeBeerscompany in 1948 to promotetheir diamond business. “Smart. Very smart,” isa timeless tagline, but it compelsa Google search for most to

recall that Magnavox created thecatchy slogan and hasbeen using it for decades. It’savery memorable turn of phrasethat snaps. It tellsussomething about

a product, but it doesn’t tell usabout whom or what

that product is- that’swhy we’releft scratching our

headsand trying to jog our memories.

Your Association of Graduateshasbeen using the tagline “Building a Better Academy” since 4

u s a f a .o r g

2009. It truly describeswhat we have been doing— and that remains true to this day. Yet, those four

wordsomit much of theAOG’sexpressed mission and the thingswe do every day to support you and our beloved institution. In truth, weare “Serving The Long Blue Line” in a plethora of different ways and this, our new tagline, moreaccurately refl ects thisfact. We are connecting, informing, assisting ... serving ... the USALA community- from the

Cadet Wing, faculty, administration and graduates, to family members, theTotal Force and anyone who holds thisesteemed institution in high regard.

That iswho we are and that iswhat “Serving The Long Blue Line” so clearly articulates.

You will be seeing our new tagline in stadiums

and arenas, on brochures and on other collateral

materials, on signs and on our website. You will be hearing it at sporting events and on the radio, in other ads, and hopefully amongst friends. This change will make our brand more relevant to our

AOG extended family and othersaswell, region ally, nationally and abroad. The new taglinewill

give us even greater credibility with a group of cohorts that we are so deeply committed to serve:

thesoon-to-be doolies, whose fi rst major intro to Academy life beginswith inprocessing at Doolittle

Hall. This is where the queue to The Long Blue Line is formed. These are the young people who are the future of our nation and this organization.

If we serve them from the start, they will in turn strengthen the AOG for generations to come.

TheAssociation of Graduates’ goal with thischange

istwo-fold: to project apromise, through our brand,

Remember, “When your AOG talks, people listen.”

(EF H utton-1973)

Because “We’ve come a long way, baby.”

(Virginia Slims) Your AOG, “It’severywhereyou want to be.”

(Visa-1985)

of what wewill do in a catchy and enduring way, and

Keep in mind, “Membership hasitsprivileges.”

they can expect from usaswe fulfi ll thispromise the USAFA community. We are confi dent in achiev

And fi nally, “Annual membership, $5 a month. Saber Society, $83.33 a month. Being an Academy Grad- Priceless!

(Mastercard-2007) H

to provideaconstant reminder to our patronsof what to

ing thesegoalsand look forward to “ServingTheLong Blue Line” for years to come.

Let me conclude with some entertaining but salient information about your AOG:

We “welcomeyou to theWorld WideWow!” (AOL-2002)

We are “Bullish on America” and on theAcademy.

(Merrill-Lynch-1970) We promise that “You’re in good hands.”

(American Express)

M I LI TA RY E L E C T R I CA L P R OD U CT S

(Allstate Insurance)

Your AOG staff, “They’re gr-r-reat!”

(Kellogs Frosted Flakes-1950s G uarantees that we’ll “T hink outside the box.”

(Apple Computer-1990) We’ll “Keep going and going and going.”

(Energizer Batteries-1991)

I t a l l st a r ts w i t h

K/J

Pr es toUtE E l E Ct ri C

To help you “Get more.”

(T-M obile-2005)

“We try harder.”

P r o u d

S u p p o r t e r

o f :

(Avis- 1962)

To help you “Reach out and touch someone.”

(AT & T- 1979)

Because “We bring good things to life.”

(GE- 1981)

46200 Port Street Plymout h, M l 48170 1-800-354-0560 Website w w w .prestolite.com Quality Management Systems Certifi ed : IS0-TS16949-1 Quality System Requirements: ANSI / ASQ, Q9(K)1

C h e c k p o int s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

5

C O L U M N S

C h a i r m a n ’s

J o u r n a l B Y T E R RY ST O R M ’6 1

lease allow me to get personal in this. As I get closer to my fi nal retirement from paid employ

we come to realize the gratitude we owe to all of

done in my life and how I got there; I’m certain

anyone or anything than what I owe to our Acad

m ent , I m ore of ten rem inisce about w hat I have

appreciate those of us who are, I have become

Guard Academy, to which I wasalso appointed.

our Academy in donated time, effort and money.

A s I ’m certai n is the case w ith the overw helm

ing majority of usAFA graduates, I wasabsolutely

ecstatic to see the Blue Zoo in my rearview mirror

and arrive in the real Air Forceworld. Right after

graduation I married a local girl, my wife Carleen.

My active duty saw me in 18 jobs of great variety,

6 military schools, 7 base quarters, 5 apartments,

2 rented and 2 purchased houses in 9 states and 2

basesin Vietnam over 20 years- not that atypical.

I got to fl y all over theworld and represent our

country in a substantial NATO program. I was for tunate to serve with numerous wonderful peoplesenior, junior, off icer and enlisted. I was afforded

the opportunity to retire back to Colorado Springs where our parentswereand work in local govern ment followed by association service- including

emy. Although I am far from wealthy and greatly

committed to contributing what I am able back to From seeing up close what an absolutely out standing contribution our Academy continues to

make to the A ir Force and the nation, I have come

to realize that each one of us graduates owes it to ourselves and our families to give back to our school. I have always been a life member of the AOG, as I believe every graduate should be. Several years ago I determined that the minimum fi nancial

support I should contributewasasa Sabre Society

member. Even in those years before I decided to give much money, I personally volunteered my time. Many of our graduates donate funds far in excess of the annual $1,000 Sabre Society commit ment; we all owe them our gratitude.

Over the years, many have expressed the opinion

that the only thing the AOG does is ask for fi nan

some dozen volunteer community boards. We were privileged to raise our daughter here for over

cial contributions. I now know that to be patently

family only an hour away in Castle Rock.

I have been humbled to continue positive interaction with many of my classmates and other graduates throughout my post-undergraduate life.

graduate services and support to our school. The

hal f of her childhood and now to have her and her

N ow I am honored to serve on t he A O G Board of

Directors. None of that would have been possible without the education I was afforded by our USAF

Academy. I imagine that theolder weget the more

u s a f a .o r g

us at tain w hat w e have. I coul d ow e no m ore to

I am not alone in that. My Coast Guard family guided me towardsa military university, ultimately the USAF Academy instead of the U.S. Coast

6

thosepeopleand the organizations that helped

false; any reasonable research shows that our AOG

far outdistancesour sister academies in providing

A O G and the Endow m en t bot h do w onderf ul

work for our graduatesand our Academy. My hope is that the graduate community will continue to increase its support for our Academy and its gradu ates through the AOG and the Endowment.

GO FALCON S! B

YouVe always believed in the arts. Embrace a rich cultural lifestyle at ParadiseValley Estates, an amenity-packed community in Northern California. Spend an evening enj oyingworld-

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class l ocal performances or take a short trip to

galleries, theaters and concerts in San Francisco

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an d Sacr am en t o . Tak e i t al l i n .

Cometo aplacewhereyou can connect with your passions. Call and discover what’s possible for you.

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N O R T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A ’ S O N LY C O N T I N U IN G C A R E

RET IREMENT CO MM UN ITY FO U N D ED BY M ILITA RY O F FICERS

RCFE#486800368 LIC#1338 COA #179 &

C O L U M N S

F r o m

t he

S u p e r in t e n d e n t Lt . Ge n . M ike G o u ld 7 6

brought in a record $16.7 million in cash and pledges. Not to be outdone, your Association of

Graduateshasgrown the number of active chapters from 46 to 65, and they have added 983 members in the last calendar year. Additionally, our other

foundations—that all exist for the sole purposeof

supporting our mission of developing cadets into

leadersof character- are banding together to help

cadets. Every month CEOs from the USAFA

Endowment, the Association of Graduates, the vVir

the announcementsof Article 32 hearings for

Force Academy Athletic Corporation, the Academy Research and Development Institute, the Friends of the Library, the USAFA Foundation, and the Falcon Foundation gather in a roundtable discus sion, along with the Superintendent and Vice Superintendent, to offer their support.

investigation into cadets’ alleged use of illegal sub stances, the new year is shaping up to be another

leadership from Brigadier General Rich Clark, Brigadier General Dana Born, Colonel Bart Weiss,

GREETIN GS, FELLOW GRA DS! In spite of a somewhat rocky start to 2012, with cadets accused of sexual m isconduct and an O SI

great one for USAFA! Regarding the disturbing newsof misconduct, let mejust say we’redisap pointed any time bad conduct refl ectsnegatively

on our Academy, but on the positive side, I want you all to rest assured that our standards remain high, and we will spare no effort to enforce those standards and hold off enders accountable.

As I write this update, cadetsare deep into the spring semester (lesson 15 of 40); the dark ages and the Rampart Range shadowsare shrinking. Winter intercollegiate sportsare rapidly approaching tourna ment time and fi rstiesare at “T” minus 100 days ’til

graduation, armed with baseassignmentsand big

plans for the future. In someways, the day-to-day activities in and around the Cadet Wing remain frozen in time and are exactly asyou all would remember them. Yet, in other ways, the changesare profound.

Among the exciting changes are the impressive development gains the USAFA Endowment made

in thepast year. Thanksto unprecedented gener

osity in the donor community, the Endowment 8

u s a f a .o r g

The Foundations’ support, along with strong

Colonel Tim Gibson, and Colonel Chris Plamp,

is paying huge dividends. I’m sure you’ve heard— but it isworth repeating- that the Class of 2012 can brag two Marshall Scholars and one Rhodes Scholar. And the excellence doesn’t stop there. Our hockey team is holding on to the #1 spot in their conference. Cadets from our Cyber competition team placed I F'’ out of 96 teams in a competition called the Ghost in the Shellcode ... and they beat

MIT! Our forensicsteam hasbeen busy too, doing

extremely well in competitions in Ireland and in C alifornia. A nd the football team w ill t ravel to

theWhite House sometime in April to accept the Commander-in-Chief ’sTrophy for the second year i n a r ow .

We’re moving full-throttle toward a 23 May gradu ation, when we’ll send approximately 1,096 new lieu

tenantsinto theAir Force. Thanksfor your continuing

support of your Air ForceAcademy.

Go Falcons! 9

Your contributions, gifts, and support are needed to m a ke t h e

expansion of the National Museum of the USAF®possible. < Through their dedicated service, the proud men and w o m en o f

i the United States Air Force protect our freedom and inspire future generations to desi n build, and fly advanced aircraft. Honor them.

't MAT IO NA L

To help support the expansion of the National Museum of the USAF, visit www.airforcemuseum.com/ inspire.

A I R FO RC E M U SEU M FO U N DAT IO N . IN C.

EXPANDING THE LEGACY of the

NATIO NAL M USEUM O F TH E U.S. AIR FO RCE* This is a private organization. It is not a part of The Department Of Defense or any of its components and it has no governmental s t a t u s .

ethics. Centuriesof moral teaching makessuch a discordant

view a mockery. Leaders of the future must base their l i v es

and leadership on more than what iscurrently fashionable

K ' Let t e r s

o r

politically accepted. I would hope that the AOG and the A i r

ForceAcademy’scharacter curriculum would recognize t h i s

confusion and alter heading before it is too late.

Blunt, Class of 1964 The Va lue of Rese rve Fo rces

Checkpointsdecision to publish “The Long Blue Line: A ct i v e

USAFA Cemetery Staff is Worthy of Praise

Thank you for thewonderful articleon theUSAFA Cemetery.

Recognition of the contributions of Mortuary Offi cer Janet

Edwardsand her staff islong overdue. Janet isamagnifi cent

person and she provided timely and sensitive help to m e w h en my wife suddenly died in October 2006. With her assistance and guidance, the funeral and interment of my wife’s r e m a i n s went very smoothly. Congratulations, a long life, and major promotions are due this very important person.

Gary Titmas, Class of 1965

Editor’snote: on page 87 of the December Checkpointsar t i cl e “Memento,” the Medal of Honor recipient who had worked in anonymity as a janitor at theAcademy was misidentifi ed

Duty Retention” highlights the unfortunate, but diminish ing, residual culture among many defense leaders who fail t o recognize the value, reliance, and reality of Reserve Fo r ces i n the 21st Century Air Force. Therianos, Wilson, and St ov er

present a measure of “meeting our goal of long term ser v i ce”

as exclusive to those graduates “retained” in active military

duty. They fail to recognize thevital service of graduatesw h o have served long periods in the Air Force Reserve and A i r

National Guard. USAFA gradsin the Reserve Forcesapply their Academy training towardsdiffering leadership dem ands and resource challenges that are equal to those faced by their active duty peers. These graduates were not “lost”- they only moved to a different component of theTotal Force.

Jim Blackman, Class of 1974

a s

Robert C raw ford. T he m an’s nam e is W illiam “ Bill” Crawford.

Chee rs t o Wa ld o

A quick note to say how much I enjoy Don Hall’s work [The Secret Life of Waldo F. Dumbsquat]. It’s the fi rst i t em I r ead in Checkpoints and it leaves me grinning every time. T h an k s!

Brian Smith, Class of 1987 Views on Morality and Character

The December 2011 Checkpoints contained numerous references to character, which is central to the profession entered into and revere. However, editorially you have ch o sen to go down a path that strikes at the core of the worldview w e

and beliefs that underl ie character itself T his choice al so

m ak es one w onder w hether the new C en ter for C haracter an d

Leadership Development will feature the confl icted an d co n fusing worldview you have chosen to give credibility t o : t h e morality of same gender and multiple gender relationships

a s

norm at ive. Th e art icle about the Blue A ll iance- the n ew A O G

GLBT affi liate- and the class newsblurb about the “marriage”

of two 1997 female classmates speaks to a moral and ed i t o rial turn that is ill founded. While the repeal of D A D T an d the general bent of our culture are likely behind this decision ,

what is true and right enduresbeyond the temporary. O n

what basis can marriage and children between a man an d a

woman be celebrated while in thesesame pagesare pictures

and stories that are inimical to moral truth or procreation?

Two things cannot be true under the same conditions si m u l taneously. It is one of the oldest principles of both logic and 10

u s a f a .o r g

Many thanks for your interest and comments. Wewant t o a s s u r e all of our readers that wevery much recognize thev al u e an d v i t al service of all componentsof theTotal Force- theActive Duty, the Reserve and National Guard Forcesof the 21st century A i r Fo rce.

In fact, the authorsof the articlehave served extensively w i th th e Active Duty, Air Force Reserve and National Guard throughout our military and civilian careers.

While we recognize and appreciate the roles of the A i r Force Reserve and National Guard components, this article was prepared in response to a specifi c request, “How d o USAFA graduates fare in Active Duty Retention?” Active Duty retention of USAFA graduates is one important asp ect we should examine, but it clearly is not the only way t o measure the success of USAFA graduates. Mr. Blackman is absolutely correct in stating that USAFA graduates w h o apply their Academy training in the Air Force Reserves an d National Guard are making vital contributions in “meet ing our goal of long term service to the USAF and nation.”

Senior Defense leaders recognize this fact and appreciate t h e contributions from each of theTotal Force components.

Stover James, Beth Wilson,

and Col M ike “Moose” Therianos, Class of 1986 Mountaineering Club Origins

The December Checkpoints article “Rock Savvy” brought b ack a lot of memories. In the fall of 1957 at Lowry AFB, a g r o u p

of ussubmitted a request to form the Mountaineering C l u b .

The founders included Bruce H inds ’61, Charles H olman ’60,

and myself. BruceHindsgrew up in Denver and had climbed a lot with the Colorado M ountain C lub and recom mended

variousclimbs. TheAcademy was pretty liberal at the t im e an d allowed us to use military cars to drive to climbing staging areas on weekends. Among many, we climbed the Flatirons in Boulder,

LongsPeak, arock near Golden I will call the“Thumb” fo r i ts shape, and apeak in theSangreDeChristo Range. When w e

moved to the permanent sitewe used Garden of the Gods Par k t o

practicetechniquesastherewerealot of pitonsleft over from the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division training in WW II. So m e of uswere also on theAcademy ski team and we did a w i n t e r traverse using crosscountry skis climbing to the top o f B er t h o ud Passand then skiing on the Continental Divide to Winter Park .

It’sgood to see the Cadetsstill enjoy climbing in t h e m o u n t ai n s of Colorado.

Howard M. Whitfi eld, Class of 1960 Discovering Life Sports at the Academy

Thank you highlighting the amazing things that the cad et s continue to accomplish. The last few issues have been n o t ew o r thy in the breath and variety of subjects, illustrating the passion, commitment and intensity that modern military leadership requires. It’sbeen great to see articleson cycling, powerlift ing, and the Mountaineering Club. WTien 1left Florida for USAFA, I h ad never seen mountains fi rsthand. Aft er being “sliced an d d i ced ” at the base of the ramp, cadre marched us up onto theT er razzo an d I remember coming to a complete halt as I stared at t h e Fro n t Range for the fi rst time. WTile being yelled at for stopping, a cadre member screamed what he thought was a rhetorical q u es tion, “Mister- haven’t you ever seen mountains before?” W ft en I answered in the negative, his face immediately soft ened an d he smiled as he told me, “Fall out and gaze for a minute.” W h at a gift ! I looked to those peaks for comfort and encouragement during the next four years. The old stagecoach trails b eh i n d t h e Flat Iron led to aworld of mirror lakes, shimmering aspensand water so cold your teeth hurt to drink it. Challengeso n Pik es Peak and Mount Rainer gave me confi dence to face much larger and much later professional obstacles. Cadet clubsan d n o n - L O S teamsarewhere the majority of cadets discover pursuitsan d interests they can enjoy throughout their lives. It’sgreat t o see these “lifesports” covered with thrilling picturesan d art i cles- an d it wasvery fulfi lling to see my son, C2C Patrick Waters (C S-35), mentioned and depicted. It was also a lot of fun to spend a day rock climbing together over his Christmas break. Like I said, these are LIFE sports!

Bob WatersJr., Class of 1982 Let t e rs Su b m iss io n Gu id e lines

Checkpointswelcomes letters from its readers. Please limit your submission to 250 words. For your letter t o be considered, you must include your name and gradu ating year, if you are an Academy graduate.

Letters should be e-mailed to editor@aogusafa.org.

Checkpoints reserves the right to edit all submissions.

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A service of your NOG

T H E U N IT E D S T A T ES A IR FO R C E A C A D EM Y

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

E N D O W M EN T

U N I T ED STA T ES A I R FO RC E A C A D EM Y

STA FF D IRECT O RY 3116 Academy Drive, USAF Academy, CO 80840-4475, (719) 4 7 2 - 0 3 0 0 THE A SSOCIATIO N O F GRA DUATES To e-mail a st aff member, use the first and last name. Example: Gary Howe | gary.howe@aogusafa.org A O G EX EC UT IV E O FF IC E

PRESIDENT & CEO William "T" Thompson, 7 3, Ext . 101 (t.thompson@aogusafa.org) EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Gary Howe, '69, Ext . 107 SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Marty Marcolongo, '88, Ext. 146

SE N IO R V IC E PRESID EN T FO R F IN A N C E & C H IE F FIN A N C IA L O FFICER A lt on Parrish, Ext . 123

EX ECUTIV E A SSISTA NT Had assa Munoz, Ext . 106 F IN A N C E

A CCO UNTA NT Joyce Love, Ext . 110 SEN IO R A CCO UNTING CLERK Janice Baca, Ext . 111 C O M M U N ICA T IO N S

SR. V ICE PRESID ENT FO R CO M M UN ICATIO N S Bob McA llist er, Ex t . 14 2

SENIOR EDITOR David Bergeman, Ext. 143 EDITOR/ PHOTOGRAPHER Lewis Carlyle, Ext. 140

DIRECTOR OF WEB COMMUNICATIONS Troy Surratt, Ext. 125

SYSTEM S A D M IN ISTRATO R Jaso n Finkle, Ext . 124

PROGRAMMER/ SYSTEMS ANALYST Gayatri Parepalli, Ext . 1 18 WEB DEVELOPER Toby Lortz, Ext . 141

SEN IO R D ESIGN ER Sarah Larrabee, Ext . 144 CLA SS N EW S & O BITUA RY EDITO R Tom Krobot h, Ext . 133

DIRECTO R O F IN FO RMATIO N SYSTEM S Jack M ueller, '70, Ex t . 122

A D V ERT ISIN G

A DV ERTISIN G COO RDINATO R Bet h Wade, Ext . 134 A LU M N I A FFA IRS

V ICE PRESID ENT FO R A LUM N I A FFA IRS Corrie Grubbs, Ext . 10 5

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS Wayne Taylor, Ext . 150 DIRECTOR OF CONSTITUENT RELATIONS Stella Grayson, '99, Ext . 12 1

CLA SS PROJECTS O FFICER A l Burrell, Ext . 115

MEMBERSHIP SERVICES SPECIALIST Don McCarthy, Ext. 139 GRADUATE AND CADET SUPPORT SPECIALIST Natalie Ryan, Ext 10 8

D O O L ITT LE H A LL EV EN T S/ SP EC IA L F U N CT IO N S

DIRECTO R O F EV ENT PLA N N ING Ashlee Pet erson, Ext . 147 SPECIA L FUNCTIO NS CO O RDINATO R Jean Bickford, Ext . 148

A LUM NI A FFA IRS COO RDINATO R Emma Ross, Ext . 136

ALUMNI AFFAIRS COORDINATOR Leigh Frigm, Ext. 138

C U ST O M ER SERV IC E A N D FA C ILIT Y M A N A G EM EN T

DIRECTOR, DATA INTEGRITY & CUSTOMERSERVICE Sandy Luckhurst, Ext . 130

DATA INTEGRITY SPECIA LIST Jo hn Rice, Ext . 132 DATA INTEGRITY SPECIA LIST Kim W ilson, Ext . 127 FA CILITIES SUPERINTEN D ENT Dave Pfeil, Ext . 155

CUSTO M ER SERV ICE SUPERV ISO R M ichele Cowan, Ext . 151

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE Angela Hug, Ext . 154 CUSTO M ER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE Murlea Vance, Ext . 152 CUSTO M ER SERV ICE REPRESENTATIV E Jan Howard , Ext . 153 MA INTENA N CE SPECIA LIST Jake Jacobs, Ext . 155

T H E A SSO C IAT IO N O F G RA D UA T ES BO A RD O F D IRECT O RS

BOA RD CHA IR Terry St orm, '61 V IC E C H A IR B ria n B in n , 7 2

SECRETA RY Bob Munson, '73

TREASURER Jack Fry, '67

Rip Blaisdell, '62

Vic A nd rews, '66

Roger Carleton, '67 Bruce Wright, '73

Kevin Chilt on, '76 Bebe O ' Neil, '83 Frank Schmuck, '88

Kat hleen Rock, '98 Mark Rosenow, '03

Steve Beasley, '93

THE USA FA EN DOW M ENT To e-mail a st aff member, use t he first and last name. Example: Mark Hille

mark.hille@usafaendowment .org

PRESID ENT & CEO Gen. (Ret .) St ep hen R. Lo renz, '73 (steve.lorenz@usafaendowment.org) V ICE PRESIDENT, D EV ELO PM ENT Mark Hille, '97, Ext . 202 EX ECUTIV E A SSISTA NT Rut h Reichert , Ext . 206 CHIEF FINA NCIA L O FFICER Dennis Scruggs, Ext . 203

CLASS GIVING OFFICER Razelle Doherty, Ext. 222

DIRECTO R O F A N NUA L GIVING Pat ricia O'Connor, Ext . 221 DIRECTO R O F MA JO R GIFTS Jimmy Mart ello, '00, 719.229.4202 MAJO R GIFT O FFICER Dale Zschoche, 719.238.7510 MA JO R GIFT O FFICER Jason Huber, 719.330.9660

STEWA RDSHIP & SPECIA L PROJECT COO RDINATO R A llison Biereichel, Ext . 220 STA FF A CCO UNTA NT Pat ricia DeSimo ne, Ext . 204

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT Greg Knedler, Ex t . 2 2 4

12

u s a f a .o r g

LEA DERSHIP A N N UA L GIV IN G O FFICER Jen Lawrence, 719.332.0060 DEV ELO PM ENT COO RD INATO R A mand a Brown, Ext . 223 D EV ELO PM ENT A SSOCIATE Gina Simler, Ext . 200

DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION OFFICERAhn Tillery, Ext. 240

Boeing is p ro ud t o p art ner w it h t he U.S. M ilit ary Ac ad emy

at West Point , U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs on a program of leadership development and engineering ed ucat io n. By p rov id ing f inanc ial sup p o rt and real-w o rld eng ineering ex perienc e, w e ’re c o m m itt ed t o help b uild a w inning t eam t o bett er serve o ur nat io n and t he w o rld .

T O DAY T O M O R R O W B E Y O N D

E N D O W M EN T

Lo o k in g i- o rw ard ,

Giving Back Dear Friend s,

We know you agree- theAir ForceAcademy isa special place.

For many of us, the Academy is our alma mater- ova professional launching pad, a right of passage into ad u l t l i f e and the source of many lifelong friendships. For parents, the Academy is a place that enlivens and hones the b est qualities of our sons and daughters, refi ning their ch ar act er .

A nd for all of us, this insti t ution is a nat ional t reasure t h at

produces successive generations of leaders, prepared t o s e r v e the great causes of a free society.

So we are delighted to report to you that 2011 was a y ear of signifi cant growth for the Endowment, and a record-setting year of supporting our beloved Academy. In fact, t h i s past year marks the best fundraising year in our institution’s history. In total, we raised over $16.5 million from than 6,200 donors to support the Academy, the Association of Graduates and our ongoing work at the Endowment.

We believe this is solid evidence that graduates, parents and friends of the Academy are increasingly committed t o ensuring the institution has the resources it needs t o o ff er a truly excellent educational experience. And it is f u r t h er proof that as the list of Academy supporters continues grow, so does the understanding that giving generously m

o r e

t o

m ak es a d i ff er en ce.

T his sum m er, w e received a $5. 1 m illion com m it m ent

from Sanford “Sandy” McDonnell, his wife Priscilla, an d other members of the McDonnell family, including Jim and John M cDonnell, sons of the late founder of the

McDonnell Aircraft Company. The gift, one of the largest in service academy history, will be used to support t h e

Academy’s newest major fundraising effort, an expanded Genter for Gharacter and Leadership Development. This generous gift was motivated by an alignment of values: San dy’s lifelong commitment to character education, and t h e shared belief that the Academy will stand as a national f o cal point for character development in higher education.

T h e G en t er w i l l b e h o u sed w i t h i n a n ew “ i co n i c”

structure near Harmon Hall. The building, funded by unique partnering of both private donations and federal dollars, will pave the way for future joint-funding eff o r t s for important Academy projects. Thanks to the visionary support of lead donors and more than a dozen classes, have already exceeded our initial goals for private su p p o r t .

We will continue to expand our efforts in 2012, in o rd er to further enhance the building and to enliven the G en t er with dynamic scholars and meaningful programs.

Thisyear also marked a reintroduction of avibrant planned giving program. Notably, we added more than $4.3 million t o our registry of anticipated estategift sdesignated for avariety of Academy programs. In theyears to come, our institution will benefit gready as these commitments are received, leaving a lasting legacy from thosewho have thoughtfully provided f o r theAcademy through their estates. By theend of 2011, a

w e

m

o re

than 180 individuals had made such a com m itm ent, and w e

hope many morewill do so in theyearsto come.

In short, thanks to the visionary philanthropic support of so many, the Endowment exceeded its fundraising goals for 2011 by over 90 percent. More importantly, we were able to provide the Academy with private support for v i t al programs like the Martinson Academic Innovation pro gram, the Crew System 2035 capstone design competition, cultural immersion, cadet clubs and many others.

Our successwas not just marked by dollarsand cents alone, but by meaningful engagement with theAcademy community.

In 2011, over 1,260 people chose to contribute a gift t o th e Academy for the fi rst time. In support of thisgrowing d o n o r community, the Endowment hosted scoresof events, many i n conjunction with theAOG, to connect with and to recognize graduates, parentsand friends.

Many also gathered in July as we dedicated the Holaday Athletic Center, a new 94,000 square foot indoor athletic training facility. The “HAG,” as it is affectionately kn ow n .

is the largest privately funded capital project in Academy history, and provides our student-athletes with a premier venue for year-round, all-weather training and competition.

More than 700 donors, including four classes, contributed to this important effort.

All of these positive developments are also an indication of the important relationship between the Endowment and the AOG. In total, the Endowment provided over $700,000 in funding to the AOG in 2011 to underwrite programs that support the graduate community, our par ents, and our cadets. The AOG also provides the Endow ment with expert communications and administrative support. So, in December, the boards of both organizations voted unanimously to extend and strengthen the agreement between the organizations as we look forward together.

As we take a look back on a very good year, we once again acknowledge the tremendous leadership of the Endowment’s board of directors; the outstanding leadership of General Mike Gould, our Superintendent, and his ex cel lent staff ; and Terry Storm, William “T” Thompson, an d al l of our colleagues at the Association of Graduates. Together, we look forward to a bright future for our Academy, full of promise and continued distinction. Knowing t h at our collective efforts will continue to make our Academy better place, we offer our sincerest thanks to each and every donor for what we will achieve together in 2012. o n e

a

A. Bart Holaday ’65

C h ai r m an o f t h e B o ar d

General (Ret.) Stephen R. Lorenz ’73 Pr esi d en t an d C E O

C h e c k p o in t s I M a r c h C d

S

15

N ew s Grad Takes Command of Kirt land Air Force Base O n Dec. 19 Col. John C. Kubinec ’92 assumed command

of Albuquerque’s Kirtland Air Force Base. Kubinec has b een

a career aircraft-m unit ions m ai nt enance offi cer and a f o r m er v i ce co m m an d er at o n e o f t h e A i r Fo r ce’s t h r ee ai r logistics

centers. Fl is duties at Kirtland will be serving the b ase’s m o r e than 100 contractors and mission partners along with ing the viability of the Air Force’s nuclear weapons. e n su r

Rodney Lewis '91 Named White House Fellow Lt. Col. Rodney Lewis ’91 has been selected to be a m em b er of the class of 2011-2012 White House Fellows. Previously Lewis had been commanding the 4'*’ Airlift Squadron. A s a C-17A pilot Lewis led the Defense Department’s Prime Nuclear Airlift Force and was tasked with ensuring t h at t act i cally ready crews could air-drop combat troops and supplies globally. His placement is in The Offi ce of the First Lady.

Herbert Carlisle 7 8 t o Lead Pacif ic Air Forces Pr esi d en t O b am a h as n o m i n at ed L t . G en . H er b er t “ H aw k ”

C arlisle ’78 to t ak e com m and of the Pacifi c Ai r Forces.

C arlisle, w ho has been select ed t o receive a fourth star, w ill

be replacing Gen. Gary North according to a memo from A i r Staff . He currently serves as the Air Force’s deputy ch i ef o f staff for operations, plans and requirements.

Nina Armagno ’88 Takes Command of 30*^Space Wing

Col. Nina M . Armagno ’88 assumed command of the 30th Space Wing in a change of command ceremony held at V an denberg Air Eorce Base, Calif on Jan. 23. Armagno assumed co m m an d f r o m C o l . R i ch ar d B o l t z .

“I pledge that I will serve the men and women of this ing installation and that we will continue to provide a safe, secure and reliable environment in which to work, live, play, train, test and give vital national security assets a ride to space,” said Armagno. “We in this business love what we do an d w e never get tired of watching rockets fl y. So, Hawks of the 30th Space Wing- let’s get to it!”

Space Wing PublicAff airs) a m

az

U.S. Air Force Academy receives $3.5 million gift for

Character and Leadership Development The United StatesAir ForceAcademy Endowment ispleased t o announce, on behalf of theAir ForceAcademy, a $3.5 million gift from the Perot Foundation, in support of the General James R. Risner Senior Military Scholar at theAcademy’snew C enter for Character and Leadership Development. The Perot Foundation, founded by H. Ross Perot, supportsnumerous philanthropic activitiesand causes, especially those related to advocacy on behalf of American military service members. This major donation refl ectsMr. Perot’slifelong dedication to humanitarian ideals, military and civic service, and pioneering innovation. M r. Per o t

16

u s a f a .o r g

graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1953, and th en served for four yearsat sea. Upon his honorable discharge f ro m the Navy in 1957, hejoined IBM as a salesman. He later fo u n d ed Electronic Data Systems, one of theworld’slargest technology services fi rms, in 1962, and Perot Systems in 1988. M r. Pero t has been recognized multiple timesfor his military advocacy, most recently receiving an award in 2009 from the Secretary of VeteransAff airsin appreciation of his more than 40 yearsof support for theAmerican military.

Orb it a l Sc iences Na m es Genera l Kevin Chilt o n 7 6 t o Boa rd

General (Ret.) Kevin P. Chilton ’76 (AOG Board M ember) h as

been appointed to Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Board o f D i rec

tors. General C hilton was a N A SA astronaut from 1987 to 1996,

during which time he accrued more than 700 hours in space. H e also served as Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, from 2 0 0 7 to 2011. Orbital Sciences is a global leader in space technology.

Judge Russell Carparelli 7 0 Honored The National Trial Advocacy College at the University of Virginia School of Law has given one of its2012 HonorableWilliam J. Brennan, Jr. Awards to Judge Russell Carparelli ’70 of the Colorado Court of Appeals. Established in 1987 in honor o f U .S. Supreme Court JusticeWilliam J. Brennan, Jr., the award isgiven to judges, public offi cials, and private practitioners in recognition of their outstanding skillsas trial lawyersand memberso f t h e judiciary aswell as their contributions to the National T r ial A d vo cacy College and thelegal profession. Judge Carparelli h as ser ved on the faculty of the National Trial Advocacy College since 1984.

He received aJuris Doctor degree from the University o f D en ver College of Law in 1974 and a Master of Laws degree f ro m th e University of Virginia School of Law in 1984.

USA FA Co m m a n d a nt of Ca d et s N o m i n at e d f o r S e c o nd St a r

On February 8'*’, the Academy’s commandant of cadets nominated for his second star. Brig. Gen. Richard Clark ’ 8 6 received a presidential nomination to be promoted to the rank of major general. There is currently no assignment t i ed to the nomination and his projected date of rank is u n k n ow n at this time. Clark’s promotion is pending Senate confi rma tion. (Air ForceAcademy PublicAff airs) w

a s

First Female Air Combat Vet Running for Congress Martha McSally ’88 is entering Arizona’s special election t o fi ll the vacated congressional seat of former Rep. G ab r i el l e Giff ords. She will be competing in the April 17'’’ Republi can primary. McSally was the fi rst woman to fl y fi ghters i n co m b at f o r t h e A i r Fo r ce an d al so t h e fi r st t o co m m an d a

fi ghter squadron in combat. B

M ULTIPLE^ L^ FORMS

ONE V TEA DER For more than 50 years, governments and militaries a ro u n d t h e w o rld have chosen Gulfstream aircraft to support their requirements fo r t h e same reasons so many corporations and business professionals have : unsurpassed speed, range, reliability and product support. W h e n fa c e d with the most demanding missions, Gulfstream is the preferred c hoice.

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A faint breeze dusts across the milky slopes of the mountainside as the sun rises over the white-capped ridges to the east. The morning is quiet, and snow fl akes trickle from the fl uffy clouds which churn overhead, sending sunbeams slicing across the sky. All is silent except for a distant whisping sound up-slope. The sound becomes more distinct, and in seconds a speedsuit-clad skier erupts from the top of the ridge, barreling down the mountain toward the rows of carefully spaced blue and red gates of the giant slalom course which wind their way into the distance.

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The racer—C4C Sean Daigle- a member of the Falcon Ski Team, lunges his body into the approaching turn.

His skis tear into the snow, sending a contrail of w h i t e mist jetting into the air as he compacts his body, p r e paring to impact the gate for an extra close shave the upcoming turn. The wrist guard on his arm slams into the gate with a loud thwack as he grazes past. T h e cadet immediately shifts his weight for the next turn, a tight squeeze cruelly engineered by the course archio n

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tect. Daigle lays into the sweep, leaning over so far t h at his elbow is j ust inches from the snow. His skis chatter against a buildup of ice which has accumulated around the gate; the edge holds and he breaks out of the second turn without incident, tucking his body into a more aerodynamic posture to reduce drag. The cadet speeds off into the distance, making each new turn with preci sion timing- he darts down the mountain, disappearing

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S K IT O P IA ^^Skiinggivesyoutheultimatesenseof freedom,

which is a nice relief considering all of the responsibilities that cadets have at the Academy.) )

As the morning wears on, the remaining members of the cadet ski team fi ght their way down the course, each chasing faster times for a coveted spot in the top 15. They slash their edges into the snow, turning as if they rails making long round zigzags down the mountain. O n e racer from a competing school is not so fortunate. C ole Morgan of the Winter Park Ski Team misjudges a gate an d cuts a wide turn which takes him into the deep, un-skied snow on the course’s peripheral. His skis bury into t h e so f t snow and his inertia throws him head over heels, tumbling like rag doll in an explosion of powdery clouds. He fi nally w e r e

Above: C3C Juan Gainsback makes short

work of a mogul fi eld during free skiing.

o n

com es to rest , face dow n , in shock and unable to m ove.

After a brief inspection from ski patrol, the racer the strength to avoid the indignity of being piloted d ow n on the ski patroller’s sled. Shaking off the shell shock of a 30mph crash, the student bravely clips into his bindings su m

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an d sk i s d ow n t h e m o u n t ai n . T h er e’s n o d o u b t t h at r acer s

are a tough and resilient breed.

20

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will serve them throughout their Air Force careers. T he skiers are absolutely incredible athletes with the acad em i c and military achievements to match. When competing the race course, they’re making instantaneous decisions i n a high speed and potentially dangerous environment- which makes for a great training “simulator” for the environment they will one day be operating in when on active duty.”

CI C Christoper Brown is captain of the men’s team, lifelong skier and mentor to the group’s younger members.

“We love getting out on the mountain and competing w i t h these other schools,” Brown says. “Skiing gives you t h e ultimate sense of freedom, which is a nice relief considering all of the responsibilities that cadets have at the Academy.” o n

Colorado has long been known for some of the best skiing in the continental United States. The Rocky M o u n tains rise well above tree-line, with legendary resorts su ch as Vail, Aspen, Copper Mountain and Winter Park offering an endless variety of world class terrain. For cadets at t h e Air Force Academy, the allure of the mountains has b een irresistible to every class since 1959.

Today, cadets compete in the United States Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association (USCSA) Rocky Mountain Conference, where they face off in annual showdowns with long-time powerhouses such as Denver Univer sity and the University of Colorado- two schools which traditionally fi eld large rosters of elite level racers (some of whom ski six days a week). All the same, the Falcons h o l d their own with minimal resources and a powerful desire t o co m p et e.

For the past four years, USAFA Dean of the Faculty, Brigadier General Dana Born ’83 and her husband Tim, USNA ’75, have hosted the men’s and women’s alpine teams for Friday lunch at Keystone’s SnoFest. Born petes with the women’s team for the SnoFest NASTAR races and enjoys spending time with the cadets. The d ean made a special point to talk about the role of competitive clubs at the Academy. “The Alpine Ski Team is a great w ay for cadets to represent both USAFA and the Air Force in competition. It promotes teamwork and camaraderie among its members while also providing leadership oppor tunities for the upperclassmen- invaluable experiences t h at c o m

a

Back on the m ountai n , the W in ter Park sk i resort is b u s

tling with activity as visitors of all shapes and sizes indulge in four inches of fresh snow. Sunny skies warm the slopes to create a plush coat of soft snow that enables buttery t urns w hich seem to last forever. T he racers concl ude t h ei r

competition and set out to enjoy some free skiing before the lifts close for the day. The cadets are stoked ab o u t t h ei r performance. Everyone turned in solid times and there were no injuries. Now it’s time for some fun.

The cadet skiers come from all different backgrounds.

Some raced competitively in high school while others stepped onto a racecourse for the very fi rst time asA cad emy freshmen. Either way, the spirit of competition fl ow s through their veins just as vigorously as their passion f o r the sport. After the slalom gates are all packed up f o r t h e day, the team takes their free time to head out in sear ch o f hidden patches of fresh snow which have yet to be tracked up by the resort’s many visitors. These elusive oases typi cally reside deep within the trees and well away from t h e groomed runs. [>

C h e c k p o in t s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

2 1

Mental preparation for the tighter, less-forgiving slalom course begins early in the morning.

Like a pack of hungry wolves hot on the trail

of a w h i t e rabbi t , t he cadet s t ear off i n t o t he

woods, curving their way around the thicket of trunks to slice up any traces of powder which st i l l l i e i n w ai t .

Tree skiing is not for the faint of heart. Many have sustained serious injury or even lost their lives to the call of the forest. Things can get tight and go very wrong in a fraction of a second if one does not pay constant attention to his or her trajectory.

Like many aspects of Academy life, the cadets must always be planning at least three moves ahead to make it through successfully.

Back on the slopes, the cadets burst free of the trees, their shins mottled with thick white fluff y remnants of the fresh powder devoured deep within the forest up-slope. They emerge, smil ing and content, to fi nd themselves at the head of the terrain park, a series of towering kicker jumps designed to propel skiers and snowboarders airborne. Licking their lips for the fresh challenge, the cadets line up and prepare to launch themselves i n t o f r ee f al l .

One quick back flip, a 360, and several more vintage aerial moves later, the team assembles at the bottom of the terrain park, panting from a mixture of adrenalin and laughter. All around, it’s been a good day. Between the beautiful weather, successful race and snippets of fresh powder discovered in the trees, the team can head back to the lodge with a warm feeling of satisfaction (not to mention stellar photographic coverage from Checkpoints magazine to share with friends on Facebook).

22

u s a f a .o r g

A s t he sun descends to the w est , another rush of

soft snow begins to fall from the sky, slowly erasing the millions of criss-crossing ski tracks which lace the mountain. All of the day’s turns are steadily swept clean as the chair lifts run their fi nal cycle, the giant electric motors winding to a halt. The last trickle of diehard skiers slice their way down the mountain, squeezing in the last drop of daylight.

At the base lodge, the cadets throw their skis over their shoulders and begin the pilgrimage to the locker rooms. Tomorrow will bring another day of racing, and mental preparation for the tighter, less-forgiving slalom course will begin early in the morning. Snow continues to fall into the night, bringing new life to the mountain which will chal

lengetheir next great adventure. B

C3C Edwin Kingman lays down giant slalom turns during free skiing.

Do you love skiing too? H eres how you c a n T he Falcons take on each ski season w ith li tt le m ore than a shoe string budget and, for anyone who

has ever made a trip to the mountains, you know this sport can get expensive. Today, cadets receive lodging assistance from Terry Drabant ’65 and his wifeToni, who graciously opened their home in Breckenridge, CO. Cadets also received lodging assistance from John Buchanan ’72 and his wife Joanne, who hosted the team this year for the fi rst time at their home in Silverthorne, CO. If you w ould like to assist the sk i team for their 20 12-20 13 season, please contact Lt. Col. Kelly Tucker.

Email: Kelly.Tucker@usafa.edu

C h e c k p o in t s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

23

ntegrity Serv ice.

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A story written by y ou and instilled by the Academy.

For over 50 years, Jostens has c rafted t he USA FA story into each piece of jew elry. It ’s your c hapter o f the story—share it proud ly.

Introd uc ing the new w edd ing bands, contoured for a perfect fit w ith your Academy c lass ring .

For more information, visit jostens.com/ usafa or call 1- 8 0 0 - 8 5 2 - 9 3 5 3 . © 2 0 11 J o st e ns In c . 11- 0 5 8 0

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proud heritage.

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Class of 2009 Sabre Society Donor

Yours is an investment in today’s cadets who will become tomorrow’s leaders. Sabre Society level gift s to the A ir ForceAcademy Fund are essential to building and enhancing programs and services designed to meet the needs of the Academy’s cadets and graduates.

Become a Sabre Society donor today with your annual unrestricted gift of $ 1,000 or more.

Give online: vvvvw.usafaendowment .org G ive by p ho ne: 7 19.472.0300, Ext . 200

Give by m ail: Checks payable to USAFA Endowment 3116 Academy Dr, Ste 200 USAFAcademy, CO 80840-4475 For addit ional information on the Sabre Society visit usafa.org/DonorRecognition/Sabre_Society

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The USA FA Cyber

Competition Team Prepares for Digital Battle Story and Photos by David Bergeman

S

tuxnet. The word seems benign enough,

like i t could be the nam e of a failed dial

up Internet provider. Yet, Stuxnet is not an aborted Internet start-up, nor is it a

failure- far from it . In time, historians may even

judge Stuxnet in the same light as the Enola Gay, as a vehicle used to deliver a major weapon into the public consciousness for the fi rst time.

So what is Stuxnet?The long answer may be dif fi cult for most non-techies to digest. In short, it’s malware, a computer worm that is used to disrupt or destroy equipment by injecting its logic controllers with bad code. It iswidely believed that Stuxnet was

designed to destroy centrifugesused in Iran’snuclear program. In overly simplistic terms, Stuxnet did this

by speeding the centrifuges up too fast for a period o f time and then by later slowing them to a crawl.

The public fi rst became aware of the malware in June 2010. One year earlier, the fi rst wave of Stuxnet allegedly began attacking Iranian nuclear

equipment. Assessmentsas to Stuxnet’seffec

tiveness in setting back Iran’s nuclear program are varied. Some experts estimate that several thousand centrifuges were physically damaged at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility. This may have delayed the country’s ability to produce weapons-grade uranium anywhere from months to years. The creators of this ingenious malware have not been identifi ed. What is known: cyber warfare poses a grave threat to our national security.

In room 2D 17 of Fairchild Hall, a group of cadets gather around a computer screen. They are the USAFA Cyber Competition Team and they may become some of the most important soldiers in a clandest ine w ar that never ends. Th e team is the

progeny of the Cyber Warfare Club, a group that allow s interested cadets from across the academ ic

spectrum to learn moreabout cyber. Theclub

also serves as a feeder system to replace graduating members of the Cyber Competition Team. Last May, Dean of the Faculty, Brigadier General Dana Born, ’83, named the Cyber Competition Team a “Dean’s Team,” meaning the members are granted dedicated time to hone their skills. They meet every Monday through Thursday for 90 minutes.

“We have eight studentswho have Limited On Season (LOS) status,” says Dr. Martin Carlisle, the team’scoach, “so this is their competitive sport instead of doing intramural fl ickerball or something else.”

During their dedicated practice time, the eight cadets train for three distinct forms of competition: forensics, defensive and capture the fl ag. Today C2C LukeJones is reverse engineering software for a multi-month Department of Defense forensics competition. C2C Michael Winstead is writing a custom proxy that will allow the cadets to better view the trafhc on their websites (defensive). C2C

Joshua Christman is learning how to exploit vul nerabilities in software (capture the fl ag).

All of the team membersare computer science majors, but their interest in all things cyber are rooted in different gardens. “My dad got me this 2d game enginewhen I was about 14 yearsold,” says C2C u

I t 's m uch easi er to steal

technological advances than i t is to make

technological advances.

yy

C h e c k p o int s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

27

LukeJones. “I mademy own ponggameand atank game. I really had no doubt that I wasgoing to be a

C Y B E R W A R FA RE

CO M PET IT IO N D EB UG G ED C A PT U R E T H E F LA G

SCENARIO: The premise of the game is for

several teams (10-12) to protect their networks

and attack the networks of their opponents during a set time period. The goal is for com

pet itors to detect and fix vulnerabilities on

their end while exploiting the vulnerabilities of their opponents to gain access to (capture) sensitive information (flags).

D E F E N S IV E

SC ENA RIO : Yo u have b een hired t o b e

the network and security administrator at a small company, taking administrative con trol over all information systems. You're un familiar with the network, the security level t hat has b een m aint ained and t he software t hat has b een inst alled . Yo u have a co n

densed time frame to acquaint yourself with the network and systems and begin security updates and patches before your company is act ively att acked. In t he middle of t he chaos you must also accommodat e all user

and business demands while upholding ser

vice level agreements for all crit ical int ernet se rv ic e s .

FO RE N S IC S

SCENARIO : You've been assigned t o inves t igate a sordid suspected murder-suicide case. A m arried m an and his m ist ress w ere

found dead in his garage. The man's wife was allegedly out of the country at the time

of t he crim e. Yo u've co llect ed t he hard d rive

from the man's PC along with the wife's lap top. Solve t he crime.

28

u s a f a .o pg

computer science major in college. I signed up three monthsaft er I got here as a freshman.”

C2C Michael Winstead grew up with an uncom mon but deft career goal. “In high school my dream

wasto beanetwork administrator of somereally large network. Then I started saying, ‘What’sthissecurity thing?This is interesting,”’ muses the articulate red

head. “Most of theguyson theteam started aspro

grammers. Coming from the system administration

sidegivesyou adiff erent perspective. Whereaspro

grammerssee thingsfrom the bottom up, sysadmins will see things from the top down.”

Others, like Cadet-in-Charge CI C Jordan Keefer, didn’t know they were interested in com puter science until they got to the Academy. “It’s not originally what I came here to do,” he says,

while taking a break from writing a program that

will streamline fl ag submissions, “but I took the initial computer science course and found a knack in it. I came down to the lab one day during one of

the cyber warfare club competitionsand I thought

it was pretty cool. I wanted to learn more about it, so here I am a year and a half later.”

No matter how they got into it, these cadets are among the best cyber warfare competitors in the coun

try. Out of 109 teams, theAcademy wasoneof only

nine to reach last April’s National Collegiate Cyber Defense fi nals. In January, they fi nished 17''' out o f 208 teams, including professionals, in the Mozilla Capture the Flag (CTF) competition.

From L t o R; C2 C Joshua

Christ man, C2C Nathan Hart and Cadet-in Charge CI C Jordan Keef er t ake

a break during one of the 90-minute practices t hey have every Monday through Thursday.

f"

“One of the things that distinguishes this team from others here at the Academy,” says Carlisle, “is that we compete, not only against other under

graduates, but also against graduate studentsand

industry professionals- and we manage to hold our own in all kinds of competitions.”

Like the rest of the cadets, C l C Keefer loves the

challenge and camaraderie of the competitions.

“It’s a process of trying to make things work and

fi guring out mistakesthat somebody else might

have made so we can take advantage of them and

also to fi nd our own weaknesses so we can protect

ourselves when the enemy attacks,” Keefer explains.

“At the National Collegiate Cyber Defense fi nals, j udges were saying that they would come to our room to relax because we were not necessarily the m ost laid-back but the m ost calm and con trolled

team. When we ran into problems we would just

talk it out, whereas other teams would start throw

ing stuff at each other. I thought that made us look pretty good as far as teamwork.”

Upon graduation. Cyber Competition Team m em bers are in li ne to be com m issioned as 17

Delta Cyber Warfare Offi cers. This is what makes the cl ub so vi tal to the cadets. “ I t h ink t he team

really helps with preparing me for that job,” says C2C Jones, “because my airmen are going to be doing similar things. I know they will be working hard trying to crack programs. So I’ve done that too, and I know the feeling when they’re sitting there for six hours and haven’t made any progress. I think we’ll defi nitely be able to relate to them.”

“There’s a quote,” adds C2C Winstead, a

m

a n

Top: Cyber Competit ion Team coach, Dr. Lewis Carlisle, t ut o rs C2 C M ic h a e l W i nst e a d .

Bottom: C2C Luke Jones reverse engineers software for a multi-month Depart ment of Defense forensics competit ion.

cannot lead that w hich he does not understand.’

In the future we may have airmen, sergeants, who are wizards at what they do. Someone who doesn’t have this experience might not be able to properly lead their team. By doing thiswe are able to create leaderswho can relate to that ‘way out there’ airman who is so far ahead of the pack. We can further har ness that airman, further train him and subsequently create an even greater asset for theAir Force.”

The implications of cyber warfare span beyond just national security- attacks on American busi nesses and intellectual properties are also of chief concern. A recent example is the 2011 attack on Google in which hackers attempted to crack and monitor email accounts by stealing passwords. The attacks allegedly originated from central China and targeted Chinese activists, journalists and senior U.S. government offi cials.

“Adversaries of the U.S. are interested in fi nding out the plans to our weapons systems and even

if nding out things that are less military related,” says Dr. Carlisle. “The Chamber of Commerce was recently hacked. The hackers were interested in information on how we were planning to do busi ness in Asia. It’s much easier to steal technological advances than it is to make technological advances.

So if our adversaries can get Americans to innovate and then steal the i nnovat ions f rom us at a m uch low er cost , then that’s a w in for t hem .”

In Fairchild Hall 2D 17, cadets are preparing to protect our cyber borders and engage in digital battle. They are training to defend us against the agents of evil who work tirelessly to steal our weapons systems designs, trade secrets and banking records. M uch lik e the heroes w ho st orm ed the

beaches of Normandy in days past, they will soon

take their places in the new frontier of warfare. O C h e c k p o in t s

M arch 2 0 12

29

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F E A T U R E

iD

M O SA I C Fostering a Diverse Academy

By David Bergeman

he pursuit of “diversity” is omnipresent in the cultural Zeitgeist and particularly prevalent in the

businessand education sectors. Yet, many people do not understand itsimportance, especially to the

Air Force Academy.

Why should the Academy seek applicants from different backgrounds?Shouldn’t admissions seek

and select only those candidateswith thehighest

test scores and grade point averages?Shouldn’t solely objective criteria be applied and subjective evaluations eliminated?Not only is the answer no, but it also has never been that way. The Academy has always utilized the “whole-person” methodol ogy when appointing cadets.

The Academy’s mission is to produce offi cers of character who are ready to lead the United States Air Force- a highly diverse workf orce. Training cadets to eff ectively lead a diverse workforce is enhanced by having them live with, and lead, a diverse Cadet Wing. Understanding is essential to leadership and it is built through interaction with those who think and behave diff erently from you.

32

u s a f a .o r g

Second Lieutenant Jesus Beltran ’l l was born in

Mexico. Hisfather was a fi rst-generation American

from Brownsville, Texas who followed work to a har

nessfactory in the Mexican border town of Acuna.

Jesus’ mom and dad met in Acuna and soon were wed.

After Jesuswasborn hisparentsdecided to movejust

across the border to Del Rio, Texas to pursuejobs; with both parentsworking full-time, Jesusstayed in Mexico with hisgrandmother until age four.

“I got my citizenship when 1was fi ve years old,” Beltran says with a friendly smile. “We drove up to San Antonio to get the paperwork done.”

You would be remiss to think that Jesus Beltran embodies diversity solely because of his Hispanic ethnicity. Ethnicity is just a small tile in a mam moth diversity mosaic, and Beltran brought a lot of tiles to the Academy.

“In theAir Forcewe’re not exclusively talking about structural diversity,” saysChief Diversity Offi cer (CDO) Dr. AdisM. Vila. “Structural diversity is gender, race, and ethnicity. At theAcademy we look far beyond that. We look for studentswho are fi rst

in their familiesto go to college. Welook for young peoplewho comefr om diff erent socioeconomic back grounds. Welook for rural young folks. Thesearejust

One of these events is called an Academy Forum.

a few of the areaswe target.”

“People travel far and wide for these forums,” Benyshek continues. “In Baltimore almost 700 people came from as far south as upper Florida and

cap aci o u s w orldview. “ D el Rio is a sm all tow n ,”

Congressional representatives there to talk about

Growing up in Del Rio didn’t deter Beltran from thinking big, but it certainly didn’t encourage a heexplains. “Nobody isreally looking out toward

the rest of the country. I didn’t think about college much because both of my parents didn’t finish high school. Really, for me, fi nishing high school was setting the bar higher.”

Family tiesgot Beltran thinking of a military career; two of his brothers were enlisted M arines. “One of m y

brothershad joined an Air ForceJROTC unit and he

would tell me about it,” Beltran says. “I got interested,

as far north as New York City to hear our lieuten ants talk about the admissions process. We also had the nominations process. We were able to answer a multitude of questions.”

Second lieutenants like Bel t ran at tend these

events to help engage underrepresented candidates in conversation. “You notice that people from

diverse backgrounds, who arevery well qualifi ed, are typically lessknowledgeable about theAcademy than less diverse candidates,” says Beltran. “I went

to Alaska and a lot of the N ative Americans would

joined, and 1ended up really liking it. That’swhat

ask if I was a Native. They felt very comfortable

available. Heprobably would havefollowed hisbroth

tell them about all of the great opportunities the Academy can provide them.”

opened my eyes to the military.”

Like many Academy applicants, a chance encounter with someone not directly associated with USAFA made Beltran aware of the opportunities that were

ers into the Marines if not for the guidance of his JROTC instructor. “Hewas a pilot and a retired lieu

tenant colonel,” recalls Beltran, who soon will embark

upon pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base. “In

high school I performed pretty well in academicsand played sports. TheJROTC instructor asked if 1had ever thought about theAcademy. All I had ever heard about it was that it wasvery diffi cult to get into. H e

encouraged meto apply. Sureenough, 1got into the

prep school.”

Now Beltran isserving hiscountry, and the Academy, as an Admissions Representative through a unique USAFA Admissionsprogram. “Every year I get 10 second lieutenants,” says Director of Admissions, Col. Carolyn (Moore) Benyshek ’87, “new Air Force Academy graduateswho work in our offi ce. They do a lot of our outreach. Th ese are offi cers who are here

under the moniker of diversity recruiting, but they’re not recruiting any specifi c categoriesof individuals. I t ’s really about getting theword out to population centers that don’t know about us and cohortswho may be underrepresented here.”

Benyshek has been revamping recruiting eff orts to fi nd the most diverse group of qualifi ed appli cants and appointees by more eff ectively using resources in a time of increased budget constraints.

“All of our programs are geared toward trying to ensure that we reach the broadest possible land scape,” she says. “We’ve found that as our fi scal and human resources start to dwindle, having a lieuten ant visit one high school at a time is obviously not as cost effi cient as bringing our whole team to an event w ith 600 or 700 ki ds.”

talking to me. It’sbasic human nature. Right or not, your wordsseem to carry moreweight. The important thing is that it opens the door for me to For Jesus, leaving thevasdy Hispanic hamlet of Del

Rio matured him in many ways. “While I was there I didn’t notice much of a difference between myself and others,” says Beltran, who graduated from theAcademy with a civil engineering degree.

U SA FA “I didn’t know anything about C o lo r ad o . I h ad n ever even

been on a plane before. When I got here I noticed how diff erent I was, not in a bad way. I’m Hispanic and speak Spanish.

People said, ‘What?You’re from M exico?’ T here w ere lots

of questions, not prying, but peoplewere curiousabout my upbringing. In collegeyou fi nd yourself Soon 1found myself meeting people from diff erent places and asking them how they grew up and what their h o m e w as l i k e. ”

The Academy is doing a very good job of attracting and appointing a diverse group of cadets. The next challenge is retaining them,

w hich is m uch m ore diffi cult t han one w ould think . Th e

process starts by attracting and training diverse admin istration, faculty, coaches and other permanent party

D IV E RS IT Y

P RO G RA M S The USA FA A m b assad o rs of Inclusio n

(Aol) Prog ram

In May 2012, 10 cadets will be given the opportunity to travel to foreign countries

to work wit h various mult inat ional corpo

rat io ns. The cadet s w ill observe how t he

organizations achieve equity and inclu

sion in a diverse working environment .

Participants are tested and assessed before, during and after their time in the program to gauge its effectiveness. The program will allow the cadetsto translate the cultural awareness gained from their experience into dealing with diverse re lat ionships back at the Academy.

Diversit y Visit at ion Prog ram

This program brings 100 highly qualified, diverse applicantsto the Air Force Acad emy for a two-to three-day visit. Admis sions matches each applicant with a ca det in order to give applicants a "day in the life" perspective of a USAFA cadet.

Eighty percent of the visiting students have accepted appointments to USAFA,

USAFA Preparatory School as a Falcon

Scho lar o r t o sist er service academ ies.

C h e c k p o int s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

33

L to R: Chief Diversity Officer, Dr. Adis M. Vila, h a s b e e n serving as the st rategic leader, diversity advocate, a n d principal diversity adviser to Academy leaders since De c e m b e r 2 0 10 .

employees. Dr. Vila is using a variety of means to accomplish these objectives.

“We’ve developed a program based on a book called ‘Reframing Change,’” explains Vila. “There

are six skillsthat we believe need to be taught

to our colleagues so they can effectively manage diversity. I believe it most effective to train the permanent party fi rst, particularly the permanent party that works closest with cadets.”

Graduate participation can dramatically infl u ence the composition of the Cadet Wing. Gradu ates can get involved in their local community and

identify middle school studentswith the potential

t o be a cadet . G rads can i nform these ki ds about

T H E S IX S K IL L S ET S O F L EA D IN G C O N SC IO U S LY Test ing Assumpt ions Clearing Emot ions Building Effect ive Relat ionships Bridging Differences T he Co nscio us Use of Self

Init iat ing Workplace Change

34

u s a f a .o r g

the Academy and inspire them to pursue the opportunity. Such support will not only prepare the prospect for the admissions process, it w ill increase their chance for suc cess o n ce ad m i t t ed .

Graduates can also get involved in Academy programs that pro mote a representative student body and Academy workforce. The new Ambassadors of Inclusion program allow s selected cadet s to w ork for

several weeks at multinational corpo rations around the globe. Cadets will observe fi rst-hand how a company manages a diverse, multicultural workforce. More positions are needed and graduates who work for such companies could help arrange a spot for a cadet.

Second Lt . Jesus Beltran ’l l began service as an

Admissions Advisor for the Academy soon after graduation.

Director of Admissions, Col. Carolyn (Moore) Benyshek ’87, was appointed to her current position in May 2010.

Benyshek has worked to bring a more team-oriented, resource-efficient approach to the search for diverse applicants and appointees, a

By advertising the opportunitiesand benefi ts of an Air ForceAcademy education in their communities, by actively looking for talented middle school students

from underrepresented cohorts, by mentoring and

encouraging those students and identifying them to theAdmissionsoffi ce, graduatescan signifi candy improve the cadet environment and directly help build

leaders of character for the N ation.

“What I like about the Air Force Academy,” says 2nd Lt. Beltran, “is that you get people here

from all over theworld. It’sgreat because it gives

you that cultural exposure that you really need.

As an Air Force offi cer you’re going to travel the globe and it’s important that you can understand people from different backgrounds. My time at the Academy made me culturally knowledgeable. It’s

helped me relate to other people and their thought

processes. Diversity is essential to that outcome.”

The graduate community and every Academy

stakeholder can help other bright, qualifi ed young

people- likeJesus Beltran- gain access to the Academy experience. These young people will be developed into leaders of character for the nation-

leaderswhose own unique experience and perspec tive will help develop other cadets into offi cers

capableof leading a diverseTotal Force. RS

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rchiving the

o get to theAcademy’sattic, fi nd your way to the spiraling marble staircase of McDermott Library, ascend to the sixth fl oor and navigate toward the southwest. You will soon enter the Clark Special Collections Branch and one of theAcademy’s most intriguing spaces- the Gimbel Room. It’s a hidden gem, a treasure trove that housesan aeronautical history collection that may have no equal ... at least according to the fading index cards. Fortunately, thanks to a Friendsof theAir ForceAcademy Library initiative, thisextraordi nary assortment of artifactsisgetting an archiving worthy of itsmerit.

The Gim bel C ollection is one of U SA FA’s most

underutilized resources. C ol. Richard Gim bel

bequeathed most of the collection’sestimated 20,000 items to theAcademy aft er hisdeath in 1970. Gimbel’sstory isalmost as interesting as the collection itself The son of a Gimbel’sdepartment store founder, Ri chard was fascinated by fl ight at an early age. In 1935, aft er leaving the family business, Gimbel learned to fl y and purchased an airplane that hewould use to traverse the country.

Gimbel served in the 8* Air Forceduring World War II. Histime spent in England during the war served as the impetus for hisextraordinary collection- his fi rst acquisitionswere made in a bomb ravaged London bookstore. Gimbel retired from theAir Force in 1953. Aft er retiring hewas appointed Yale’sCurator of Aeronautical Litera ture, a post he fi lled until hisdeath.

Som e of the G im bel C ollection’s m ost

unique items are an assortment of ancient seals that date back as far as 2700 B.C .E. Th e seals

depict various aspects of mankind’s fascination with fl ight. Other eye-catching pieces include a handwritten manuscript of author H.G. Wells’ 36

u s a f a .o pg

I'

Academy’s A ttic

Rediscovering

Gimbel Collectiorf *’"*^

By David Bergeman

A jl 1/

/

A

C h e c k p o int s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

37

Below, top: An aeri al photo of Hiroshima signed bythe Enola Gay’s pilot, Bri gadier General Paul W. Tibbets Jr., and his bombardier, MajorThomas Ferebee.They are two of the menwho deiivered t he world’s first at omic bomb t o Hiroshima. Ed it or 's n o te: General Paul W.

Tibbets Jr.’s grandson, Paul W. Tibbets IV, is a USAFA Ciass of 1989 graduate.

Bottom: InTokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur signs the Japa nese Instrument of Surrender as United States Representative duri ng the formal surrender ceremonies of the Japanese on board the USS Missouri . Signatori es on this Gimbel Collec tion photograph include MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz. The photo is also signed

by General Xu Yongchang, the Chinese representative on board that day. The Japanese sig nature belongs to Mamoru Shigemitsu, who served as Foreign Minister and was one of two Japanese representatives to sign the Instrument of S urre nd e r.

TheArgonauts of theAir and the rarest known aero

nautical print. Theprint illustrates the fi rst public launch of a balloon, which was undertaken by Etienne and Joseph Montgolfi er in June of 1783.

The Gimbel Room is ornate, fi lled with dark

woods, lavish furnishingsand warm light. Inside,

archivist Jennifer Murphy places a manila folder upon the large oak table that dominates the center

of the room. Sheopens it revealing the fi rst of three recently rediscovered photographs. Each pic

ture she removes is more astounding than the next.

“This is a photo of Hiroshima from the air,

signed by thepilot of the Enola Gay,” Murphy

says as she carefully sets down the plastic sleeve containing the image. The signatory in question

is Brigadier General Paul W. TibbetsJr., the pilot of the B-29 bomber that dropped theworld’s fi rst atom ic bom b on H i roshim a.

Next, Murphy removes a photo of General Douglas MacArthur signing theJapanese Instru

ment of Surrender. The photo was taken on Sep

tember 2, 1945 during formal Japanese surrender ceremonies that were held in Tokyo Bay on board the U .S.S. M issouri .

“This is signed by MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz,” Murphy says. The black and white photo

featuresa multitude of signatures- most jarring among them are the foreign characters running down each side of the image. The characters on

the right are thesignature of the Chinese repre

sentative on the Mighty Mo that day. General Xu Yongchang. The characters inscribed on the left

belong to Mamoru Shigemitsu or “Shiggy,” as

4

38

u s a f a .o r g

the American press coined him during the war.

Shigemitsu signed theJapanese Instrument of Sur render as foreign minister. Soon after the surrender, he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to seven years in prison despite his early entreaties t o avoid war and his later eff orts to steer Japan toward peace. He was paroled in 1950 and eventually became chairman of Japan’s Progressive Party.

Finally, Murphy removes the magnum opusof the three reclaimed artifacts, an Associated Press photo graph taken by Joe Rosenthal. Widely regarded as the most famouswar photo ever snapped, the titlegiven on the back of the aged paper reads, “Raising the Flag on Mt. Suribachi.” The image is more commonly known as “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.”

“It is signed by the photographer, Rosenthal, and four soldiers,” says Murphy. “You’ll see that in parentheses some put ‘survivor’ under the name because not everyone in the photo survived the war.” One of the signatures belongs to Harold G. Schrier, who took part in the fi rst fl ag raising on Mt. Suribachi but is not pictured in the Rosenthal photo. Pictured fl ag raisers who signed the Gimbel

piece includeJohn Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and the

Top, right: Dr. Mary Elizabeth Ruwell, Academy Archivist and Chief of Special Collections.

man made infamous by Johnny Cash, Ira Hayes.

These and other fascinating artifactsare now being

Left : Archivist Jennifer Murphy has been working to archive and digitally catalog t he Gimbel

thanks to funding provided by the Friends, has been combing through the collection sinceJune 2011.

“Therewere physical cards for a lot of the items,

Below: Joe Rosenthal’s immortal World War II photograph of five Marines and one Navy corpsman raisingthesecond flagon IwoJima.TheGimbel Collectionartifact is signed by Rosenthal and flag

cataloged and digitally archived by Murphy, who,

especially thebooks, but thosecardsneeded to be

Collect ion since June 20 11.

raisers Ira Hayes,John Bradleyand Rene Gagnon.Thefifth signature is that of Harold G. Schri er, a Marine who took part in the first flag raising on Mount Su ri b a ch i.

computerized and put into our cataloging system,” saysMurphy, whose experience includesworking for the University of Wyoming Archive and help

ing document papersfrom theEisenhower Tunnel’s building project. Murphy started thisgargantuan task

by cataloging all the books along with prints from t h e 1700s. She’s been working her way through countless cupboardsand boxesever since.

“The ultimate goal is to put as much as possible on awebsite,” says Dr. Mary Elizabeth Ruwell, Academy Archivist and Chief of Special Collections, “so that th e

- V

general public and researcherswill beableto search

Gimbel books, prints, lettersand other things that think areworthwhile. Right now, it’s hard to get into the Cadet Area and we feel that we arejust sitting this treasure rather than sharing it.”

For the Friendsof theAir ForceAcademy Library, the Gimbel collection has been an on-going point of emphasissince the organization was founded over 25 yearsago. This includestheir work getting the beauti fully illustrated compendium of the collection. The Genesisof Flight, published in 1999.

“While the collection had been catalogued early on, it was not comprehensive and it was not complete,” commented Friends President, Brigadier General (Ret.) Philip D. Caine. “You can tell that by virtue of some of the things that seem to be emerging now.

We felt that last year wewere in a position where could fi nally get an independent contractor (Murphy] to work specifi cally with the collection and execute thorough cataloging of what is there.”

It is, without question, worth climbing the marble staircase in McDermott Library to take in w e

o n

w e

a

this peerless collection of history, history that is so apropos to anyone who is interested in fl ight.

“There are so few collections that are comparable to this,” Murphy says with a smile. “I feel like I could have ten more archive jobs and not ever see a collection like this- let alone get my hands on it.”

Soon it will be a lot easier for everyone else to do the same. SI

C h e c k p o in t s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

39

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High Fidelity I n t h e St ai rw el V i si t s t h e W h i t e H ou se

W

hen a collection of music-loving freshmen cadetsformed a singing

group in 2004 the only place they could fi nd to practice was ... in a stairwell. Eight years later the Academy’s premiere male a cappella group has sung its way into some pretty prestigious company. This past December In

the Stairwell accepted an invitation to perform at

a

holiday reception held at the White House.

C3C Taylor Pearce called theWhite House trip

the highlight of his career as a member of In the Stairwell. “We basically got to go to the White H ouse and do what we love to do,” the Wallace,

Kansas, native said. “I can’t think of anything

bet ter than that .”

Cl C Julian Gluck, spokesman for the 18-member club, said traveling with the group

has been fun. “We’ve had the opportunity to meet some big movers and shakers, including the Presi den t of the U n i ted St at es. W e w ere able to m ak e

the First Lady’s face light up. We’ve performed for different generals, wounded veterans and POWs. We’ve sung for a really wide segment of

t he A i r Force.” G l uck sai d . “ W e al l cam e here t o

serve and be offi cers and this is just an awesome opportunity to not only serve as cadets, but also to provide some entertainment and help out with diff erent sit uat ions.”

42

u s a f a .o r g

By Crystal Ross

Cadetscannot simply walk into a group practice

- practices are no longer held in stairwells- and start singing. Anyone interested in joining the group is

required to go through a rigorous tryout process.

Candidates must be able to match both pitch and personality with the existing members of the club.

Both skillsarevitally important because the singers

act as their ow n m usic di rectors.

“We work together,” Gluck said. “There are a lot

of folkswho have experienceworking with sheet music, or we j ust listen to the songs themselves,

maybe a cappella, maybejust the normal recording of it, and we fi gure things out from there.”

C 3C Pearce added, “ Th ere w ill be th ree or four

guys ... they know the song, they know what they want it to sound like, so they’re not afraid to say, ‘Hey man, tone it down a little bit, you’re not singing the right part,’ or ‘Let’s do this right here.’

For the most part, everyone can usually come to a consensus about w hat i t should sound l ik e.”

C4C RoyceAtkinson, who attended an artshigh

school in Pittsburgh, said participants hold each other accountable. “Not in a stern way,” he said.

“You know, friendly, helpful.”

“Many of us in the group have been together for yearssinging, so we’ll call it like it is,” Gluck said .

“Weknow we’rejust trying to makethegroup sound

better. None of us are perfect.”

“ I f m usicians can’t take t hat k ind of crit icism ,

then they’re not cut out for it,” Atkinson said.

“Especially thesoloistsand the beatboxers,” said

Gluck, a beatboxer himself

If you haven’t heard In theStairwell perform, you may wonder what beatboxing is. Essentially, it’sthe

percussion for theperformanceand it’sall donevocally.

It may also involve thesimulation of other instruments.

Just like many other Academy clubs, In the Stairwell is an activity cadets join in addition to al l their required classes and military training. “The Academy has a wide number of really impressive individuals who’ve done great things,” Gluck said,

“people on the parachute team, the football team, ICs [intercollegiate athletes], and we also have a rather signifi cant fi ne arts program here.”

G4C A tkinson’s brother and sister also attend

USAFA, and they’re also musicians. “My sister’s in the musical. I’m in the musical. My brother’s in show choir. I’m in show choir,” he said. “Music itself just

makesaperson morewell-rounded. Speaking for myself, music isahugepart of my life. It’saffected m y outlook on a lot of things. It’saffected a lot of how 1 do and how 1 think- for the better.”

Gluck also said, “We have great musicians, great

they now have avisit to theWhite House to their

credit. These fi ne young men sing for fun, but they

also sing for theAcademy. They are a true carillon for the USAFA community.

collegiateathletesand membersof other clubs, and we’regoing into awidevariety of career fi elds— many

ing to apply to USAFA to befutureoffi cersand work

Academy and theAir Force.” 9

out there in the Big Blue.”

As the years go past the popularity of the group continues to propagate well beyond the confi nes of any Academy stairwell. The group has performed on a Colorado Springs television station, they have a YouTube video closing in on 10,000 hits and

Lady during their holiday visit

t o t h e W h it e Ho u se .

“Membersof In the Stairwell are not just singers,” Gluck concluded. “We’re cadet leadersand group commanders and squadron commanders. We’re inter

performersand speakers [at USAFA]. Thisisanother opportunity for usto develop and represent theAcad emy. Hopefully we can get more people interested in coming to theAcademy, get even more peoplewant

In the Stairwell performs for

t he President and t he First

of ushoping to be pilots. This isjust another fun thing we do on our own time to help bring notoriety to the

Visit usafa.org/ videos to wat ch In t he St airwell sing a t ribut e to t he men and women of t he Academy.

C h e c k p o in t s

1M arch 2 0 12

43

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u s a f a .o r g

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When I wake up without looking forward to learning something new, lifeisover” D R. K E N N ET H S IEG E N T H A LER USA FA PRO FESSO R O F A ST RO N A UT IC S

SOhe ran thingsvery aboveboard with a bunch of no

Ho m et ow n: Plainview, M innesot a

farmers. Heran hisappointmentsby givingastandardized t e s t where, if you passed all the other academy requirements, the

Favorit e Fast -Food : Subway Most Want s t o Visit : Angkor Wat , Cambodia Dream Form of Transport at ion: Private Jet

top score got the appointment. I took the test and fortunately

had the best score and 1 received a letter from the co n gressm an

saying I had theappointment.

I di dn’t k n ow w hat I was getting into, but I had an advan tage that I really didn’t realizewhen 1was a cadet- I was getting up later than 1normally did on the farm. You ever shock grain

Fa v o r it e M o v ie : T h e B lin d Sid e

Litt le Known Fact: Played Saxophone Professionally Favorit e President : George Washingt on Fa v o r it e M u sic ia n : Fra n k ie Ya n ko v ic

bundles?You bend over shocking grain bundles all day; y o u think your back hurts by theend?I didn’t do anything

Undergrad uat e Educat ion: West Point Class of 1961

w o r se

than shocking grain bundles and many other forms of f ar m labor. So I thought, “What are these people complaining

I attended a one-room school and you do a lot of repeti tion in a one-room school. We did a lot of memoriza-

tion, so I was always good at math. 1liked math and science, so when 1 got to high school I always took

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A roim d 1955 thi s m ovie cam e out call ed The

Long Gray Line. It wasabout an enlisted man [Marty Maher Jr.] who spent his whole career at West Point in the athletic department. He was there when Eisen hower and many other generals were cadets. He wrote a book called Bringing Up TheBrass: My 55 o Yearsat West Point. They O

o n t h at b oo k . So h ere w as

thishistorical placeand to me

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it looked like agreat challenge.

My family didn’t have a lot of money and I knew I wanted to go to college.

To be truthful, I applied for anything and everything. I had very good gradesin high school and was thevaledictorian; of course it was a sm all school.

I wasvery fortunate; oneof thesenior congressmen i n t h e House of Representatives was fr om our very nu-al district,

Interview by David Bergeman 50

u s a f a .o r g

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about?”

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During our plebe year we had this attitude- you would come back [to your room] and it would be a big joke. You would say, “You can’t believe what happened to me today,” and you’d talk about getting caught doing some thing. Then your roommate would top . your story. That was the way lif e was,

/ T ^

Y. people adj ust to whatever their circ u m s t a n c es a r e.

We didn’t really have any rf ee time in those days, and I’m not saying things were harder or anything, they were just chfferent. Whenever we

had free tim e w e had our “ Brow n

Boy,” which was a real nice quilt that was brown, so we would snuggle up with our Brown Boy and take a nap.

Our second degree year. General William Westmore land [West Point Superintendent at the time] said our cl ass

Illust rat ion by Sarah Larrabee

would be divided into thirds and the Air Force would get cadetsby classstanding in each one of those thirds. I h ad class mates diving for the next third and intentionally not doing well. Th at is how we received our com m issions.

I wasin atroop carrier squadron and to betruthful things weren’t as dangerous as some other forms of fl ying; w e fl ew combat support missions in Vietnam. I was in C-124sat t h at time and you could haul 200 paratroopers, but asyou k n ow i n Vietnam there were only one or two actual parachute assau l ts.

The soldiers mainly landed in Bell Hueys, so our job w asn’t as hazardousas many other fl yers.

I received my Ph.D. in laser physicsand it wasan exciting area. T hat w as back in the “ Star W ars” era and the A i r Fo rce

was the leader in lasers in those days.

I went to the University of Utah for a year and studied physics. Dr. Thomas Parmley was the head of the department - just a real gentleman. He taught the introduction to physics course, the one for non-physics majors. His philosophy this; you should haveyour w as

best

instructors

teach

might have a comparable program, but it would be graduate studentsand faculty who would bebuilding thesatellites. H ere

were a teaching institution- we have maybe two or three fac

ulty that are pretty much full-time on the project and a few contractors, but the load is carried by the cadets, including all

thebriefi ngsthat arerequired. Thepayloadsarereal D o D m is

sions and, if we don’t do a real experiment up there t h at th e DoD wantsdone, we don’t get a ride.

The Heiser Award is the most important award to me. I t ’s totally cadet run, so to me that means the most of any award I’ve ever received. To be truthful, I just go to the classro o m and try to be upfront with cadets. There are a ton of really good instructors here and to be picked is, I think, th e ul t i m at e honor. I can’t think of any other award that you can receiv e t h at I w o u ld v al u e m o re.

I think the major differences between Air ForceAcademy and West Point are still there. When you talk to [USAFA] cadets who go to West Point and come back, they talk ab o u t how they can’t believe th at w h en

W est

Po i n t

cadets are having their ing those courses because M IN I- B IO free time, they’re having that’s probably the only Aft er graduating from West Point in 1961, Siegenthaler a meal or something, exposure those peoplewill commissioned into the Air Force. During his first ten y e a rs o n they’ll be talking about ever haveto physics. Those active duty he flew 6,300 hours on worldwide missions co m b at m an euvers. W ell courses will leave a lasting MATS and MAC C-124 and C-133 navigator, inst ructor navigator they better have their impression of what they and flight examiner. From July 1971 to June 1974 he att e nd ed act together when they think of physics. So if you the Air Force Institute of Technology and obtained an M .S. and graduate, because within haveaprofessor who isnot Ph.D. in Laser Physics. Thereaft er he worked as a researcher, a year or two, they will be empathetic to that, then consultant and professor before becoming a prof at t he A cad making life critical deci the students are going to emy in 2001. In 2010, firsties selected Siegenthaler t o re c e iv e s ions for their platoon. have a bad impression of the prestigious William H. Heiser Award, which is given yearly I am an OR [offi cer physics, when it’s totaling to two professors who the cadets feel have contributed m o s t representative] for the unnecessary because phys greatly to their personal and intellectual development w hile rif l e team.

We just had ics runsyour life! also demonstrating Air Force core values. a trip to Army. Should A lot of people think, I b e an O R fo r th e r ifl e if you’re a Ph.D., teach team if I am cheering for ing a lower-level class is Army?Although, I’ll have to admit, I have feelings for TVrmy beneath you. They want to teach some 400 level courses. I - particularly when they play Navy. You don’t know what enjoy teaching coreastronauticscourses. I think it’smost enjoy rivalry is until you’ve experienced Army-Navy. able. I’ll have to admit not all of the core people w an t to t ak e th ei r I’ll retire out of teaching here and it will be tough to give astronautics, but I think they’re still going to remember it up.

You know, a lot of peopledon’t appreciatewherethey are exposure to it. t h e A i r at the time. TheAir Forcehas been good to me. I’ve t rav eled to As far as I’m concerned it’s a privilege to teach at over 50 countries. I ’ve seen the world and I ’ve come t o th e real ForceAcademy. I’vedonealot of thingsin my lifeand I think my w i th cad ets. ization that there is no perfect place. There are places th at ar e nicheistheclassroom. I enjoy it. I enjoy working enjoyable certain timesof year. There are places that h av e b een The greatest satisfaction for a teacher, if you’re really a enjoyable certain times in history. I think you should appreci teacher, is the success of your students, and the desire t h at atewhereyou’reat and it’sapretty niceplace right h ere an d I ’v e they become moresuccessfl il than you. got a pretty nice occupation.

We have the premier astronautical engineering program b u il d satel I get to teach at a premier institution. What can I say? here. It’s recognized around the world. The cadets Anybody who complains about being stationed at the A i r w e get lites. They launch and fl y satellitesand when welaunch, Force Academy doesn’t deserve to be here. I think it’sassimple out of Cape a ride on primary launch vehicles, like an AtlasV u n i v er si t i es that.

B Canaveral. The program is totally cadet run. Other w a s

a s a

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as

C h e c k p o in t s | M a r c h 2 0 1 2

51

A U T H O R S

!?

C O R N E R

Goodbye Milky Way - An Eart h in Jeopardy Advent ure

by Dan Makaon (Dan Macherione ’66)

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An Earth In jeopardy Advt

ii f St

Tom isafr eelanceproject manager with a reputation for getting resultsfor corporationsand governments. B u t he’snever been up against achallengelikethis. Theearthquakethat triggered theAsian tsunami did moreth an kill 283,000 people. It caused ashift in theaxial tilt of the Earth. But what could have caused such apowerful earthquakeand itsunusual teaonicactivity?An eclecti cgroup of scienti sts, calling themselvestheStar-Slayer Team , calculatesthat thecauseof thequakeemanatesfr om thedepthsof space, threatening all of mankind with ex ti n c ti on.Tom leadsaharrowing expediti on to Antarcti caand discoversan ancient secret that can help savem an k i n d .

HejoinstheStar-Slayer Team and leads massiveand dangerousconstmcti on projects in Ecuador and on theM oo n .

Assisted by Aieda, apowerful and sophisticated computer, the team hasonly seven yearsto develop themechanism that will save the Earth and the M oon. W ith Einstein-like intelligence, and even adopting afemalepersona, Aieda believesher new theory governing gravity and space-timewill savehumanity. But can shebetrusted?

Available at w ww.danm akaon.com and www.am azon.com ISBN ; 978-0-9833785-9-4

Out of Uniform; Your Guide t o a Successf ul Milit ary t o C iv i l i a n Ca reer Tra nsit ion by Tom Wolfe, USNA ’72

Y o i i ii G u i d e r o a Su c c esseu e

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C a r e er T RA Ns r n o N

Out of Unif orm is an insightful, entertaining, and user-friendly guide to career transition, job hunting and interviewing for current and former military personnel. Not only does it cover the basics- search techniques, networking, interview preparation, resumes, and negotiation- hut there is also guidance on additional issues that are often over-looked: specifi cally, the central themes of self-knowledge, interview ing empathy, and the power of questions.

In Out of Unif orm the technical and “how to” information isemphasized and made memorable through tran sition tales. I n these anecdotes the author shares hispersonal experience as well as that of several of the thou sandsof service men and women he personally assisted throughout his recruiting and placement career. From these many successstoriesand a few false startshehas accum ulated a wealth of inform ation. Th at inform ation is com bined w ith conventional w isdom , som e unconventional wisdom, and professional best practi ces to create a roadmap for a successful military-to-civilian career t r an si t i o n .

Praise for Out of Unif orm: “We owe our military service membersso much, including the right to compete f or aj ob when they leave theservice. “Out of Unif orm”j ust might give them that competitive edge. Areyou a veteran? Read i t! K now a veteran?M ake sure he or she hasa copy!”

- Mike Krzyzewski, Coach, Duke University Men’s Basketball Available at wvzw.out-of-uniform .com I SBN 978- 1- 59797-7 15-9

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The Air Force Academy Fund You' ve been t here - you know w hat it ' s like t o be a part of a t radit ion so ext raordinary , so unique, so c ele b rat ed , s o t im e le s s . T h e r e ' s n o s u b s t it u t e f o r t h e A i r F o r c e A cademy ex perience and no t im e like t he p resent t o g iv e back t o t he A cademy .

T o sust ain t he A c adem y ' s m issio n t o dev elo p lead ers of c haract er f o r t he nat io n , w e m ust rally y o u r sup po rt as w e m eet present needs and lo o k f o rw ard t o t he f ut ure . Eac h y ear, gif t s of all sizes jo in f o rces t o keep t he A cadem y ex perienc e unriv aled .

Y our gif t play s a c rit ical role in t he liv es of c adet s by f unding A cadem y and g rad uat e prog ram s inc lud ing : • A c a d e m ic A w a r d s

• Dist ing uished Guest Speakers • Grad uat e Chapt er Prog ram s • Int ram ural and Int erc o lleg iat e A t hlet ics

• A c adem y A ssem bly • C a d et S u m m e r Re s e a rc h • C a re e r S e rv ic e s

• In t e r n a t i o n a l Im m e r s i o n

• Charact er and Leadership Prog ram s

• Underg rad uat e Researc h ... and m any ot hers

Support the Academy today through a gift to the Air Fo rc e A cadem y Fund .

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Lookingf orward, giving back

A w ar d W i n n er s Pr esent ed by y our A ssoci at i on of Gr aduat es

/ /

I'd say the biggest thing I took away

from the Academy, especially observing cadet leaders, was that they were all

p eop le of princip le who lived their

va lu es an d w e re n 't afraid t o co n fro nt o t h e rs w h o vio lat e d t ho se values. / /

- Brig. Gen. (Ret .) Ruben Cubero, Class of 1961

General Cubero graduated with the third class of the Air Force Academy in 1961. Following gradua tion, he has demonstrated a lifetime of outstanding service to the Air Force Academy and the nation.

Cubero refl ects fondly upon his time at theschool which prepared him for his time asan offi cer. “I think theAcademy is the most important institution in my development as an adult,” he recalls. “One goes to t h e Academy right out of high school and then over the next four yearsyou begin developing into manhood.

I’ve often said that theAcademy is like the crucible o f my manhood- it developed me in many aspects- one being physical conditioning and making sure that I stay fi t throughout my life. Theother aspect involved getting an education. TheAcademy propelled me on to a master’sdegree and later a Ph.D., all thanks t o t h e Air Force. Thisall started for me at theAcademy with a love of academics and an intellectual curiosity to learn more as I went along in life.”

During his 37-year active duty career, he fl ew multiple aircraft for the Military Airlift Command, accumulating over 6700 fl ying hours and complet ing 243 combat missions in Vietnam as a Forward

A i r C o n t r o l l er. H i s act i o n s ear n ed h i m a D i st i n

guished Flying Cross and 14 Air Medals. “The Academy shaped my idea of leadership,” Cubero explains. “Understanding the mission is of utmost importance, and then getting people to coalesce around that mission is the overall objective.”

Much of hislater career was spent with theAcad emy faculty, fi rst asan instructor in the Department of Foreign Languages and later aspermanent professor and head of the Department of Foreign Languages.

Like many graduates, Cubero wasdelighted at the opportunity to return to the institution that gave him hisstart. Heharkens back to the many ethical foundations upon which theschool was built. “I like to consider myself a person of good valueseven before 56

u s a f a .o r g

I came to theAcademy,” Cubero says, “but living fo r f ur years under the honor codewas extremely impor o tant in my life. I think that every aspect of the military isa demonstration of leadership. There are times when you have to be a follower, and that was certainly true at theAcademy. You learn the basics of being follower initially and then you progress on with added responsibilitiesas you go through the four years. Yo u go through the same progression in every job in the Air Force- starting at the freshman level and building your way up to a more senior position.” a

I n 199 1, G eneral C ubero w as select ed as the

Dean of the Faculty for the Air Force Academy, a position he held for seven years. As the Dean, he supervised the 800-member faculty and managed a $60 million annual budget and assets of $250 million. Following his retirement from active duty in 1998, G eneral C ubero w as hired as the A thlet ic

Director at the University of Colorado at Colo rado Springs (UCCS) where he made signifi cant improvements, including the “Exemplary Student Athlete” program which stressed individual respon sibility on the part of all student athletes.

During this same time, he also served as Presi dent of the Falcon Foundation where he guided the 150 Trustees through two membership meet ings each year, acted as steward for the Founda

t ion’s $ 17 m illion endow m en t , and dist ributed 100

preparatory school scholarships each year.

“ I love the Falcon Foundation for a num ber of rea

sons,” C ubero exclaim s. “ It takes cadet candidates w h o

are pilot qualifi ed and allows them to enhance their academic qualifi cations to attend a prep school and eventually theAir ForceAcademy. To me, the essence of being awarrior in theAir Force is being a pilot- Fve alwayshad a great affi nity for fl ying. We track these studentsduring their four yearsat theAcademy. Thete isa great possibility that they will some day go on to war once they graduate and become offi cers; we therefore mentor them so that they fully understand the aspectsof leadership.”

Since his retirem ent. General Cubero has volun

tarily worked closely with theAssociation of Gradu atesand the USAFA Endowment- the core non-profi t organizations that support theAcademy. In his con tinuing eff orts to mentor theyoung men and women who attend USAFA, Cubero stresses the importance of understanding the commitment one must make when walking the path of The Long Blue Line.

“My advicewould be to really study the Oath of Offi ce,” he implores. “The bottom line, the basic purpose of our graduation from theAcademy is to support and defend the Constitution of the United

Statesagainst all enemies, foreign and domestic. That is the core of what I call the warrior ethos. T he next

part is to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

If you don’t understand the Constitution then you don’t really understand what you’re supporting and defending when you become a military offi cer. If there isanyonewho sees the need to go to war and understand that this is hisor her obligation, it would be a graduate of this institution.”

Also selected to receive the Distinguished Gradu ate Aw ard w as M r. Richard D . M cC onn, a m em ber

of the Class of 1966. Following hisgraduation,

M r. M cC o n n serv ed i n th e A i r Fo rce as an i n tel

ligence offi cer. At a very junior rank, he was assigned to Lowry AFB in Denver, Colorado, as the Chief Instructor of the Mobile Computer Training Team that pioneered intelligence data collection in the Air Force. “During my career as an offi cer I was treated very well,” McConn says fondly. “Being an Academy graduate doesn’t guarantee you anything but it certainly opens doors for you. I think integrity played a role that waswell bred into me as an offi cer.

TheAcademy was a great training ground, there’s no question about that. It wassecond to none as far as preparing us to be offi cers.”

McConn attributes much of his ability to take on new challenges to his time at USAFA. “The Academy teaches you so many things,” he explains.

“You get such a broad exposure about life and that was really surprising for those of us who came f r o m sm al l t ow n s. I n ad d i t i o n t o t h e acad em i cs

and sports- the summer travel, foreign languages- it gave us such an all around exposure to things we’d never thought about. This carries over to a lot of other things you do in life but more important it gives you confi dence. You’re able to socialize and work with people, you’re able to observe all these diff erent situations and that all helps to breed con fi dence and spark your interests later on in life.”

Subsequent military assignments took him to Washington D.C. where he served in the offi ce o f t h e U SA F V i ce C h i ef o f St aff an d i n t h e O fi ce

of the Secretary of Defense, and then as a White House Aide to the President. “In the military they showed me a lot at a very young age,” McConn remembers. “Maybe they showed me too much too soon, but I realized there was a much bigger world out there, and it was based on capitalism, econom ics, entrepreneurship, innovation and technology.

Eventually I decided that I needed to go see that

w orld and that ’s w hat led m e out of the A i r Force.”

After leaving active duty, he remained in the Air Force Reserve and served in a key position in the

offi ce of the USAF Chief of Staff . As a civilian.

through talent and hard work, he built a multi million dollar international logistics enterprise that is known for integrity and ethical conduct.

Currently, he owns several companies with offi ces in M orocco, Tunisia, UAE, Jordan, Pakistan, Ger

many and Taiwan.

Throughout his life, he has been a strong sup porter of education. In his home state of North Dakota, he established an Aerospace Scholarship Endowment at the University of North Dakota.

Seeing the need for additional opportunities for Academy graduates to prepare themselves for leadership positions in America, he established the McConn Scholars program which sends 2-3 active duty USAFA graduates to Georgetown University

/ /

It 's been one of my credos in life: j ust do the right thing. I think the Academy really reinforced that

st r u c t u re in m e a n d it 's c a r r ie d o ve r

all these years.

/ /

- M r. Richard D . M cCo nn, C lass of 1 9 6 6

for a Master’s Degree in Public Policy. After fi nish ing their degrees, these graduates spend at least the next year serving on a Congressional staff . The result is to give future offi cers a thorough under standing of how the U.S. government works.

Mr. McConn is a founding director of the USAFA Endowment and was infl uential in get ting Congress to pass the law which enabled the establishment of the Air Force Academy Athletic Corporation, a non-profi t entity that will raise money to operate and improve the Academy’s intercollegiate athletics programs.

Thinking back on his long and varied career, McConn is often faced with philosophical ques tions formulated over a lifetime of facing chal lenges in both the military and civilian sectors.

“What is success for an Air Force Academy gradu ate?” he asks. “I’ve spent a lot of my life trying t o fi gure out what success really is. It’s not necessarily money or status; it’s not the car you drive. What is success for our graduates who have this inner fi ber?It’s a great question that hasn’t been answered yet, and it’s something for us to ponder and think about down the road.” B

C h e c k p o in t s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

57

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Legacy Planning Working on creat ing or updat ing your will? After provisions to care for your loved ones, please consider helping f ut u re USAFA Cadets. You can leave a legacy to t hose who follow you as leaders in our Air Force and society by simply including a bequest to t he USAFA Endowment in your est ate documents.

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A Guide to Grad Owned Eateries /

W

hen you ruminate on all the unique facets of cadet life at the Academy, one of the last things that come to mind is gastronomic greatness (with all due respect to the fi ne people of Mitchell Hall

w ho w ork so hard to feed 4,000 cadets three tim es

daily). Actually, you might be able to credit the

hundreds of m eals these 27 form er cadets consum ed

in that cavernous dining facility with the inspiration to take on the cutthroat restaurant industry. Anyway you dice it, from coast-to-coast theseAcademy grads are serving up some of the most delicious and award-winning fare in the country. Bon appetite!

G O O D YEA R

I . Ground Control *

ARI2 0 W/^

O w n er s: Sean Rassas ’96, T ara Rassas (at tended U SA FA 199 1- 1994)

Ground Control Goodyear

and Verrado are tw o disti nct beer/w ine/ coff ee restauran t con

cepts. The original Ground Control opened in 2005 and is a wine/espresso bar with over 400 wines by the bottle and a

coff ee roaster in house t hat is used to roast beans

for both locations. Goodyear features a bistro menu and also makes gelato on location. Ground Control at Verrado opened in November 2011 and is a gastropub with 18 beers on draft and many more by the bottle. This location features upscale pub food.

Try: Tasty Turkey Pretzel Roll Sandwich $9.95 www.grounclxcontrol.coin TEM PE

Thirsty Lion Pub and Grill*

Restaurant has multiplegraduateow n ed l oca t i ons.

Owner: RussTeising ’63 The Thirsty Lion’s mission is to revolutionize the pub business by combining the traditional values of European and American pubs. Teising has created a gathering place where friends and family can come together to celebrate life and enjoy great food, craft

Prices refl ect largest serving size.

C h e c k p o in t s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

61

beers, signature cocktails, wines, music and sports.

The open exhibition kitchen specializes in grilled steaks and seafood, gourmet burgers, sandwiches, salads and artisan style pizza cooked in a brick oven.

The Thirsty Lion’s centerpiece bar creates a sense of community and friendship with guests.

Try: Roasted Artichoke & Spinach Brick Oven Pizza $ 12.95.

www.thirstylionpub.com LO N G B EA C H

? . The Crooked Duck Owner: Dan Rooney ’82 The Crooked Duck is a neighborhood grill serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a casual atmosphere and a decor based on the owner’s passion for waterskiing and boating. Rooney’s younger brother, Andrew, who is the Executive Chef and General

Manager at Hotel Mirabeau in Spokane, designed the menu and recipes. The restaurant’s name comes from a legend about a resilient duck- discover the story at their website.

Try: Duck Chili $5.95. w ww.thecrook edduck com

M I L L VA L L E Y

A. TheMountain HomeInn Owner: Ed Cunningham ’67

Th e N orthern C alifornia A ssociat ion of G raduates

holds their annual Christmas dinner party here.

Serving contemporary cuisine, the lunch menu includes sustainably farmed Niman Ranch burg ers and pork sandwiches for $13.00. The $38.00 three-course dinner menu changes regularly. Their wine bar specializes in boutique wineries of Cali fornia, Oregon and Washington.

Try: Fried Fish Po-Boy $12.00. w w w .m t n h o m ei n n .co m

M U IR B EA C H

5 . Pelican Inn

Owner: Ed Cunningham ’67 Visit this authentic 16th century styleTudor inn located just a short walk from a beautiful beach in Marin County. Enjoy the restaurant and pub, which serves $32.00 Beef Wellington in the dining room for dinner. During the day, there’s classic pub fare like $16.00 fi sh and chips and $12.00 Shep herd’s Pie. Try some British beers on draft.

Try: Bangers & Mash $12.00. www.pelicaninn.com

62

u s a f a .o r g

C O LO RA D O SPRIN G S

C o l o r ad o

M ountain Brewery

O w n er ; Scot t K oons ’93 I n 2 0 10 K oo n s creat ed t h e C o lo rad o M o u n t ai n

Brewery (CMB) aft er recruiting a coalition of grads spanning the classes 1960-2002 to fund the project.

Specializing in unique, handcraft ed beerssuch as

7258 Blonde A le and Black Panther I PA (Koons w as

in CS-29), CMB’smenu boastsan eclectic variety of innovative options and a distinctive approach to true “Colorado ” dining and atmosphere. A second Colo rado Springs location isset to open thisyear.

Try: Bison Meatloaf Wellington $15.00 w w w .cm b r ew .co m

"7. Jack Quinn’sIrish Pub & Restaurant Owners: Bob Denny ’68, Bob Johnston ’68, Bill Sasz ’68, Eric H owell ’7 1

Specializing in traditional Irish fare and delicious

American cuisine, this beautiful and authentic Irish

pub in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs has been in operation since March 1998. The pub has garnered numerous “Best Of ” awards from local media and was recognized by Military.Com in November 2008 as one of the “Top Ten Classic Military Spots to Drink a Beer.”

Try: Alehouse Fish & Chips $12.00 www.j ackquinnspub.com

PB and Jelli es NY D eli

O w n er : A rt Rom ero ’9 1

The idea for a PB and Jellies restaurant started over

three years ago when, on a business trip to New York, Romero decided to take the subway to Green wich Village along with his two teenage daughters.

While there, they stumbled upon a similar establish

ment full of Peanut Butter choices, N Y deli fare, and

an overall fun atmosphere. In creating PB and Jellies New York Deli, M r. Romero saw an opportunity

to bring a unique concept to Colorado Springs. In short, PB and Jellies New York Deli iswhere freshly ground peanut butter, locally made jellies, and plen tiful smiles come together.

Try; Give Me S’More! Sandwich (chocolate peanut butter, marshmallow cream and teddy grahams) $6.69 www.pbandjellies.com

^ . RastaPasta

O w n er : M at t Taraborelli ’99

Rasta Pasta is a healthy fusion of Caribbean and Italian fl avors made fresh in a fun atmosphere.

Their signature dish, Rasta Pasta, featuresjerk chicken, green onions, diced tomatoes, garlic and

jerk seasoning sauteed with penne in red wine and marinara. Enjoy good desserts and a full bar featur ing local drafts and Jamaican beer and rum. Take advantage of their outdoor dining, reggae music, and daily happy hour specials.

Try; Tortellini Jamaica Mon (ricotta cheese tortellini, pineapple, bananas, grapes and green onion simmered in a white wine sauce) $13.95 w w w .r ast ap ast acs.co m

G LEN W O O D SPRIN G S

\ 0 . Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company

O w n er ; T im M ason ’69 Located in the historic H otel D enver, Glenwood

Canyon Brewing Company isa family-friendly restaurant and fully functioning brewery that haswon

14 medals in the Great Am erican Beer Festival and the

World Beer Cup. The menu runs the gamut from Cer tified Angus Beef steaks to fresh saladsand sandwiches.

Try: Grilled Salmon Over Bowtie Pasta (with creamy parmesan pesto sauce) $14.95. www.glenwoodcanyon.com

W O O D B U RY

om .

11. Longwood

Country I nn

Owner: Jerry Lundquist ’71

scratch each day. The 36-seat establishment serves 27 diff erent varieties of bagels with tons of top pings that include 16 diff erent fl avors of cream cheese. The Factory also uses Boars Head meats and cheeses along with ACME Smoked Fish. Their specialty coff ee is secured from a private roaster i n Miami. The Bagel Factory is not only considered a “fl xture” of the community, it’s a destination.

Try: Bagel with Cream Cheese & Jelly $2.89 www.thebagelfactory.com

I

TA M PA

\3 . TheLaughing Cat Restaurant

O w n er : D ave Scot t ’77

Located in the famed Ybor City neighborhood.

Laughing Cat is ranked sixth out of the 1053 Tampa area restaurants on Trip Advisor. The restaurant boasts generous portions of some of the best Italian food in the city, a full liquor “Cat Bar,” and sidewalk seating. One menu favorite is the Filet Mignon Cat Style- fi let mignon sauteed

with Portobello mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and

red peppers in a white wine sauce with fresh basil.

Priced at $44.95 it will easily feed two and you will probably take home leftovers.

Try; Gnocchi alia Moda $15.95 www.thelaughingcat.com J O H N S C REEK

Built in 1789, this historic I nn is sit uated on the

main street of Woodbury, the antiques capital of Gonnecticut. The restaurant, with three period dining rooms each with its own original work ing wood-burning fi replace, overlooks manicured gardens and TheTerrace, which off ers outdoor seating for 40. The restaurant has been a multiple

w inner, 2007-20 12, of t he annual Reader’s Poll of

Gonnecticut Magazine’s “Best New Restaurant” and “Best Brunch” along with receiving a “Tops in Connecticut” rating from Zagat.

Try: Maryland Crab Cake $13.00 WWW.longwoodcountryinn.com

IA. Great Harvest Bread Co. Owner: Ray Boland ’86 Owned by Ray and Erika Boland,

4

G reat H ar v est B r ead G o . i s a f ro m -

scratch, whole grain bakery that sells breads, sweets, sandwiches, soups and other specialties made fresh on-site everyday.

Try: Spicy Smoked Turkey Panini $7.95 www.getfreshbread.com RIN G G O LD

T h e A co u st i c C af e

Owner: Greg Gordy ’90

T he A coust ic Gafe is a restauran t/ bar w it h a live F O RT M YERS

The Bagel

Factory, I nc.

O w n er : M ark L ukasik ’79 L ukasik and his w ife started

the business from the ground up. Open seven days a week they bake anywhere from 2,000- 4,500 bagels from

music stage that is always active on weekends.

Gordy is also a musician for a local band that performs there regularly. American Idol star Lauren Ai aina performed at the Acoustic Cafe several times prior to her rapid rise to stardom. As an eatery, the chicken wings have been singled out in a regional “best of the best” competition.

Try; Lemon Pepper Wings (10) $6.95 www.ringgoldacoustic.com C h e c k p o in t s | M a r c h 2 0 1 2

63

a tour of Garth Mansion. The atmosphere isset by the glasswalls that surround three sidesof the restaurant.

Thisallowsguests to overlook the pasturewhere llamas

SH O U P

M o t h er C h u k ar ’s C af e

stroll . Th e restaurant fare is A m erican cuisine and th e

O w n er : Preston Rufe ’99

Located in historic Shoup along theworld famous Salmon River, the Booker’s Retreat and M other

Chukar’s Cafe complex isa quaint and relax ing campground, restaurant, and western bar featuring specialtieslike house-smoked pulled pork and ‘slaw sandwichesand fresh cut Idaho potato fries. Off the grid and way off the beaten path, Booker’s Retreat isan outpost in the heart of the Salmon-ChallisNational Forest, a gateway to the

b ar is w ell st ock ed .

Try: Pecan Encrusted Salmon Three-Course Meal $25 (for in-house guests) www.garthmansion.com B RO O K LYN

1^ . 61 Local

WEW YORK

Frank Church Salm on River of N o Return W ilder

O w n er : Pete W it hers ’79

ness. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you’re to enjoy a freshly prepared, wholesome meal.

Try: Pork Chop with Soy-IToney Glaze and

In theheart of bustling Brooklyn, New York, sits an unassuming cafeowned by Withersand hisbusinesspartner David Liatti. Ask anyone in the neighborhood where the place isfor good food and good drink, and to minglewith the locals, the answer will be 61 Local. 61 serveslocally produced foodsan d beveragesthat areaffordableand enjoyed in a casual environment. Their spaciousmezzanine bringstogether local groups for fi lm screenings, poetry reading, plays, and parties.

Try: Tide is Ff igh Sandwich (taramasalata, hardboiled egg, salsa verde on pugliese with a side of

su re

G rilled Sw eet O nions $ 16.00 w w w .b o o k er sr et r eat .co m

M A SC O U TA H

n . TheNexus Cafe O w n er : Brad D avis, ’87 D avis retired in 2007 and started

LLIMOIS

a non-profi t company (What’s NexusNFP) in 2011. As part of the non-profi t, heopened a small cafe near Scott AFB. The Nexus Cafe isa non-profi t coffee shop and lunch restaurant. They serve coffee and espresso aswell soups, salads, sandwiches, and baked goods, all made from scratch on-site. They constantly experiment with new food items, but their mainstay isthe fresh carrot cakewith hand whipped cream cheese frosting, which sells for $3.00 a slice. They also sell entire c a r r o t cakes for $20.00. The cafe is the centerpiece of a v e n t u r e , What’s Nexus NFP , offering employment and fundraising opportunities for areayouth.

Try: Mountaineer-Sized Foot-Long Hoagie $5.50 www.whatsnexus.org

4-

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seakraut) $7.00

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H A N N IBA L

le . Woodside Restaurant

Owner: John Rolsen ’73

Th e restauran t is attached to Garth W oodside M an

sion and islocated in the midst of 40 acresof gardens, pondsand rolling meadows. The restaurant is recently renovated, added was a lounge areawith leather couchesperfect for wine tasting and appetizers in relaxed setting. They call it “Taste and See,” whereyo u can sample a number of Missouri winesand also take a

64

u s a f a .o r g

TO LED O

%0 . Salsarita’s Fresh

OHIO

C an t i n a

Owner: Ty Dimeff ’89 Opened in June of 2008,

the restaurant ’s claim t o fam e is t he fresh food

and legendary customer service. The signature

i tem is the burri to com bi nation m eal . For about

$9.00 you get a large burrito on either a fl our or spinach tortilla, choice of chicken, steak, pulled pork, ground beef, shrimp or grilled vegetables, with mild, medium or hot salsa, regular or fl avored sour cream, guacamole, cold vegetables, chips with either salsa, guacamole, or queso and a choice of beverage. Salsarita’s also has a full bar with beer, mixed drinks and margaritas.

Try: Grilled Steak Burrito with Chips and Drink $8.88

w w w .sal sar i t as.co m

1

Travel & Leisuremagazine and has been featured on Food Network and the Cooking Channel.

Try: Southern Fried Chicken $15.00

T EX A S

r

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s F O RT W O RTH

%\ , The Black Rooster Bakery

O w n er : D av i d M an n ’6 8

The Black Rooster Bakery is a neighborhood, artisan bakery specializing in European breads and pastries with a Texas fl air. Menu items include morning pastries- their cinnamon rolls are renowned- scones, daily sandwiches on fresh baguettes, homemade pies, cakes and cookies. They also serve daily soups during the winter.

Try: Chicken Pot Pie $9.00 www.theblackroosterbakery.com FRED ERIC K SB U RG

H o n d o’s o n M ai n Owner : John Graham ’68

C EN TRE V ILLE

2-4 . San Vito RistoranteItaliano* O w ners: M ick Rosenblatt 7 0, Bob Edmonds 7 9

A well-known and very popular “chain” of two restau rants in Northern Virginia founded by Sal Speziale 7 8 in 2003, the eateriescombine the charm, simplicity, and bold tastesof Sal s native Sicily with the effi ciency and personal attention appreciated by modern Ameri can families. The full line of pasta entrees features Rigatoni Silvana, rigatoni in a creamy meat sauce, peas, and melted mozzarella for $11.00. The restau ran t al so bo asts a ro b ust w in e select io n .

Try: Osso Bucco (cross-cut veal shanks braised with vegetables and white wine, served over angelhair pasta) $24.00 WWW. san v i t o r est au r an t , co m

I n 199 5, G raham and h is w i fe Gris ret urned t o

her family ranch in Fredericksburg and took on active management of Luckenbach, Texas—a little town bought by her father, Texas icon Hondo Grouch, and made famous by the Waylon Jen nings song of the same name, In 2004, they opened Hondo’s on Main, a restaurant and music venue in Fredericksburg. Hondo’s features top Texas musicians and “gourmet bar food.” Try the award winning barbeque and a full bar featuring large hand-shaken margaritas- regular, pineapple, or jalapeno fl avored.

Try: Hondo’s Donut Burger (one half-pound Angus Beef formed into a donut) $6.85 w w w .h o n d o so n m ai n .co m

H O UST O N

M ax’s W ine D ive* Owner: Jerry Lasco ’89

L asco ow n s six w i n e- cen t r i c rest au r an t s acro ss T ex as

with three additional openings scheduled for 2012.

With a passion for wine and food, Jerry and his wife Laura opened Max’sWine Dive in 2006 and created a gourmet comfort food sensation. Named after t heir oldest son . M ax’s is now a foodie favorite in

H ouston, A ustin and San An tonio. T he restaurant’s

mantra is “Fried Ghicken & Ghampagne, Why the H el l N o t ?!?” G u est s r av e ab o u t t h e d i sh t h at w as

A

JA C K SO N H O LE

2-5 . Alpenhof Lodge

Owner: Ed Gunningham ’67 Serves SwissAlpine comfort food that is both hearty and polished. After a day skiing, there’s apres ski fondue ($28.00 for two) to warm up with or gliihwein (wine blended with cinnamon, cloves, oranges, lemons and a dash of sugar) and $8.00 Flammkuchen (German pizza w/creme fraiche).

Enjoy Spaten and other German beers on draft.

Try: Weiner Schnitzel $18 www.alpenhofl odge.com 4 3 N or t h

Owner: Jerry Lundquist ’71 Set at the foot of Snow King Mountain, 43 North boasts spectacular views of the local ski resort and the surrounding mountain ranges. The dining room at th is excl usive sk i and sum m er desti nat ion

offers casual fi ne dining. Enjoy Tuscan wood fi red pizza and the Gabana Bar at 43, alfresco on the roof deck. This recipient of The Wine Spectator Award of Excellence features 17 beers on tap.

Try: Hot Buttered Lobster Glaw BET with Avocado $ 14 .00

www.43nortJi .net H

named one of “America’s Best Fried Ghicken” by C h e c k p o in t s

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b'^ 'Ale'i art dra Hamlet

A ex andra H am let Over one million military weapons and equipment are missing from the U.S. military inventories across the country. W here are all the weapons?CIA operative Eric Brent,

and his revolut ionary light weapon invention, is used by CIA t o flush out a secret ive,

“phantom” group hostile to awildly spending, intrusive U .S.A d m inist r at io n t hat t h reat ens to destroy the A merican economy and shrink individual f r eedo m s.

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resident Barack O bam a nom inated A i r

Force Lt. Gen. Janet (Libby) Wolfenbarger

’80 for promotion Feb. 6, which, pending

Senate approval, would make her the fi rst female four-star general in Air Force history.

Wolfenbarger currently serves as the military deputy in the Offi ce of theAssistant Secretary of the Air Fo r ce for Acquisition here and she is one of four female l ieu tenant generals in theAir Force. “ 1 am hum bled and honored to have been nom i

nated by the President to the rank of general and to

serve as com m ander of 7\ i r Force M ateriel C om m and.

Janet (Libby) Wolf enbarger ' 80

I look forward to participating in the Senate confi rma tion processwhen thetimecomes. At present, I remain focused on the important Air Force acquisition work I’ve been charged with,” Wolfenbarger said.

A Beavercreek, Ohio, native, Wolfenbarger was

com m issioned as a second lieutenant in 1980 af ter

" he A ir Fo rce 's First - e m a le Fo u r- St a r G e n e ra l N o m in e e Court esy of Secret ary of t he Air Force Public Affairs

graduating in the fi rst class with female cadets at t h e Air Force Academy. She also holds a graduate degree in aeronaut ics and ast ronaut ics from the M assachu

setts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

The general has held several positions in the F-22 System Program Offi ce at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; served as the F-22 lead program element monitor at the Pentagon, and was the B-2 system pro gram director for the Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB.

She commanded ASC’s C-17 Systems Group,

Mobility Systems Wing and was the service’s direc tor of the Air Force Acquisition Center of Excel lence at the Pentagon, then served as director of the headquarters AFMC Intelligence and Requirements Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB. Prior to her cur rent assignment, Wolfenbarger was the vice com mander of AFMC, Wright-Patterson AFB. She has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service M edal, the Air Force Commendation M edal, the Air

Force A ch ievem ent M edal , t he N at ional D efense M edal and the G lobal W ar on Terrorism M edal .

Wolfenbarger received her third star in December 2009 and became the Air Force’s highest-ranking

woman in January 2010. B 68

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L to R: Capt. Paul “Scram’ Anderson '05 prepares to launch fo r a sortie .

Brothers reunite: Capt. Dan Anderson ’03 and Capt. Paul “Sa am” Anderson ’05. Dan,

a flight doc on a deployment to Kuwait, was able to hop a flight to Bagramfor a visit with his bro ther.

L to R: Just outside the w ire .

Crew chief A1C Josh Byrd works hard to maintain his jet in the harsh

T ..

Afghanistan dust and wind.

Throughout my Air Force career, from basic cadet to F-16 pilot, I have always loved capturing images that seem utterly normal when the shutter clicks, but later resonate with anyone who has experienced those moments. Moments like: my C4C roommate taking a covert nap in full blues and A-jacket, curled up on the floor and hidden behind his bed to avoid upperclassman detection, snapshots of my pilot training bros being thro wn into an ice ra id water tank after their first solo flight and student pilots performing their first solo takeoffs

and landings after I climbed out of the right seat of the mighty T-37 Tweet.

After years of waiting, andtaking photographs of all things unrelated tocombat, I had my chancetogotow a r in the F-16. In 20111deployed for six months to Bagram, Afghanistan with the 555th Fighter Squadro n based out of Aviano, Italy. If I wasn’t flying I was shooting photos-knowing that I was part of a historic deployment. I lovedthecamaraderie betweenpilots and crewchiefe , theexcitement of employing bombs, bullets, and rockets to save our guys onthe gro und, and the dedicationto the missionthat I saw everywhere I pointed my lens.

In our six months downrange, the Triple Nickel flew over 14,000 combat hours, responded to over 800 troops in contact situations, provided armed overwatch for Special Operations Forces missions to capture high value targets, and dropped 682 bombs in support of coalition ground troops.

Capt. Ryan “Scar” Thulin ’04 and Maj. Travis “Snakeye” Winslow ’01.

;

Lto R: Capt. Tyler “Hook” Smith and Capt.

Clayton “Half Time” Bailey '05 step to their jets.

Capt. Nick “Khan” Krajicek performs the pre-game ritual before stepping out the door for a combat so rtie .

L to R: Gruenther re turn s from a

sortie after dropping all 4 bombs and shooting the 20mmgun. (Pho to by Tech. Sgt. Ken Johnston) Photo taken from the door of a UH-60 Blac k Haw k on a visit to a

remote forward operating base

L to R: A UH-60 Black Haw k

medevac helicopter.

An AH-64 Apache helicopter departs Bagram at dawn.

L to R: A Triple Nickel Viper

takes off at d usk.

Capt. Josh “Riot” Rasmussen '03 and Capt. Craig “Rockef Baker '05 hamit up for the camera.

Bagram still has

mined areas inside the wire .

' .-J -

First Lieut enant Nicholas Mercuii o

’08 helped fight a blaze at Forward

Operating Base Wright, Afghanistan, on Nov. 15, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Capt. Peter Shinn)

Nicho las Mercurio '08 Receives M edal fo r Heroism

By Airman 1st Class Tom Brading, Joint Base Charleston Pu b lic A f fa irs

F

irst Lieutenant N icholas M ercurio ’08 didn’t set out to receive the Ai r Force A chievement M edal w ith Valor w hile

deployed with Provincial Reconstruction

Team Kunar. But because of circum

stances he experienced, the first lieutenant earned th e medal becausehewent “above and beyond.”

“My hopewas that I could just go out there and

do my job,” said Mercurio.

Hisjob was to be a public affairs offi cer for the

ongoing reconstruction mission in Kunar Province

in Afghanistan. However, three weeks into his first deployment to the country, on Nov. 15, 2010, he was awakened to the sound of his roommate yell ing, “We’re under attack!”

At approximately 6 a.m., an insurgent fired a rocket-propelled grenade. The grenade scored a direct hit to a helicopter fuel bladder which was

perched at a forward arming and refueling point overlooking the base. The refueling station was the

site of armed vehicles, helicopters, rockets, ammu nition and more than 60,000 gallons of jet fuel.

72

u s a f a .o pg

The station immediately burst into flames as

black smoke and fi re towered more than 1,000 feet into t he air above. T he w estern m ountai ns w ere

covered by the smoke hanging over the forward

operating base, as twisted bitsof metal and shrap

nel rained down from the sky.

“It was baptism by fire,” said Mercurio, in regards to his first experience with combat. “We

trained and retrained both mentally and physically,

however, you never know how you’ll react until

you’re in that moment.”

“A second RPG was fi red into a building near

us,” said Mercurio. “It wasso close our supply

offi cer said it felt like it gave him a haircut.”

When the fuel bladder washit, the gasstarted

slowly burning a path down the hill. As seconds passed, the slow-burning fuel became an ocean of gasoline, leaving a trail of fire in its wake and

heading straight toward the barrackshousing the

majority of service members stationed there.

Without any fi refighting equipment, Mercurio,

along with other service members, immediately

took action to stop the fi re. They started loading nearby sandbags into a pick-up truck and drove up to the fi re to try to stop the blaze.

Sacrifi cing their own safety, they cut open bag after bag of sand, forcing the fi re back uphill inch by inch. Adding to the danger was the .50 caliber am m unit ion and Hellfi re missiles detonating due to the heat on top of the hill.

If that wasn’t enough, there was another variable to ov er co m e. M i n e R esi st an t Ambush Protected vehicles, stocked with C-4 explosives, were parked on the fl ight line and engulfed in fl ames.

One of the MRAPsexploded in the midst of the chaos, fl ipping an offi cer backwards. The turret from the M RAP shot across the fl ight line and Mercurio

SAVE

THEDM E

witnessed one of the doors from the vehicle shoot above h i s h ead .

An hour into the battle, fi refi ghters from Asadabad, the capital city of Kunar,

arrived at the scene i n fi re t ruck s.

“We took turnsusing thewater hosesto fi ght the fi re,” said M ercurio. “ Shoul-

der-to-shoulder, we fought the fi re until it felt like we were going to hack out our lungs, then we’d tradewith Afghan fi refi ghtersand they’d fi ght it, too.”

Eventually, the team brought the extensivewall of fl am es under cont rol and kept the fi re away from any structures. The fi re fi nally burned itself out .

M ercurio credits his actions to his instincts and the combat training provided to him

during histimeat Camp Atterbury, Ind., prior to deploying to Afghanistan. In addi

tion, he credits the group of offi cers that assisted in fi ghting the fi rewith him.

Lt. Col. Aaron Burgstein, 1st Combat Camera commander, presented Mercu

rio w i th the A i r Force A ch ievem ent M edal w ith Valor on Jan. 19.

According to the citation signed by Lt. Gen. David G oldfei n ’83, com m ander,

JA B A R A

A IR M A NS H IP

AWA RD D IN N ER M AY 6

U .S. A ir Forces Gent ral C om m and , the valor device w as in recognition of

Mercurio’s heroic actions in direct contact by an enemy force and his courageous leadership in the face of grave danger. Mercurio was an example to his peers and directly impacted the command’s ability to avoid a catastrophic loss of infrastruc ture, equipment and personnel.

“It’s not about winning medals,” said Mercurio. “It’s about doing your job.

Our job was to help theAfghan people and the better we do that job, the faster

wewon’t beat war in Afghanistan.” 9

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A sso c iat i o n o f G r a d u at es U N I T E D ST AT ES A I R FO RC E A C A D E M Y

G R A D U A T E P R O F IL E

Graduat es eunit e I

in Paktya Province, Afghanistan by 1st Lt . Cammie Quinn • Si ir

PRT Paktya Public Affairs

w

ith an average of more

than 70 service m em bers

per team, an assignment

to a provincial reconstruction team is

an uncommon opportunity; even more

uncommon is such an assignment for

threealumsfrom thesame college.

Paktya Provincial Reconstruction Team U.S. Air Force offi cers, Capt.

Tyler Johnson ’05, a Paktya PRT lead engineer from San Antonio, 1st Lt. Gale Reeves ’08, Paktya PRT engineer from Angleton, Texas and 1st Lt. Ryan Mills ’08, a Paktya PRT intelligence offi cer from Chicago, share an alma mater- the United StatesAir ForceAcademy.

The offi cers, who say they only knew of each other in school, agree they gained indelible skills from the Academy which helped them to rise to meet diffi cult circumstances during their deploy ment in eastern Afghanistan.

“TheAcademy taught about leadership during diffi cult times, how to stay focused and achieve goals in a high-operations tempo,” Johnson said.

“One of the key takeaways from my Academy experience was a learned abil ity to just deal with it,” Reeves added.

“Throughout our four years, we were f orced i n to si t uat ions t hat w ere l ess

than favorable, with absolutely no way out and learned to excel. Quitting isn’t an option.”

While the Air Force Academy curricu

l um w as st rict , one lieutenant said there

were some things the school couldn’t teach to fully prepare cadets for war.

74

u s a f a .o pg

“While we were at the Academy, we were focused on passing classes, work ing out and graduation,” Mills said. “No one ever really emphasized that one day we would all be going to war and would lead troops in combat.”

Johnson, Mills and Reeveshave applied recendy-learned combat skills to lead outside-the-w ire m issions for the PRT .

In fact, during their initial transit into Afghanistan, Mills, Reeves and a U.S. Army civil aff airs fi rst sergeant were called to respond to a gunshot victim and perform skills learned just weeks

before in pre-deployment training.

“We administered a tourniquet and fi rst aid until medical personnel arrived,” Reeves said . “ W e w ere later inform ed

that we had literally saved the man’s life.

H e lost a crit ical am ount of blood and

later went on to receive multiple transfu sions and surgeries.”

“It was a wild ‘welcome to Afghani stan’ day,” he added.

While deployed, the company grade offi cers partnered with members of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in their journey toward developing a safe and secure nation.

The engineers coordinated with the Paktya rural rehabilitation and develop ment director to support Afghan-led development projects. As an intelligence offi cer. Mills provided recommendations for leadership based on an assessment of the current enemy situation and updated the PRT ’s security forceswith current

security analysis. Si

Lto R: U.S. Air Force I st Lt Cale

Reeves ’08, a Paktya Provincial ReconstructionTeam engineer from Angleton, Texas; U.S. Air Force Capt. Tyler Johnson ’05, a Paktya PRT lead engineer from San Antonio; and U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Ryan Mills ’08, a Paktya PRT intelligence officer from Chicago, (courtesy photo)

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H E R IT A G E

n ft h e M e ad o w

Flefuge Statues

s

'M f

v:'

fi

r

' - . 1.. ■■ ^

By Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Randy Cubero '61 Phot os by Lewis Carlyle

OnThur^

of 196 1 assc ^o s t a t u (

'6,

INovember 3, 2011 the USAFA Class

[bled at theAFA cemetery to present Superintendent, Lt. Gen. MikeGould

&50th Anniversary gifts to theAir Force

[emy. Thepresenter that day wasGen. (Ret.) Lee

Butler ’61who conceived of these two gift sand spoke

eloquently on their development over thelast two years. Mr. BriceJones’61wasthechief class-fundraiser of the gift sand remarkably ensured that 100 percent of the class contributed.

These two magnifi cent worksof metal sculpture,

although in separatelocations, arenonethelessinextri cably joined together in their inspiration and meaning.

Th e vision for A irman on the M eadow was to be the

visual representation of thewordsto thepoem High Flight-. “1put out my hand and touched thefaceof

God.” The inspiration for Winged Refugewas Psalm 91: “He shall cover thee with His feathers and under

Hiswingsshalt thou trust.” Thisarticle presents

o n e

early graduate’sperspectiveon why thesetwo statues

should be meaningful to graduatesof the United StatesAir ForceAcademy.

At our 50th Reunion, the Class of 1961 recognized 45 classmateswho lost their livesduring the last half

century. Sadly, just prior to our reunion weekend we

usof the peoplewith whom we shared the strong

bonds of brotherhood or sisterhood that exist between

the graduatesof thismilitary institution.

Winged Refugerepresentsaspiritual haven for Airman. Thewingswerepatterned aft er themagnifi cent stained glassspiresof theCadet Chapel that all point to theheavens. For graduatesof all faithsthese

wingsevoke the bond that exists between our Creator

and us. Winged Refugesymbolizesthefulfi llment of theBiblical promisethat when wepasson from this

lifewewill rise again and fi nd refuge in God’slove.

When I next visit theAFA cemetery to stand by the

gravesiteof adeparted classmate, I will linger, asusual , and rem inisce about the lives we have led. Th en I w ill

drivepast both statues; fi rst. Airman on theMeadow as away of honoring ali theAir ForceAcademy

graduateswho now haveafi nal resting placein our cemetery. Second, asagraduateof faith, I will passby Winged Refugeand thank my Creator for embracing their souls, for allowing them to have been a part o f

my lifeand for theprofessional examplethey set for

the other younger graduatesin The Long Blue Line.

As I drive out of the cemetery my fi nal thought will be: “Fi ow fortunate that our nation was served by the likes of these fallen airmen!” H

lost one more classmate due to a gratefully brief batde with cancer. The family held a funeral service at the cemetery on theWednesday following the Reunion Weekend. The inscriptionson both statueswere read at the service and, as intended, provided great comfort and solace to the family, his classmatesand friends i n attendance. The cemetery service ended with all our classmatessinging the third stanza of theAir Force

Song, “Here’satoast to thehost ...” It wasatouching and solem n statem ent of a life w ell lived and cel

ebrated by those in attendance.

T hese two new statues are located at the M em orial

Pavilion with Winged Refuge on the east side and

A irm an on the M eadow on the w est . Faith or no faith ,

graduatesof all backgroundscan takecomfort and

inspiration from one or both of these statues. Airman representsour temporal life and the memorieswe haveof all our cherished graduate friendswho are buried or memorialized in these hallowed grounds.

Asweenter the cemetery we can hear their voices and laughter in our heads; we remember thejoysand sorrowsthat we shared together. We aresaddened that they no longer are in our presence but they will always be in our hearts. Airman’sphysical presence reminds n o w

a s .w

'

C h e c k p o in t s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

77

FR O M

T H E T ER RA Z Z O

T he Secr et Lif e of

Waldo F. Dumbsquat

BY D O N H A L L 7 6

A LT I M E T E R C H E C K “Sir, my altitude is 7,250 feet above sea level- far, far above that of West Point or Annapolis.” - 1986 Basic Cadet Training Pamphlet, Page 3 C4C Waldo E Dumbsquat sat pensively in the Peterson Field Base Operations lobby. The USAFA base taxi had

dumped him at base ops in the early morning so that he could fl y an Airmanship 370 “Stardust” orientation fl ight. T h e brochure said that “through a seriesof hour long fl ights, each

cadet gets to experience the joy and freedom which from conquering the sky.” Well, today it seemed the sky was c o m

e s

doing all the conquering. Another free Saturday morning sh o t .

Theweatherman leaned out over hiscounter and gave

Waldo a thumbs-down gesture.

“1don’t think you’ll be fl ying today. That low pressure system over the Four Corners has really socked in the w o r l d fast. I’m forecasting low ceilingsfor the entire day. It’sjust above minimums for the approach.”

If the min wasn’t good enough, it wouldn’t be the min thought the disappointed doolie.

At the other end of the counter, the dispatcher slammed d ow n thephoneand hastily reached for hisquick reaction ch eck l ist .

“Sir, what’s going on?” asked Waldo.

“Approach control just called. The Superintendent is coming back cross country from Vegas. Fl e’s got a pitot static m alfunc t ion and no fuel to divert . L ooks like he needs a chase ship. Of course, the squadron has weather cancelled and gone h o m e! I t will take at least thirty minutes to get somebody back h er e!”

In spite of being bummed that no one called to let him sleep in, Waldo knew something extraordinary needed to be d o n e.

Ducking into the VIP briefi ng room, the freshman uttered t h e magic words “upper level low” and through literary wizardry transformed into Colonel Waldo F. Dumbsquat, a man w h o always took the IRC without a pony. The off icer sprinted t o the squadron chute shop and grabbed his equipment from p eg 37. The life support NCO stopped him at the door.

“Sir, your G suit isdue for inspection. Let’s fi t you with a spare.”

“No time. Sergeant Fl arrod. Time critical situation, y o u

know. Don’t worry though. I only wear a G suit for picturesnever zip it up.”

Outside, the colonel approached the silver skinned T-33A on thequiet ramp. A light mist glistened on thedrop tanks. Followed 78

u s a f a .o pg

by thecrew chief. Colonel Dumbsquat inspected thestraight wing jet trainer, then climbed the ladder and strapped into theejection seat. Leaning over the cockpit rail, the crew chief double-checked thepilot and cockpit. Satisfi ed, hedropped down theladder and removed it from theaircraft . Dumbsquat hit the auto ignition

switch and opened thethrotdewhilekeepingakeen eye on the

engine instruments ... thejet motor rumbled to life. Th e crew chief pulled the chocks and marshaled hisbird out with a sharp salute.

Light gun signalsfrom the tower told him hewas cleared fo r

takeoff ". Thecolonel taxied onto therunway and glanced at t h e windsock. Direct headwind- good. Pushing thethrottlesmoothly forward and releasing brakes, Waldo could feel theAllison J33-

A-35 turbojet enginewinding up to itsfull 5200 pound t h r u st .

At max takeoff weight of 14,442 pounds, his bird would need almost half the runway to get airborne (thisbase sure could use a longer runway). Distancemarkersalong sidetherunway slipped

by morequickly now astheT-33A gulped cold Colorado ai r d ow n the intakes and turned it into furious thrust. At 95 knots, the nose

wheel lift ed off theground followed shortly by themain gear as

the “shooting star” soared into the murky clouds. As rain streak ed across the canopy. Colonel Dumbsquat executed all checklists fl aw lessly and fl ew the departure to ten thousand feet. So o n h e level ed

off and accelerated to 400 knots.

“Springs Departure, Dumbsquat here in the clear at Angels 10. Chase ship. Request a vector.”

“Dumbsquat, SpringsDeparture. Fly heading 120. Main

tain one zero thousand. Company traffi c is two o’clock, fi f t een miles, level at one one thousand, call sign Falcon 76 . ”

“You said a mouthful, but copy all. Departure. I’ve go t

visual con tact on the T -33.”

“Maintain visual separation until rejoined. Contact Fal co n

76 on 303.0 .”

“Thirty thirty for Dumbsquat.”

The colonel tuned the UHF radio to the air-to-air frequency.

“Falcon 76, are you up on Winchester?”

“Dumbsquat, is that you?”

“Yes, sir. The cavalry has arrived!”

“About time ... thought I would be doing a nylon let d ow n .

Airspeed indicator is tango uniform and my gyro has t u m b l ed and won’t cage. Lookslike I’ll be landing on your wing!”

“Permission to rejoin?”

“Dumbsquat, rejoin left side 300 knots.”

The ensuing geometric danceof angles, curves, and cl o su r e brought the two aircraft to a fl awless rendezvous. Executing a smooth position change, the colonel led the Sup’sstricken plane i n close form at ion back to Pet e Field .

“Dumbsquat, SpringsApproach on Guard. Gontact Peterson

G GA on 239 .0.”

“Peterson Radar, Dumbsquat, fl ight of two, emergency, w i t h

you at Angels niner.”

“Falcon 76, Peterson Final Controller, radar contact. Turn right

heading 350. Descend and maintain 8,100. Thiswill be vectors for Precision Approach Runway 35. Weather reported 100 o v er cast , o n e quarter milevisibility, wind 300 at 15 knots, altimeter 29.87. ” Weather right at PAR approach mins, a crosswind, wet runway, formation approach, low fuel, and aJ 8 attitude indicator- the perfect storm and test of a pilot’s mettle. Slowly reducing the throttle, Waldo slowed the two-ship formation down. Gear, fl aps and airbrakes were deployed.

“Approaching glidepath. Wheelsshould be down.”

“Begin descent.”

“On glide path, on course.”

“Of course,” The colonel said to himself At high altitudeand high

mach theT-33 could be a bear to trim, but on GCA fl nal- no w o r r i es.

“Winds 300/ 10. Cleared to land Runway 35.”

“At decision height.”

“Dumbsquat has runway in sight. To quoteJohnny Nash: ‘ I can see clearly now the rain isgone. I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark cloudsthat had me blind. It’sgonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day.’”

“Roger, Dumbsquat. Take over visually and contact tower.”

“Wilco ... good run,” the colonel complimented the r ad ar

cont roller.

“Falcon A!” chimed in the Sup.

Only someVan Halen could have made thewing landing an y

better, and Waldo proudly escorted the Superintendent t o t h e

parking ramp. Thesun broke through the cloudsasboth

m

e n

shutdown their engines and opened canopies.

“I owe you a beer, Dumbsquat.”

“Excusemefrom your next staff meeting and we’ll call it even. Sir.” “ D o n e.”

The colonel debriefed the emergency responders, safety, an d m ain tenance before leaving hisaircraft. Finally, the excitement ebbed and

thecrowd dispersed. Ducking behind an arriving fuel truck , W aldo transformed into hisscrawny freshman form and wandered b ack

into theBaseOpsbuilding. Thedispatcher met him at t h e d o o r.

“Doesn’t look likeyou’ll begetting that motivation fl ight today.

Mister Dumbsquat. A busiswaiting for you out front. Sorry.”

Waldo grinned.

“Maybenext time. Sir.” S

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H E R IT A G E I

Hie ClassAdvisory Senate: A Voice for Grads

T

he ClassAdvisory Senate (CAS) was established through the Bylawsadopted by theAOG membership in May 2006.

The CASwas formed as an outgrowth stemming from the Blue Ribbon Council (BRC) Report from January of

that year. TheBRC recognized theneed for arepresenta tive body to provide a link between theAOG Board of Directorsand membership. The CASwas envisioned as

an

outreach arm of theAOG leadership. In thisregard i t ser ves as a two-way channel of communication between AOG

leadership and thebroader graduatecommunity.

TheGASseeksto keep graduatesinformed- through their GlassRepresentatives- of issuesrelating to theA cad

emy, theAOG and the USAFA Endowment. At the same

tim e, it seeks m em bers’ view s and inform s the A O G Board on relevant issues. Th e Senate also advises the Board o n

policy issuesbased on member input. Thusevery graduate

know s that he or she can contact a classm ate who has a

clear channel for input to theAOG leadership.

In late 2006, a small working group was formed to fl esh out the Senate concept and develop a “strawman” for C A S operations. Thegroup consisted of former Director of t h e

AOG Board, Andi Biancur ’60, former Executive Director of the AOG, Jock Schwank ’60, former President/CEO o f

theAOG, Dick Coppock ’61and Dick Sexton ’60. They

were later joined by former Director of theAOG Board, Ed Montgomery ’59, Carl Janssen ’68, Bob Munson ’73 and Rich Trentm an ’8 1.

Thegroup recognized that if the Senatewas to work effectively and havelegitimacy, it would need to have broad participation from thegraduate community. To that en (

C lass Presidents and Scribes w ere contacted and asked D

select” amember to serveastheir ClassRepresentative.

An initiid organizational meeting was held on Januar) 18, 2007 with eight representativesattending in person

and fi ve participating by teleconference. Prior to the m eet ing, Dick Sexton had prepared a “strawman” for Senate operation. The group adopted the strawman as the Senate Operating Proceduresand elected Dick Sexton as interim

President. TheAOG Board approved theSenateOperating

Proceduresin May 2007.

Thefi rst meeting of thefull Senatetook placein July 2007. Dick Sexton chaired themeeting and called for nomineesfor President. Several membersresponded, “ L et

the old guy do it,” and Sexton was elected President o f th e

Senate. TheSenatehassubsequently grown to 44 members

out of 53 graduated classes. In addition, four classesh av e

selected back-up representativesin casetheprimary rep re

sentative is unavailable. Class Representativesare selected for an initial two-year term and may be re-selected for subsequent termsat the pleasure of their class.

TheSenatemeetsin DoolitdeHall and by teleconference or videoconferencefour timesayear. Themeetingstak e placeon thesecond Monday of themonth preceding the AOG Board meetings. TheSenateroutinely receivesupdates

from the C EO s of the A O G and the U SA FA Endow m ent

aswell as the Board Chair. These updatesarefollowed by a discussion of issues raised by the Board or by the m em b ers.

TheSenate attempts to resolvediff erences in thesev iew s, develop a consensusand prepare recommendationsto t h e Board asappropriate. General Mike Gould ’76, Academy

Superintendent, hasalso briefed theSenateand isscheduled

to do so again later thisyear.

One of the Senate’sfi rst actionswas to produce an ment of theAOG Strate^ c Goalsand provide the Board with a membership based perspective and recommenda tionson vision, mission and goals. Thiswas followed by the fi rst in a seriesof Moving Forward documents that provided a long term, “over the horizon” view of member expecta a s se ss

theBoard StrategicPlan that iscurrently being developed.

Binn also noted that three m embers of the current Board

havepreviously served in theSenateand invited other

fundraising, fi nancial stability, outreach to cadets, gradu atesand friendsof theAcademy, Chapter development an d measuresof eff ectivenessof AOG programs.

Over the course of fi ve years, most of the Senate’s recommendations have been adopted in whole or in part.

As the Senate has grown, so has its scope and infl uence.

tives in the Senate: ’63, ’69, ’91, ’92, ’94, ’01, ’06, ’08, and

’09. It is important that every class have an opportunity t o make itsvoice heard. If you are interested in representing your class, contact your classoffi cersor Dick Sexton ’60,

CASPresident, at sextonrch@aol.com. 9

i K Support your Academy! Please mark your calendars for t hese upcoming events. We will keep you

updated on event details as they become available.

FO U N D ERS D A Y

April 13 USAFA

Th e President of the Senate now serves as an Ex-O fi cio m em ber of the A O G Board, w ithout vote.

In responding to thelatest Moving Forward (2011-2013), Brian Binn ’72, Board Vice Ghair, writing for the Board, thanked the Senate for itscontinuing input and noted th at many of the Senate’srecommendationswill be included i n

em

bersof the Senate to consider running for the Board.

At present the following classesdo not have representa

tions and recom m endations. Th ese docum ents covered

such areas as governance and fi nance, friendraising an d

m

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H E R iT A G E

AO G AW A RDS H O N O RA RY M EM BERSH IP T O

ED M U N D L LA D O U C EU R

M

r. Edm und L . Ladouceur w as aw arded

Honorary AOG Membership during an induction ceremony that was held at Doolittle Hall on February 2, 2012.

M r. Ladouceur w as D irector of the Cadet Catholic

Choir, Associate Director of the Cadet Chorale, Direc

tor of Cadet Chapel Music, Director of Cadet Choral Activitiesand organist at the Cadet Chapel for 28 yearsfrom 1961 to 1989. “ M r. L ,” as he w as k now n t o the m ore than

3, 100 m em bers of the C atholic C hoi r and C adet

Chorale, was born on October 7, 1933. At the

age of fi fteen he became the youngest graduate of the fi ve-year music program at Detroit’s Palestrina I nsti t ute of Ecclesiastical M usic. H e earned bach

elor degrees in music education and organ/piano, and a master of fi ne arts degree in organ perfor mance from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Mr. Ladouceur has been a faculty member of several collegesand universities, isa member of theAmerican Guild of Organists, and has performed in concert extensively throughout the United States.

In February 1961, “Mr. L” joined theAcademy staff and, together with James Roger Boyd, brought theAcademy much national recognition through per formancesat the 1974 Super Bowl, the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, the inauguration of President Richard M. Nixon, annual performancesat St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and many others. A nationally renowned organist himself, Mr. L brought other world-renowned organists to theAcademy for its Summer Organ Recital Series.

Mr. L’s biography is impressive but it doesn’t capture the real reason for this award- his direct impact on more than 3,100 cadets and the entire Academy community. AsTom Lockie ’79 said in the nomination package “ ... he wore many hats

nity Center Chapel as well, said AOG Honorary Member Brigadier General (Ret.) Mai Wakin.

Mr. L’s choirs included many notable graduates.

General (Ret.) Mike Ryan ’65, former Air Force Chief of Staff wrote, “Mr. L touched many cadets,” and that he “strengthened their faith and uplifted their lives.” Former Academy Superintendent, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) John Regni ’73, wrote “‘Mr. L’ is an incredibly accomplished musician [and] the main reason I went to Sunday choir was to just watch and marvel at his skills, and listen as he played.”

TheAOG Honorary Membership Award can be bestowed upon non-graduateswho demonstrate prolonged, outstanding and conspicuousservice to theAir Force, theAcademy, and theAOG. Only 25 living personscan hold the title of Honorary Member at any given time. It was fi rst awarded in 1981 to M rs.

Gail McComas, the beloved Cadet Wing Hostess. Past recipientsinclude Barry Goldwater, Jimmie Doolittle,

Coach Ben Martin and Coach Fisher DeBerry. B

besides musical director. H e was mentor, father

if gure and friend to all who knew him.” He not only built the Cadet Chapel music programs, he built the Catholic music programs at the Commu

82

u s a f a .o r g

AOG Board ChairTerry Storm '61 presents Edmund Ladouceur with the Honorary AOG Membership Award.

Ser v ic e A c a d emy

C a r eer C o n f er en c e

May 24-25, 2012 Washington, D.C. W h a t is SA C C ?

The SACC is t he Service Academy Career Conference support ed by t he Associat ions of Graduat es from t he U.S. Air Fo rc e Academy and the U.S. Military Academy, and Alumni Associations from t he U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Previous conferences have been att ended by hundreds of companies and t housands o f

alumni. Go to www.sacc-jobfair.com for a list of companies attending, the complete schedule and the online registration f o r m .

W h e r e w i l l t h e SA C C b e h e ld ?

The next SA CC w ill b e held at t he O m ni Sho reham Hot el, 2500 Calvert St reet NW, Washingt on, D.C. Call (202) 2 34 -0 70 0 f o r re se rv at io n s a n d ask f o r t h e SA C C rat e .

SA C C Sc h e d u l e o f Ev e n t s

Thursday, May 24 Se n io r O f fice rs:

Obstacles & Opport unities H o w t o W o rk SA C C J o b Fa ir .

C a n d id at e C a re e r Se m in a r .

4:15 p .m .

5:00 p.m. ,6:00 p.m.

Friday, May 25 Walk-in Registration Pre-Paid Regist rat ion

...8 :15 a .m .

SA C C

.. 9 :30 a .m .

Lu n c h

12:15 p.m. . 1:30 p.m.

SA C C

. 9 :30 a .m .

5:00 p.m.

5:45 p .m .

7:15 p .m .

All Day All day 12:15 p.m.

1:30 p.m.

5:00 p.m.

Sat urday, May 26 Interviews only if direct ly scheduled between company recruit ers and candidates; Companies will cont act you direct ly regarding any on-site int erviews during t he SACC. Regist rat ion The SACC Candidat e regist rat ion fee is $40. To regist er, submit a one-page resume (for recruit er's book) and pay online at www.sacc-jobfair.com. This limit ed resume is designed to give the recruiters an indication of your capabilities. It is N O T t h e resume you should bring t o hand out to t he recruit ers at t he conference. Regist rat ion deadline for inclusion in t h e re c r u it e r 's book is Sat urday, May 12, 2012.

N e x t Sc h e d u le d SA C C

San Diego, CA August 23-24, 2012 For more informat ion, contact Wayne Taylor at (719) 472-0300 or go online at www.sacc-jobfair.com.

F R O M

T H E

T E R R A Z Z O

W a lk t h e W a lk : Le ad e rs in Et h ic a l A ct io n A C ad et Rev iew o f t he 20 12 N at io na l C ha ract e r

and Leadership Symposium

By CSC Lauren Linscott Illust rat ion by Chris Hureau

W

alking the hallsof Fairchild, my footstepsecho through the empty corridors. My watch ringsangrily, signaling new hour: 0900 on aThursday morning and not another cadet in sight. No doolie awkwardly clutching his back pack in hisleft hand. No Dean-approved coff ee mug embracing three degree tiredly pushing her way through of ABUs. No beret twirling Firstie lazily swaggering through one of his fi nal daysof class. It isquite apparent that this isnot a normal day at theAir ForceAcademy. Theweather certainly isn’t unique; an oppressive layer of snow coats the marble stripson theTerrazzo, making walking an exercise in balance and luck. Ffowever, instead of cadets being the only ones to participate in thissport, fi nely dressed women in heels and men in tiesof every color slowly and carefully head lecture h al ls an d b al l ro om s t o hear the presentationsof some of the most prominent, forward-thinking and inspiring leaders in theworld. I n st ead o f cl asses focused on furthering our academic education, the Cadet Wing, visiting college students, ROTC cadetsand graduatesat t en d lectures that will enhance our leadership education. This isthe 19th Annual National Character and Leadership Symposium, and expectationsare high. TheAir ForceAcademy presentsonly the best, and these two daysin February in which upper lead ership invitesathletes, CEO’s, past presidential candidates, and Medal of Honor recipients to off er their perspective an d adv i ce on hov^ to become a leader of character promises to be exceptional.

I am amazed by the stories I hear in each session: cancer survival, Vietnam dogfi ghting, the awarding of the M edal of Honor, cadet life in decadespast. But what really strikes me is that in the uniqueness of each of the presentations, there are common themes present in many. TheVietnam ace, Willy Driscoll, and motivational speaker Theresa Melaragno b o t h 84

u s a f a .o r g

a

a se a

emphasize the process of self-evaluation, high lighting the idea that

improvement is a process.

Dr. Matthew Spitzer, president of Doctors

W ithout Borders, and

Gregory Hall, engineer of the

C hilean m iner rescue, touch on

the idea of never giving up whether it’s in getting medical care to the citizens of a resistant country or in saving the lives of 33 trapped men. The them e of N C LS is “ W alk the W alk : Leaders in Ethi

cal Action;” the aforementioned speakers certainly proved themselves to be leaders of unshakeable conviction and morality. While I cannot attend all o f the sessions, I believe every presenter to be of equally strong character.

What truly surprises me though, isthe eagerness of the speakers to talk to me. Aft er almost all of t h e messages, I am able to ask deeper questions. Ms. Melaragno, a one-time top-tier executive in a maledominated company, isgraciousenough to allow me to inundate her with questions ranging anywhere from her cancer treatment to her faith. To m e, the

most striking part of her presentation is the fact t h at shewalked into the doctor’soffi ce knowing shewas having some health problems and walked out with a six-week survival rate and an appointment for surgery the next day. I marvel at her resolve to change herself in the short time shewas given to live.

“I began thinking about how I would be remembered,” Melaragno said “and if I wanted to be remembered in that way. I decided that things had to change.” The next two years, she fought and beat the cancer, but the process of changing her life w as far from over. She cont inued to discover w hat

it means to be a person of integrity in the business world, eventually writing a book entitled, “The Integrity Meltdown.”

I asked Melaragno how cadets can start their journey down the road to character discovery.

“Through evaluation, reading, and learning about leaders who exemplify those qualities,” she answered. “And when you start studying, you fi nd opportunities to exercise what you’ve been reading, what you’ve been learning. After you have been placed in situations to exercise what you know, you can go back and say, ‘How could I have done that b et t er ? W h at sh o u l d I h av e d o n e i n st ead ?” ’

Discussions like these are as important to me, if not more so, as the presentations. NCLS provides opportunities to ask the hard questions and receive answers from people who have been there.

Overall, the opinions of those who attended NCLS were tremendously positive. “My college?

I love my college ... but it has nothing like this,” said Alex Green, a junior from Augustana College.

He went on to say that he has been challenged to return to his school and put some of the leadership techniques he learned at USAFA into practice.

An ROTC cadet from Kansas State University said that hewas “blown away” by the presenters. USAFA cadetswerejust as enthusiastic, if not more so. C2C JakeAllman encouraged thejunior and senior classes present for the Challenge Ceremony to, “Step back and think about the opportunity that has been presented here.” Allman urged them to truly consider the messages offered by all of the speakers. No matter what speakerswere heard, therewas something to be gleaned from each.

L t . G en. Robin Rand ’79 w as the fi nal voice

of the w eek . Rand talked about his reasons for

remaining in the Air Force. After speaking of family, his subordinates, and the mission, he tells us that the Air Force’s history keeps him in the fi ght- especially the history of the Tuskegee Airmen. He speaks of their bravery at a time when America didn’t appreciate their sacrifi ce and the progress made in the years since. “If we are better today than in 1945, it is [because] in this room today is everything that our country wants to be ... but we’re not there yet. What is your legacy going to be?”

At 0900 Monday morning the hallwaysof Fairchild will once again be traversed by cadetsof every rank.

Classeswill resume, the civilian guestswill have returned home, and the speakerswill be on a plane to another booking. However, their ideaswill remain.

As I hook my garter straps to my socks and shirt and ensure my gig line is ruler straight in preparation fo r my CQ shift , I consider my cadet career and the suc cesses and failures I’ve experienced. Lx)oking through the lenscreated by NCLS, I realize I’m not satisfi ed.

Refl ection causes me to question the things I have let slide. I recognize the litde areas that have become even slightly compromised. As I approach the CQ desk and observe the freshmen calling minutes, I mull over these trip-ups. My time at theAcademy isalmost halfway over. I owe it to myself as an offi cer candidate and- more importantly- to my subordinates, to give my absolute best in correcting my weaknesses. NCLS isdifferent for every cadet. For some, like me, it a call to change; for others, a source of inspiration; for many, a challenge. The National Character and Leadership Symposium demonstrates the standardsof excellence the Cadet Wing strives to achieve. It is w as

n o w

our job to meet thosestandards. B

C h e c k p o in t s I M a r c h 2 0 1 2

85

B ut

N ot

For got t en

Al ber t A. Gagliar di , Jr., '59 Surrounded by his fam ily, our good friend A1Gagliardi passed aw ay at his hom e in San Antonio on Dec. 11, 2011 following a long bout with cancer and heart disease. He w ill be greatly m issed by all who knew

h i m a n d se r v e d w i t h h i m .

A1- or “Gag,” as he was known to his classm at es - e n t e r e d t h e fi r st class of the Air Force Academy in July 1955 at the tem porary site at Lowry AFB in Denver. He made friends easily, and the friendships last ed a lifetime. He was a st andout soccer player, thanks in part t o his highly com petitive nature. Graduation on June 3, 1959 a t t h e A c a d e my ’s now -permanent site launched a st e l l a r c a r e e r t h a t sa w h i m r i se t o

the rank of Brigadier General.

Follow ing graduation from the Academy, Gag was assigned to Lar edo AFB for pilot training where

w am o

h e r e m a i n e d a s a n i n st r u c t o r u n t i l 19 6 2 .

H e t h e n t r a n sf e r r e d t o R a n

dolph AFB, also as an instructor pi

l o t . I n 19 6 5 h e e n t e r e d t h e A i r F o r c e

Institute of Technology, receiving a m aster’s degree in Aeronautical En gineering. Upon graduat ion from AFIT in 1967, he was assigned to George AFB for F-4 upgrade train ing. In 1968 and 1969, he was as signed as an F-4 pilot in Vietnam w h e r e h e f l ew 18 6 c o m b a t m i ssi o n s .

Al Gagl iardi

Gag w as always a m an of high energy, t errific hum or, a n d u n w a v e r

ing values. One of his favorite lines was that, having graduat ed exactly

in the middle of the Class of ’59, he was the quintessential a v e r a g e cadet . I was Gag’s friend for 56 years and was proud t o c a l l h i m M Y friend. He m ade a difference w herever he went , and t h o se o f u s w h o s e lives he touched are better off for having known him . (Jerry Garber, ’5 9)

Jim m ie L. Jay, '59

In the Sum mer of 1955, with Chuck Taylor’s com mand, “M r. Jay, Front and Center for the Air Force Song,” the inspirational spirit of the Class of 1959 w as acknow ledged. He was the fi rst cadet w e al l k n ew , an d n o o n e i n o u r cl ass h ad m o r e f r i en d s o r t o u ch ed as m any lives as the Pride of Sweetw ater, Jim m ie Jay. When Jim m ie’s heart gave out on November 4, 2011, and Jim mie slipped the surly bonds o f ear t h , an im portant part of all of us passed into the irretrievable p ast .

Upon reaching the Academy, Jimm ie never let his solid preparation for and knowledge of military life get in the way of the pursuit of happiness.

He seldom passed an opportunity for revelry, and was also the target of many a Denver belle. Alm ost hidden by his well -known j oie de vire, howev er, was a solid record of leadership in the ranks and excellence in all aspects of his academ ic passion, literature.

After flight training and Stead, Jim mie’s Air Force career path was shaped by an initial assignm ent into

He returned to the Academy and

K B - 5 0 t a c t i c a l t a n k e r s. W h e n h i s u n i t

t ended the Naval Com m and and Staff College and w as subsequently assigned to Laughlin AFB as a Flying Training Squadron Operations Officer and later to Mather AFB as a Squadron Com mander.

In 1978 and 1979, Gag attended the Air War College a n d w a s su b s e quently assigned as Comm andant of the NCO Academy at L a c k l a n d AFB. In 1980 and 1981, he was assigned to the Inspector G e n e r a l O f fi ce at Air Training Comm and Headquarters at Randolph A F B . H i s following assignment was as Com mander of the Survival Sc h o o l a t Fairchild AFB, followed by his return to Laughlin AFB as Flying Train ing Wing Com m ander. In 1984 and 1985 he served as Inspector G e n eral for Air Training Comm and. He w as then assigned as Deputy US M ilitary Representative for NATO in Brussels, and in 19 8 7 r e t u r n e d t o Randolph AFB as Inspector General for Air Training C o m m a n d . H e w as promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 1985 a n d r e t i r e d from active duty in 1990.

Despite his illustrious career. Gag was fi rst and forem ost a fam ily m an, adored by his wife of 48 years, the form er Katharine M c M a h o n of San Antonio; son M ichael; daughters Gina DeVane a n d M i a B r o o k smith; and six grandchildren. Kathy told a reporter i n D e c e m b e r t h a t A1“was the gold standard for a husband and father.”

ued to serve in airlift assignm ents: in the Philippines, at M cChord, and ultim ately as com m ander of the wing Ji mmie Jay at Altus. Between flying duties, Jim mie enj oyed Academy life as a Pro fessor of English, and endured Pentagon life in planning and analysis, plus as chair of the m obility panel.

Jim mie’s life phases changed in 1983 upon retirem ent f r o m a c t i v e duty. His strong background in flight operations and Pentagon deci sion-making served him well as he j oined m entor General J. R. A l l en in the International Planning and Analysis Center. H e a n d b e l o v e d wife, Judy, moved to Old Town Alexandria and began t h e i r t r a v e l t o a l l corners of the globe. One of their real j oys was to host ’59er couples at their Cancun beach apartment for a w eek of swi m m ing, sunning, and side trips.

In 1997 Jim m ie and Judy moved t o their historic w aterfront h o m e in M athew s County, Va., and established the life of perm anency that all of us look for upon retirem ent . Here, they were able to enj oy vi s its from their four children, six grandchildren, and i n n u m er ab l e D C , M aryland, and Virginia classmates. Jimm ie enj oyed golf w i t h h i s group at the Piankatank River Golf Course, attesting t o h i s b e l i e f t h a t “piankatank” was the Native Am erican word for “w ater t h a t sw a l l o w s golf balls.” Their travels cont inued, and as a m em ber of the local yacht club and president of his Poet ’s Society, Jim m ie, with Judy, becam e in corporated into a caring and active social group. He l o v e d h i s b o o k s and especially enj oyed riding his motorcycle through the county ’s back roads. But then, though his spirit stayed st rong, a nasty fall proved too m uch for a body increasingly weakened by years of dam aging h e a l t h challenges.

Let no one doubt that Jim m ie enj oyed every bit of his t o o - sh o r t

b ecam e A ssi st an t Pr o f esso r o f A er o n au t i cs. I n 1973 an d 1974, h e at

Fo 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.

If you know of a graduate’s death, please notify the A O G a s soon as possible. There have been cases in whicli the a sso c i a tion was not informed in a timely manner.

86

co n v er t ed t o C - 130s, Ji m m i e co n t i n

life. Beneath the surface aura of good hum or that infected e v e r y o n e around him , how ever, he was a genuinely caring and ext rem ely intel lectual person, fam ily m an, and friend. Each one of t h e C l a ss o f 19 5 9 contributed a little som ething to the DNA that shaped t h e cl ass, b u t who would have ever thought that a baby-faced, pigeon-toed k i d f r o m Sw eetw ater, Texas would be such a dominant gene? He san g at o u r weddings and class reunions, and always led us in the Air Force Song.

Bef o r e t h er e w as a fal co n i n o u r l iv es, t h er e w as Ji m m i e Jay. Our class h as l o st it s v o i ce, an d Ji m m i e w i l l b e m i ssed an d rem em b er ed w h e n ever ’59ers get together. (By Judy Jay, and the D C-area ’5 9ers)

Willi am G. Goodyear '60 William George Goodyear died on Dec. 14, 2011. He succum bed t o cancer while in hom e hospice, surrounded by his loving fam ily.

He w as born on July 16, 1936, in Cordele, Ga. and raised i n Jack so n ville, Fla. He attended DuPont High School and subsequently gradu ated from the United Stat es Air Force Academy, Class o f 19 6 0 . H e e x celled at all levels in his USAF career, both as a pilot and in a wi de variety of important staff assignm ents. After pilot training, his fi rst operational assignm ent was to McCoy AFB, Fla. as a B-52 pilot in the 306th Bom b Wing. He was to continue this association w i t h t h e St r a t e gic Air Comm and and the concept of Strategic Nuclear D e t e r r e n c e f o r t h e r e m a i n d e r o f h i s l i f e . T h e se si x

years in Orlando m arked the begin ning of his family and the birth of his tw o daughters, Lorelei and Angelee.

Bill w as deployed to Andersen

A FB , Gu am i n 1966 an d fl ew ov er 50

B-52D combat missions against the enemy forces in Vietnam . That was

h i s fi r st o f t w o V i e t n a m c o m b a t t o u r s.

H e w a s t h e n t r a n sf e r r e d t o O f f u t t

A F B, N eb . as a Pl an s Off i cer at SA C

Headquarters for three years before att ending Air Com mand and Staff College (ACSC) in 1970-71. Next was 7th AF Headquarters in Vietnam , fly ing a T-39 with SCATBACK. He was selected as personal pilot and aideBi l l Goodyear de-cam p to General John Vogt , the 7th AF Com mander in 1972. He then served a four-year t o u r o n t h e faculty of ACSC, where he w as the direct or of the St rategic Employ ment Division. He then had three years in the Pentagon a s t h e D i r e c tor of Strategic Force Structure Analysis. Aft er National War College, in 1980, he was back to SAC Headquarters for the fi nal four years of h i s A i r Fo r ce serv i ce as a Co l o n el , w h er e h e w as t h e Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans, a general officer position.

Aft er retirem ent . Bill w as a gold m iner (really!) in A r i zo n a, an SES civilian in the Pentagon and a general m anager of real estate develop ment in Florida. It was in this capacity that he met h i s w i f e, L i n d a, and began his 21-year m arriage. Together they m oved t o C a l i f o r n i a t o begin Bill’s 15-year post -service career wi th Northrop-Grum m an. B i l l was a key player in the B-2 Stealth Bomber program and proudly saw it through init ial rollout and airplane deliveries.

Aft er retirem ent from Northrop Grum m an in 2001, Bill a n d L i n d a moved back to the South, dividing their tim e between Cash i er s, N .C . and Sandy Springs, Ga. Tim e that could be spared from grandchildren and watching football was spent working for his Georgia H o m e o w n e r ’s Association, traveling, and wr it ing a biography of General Vogt .

A w ell - at t en d ed m em o r i al serv i ce w as h el d i n A t lan t a, Ga. o n Jan u

ary 7th. The service and reception following were highlighted by re m arks from fam ily, friends from high school, USAFA, and the neigh b orh ood .

T h o se o f h i s cl assm at es w h o co u l d m ak e i t w er e t h er e, a n d a t o a s t w a s o f f e r e d i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h h i s l a st w i sh e s. A fi n a l m e m o r i a l i s

planned this fall to honor Bill ’s ashes at the USAFA cemetery. We can all gather in his m em ory one last time on the occasion o f t h e U SA FA vs. USNA football weekend, with details being provided l a t e r .

Bill will be sorely m issed by many friends, and particularly by me. I met up with Bill right after pilot training in 1961, and we were assigned to the same base. We have kept in close contact for the ensuing 50 years.

and he has remained a very dear friend. He was a leader, and had a pro f o u n d i n fl u e n c e o n t h o se h e se r v e d a n d w o r k e d w i t h throughout his life.

Donations may be made to the Ai r Force Academy site (https:/ / giving.usafa.org/ ). Please put in the Notes Section: “In M e m o r i a m f o r Bill Goodyear, Class of 1960”. [Denis Walsh, classmate and f riend since 1956)

Ch ar l es G. Th om as, '6 1 Retired Col. Charles George Thomas, US/VFA Class of 196 1, d i ed at the age of 71 on Nov. 2, 2011 in Albuquerque, N.M .

Charlie was born in M anhattan in 1940. As a youth Charlie e x c e l l e d in academ ics, earning top grades even when completing a school year from bed after being stricken w ith polio at the age of nine. Despit e receivi ng last rit es during his illness, he did make a full recovery. As he approached high school graduation, a counselor t old h i m a b o u t a n e w sc h o o l i n C o l o r a d o .

C h a r l i e ’s

outst anding academ ic record earned him a spot in the Class of 1961.

At the Academy, Charlie fell in love vHth flying. After graduation he went to pilot training at Vance AFB, excel ling in the T-33 as the top instrum ent pilot of the class. Charlie was assigned to M cGuire AFB as a C-118 pilot and b ecam e an aircr af t co m m an d er at th e

age of 24, one of the youngest in MAC. In 1965 he m oved on to fly C- 135s, and t h en C 14 1s ou t of Ch ar l est o n , SC . H e

was then assigned to Tinker AFB and

A l t u s A F B i n O k l a h o m a a s a n I n st r u c

tor Pilot and Flight Exam iner.

Ch a r lie Th o m a s Charlie flew m any hours provi ding airlift during the Vietnam War. After Viet nam , he went to Air Com m and and Staff College, a n d t h e n t h e Pentagon. Aft er the Pentagon Charlie becam e a Vice C o m m a n d e r o u t of Scott AFB, then becam e Wing Com m ander of the 1606"’ A i r B a se Wing at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, N . M . Charlie l o v e d c o m m a n d ing Kirtland and w as very proud that the base won num erous m o d e l i n st a l l a t i o n a n d “ b e st - r u n ” b a s e a w a r d s u n d e r h i s c o m m a n d .

All in all, Charlie’s flying career included over 7,000 h ou r s in th e ai r, tw o Legion of Merit awards, an Ai r Medal, and nine V i e t n a m Se r v i c e M e d al s.

Af ter the Air Force, Charlie held several positions including Cabinet Secretary for General Services for the State of New M e x i c o . H e al so w orked for 13 years at Sandia National Laboratories. During the Gulf War of 1991, Charlie served as the on-air m ilitary analyst for KOAT-TV Channel 7 in Albuquerque, a position he retained for the next 20 years.

A key accom plishm ent for Charlie was his role in saving K i r t l a n d AFB from closure. Charlie w as part of a team that successfully peti t i o n e d t h e B RA C t o r e m o v e K i r t l a n d f r o m t h e b a se c l o su r e l i s t . C h a r l i e

w ould visit Washington, D.C. several tim es over the years to advocate for Kirtland, and it w as during one of those vi sits t h a t h e f o u n d h i m s e l f in the Pentagon on the m orning of September 11, 2001.

While this list of professional accomplishments is impressive, Charlie always put his fam ily fi rst. He loved to tell people t h a t h e m a r r i e d h i s “trophy wife” on the fi rst try. He and Gina were married for 46 years, and have three children and four grandchildren. Charlie a n d G i n a t r a v e l e d extensively, both on their own and with fam ily trips and visits every year.

Charlie is survived by his wife, Gina; their children Jen n if er, El i za beth, and Brian; and grandchildren Rachel, Em ily, Am anda, a n d E r i c .

His brother Larry and sister Eileen and their fam ilies, along w ith m any other relatives and friends, also m ourn his passing.

Charlie w as alw ays close wi th his USAFA classm ates and grateful for the opportunities in life he received as an Academy graduate. We, his children, thought w e w ould let our father’s own w o r d s c l o s e t h i s t r ib u te t o h is life.

“One fi nal thought: one of the best things in my life h a s b e e n t h e

cam ar ad er i e o f t h e Cl ass o f 196 1; w e w er e a sm al l cl ass w h i c h a l l o w e d

us to know each other and get closer; the four years a n d w h a t f o l l o w e d w as a life-form ing experience and I ’m forever glad I ’m part of it ”. ( Wri t ten by Charlie’s daughter, Jennif er Harkins) 87

G O N E B U T

N O T

F O R G O T T E N

Lloyd M . McKnight , '63 Milt McKnight, the epitome of a "Southern Gentleman,” passed away peacefully at his home in Fayetteville, Ga. surrounded by his loving fam ily on Jan. 27, 2012. Throughout his lengthy struggle w i th can cer, h e maintained his dignity, optimism and sense of humor. H e n ev e r l o st h i s f ai t h o r h i s l ov e f o r l i f e.

Born on Dec. 26, 1941, in Birmingham, Al a., M ilt was the only son of Loyd and Grace McKnight . He graduated from Phillips High School in Birmingham where he was recognized as a National Honor Society member and a National Merit Scholarship Final ist as the Most Outstanding Senior Ca det in the Junior ROTC program .

Appointed to the United States Air Force Academy in June of 1959, Milt was a proud member of the fi rst class to en ter and graduate from the permanent site at Colorado Springs. Blessed with a b eau t i fu l b ass vo ice, h e w as a m em

b er o f t h e C ad et C h o r ale an d t h e Pr o t

estant Cadet Choir. After graduating f r o m U SA FA w i t h a B a c h e l o r o f Sc i e n c e

Degree in Engineering Science and from pilot training at Craig AFB, Ala., M ilt was assigned as a pilot with the First Fighter Wing of the Air Defense Command at M i l t McKnight Selfridge AFB, Mich. A follow-on assign ment was as an Instructor Pilot and Flight Exam iner back at Craig AFB. Resigning from the Air Force in 1969, M ilt j oined Delta A i r l i n e s a n d b e gan a 33-year airline career that few pilots could ever imagine. In 1973, while in the Delta Flight Training Department, he was assigned Flight Engineer training responsibilities for the introduction o f t h e L o c k h e e d L - 10 1 1 i n t o se r v i c e f o r b o t h d o m e st i c a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l operations.

He held numerous positions in flight training and operations: i n c l u d ing fl ight instructor on the L-1011, L-1011 Flight Training Program Man ager, L-1011 Flight Standards Fleet Manager, System Manager for Tech nical Support and B767 Line Check Airman. Captain McKnight r e t i r e d on the Boeing 767-400 in December of 2001.

Milt had a life-long interest in sport shooting, both hunting and com petitive. He was a life member of the NRA. While in th e A i r Force, M il t was on the USAFA Pistol Team and the Craig AFB Pistol a n d Sk e e t T e a m s.

Later, he was the Secretary of the Big T Hunting Club in Talbot County, Ga . and a life member of the Single Action Shooting Society. In ad d it ion , h e competed in cowboy action shooting for a number of years. After retire m en t from D el t a, h e ev en w orked as a co n su lt an t at a local gun store.

Bot h M il t an d h i s w i fe, Lo u Jean , h ave b een v ol u n t eer s in many horserelated activities in support of their daughter’s interest i n h o r se s. H e worked with the Georgia Dressage Combined Training A sso ci at io n , t h e United States Combined Training Association and the U n i t e d St a t e s Pony Club. During the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, G., M il t w as in charge of all the volunteer timers at the Equestrian V e n u e .

Milt is survived by his wife, Lou Jean; son Andrew, daughters Julia Parra and Shannon DeMonti; grandchildren Garrett, Connor, N at h an , Josef, and Boden. Milt will be greatly missed by all w h o k n ew a n d l o v e d h i m . H e w ill b e rem em b ered fo r h i s w ar m h ear t , k i n d spirit , sense of humor, big smile and enduring faith.

A m em o r i al serv i ce w as h eld for M ilt o n Feb . 11, 20 12 i n Pe a c h t r e e

City, Ga. (By M rs. Lou Jean McKnight and Terry Dake, Class of 1963)

T h o m as L . L ei b , '6 6 Tom Leib passed away unexpectedly on Nov. 4, 2011, i n C o l o r a d o Springs. He is sorely missed by his wife, Dottie, of 42 years, and their daughters Tiffany and Chrisi; their husbands, and two grandchildren Brooke and Christopher.

Tom left the Academy in his blue Corvette and headed w e st t o h i s fi rst assignment in southern California at Norton AFB, C a l i f , w h e r e h e enjoyed skiing and the closeness of the beach. He met D ot t ie th ere, daughter of Lt. Col. and M rs. Lloyd Luthy. After getting married in April, 1969, he was reassigned to the United Technologies APRO in Sunnyvale, Calif, two months later where we greatly enj oyed the bay area and didn’t

w a n t t o l eav e.

88

In 1973, Tom was transferred to the Electronics Systems C o m m a n d a t Hanscom AFB, Mass. There he enj oyed the lifelong friendship o f o t h e r AFA grads. Our fi rst daughter, Tiffany, was horn while w e w e r e t h e r e . W e grew to love Boston and the surrounding New England a r e a a s m u c h a s n o r th er n C alifo r n ia.

In 1978, he was assigned to Armed Forces Staff College i n N o r f olk , Va. where our second daughter, Chrisi, was born. Then on to the Washing t o n D .C . A r e a w h e r e w e r e c o n n e c t e d

w i t h o t h e r c l a ssm a t e s . H e w o r k e d f o r

OSUDRE in the Pentagon where we enj oyed great friends and went to al most every important site in the D.C. a re a .

I n 1982, To m w en t t o t h e D ef en se

Management Gollege and pinned on L i eu t en an t C o l o n el . H e t h en w as r eas

signed to Hanscom , where he was the Program Director for SPADOC, and

w h er e w e w er e r ec o n n ec t ed w i t h o l d f r i e n d s.

Still at Hanscom , Tom was pulled to be the Deputy Base Com mander for the Air Base Group and pinned on Colonel. Then, on to be the program manager of the National Test Bed of To m L e i b the Strategic Defense Initiative Orga nization at Falcon AFB (now Schriever), Colo. We enj oyed C o l o r a d o so much we retired in the Springs.

Upon retirement , Tom worked for McDonnell Douglas, C TA a n d G e n eral Dynamics. He also spent some time in real estate, w h i c h w a s a n interesting experience. He really retired in 2000 and t r a d e d c o m m o d i t i e s i n h i s h o m e o f fi c e .

T o m w a s a n a v i d A FA F a l c o n s f a n a n d t r i e d t o a t t e n d a s m a n y g a m e s

as possible. He loved the St . Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox , t h e N ew England Patriots and of course, the Broncos, but tolerated h i s w i f e a n d daughters’ love for the Washington Redskins. He loved skiing, softball, and handball. And we loved playing bridge almost weekly w i t h f r i e n d s.

He was a family-oriented man and enj oyed life with his family, in cluding his Cocker Spaniels and German Shepherds. Thanks t o a l l t h e ’66ers that expressed their condolences. (Tom’s Loving Family)

Lar ry A. Lundholm , '66 Larry A. Lundholm , a former member of Seventh Squadron, passed away on Sept. 9, 2011 after a heroic two-year battle w i t h c a n c e r a t h i s home, surrounded by fam ily. Services were on Sept . 14 , 20 11 in St i ll water, Okla., his home for many years. Burial will b e i n W i sc o n si n a t a l at er d at e.

Larry hailed from Barron, Wis. and graduated from high school in East Troy, Wis. Shortly after, Larry left for the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he graduated with the Class of 1966 af ter being a member of the first-ever USAFA Preparatory school class.

While at the Academy Larry picked up the nickname “Fireball” for his bright red hair. The name was descriptive of his approach to sports: an avid skier flying down the slopes, a fi ery lacrosse player as well as a “j ust in time attendee” for morning meal formations, clocking so m e o f t h e b e st “ st a i r w e l l t o f o r m a

Lar ry Lundholm

tion” times in Academy history. He was one of the fi rst Civil Engineering career fi eld graduates from USAFA, being among the fi rst eight to receive the degree.

After graduation Larry attended the USAF Civil Engineering Sc h o o l i n preparation for his initial assignment at Hanscom Field i n Bo st o n , M ass.

He then served a year in Thailand during the Vietnam War laying the groundwork for a new air base which many of us would l a t e r u s e . W h e n he returned to the States, he earned a master’s degree in Civil Engineer-

ing through the University of Missouri. From there Larry went to Lowry

A i r For ce Base i n D en ver, Col o.

Shortly after he left the Air Force to return to civilian l i f e . A f t e r a st i n t

in Texas, he moved to Stillwater, Okla. where he worked f o r O k l a h o m a State University as Assistant Director of the Physical Pl a n t f r o m 19 8 8 u n til his retirement in January of 2011.

Larry always found time to enjoy life as an avid golfer. The only time he wasn’t on the greens was OSU game day (including foo t b al l , w o m en ’s and men’s basketball, and soccer). He also enj oyed skiing both downhill and cross country and collecting sports memorabilia. F i r e b a l l i n i t i a t e d the 7"’ Squadron’s Spring Fling, an annual golf outing attended by over half the ’66ers in 7"’. The Spring Fling is to be continued i n h i s h o n o r .

Larry was also a member and former President of the Li o n’s Cl u b , t h e Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and the Airplane O w n e r s a n d Pil ot s A ssoci at i o n (AOPA ) .

Larry is survived by his children, Kimberly Ann (Lundholm) Lynch, Michelle Leigh Lundholm , Larry Al den Lundholm , Jr., a n d L o r i A n n (Lundholm) Murray; parents Lawrence and Pern Lundholm; si st e r s G l o ria Lundholm, Cheryl Lundholm, and Sharon (Lundholm) O ’Su ll ivan ;

grandchildren Dakota Bertrand, Shannon Bertrand, Kayleigh Joh n so n ,

Ashlyn Lundholm , Shauna Lynch, Isabella Murray, Breken Lu n d h ol m , Brent Lynch, Nathan Lynch, and Bailee Lynch; great grandchildren Desm i n Ber t r an d an d Kam ar ah Ber t r an d , an d D eb b i e Pi er son , m o t h e r o f h i s ch il d ren an d f r i en d , as w ell as n u m er ou s n i eces, nephews, other relatives, and friends. (From the Family and 7"' Squadron M a tes)

FlyingTigers, commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. TheA.V.G.’s exploits in China and Burma in the early 1940s were the wellsprings o f D o n ’s a v i at ion heritage and his success with fourth class “Table Knowledge.” The

Tigers wrote a flaming chapter in aerial combat history. D on ’s f ath er, Jasper J. Harrington, was the P' Pursuit Squadron’s Line Chief. Paging through “The Pictorial History of the Flying Tigers” by Larry M . Pistole, I

see the pictures of Don’s dad st anding on the wings o f P - 4 0 T o m a h a w k s and see the heritage that drove Don’s quiet intensity - and in those early pictures I see the likeness of Don. Wh en Don’s life changed after his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, I w a t c h e d him inevitably change as he moved toward his destiny: yet he came alive at the Chantilly, Virginia Air and Space Museum . When w e w e n t t o t h i s shrine of aviation history, it was as if he stepped b a c k i n t i m e . D o n h a d worked at the museum and everyone on staff knew him and greeted his arrival. To see him engage the visitors, you would never guess he was anything more than a friendly Alabama ex-airman, gladly sharing his knowledge as if he was leading a tour. Even as his memory played tricks on h i m , h e w ou l d st il l ast ou n d m e w i t h so m e arcan e I P'’ Squadron fact I had no command of anymore.

I followed him throughout the Vietnam War and never imagined him in harm’s way. He is my son’s godfather and a trusted friend who sup ported me through thick and thin. The A.V G. Tigers’ l o s se s w e r e sm a l l compared to their vi ctories. Don’s passing is equally small compared to what he left us. The richness of that legacy will sustain my flight through l i fe an d all w h o k n ew t h e m an w h o l ov ed b o ok s. (Pa t Heinig,’68, January, 2012, Cabin John, M aryland)

Don R. Har r ington, '68

St ev en A . H ar m an , '73

Retired Lt . Col. Don Raymond Harringt on passed peacefully on July 7, 2011 surrounded by his family in Chapel Hill, N.C. H e w a s b u r i e d o n Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 at Arlington Cemetery with full Military Honors.

Don’s obituary, written by bis wife, Bette, and family, w a s d i st r i b u t e d through class and AOG email lists by Tim Davidson prior to the Arlington funeral . Don’s life and career high lights can be found through the mar vels of a technology we didn’t know at USAFA when taking (and retaking in some cases) Comp Sci 101: See Don’s history at; http:/ / www.usafa68.org/

On N ov 2 1, 20 11, Col . (Ret ) St ev en A l an H ar m an t o ok his fi nal flight, as he lost a valiant 2-year battle with cancer. Steve lived large, embracing every moment, and a huge hole is left in the hearts o f a l l w h o k n ew h i m .

He was born into a military family on Nov 5, 1951 in Tacoma, W ash ., an d traveled with his family t o numerous assignments in the US and Europe.

Steve settled in Orting, Wash., but had caught that military bug.

While at the Academy, Steve was ranked #1 in his BCT squadron, spent all four years in Seagram’s Seven SQ, played football his freshman year, served as the Vice Wing Commander.

Steve showed early leadership promise at the AP-TN Sugar Bowl Jan P‘, 1971, as the guardian angel to 15 rowdy

That link also includes many pic tures of the Arlington Cemetery cere mony. The day was cool and gray, but silently peaceful, made more mean ingful by following the caisson to the burial site and looking at the somber beauty of the setting, the gravity of so many fallen comrades, and the devo tion of our solemn escort duty.

Year’s Eve. Af ter graduation, Steve at tended Navigator Training, and gradu ated at the top of his class. Steve’s 30year distinguished AF career included flying the FB-111 and B-1, and pro gram management assignments in a

M e m o r i u m / i m 6 7 .h t m .

T h is is th e h o n o r d u e t o D o n an d

c l a ssm a t e s o n B o u r b o n St r e e t o n N ew

n u m b e r o f cl a ssi fi e d a n d u n c l a ssi fi e d

Don Har r i ngton

his integrity, dedication, humor, selflessness, and yes, at tim es j ust plain contrariness! I had the good fortune to be with Don in the Washington, D .C . a r e a f r o m t h e t i m e h e m o v e d f r o m Sc o t t A F B f o r his Pentagon tour, through his military retirement in 1990, and then to that great span of t i m e t i l l h i s d e a t h w h e n w e l o o k f o r o u r e x i st e n t i a l rationale. I was lucky to enj oy over 20 years of participation in his and Bette’s lives. I ’m taking this time to personally say goodbye to my 11"’ Squadron 1' ’ c l a ss r o o m i e and longtime friend, and also to recount a few things t h a t m a d e D o n unique.

Many may not know, but Don came to his Air Force career and flying vocation through the DNA of the American Volunteer Group - yes, the

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.

If you know of a graduate’s death, please notify the A O G a s soon as possible. There have been cases in which the a sso c i a tion was not informed in a timely m anner.

National Security programs.

A ft er h i s st i n t w i t h SA C , St ev e

j oined Systems Comm and (later Ma

t er i al Co m m an d ) w h ere h e t h r iv ed

with increasing responsibilities at Mc Clellan, Edwards, Brooks, and Wright

St eve H a r m a n

Pa t t e r so n A P B s. H i s b o ss a t t h e B - 2

program office (and AFA roommate). Brig. Gen. (Ret) Jay Jabour, re members Steve as “very instrumental in fielding the B -2 w eap o n sy st em .

His uncompromising principles and integrity were the c o r n e r st o n e s o f the organizations outstanding performance. Steve brought a w e a l t h o f operational background in tbe mission area from bis crew-dog days.”

Another close friend and classmate. Bob Munson, was proud to serve for Steve and spoke of his “unswerving integrity as he dealt with ‘per sonalities’ in the AQ world.” As the System Program D i r e c t o r a t B r o o k s AFS, Steve was responsible for thousands of separate i t e m s a s d i v e r se as all USAF wearable items, ej ections seats, CRAF modifi cations, e m e r gency radios, G-suits, all chemical gear, etc. His responsibility spanned development , test , documentation, deployment, support , and logistical sustainment . You cannot walk on an AF base or deploy t o c o m b a t n o w without seeing things that Steve touched, affected and changed... liter ally. Steve belonged to that group of 0 -6s who ‘ran t h e A i r F o r c e .’ ” Along the way, Steve was blessed with a son, Nathan, and daughter, Melinda, both of whom he bragged on incessantly. Shortly b e f o r e r e t i r ing, be married Col. M ary Cooper. His time as a Hawaiian golf student 89

G O N E B U T

N O T

F O R G O T T E N

and house-husband was short lived, as Mary retired and they moved to Tampa, Fla., where Steve quickly found program management responsi bilities with USSOCOM . On Steve’s 60"’ birthday in Tampa on Nov 5, 2011, his wife, Mary, gave him a birthday party with over 100 friends and family in attendance, including eight USAFA 7"’ SQ classmates. Steve was a loyal friend to many and a mighty patriot. He will be dearly m i sse d .

While he had many roles in hisAF career, he was fi rst and always an avia t or. St eve em br aced life in an d out sid e of w ork; h e w as an avi d h u n t er, fi sh

erman, scuba diver, boater, gardener, hiker, and tech e n t h u si a st . B u t m o st of all, Steve loved his family. He is survived by his SWAM BO (wife) Mary Cooper, daughter Melinda and husband Anthony Cavazos, so n N at h a n Harman, grandchildren Ethan, Elliot, & little Steven; as well as his parents Wayne and Elizabeth Harman, brother David and his wife Su e H ar m an , niece Melissa Gray, her husband Jeff, and their children, nephews Adam and Justin Harman, step-son Jordan Arrisi, his son Rylen and daughter Cameryn. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The US Special Op erations Command Wounded Warrior Project at donorservices@wounded warriorproject.org. (Mary Cooper and CS-07, Class of 7 3)

Joh n M . Pr etz, 7 3 Lt. Col. John M . Pretz (Ret) passed away on Oct . 15, 2 0 1 1 o f a su d d e n brain hemorrhage. He was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery wi th full honors on Jan. 25, 2012. He is survived by h i s w i f e, Joan n e, fi v e children, and fi ve grandchildren.

After his graduation from USAFA, John flew the F-4, 0 -2, an d F- 15.

He returned to the Academy as an instructor of Military Sc i e n c e a n d a n AOC and exchange TAC Officer to the USMA. John then m o v e d o n t o t h e newly-formed Space Command. After his retirement from the Pentagon in 1993, h e co n t i n u ed h i s servi ce i n an

I

o t h e r i n n o v a t i v e fi e l d o f U A V s e st a b

lishing the programs of the Predator and most recently, the Global Hawk.

To all who knew John, he was a living example of unyielding integrity and good character. Love was his greatest

gift to all of us in its many manifesta

tions: love of family, love of God, love of the Church, love of country, love of the military, love of music and love of what is right and decent . He regularly and unapologetically demonstrated that doing the right thing is the only an sw er, w h et h er th ere ar e easi er an sw er s or n ot . Joh n l eaves an i n cr ed ib l e

Joa n n e (P retz) Joh nson , ’0 7; M i ke N ish i m u ta, ’73; Pa u l Freu n d, ’73, a n d

inputsf rom numerous lettersf rom f riends and co-workers)

John B. Van Coever ing, 7 3 John B. Van Coevering, age 60, longtime resident of Sou t h M i am i ,

Fla., passed away on Sept. 17, 2011. Mr.Van Coevering w as b o r n Ju n e 7,

1951 in Schenect ady, N.Y., the second son of the late Joh n Van Co ev er ing, Jr. and Rachael M . Giddings Van Coevering.

He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1973 and served in the U.S. Air Force achieving the rank of Captain as an aircraft commander on KC- 135S for the Strategic Air C o m m an d .

He j oined U.S. Airways in 1983

w h er e h e r o se t o b ecom e b ot h a

Captain on Airbus aircraft and a Check Airman with the responsibil ity for passing on qualifi cations of aspirants to command.

Joh n w as a m em b er of Ch r ist t h e

King Lutheran Church where he sang in the choir and was active with John Van Coever i ng the Fellowship Committee.

John was involved with scouting for almost 10 years and at one time served as scoutm aster for Troop 336, Boy Scouts of Am erica.

John is survived by his mother, brother and sister, as well as by his wi fe of 28 years, the former Deborah Anderson; daughters Melonij a and Al icia; son Jonathan and fi ancee. Heather Bryan; and granddaughter Hope Elizabeth.

A memorial gathering took place on Sept. 25, 2011 at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Pinecrest Ela. (Excerpt f rom the M i a m i H e r a l d n ew sp ap er)

Jo h n P r etz

heritage of high values and a strong sense of duty in everything he did. He was someone w e t r u st e d a n d r e lied on; a man with undeniable loyalty, honesty and d e d i c a t i o n .

He was profound, funny, insightful, and a pure pleasure t o k n o w . H e loved ideas, literature, theology, philosophy and music. He also enj oyed nice tangible (expensive) things - pens, leather-bound books, guitars, watches, cars, cool electronic gadgets. He could be ser i ou s an d focu sed , but also capable of great fun. He was genuinely curious ab ou t l ife, an d i t sh o w e d i n h i s i n t e r a c t i o n s w i t h o t h e r s. H e e x h i b i t e d impeccable knowl edge and communication skills, which contributed to h i s r e c e n t n i c k name as “the professor.”

The Air Force Academy was a keystone in John’s life, a n d i n o r d e r t o fully appreciate him, it is important to understand t h e e n v i r o n m e n t a n d t h e cal ib er of cl assm at es t h at Joh n l ear n ed an d l iv ed with during his four years. Many cadets were “formed” by the environment, b u t Joh n exuded such strong qualities of integrity, character, maturity and lead ership that he helped shape the environment for his c l a ssm a t e s a n d built their character. Among his peers today stand t h e C h i e f o f St a f f o f the U.S. Air Force, General Norton Schwartz, tens of generals who have commanded every signifi cant maj or command in today’s A i r Force, tw o astronauts, the famous pilot of the Hudson, Sully Sullenberger, W h i t e House Fellows, priests, chaplains, writers, and historians. They entered the Academy in 1969 idealistic and so excited to be part of this Ameri can technology race which j ust four months later would step foot on the m oon . Si n ce Ju n e 6, 1973 , 46 of Joh n ’s cl assm at es h av e already passed on from this life. Every one of these men was like John - am b it i ou s, sm ar t , willing to take risk, and loved their country.

As John was lowered into the sacred ground of Arlington, h i s c l a ss 90

mates and his military brothers and sisters saluted h i m . I n o u r d r e a m s we fly by in form ation with John. John is in the lead today, and we are on his wing. Not long from now, we will follow him . Joh n ’s in flu en ce an d love is passed on to his wonderful family, and we too, are part of that family. Here’s a toast ...

Joanne expresses her deepest gratitude to all of John’s c o -w o r k e r s a n d friends who have offered strength and grace during this time. (Capt.

M i ch ael L. Ber r i an , 7 6 Michael Lewis Berrian passed away on Aug. 25, 2010. He was working

at h i s d esk i n Ben t o n v ill e, A rk . at t h e D av i d Gl ass Technology Building, a

new employee of Walmart , when he suffered a massive h e a r t a t t a c k . H e was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short tim e l a t e r .

Michael was born on Nov. 30, 1954, the son of Roy and Virginia Ber r i an , i n M i d d l et ow n , N .Y. A s a k i d , h e

played baseball and other sport s and

also played basketball for the local

ch u rch t eam in L ak ew o od , Oh i o. In

7'" grade, his parents moved to Po

l an d , Oh i o, w h er e h e m et h is ch i l d h oo d sw eet h ear t , Joan n Lau b er t . T h e

two dated throughout high school.

In 1972, after graduating from Lakewood High School, M ichael received acceptance into the United States Air Eorce Academy. He graduated in 1976 from USAFA with a degree in m a t h e m a t i c s. W h e n h e c a m e h o m e

for Christmas in 1972, he got engaged to Joann and the two then got mar ried on June 5, 1976, three days after his graduation from USAFA.

M i ch a el B er r i a n

M i ch ael w as a m i ssil e co m b at cr ew com m an d er at D av i s- M o n t h an

AFB and served in several leadership positions of high security at Los Angeles Air Station, Ft. Meade, Md., and Peterson AFB, C o l o . H e r e ceived his master’s degree from the University of Southern C a l i f o r n i a i n Systems Management .

Michael, also known as “Bear,” was loved by his friends and family.

He had a “strong arm” in baseball and a smile that no one soon forgot .

He loved the New York Yankees, a good football game, a n d a t a l l N e w York egg cream , his favorite drink.

M ichael and Joann were m arried for 21 years and have t h r e e i n c r e d ible daughters: Brieanna, born in 1979: Cassandra, b o r n i n 1980: an d Amanda, born in 1983. All three of the girls would like everyone to know that they got their dad’s “smarts,” ’ and hope that he is at peace in Heav en w i t h G o d .

A f t e r M i c h a e l ’s r e t i r e m e n t f r o m t h e A i r Fo r c e i n 19 9 7 a s a l i e u t e n a n t

colonel, Michael was employed by a number of corporations, including ITT in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and later for Walmart .

Michael is survived by his (former) spouse Joann Berrian, his daugh ter Brieanna Temple, his daughter Cassandra Berrian, and his daughter Amanda Berrian. He is also survived by granddaughters Josephine Tem ple and Al ayna Temple, his parents, Roy and Virginia Ber r i an : an d si st er Susan. He was preceded in death by his brother Thomas B e r r i a n .

A memorial service was held by his former spouse and daughters on Oct. 29, 2010 at the United States Air Force Academy Presbyterian Cha pel. Family, friends, and fellow cadets were present . H e r e c e i v e d f u l l honors with a 21-gun salute, taps, and flags were flown a t h a l f st a f f .

His family would like to thank the United States Air Force Academy, the chapel staff, and Chaplain Captain Heather Bodwell, along with Ja net Edwards, who were both so supportive and gracious in their help to make the service so beautiful for Michael and his family. W e are so ap preciative of their kindness and hard work. We would a l so l i k e t o t h a n k F t . G e n e r a l M i k e G o u l d a n d h i s w i f e f o r t h e i r l o v e and support and at t e n d a n c e a t h i s se r v i c e .

If anyone would like to make a donation in M ichael’s n am e, w e ask t h at al l d o n at i o n s b e m ad e t o t h e A m er i can H ear t A ssoci at i on . (H is Loving Family)

Jam es G. Reh r l , '8 1 James Gregory Rehrl, alternately known as “Jim” and “Jimmy” to his friends and family, died at home on Aug. 20, 2010 after a c o u r a g e o u s battle against multiple myeloma, a r ar e f o r m o f b o n e m ar r ow c an c er. H e

w as 5 1.

Those who shared Jimmy’s life vUll remember him for his love of philoso phy, his love of dogs, his irrepressible wit , and his love for his family. Jimmy was born in Fong Beach, Calif, on June 18, 1959 and grew up on various Air F o r c e B a se s a r o u n d t h e w o r l d . H e a t

tended primary and secondary school in England where he was much loved by his late grandparents. He gradu ated from Mitchell High School in Colorado Springs, Colo, with honors before entering the Air Force Acad emy in 1977. He graduated from the Academy with a Bachelor of Science Ji m Reh r l Degree in Aeronautics.

After Flight training in Texas he was assigned to Edwards A FB, Ca lif. where he participated in many ongoing important programs. After three years at Edwards AFB, Captain Rehrl was reassigned to the Boeing Company in Seattle, Wash, where he met his wife, Mary, and eventually left the Air Force. He continued to work for Boeing in a civilian capacity for several years before accepting a j ob with the Federal Aviation Agency in Seattle. There, he rose to the position of a supervisory engineer in grade GS-14.

Fo 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. vYVYw.usafa.org.

If you know of a graduate’s death, please notify the A O G a s soon as possible. There have been cases in which the a sso c i a tion was not informed in a timely manner.

Jim is survived by his wife of 18 years, Mary: his daughter Emma and stepson Nicholas, as well as by his mother and father, h i s b r o t h e r M a t thew, his sister-in-law Al exa, his sister Carrie, his b r ot h er -i n -l aw Jam es, his nephew John Paul and many extended family members a n d f r i e n d s.

He will be forever missed by those who loved him . (Joan a n d R i c k Rehrl, Jim’s mother and f ather)

Gl en n R. Sch u m ach er, '8 1 Colonel Glenn R. Schumacher, 52, passed away suddenly o f a h e a r t attack on Sept. 10, 2011. He was memorialized on September 19 “’ w i t h full M ilitary Honors, including a fly-by of HH-60s. He left a huge void in in the Reserve community, as well as the Rescue fam ily o f t h e 9 2 0 '“ . T h a t void is most felt by his fam ily.

H i s son sai d it b est , m i n u t es aft er h e w as t ol d o f his passing. “Every thing we did was because of what he did.” Glenn was a family man who loved to hunt and spend time with his son and Golden R e t r i e v e r s i n t h e fi elds. He was a patient father, with a dry sense of humor that amused his children. Glenn was a thoughtful and generous man. He could build houses and fi x cars. His physics mind lent itself well to designing spaces.

He took pride in home renovation and was always making his world a bett er place to live.

After spending the fi rst six months of 2011 in Afghanistan, Glenn was looking forward to taking command of the 920“’ OPS Group at Patrick AFB, Fla. and being home with his family, but that was no to be. His memory w ill forever be treasured by his loving wife, Kristy F. Schumacher, G l e n n Sc h u m a c h e r son Ross T. Schumacher: daughters Kelly F. McCormick and Dana L. Mc Cor m ick : an d fat h er, Ri ch ard W. Sch u m ach er. H i s m o th er, June Gallup Schumacher, preceded him in death.

Glenn Schumacher was born on Dec. 22, 1958 in Chicago, 111. W i t h pride and honor, he served his country in the United St at es A i r Fo rce, attaining the rank of Colonel. He was the Chief of Operational Plans and Readiness, ASX, Division in HQ AFRC Robins AFB. T h e D i v i si o n is responsible for the Comm and’s Status of Readiness and Training (SORTS)/ART/ DRRS, Informational Ops, Nuclear policy. C r i t i c a l I n f r a structure Program , A3 operational planning including T F I a n d A 3 f u t u r e scheduling.

C o l o n e l Sc h u m a c h e r r e c e i v e d h i s c o m m i ss i o n i n 19 8 1 f r o m t h e A i r

Force Academy. He earned his wings the following year. His first assign ment was with the 4460th Helicopter Squadron at Creech F i e l d a s t h e unit scheduler, then Fife Support Offi cer. His next assignment was to Hill AFB as an instructor pilot. After unit deactivation he was assigned to the helicopter school house at Kirtland AFB. After separating from active duty in 1991, Colonel Schumacher j oined t h e R e se r v e s w i t h t h e 7 1st SO S a t D av i s - M o n t h a n A F B . H e b e c a m e a n

Air Reserve Technician in September 1996. During his 13 years with the Davis-Monthan unit , he served as Deployed Director of Operations for deployments to Venezuela, Operation Provi de Comfort II , Opera tion Northern Watch and Deployed Com mander for Operation So u t h ern Watch, and unit Counter Drug support missions. H e w a s C h i e f o f Scheduling, Training, Safety and Standardization and Evaluation during d i f f e r e n t t i m es.

Colonel Schumacher became the Chief, Operational Plans a n d R e a d i ness Division in the Directorate of Air, Space and Information Opera tions in M ay 2006 until September 2011. From January t o Au gu st 20 11, he deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan where he was the Co m m an d er, 451st Expeditionary Operat ions Group. Upon his return fr o m t h e d eser t , he was chosen to be the Com mander, 920th Operations Group. He was due to take command in late September 2011. (Glenn’s Loving Family)

Tuan H . Nguyen, '93 Tuan H. Nguyen passed away on Oct. 12, 2011. He is survived by his

w i fe, Gr ace, an d t h eir son Lu k e.

Known to family and close friends as Tuner, Tuan was b or n in H u e, 91

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F O R G O T T E N

Vietnam - the second of what would become four siblings. His family fled to the United States following the April, 1975 fall of Saigon. Tuan enj oyed a happy childhood in Loveland, Colo., and, during his high school years in Santa Rosa, Calif. Tuan and his family r e m a i n e d c l o se throughout his life.

In 1989, Tuan returned to Colorado to fulfi ll a life-long d r e a m : a t t e n d ing the Air Force Academy. The “Fleet Admiral” in his squadron, Tuan developed many cherished, life-long friendships during h i s t i m e a t t h e Academy. He often spoke of his time there as a humbling and rewarding experience that prepared him well for life and career.

After graduating in 1993, Tuan served on active duty for seven years.

Stationed at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., he worked as a proj ect of fi cer with the Delta 11 System Program Offi ce and later b e c a m e a fi n a n cial analyst with the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DM SP).

During his service, Tuan was awarded numerous commendation m e d als honoring his accomplishments. A most notable achievement w a s h i s distinguishing accomplishment as Delta II Systems Engineer a n d D el t a II Financial Manager, Launch Programs Directorate, Space and Missile System Center.

His visionary management actions were also key to the c o n t i n u a tion of the F- 15E engine recovery at Royal Air Force St at io n L ak en h eat h , United Kingdom . He was truly a “steely eyed missile m a n .” T u a n w a s

C2C Stephen E. Williams

D i es i n A u t o m o b i l e C r ash

Stephen E. Despot-Williams was born on Sept. 27, 1990 t o V e n i t a R . D e s pot-Williams and Stephen CraigWilliams in Philadelphia, Pa . “ St ev i e” a s h e was affectionately called was the only son born to Venita and Stephen.

Stevie attended school in Upper Moreland School District w h e r e h e graduated with honors from Upper Moreland High School i n 2 0 0 8 . H e st r i v e d f o r ex c e l l e n c e i n a l l o f h i s a c a

demic endeavors. During his high school years, Stevie participated in a number of auxiliary activities. He

t u t or ed f ell ow st u d en t s, w as a m em

ber of the cross country track team , a Se a r c h a n d Re sc u e V o l u n t e e r a n d a c a d e t i n t h e C i v i l A i r Pa t r o l .

St ev i e h a d z e a l t o s e r v e o t h e r s . H e

w as a t r u e h u m an i t ar i an ; som e even

say he was an old soul. Upon gradu ation, Stephen received numerous scholarship invitations to a variety of Universities. His passion to serve and his love for flying influenced his ch o i ce an d led h im

t o th e U n ited

States Air Force Academy.

St e v i e W i l l i a m s Stevie embraced his training and his curriculum as he approached each phase of his life. His spiritual j ourney began when he j oined the academy and began attending regular church services and developed a personal relationship with the Lord.

At an early age, Stevie’s father introduced him to flying by frequently taking him to area air shows. Stevie was fascinated and the exposure sparked his enthusiasm to learn how to pilot an aircraft . Through this experience, Stevie was introduced to the Civil Air Pa t r o l a n d w a s i n v i t e d to attend a Squadron 902 m eeting. He received flight l e sso n s. St ev i e knew his mission in life was to become an aircraft pilot. He was the youngest cadet in the Civil Air Patrol to receive the r a n k o f a L i e u t e n a n t .

W h ile i n t h e servi ce, St evi e received n u m er ou s aw ard s a n d a c c o l a d e s.

Stevie was a free spirit and was a blessing to everyone t h a t c r o sse d h i s path. One of his most cherished traits that he shared w i t h h i s m o t h e r was his ability to make personal connections and develop meaningful friendships with those he encountered.

Stevie leaves to cherish his memories of good times and laughter: his father, Stephen C. Williams; his mother, Venita R. Despot -Williams; his sister Makeela “Jay” Williams; grandparents Mr. and M rs. Eugene Pauls, and Vivian Williams; uncles Eugene and Joseph Pauls; aunt Kimberly Pauls, and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews and friends.

Stevie had a special relationship with many people and through them we pray that his legacy and love will live on. (Submitted by the Despot Family) 92

transferred to Wright -Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio before leaving ac tive duty in 2000. He remained in the Reserves after 2 0 0 0 a n d w a s h o n orably discharged in July 2008.

In 200 1, Tu an ret u rn ed t o sch ool t o earn h is M ast er i n B u si n e ss A d m i n

istration at Columbia University. He put his new degree to work on Wall Street, but soon returned home to Los Ange les to pursue his interests in real estate.

Tuan had a keen eye for the business.

H e ser v e d RV M A sso c i a t e s w i t h u t m o st

determination, professionalism, and loyalty for almost 10 years, and he even tually became their CFO.

I n 2004, Tu an m et t h e l ove of h i s

life, Grace, and they were married in November 2007. They recently wel

com ed th e b i r t h of th ei r son , Lu k e,

in July 2011. Tuan was a sweet, car ing, and loving husband and father.

Though time was short, Tuan was a very proud father and said this was his best and happiest times.

Tua n Ng uy en Tuan was a great athlete who en j oyed sports throughout his life. In high school, he was a top-ranked tennis player and c o u l d o f t e n b e f o u n d on the court with his siblings. In addition to his lifelong passion for ten nis, he enj oyed the occasional round of golf. Very recently, in August 2011, Tuan played a round with fellow USAFA classmates and grads in the USAFA AOG’s Golf Classic held in Huntington Beach, C a l i f . T u a n ’s l o v e o f sports and the Academy converged when it came to Air Fo r c e f o o t b a l l .

After Air Force games against Army and Navy, Tuan would send updates to his classmates and fellow grads on the score, reminding u s o f t h e i m portance of having the Commander-in-Chief ’s trophy r e m a i n a t U SA FA .

Tuan was laid to rest at Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village.

The many of us who had the opportunity to know Tuan would agree that he was a very nice, sincere, genuine, down-to-earth, loving, and ac complished person. He was extrem ely generous and did n o t h e si t a t e to render help in various capacities. He was such a terrifi c person, left such a big footprint on earth, and will be sorely missed. (Tuan’s loving f amily and classmate Derek Powell)

D avi d J. Sal azar, '09 P' Lt. David Salazar passed on to walk with the Lord on Friday, Nov.

11, 20 11 i n M i n ot , N .D . D av e i s t h e son of Jan e an d Jerry Salazar of San A n t on io, Tex as, an d h as tw o ol d er b ro th er s, Rob er t and Capt. James

Salazar. Dave was born at Bergstrom AFB in Austin, Texas and grew up watching his father (Class of 1976) and brother (Cl ass of 2004) serv e in the Air Force. Dave pursued this same path, first through NJROTC in high school and later as a member of t h e Cl ass of 2009. W h il e i n N JROT C,

Dave’s prim ary mentor was his in

st r u ct o r, M ar i n e M SGT Cavazo s. D av e

managed to save his first enlisted sa

l u t e f or M SGT Cav azos, an h o n o r b ot h D a v e a n d M SG T C a v a z o s c h e r i sh e d .

I n a cr ow d of f r i en d s, al l w o u l d

agree Dave is undoubtedly the m ost upst anding, honest , and trustw or thy. Dave served as an Honor NCO an d H o n o r Of f i cer f o r C S- 28, a v o t

ed position that showed our t rust in him as a m an of absolut e int eg rity. Dave proudly m entored fellow D a v e Sa l a z a r Blackbirds and went t o great lengths to support the good nam e of the honor process.

One of Dave’s proudest accomplishments was maxing the c a d e t PFT—a perfect 500. M any cadets talk about how they’re going to m ax it—Dave just walked down there and did it. The ’09 B l a ck b i r d s h a d a tradition of Friday Night Workouts in Clune Arena: t w o - t o f o u r - h o u r endurance competitions of all the PT, crossfi t, sprint s, and swimming we could m anage.

(Con tinued on page 135.)

Pe t e To d d

12 50 Big Valley Drive Colorado Springs, CO 8 09 19-1015 H: (719 ) 531-58 74 E-mail: petetodd59@comcast .net

Funny, what some people think is important and how they grade them selves in comparison with others. What prompts this musing is that, in response to one of my periodic whines about not getting much input from “the field,” Casey Kay sent me a nicely detailed summary of almost fifty years in the fl ying game. Shortly thereafter, we got word that Al Gagliardi had died and Casey, upon reading “Gag’s” remarkable career accomplish ments, asked me to pull his piece since he considered h i s a c h i ev e m e n t s trivial by comparison. I politely begged to differ and Casey reluctantly re lented. Herewith, his input . You decide.

“I returned from Vietnam in mid- 1965. Basically I did the same thing over there I’d done in almost 5 years in ATC: instruct squids how to stay alive in an airplane. I was an advisor to the Vietnamese commander of a pilot training squadron. He had more experience than I did, so I don’t know who was advis ing whom. I ’d fl own Cessna tail draggers as a kid, so fl y ing the U-17s (Cessna 185s to you civilians) we’d given them was fun, and challenging to teach the Viet kids — many of whom didn’t know how to drive a car.

Sabre Society “Subsequent to this, I spent almost 32 years at Amer Do n o rs ican Airlines, never once understanding how one could get paid for doing what I did. In ’97 the feds pried m y 25 fingers off the yoke with a crowbar, saying at the ripe old age of 60, I was probably dangerous. (I ’d probably been dangerous long before that.) We had a nice retirement f r o m A m e r i can, so I looked for some kind of volunteer fl ying job, and found it at Mercy Med Flight. “ Ken M cAl ear, Zoom i e ’65, an d som e oth ers h ad fou n d ed the organiza tion, the only full-fl edged charity air ambulance in the country — perhaps the world. Ken, who is a terrific leader, put me on board with the grand title of ‘Director of Operations.’ This meant I was a u t h o r i z e d t o t a k e o u t the trash from our tiny office, but also got to fl y ou r Cessn a 42 1, an d lat er Citation: help train and schedule our cadre of volunteer pilots; and fl y our ‘m i ssi o n s.’

“ We w ere an all -volu n t eer ou t fi t , w i th ab ou t 15 or so pilots (mostly ex military and airline), some 15 paramedics, and 15 or so cr it i cal care RN s, all incredibly talented and dedicated givers of themselves. During the 10 years I was there, we carried almost 400 patients who d i d n ’t h av e t h e r e sources to pay for this expensive transport.

“Unfortunately, in ’07, we j ust couldn’t continue to r a i se t h e d o n a t e d funds sufficient to pay for the escalating cost of fu el , i n su r an ce an d m ain tenance, and had to close the doors. Next to raising our family, and con vincing Roz, my frau of 48-plus years, to stay married t o m e , t h e w o r k I d i d at MMF is probably the thing I am proudest of in my l i f e .

“More aviation things: During my years at American, I was heavily in volved in competition aerobatics and had some modicum o f su c c e ss. I also fl ew some air shows and, using my not inconsiderable st o r e s o f r a b b l e rousing (‘Air Force Cadets Go!!’), did quite a bit of air show announcing.

The highlight of this phase was getting to announce t h e sh o w a t O sh k o sh

mental wherewithal to continue, I ’ll keep fl ying. Brad H o sm e r r e c a l l s t h a t I o n c e t o l d h i m I ’d m a k e a c a r e e r a s a se c o n d l i e u t e n a n t if they’d j ust let me fl y airplanes. Well, that ’s pretty much the way things h av e t u r n e d o u t .”

My ever-faithful correspondent. Bill Telford, reported o n so m e o f l a st fall’s goings-on in the East.

“Happy to report that there is some news to report f r o m t h e E a st C o a st .

We are all alive and well for a bunch of ‘old fogies.’ T h at ’s t h e n ew s. (Ju st kidding.)

“During the latest east coast hurricane, Kozy and Bev K o z e l k a h a d t o (once again) evacuate and head west. They stayed in C h a r l o t t e sv i l l e f o r a few days and were planning to head down here to stay w i t h u s w h i l e w a i t ing for the ‘all clear.’ It came earlier than expected, so w e d i d n ’t h a v e t h e opportunity to host them during this second evacuation. They returned home to some water damage to the air conditioning ducting i n t h e c r aw l space beneath their home, destroyed fencing and downed trees. Although the damage was not as severe as the last time, I believe Kozy is about ready to move to higher ground.

“In late September, we had the pleasure of visiting b e a u t i f u l W i n t e r green, VA, at the Jeffersons’ home. Also in attendance a t t h i s m i n i - m i n i reunion were the Kingslands and the Morgans. Conversations ranged from who had the most recent surgery to the worldwide d e b t c r i si s. A l l will be happy to note that we resolved most of the w or ld issu es; n ow w e only need someone to implement our ideas! Wayne and Bo n n i e w ere, as usual, very gracious hosts. They took us to a local winery, which is in the early stages of development. After checking our IDs, w e w e r e a l l o w e d t o partake of their wine samples and enjoy the magnificent Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain countryside.

A great day in the country.

“Although it was j ust two days, it was quality time a n d t h e f o o d - a s always - was superb. We discussed the possibility of a larger reunion at a North or South Carolina beach next year, a 7-day cruise o r a v i si t t o W i l liamsburg. So that may be in store for 2012.”

Kozy and Bev Kozelka celebrated surviving the hurricane se a so n w i t h a Christmas holiday mini-reunion. He reports, “Part of the East Coast gang got together at the Boar’s Head Inn in Charlottesville, VA , t o celeb r at e th e holiday season. Enj oying the great decorations and superb buffet lunch were Jim and Molly Connal ly, Steve and Patty Hamer , Judy Jay (gracious of Judy to be with us after the recent loss of Jimmie), Wayne and Bonnie Jefferson, Kozy and Bev Kozelka (Kozy is too short to be seen in the photo), Brenda Welch, and Fred and Brenda Wynn. A great time was had by all and we hope to do it again next year.”

r p ’^n

o n e aft er n o o n .

“At the Zoo, I got to take three glider rides, but w a sn ’t a b l e t o c o n t i n u e in the sport, what with cheerleading, keeping my girl f r i e n d i n t e r e st e d i n me and, oh yes, attempting to pass Thermodynamics. When Mercy Med Flight folded, I took up glider fl ying again, and am still doing that, as well as fl ying our Pawnee tow planes. I have my own ship and my best efforts have gotten me up to 18,000 feet at Moriarty, New Mexico, an d a 6-h ou r, 485 kilometer fl ight down here in Texas. I ’m having a ball at it, though I ’m really still a beginner, and learn something new every time I fl y.

“So long as the Great Chief Pilot in the sky gives me the physical and

Holiday revelers at the Boar ’s Head.

93

C la s s

N e w s

Thought f or the Quarter: I don’t approve of political j okes. I ’ve seen too many of them get elected.

K en d al l , Fred Po r t er , Pet e Ro e, an d Jock Sch w an k .

A.J. (Rosie) Cler, Jr. 54 23 Myrt le Wood

Sa ra s ot a , FL 3 4 2 3 5 -4 6 2 4

Phone: (941) 371-48 43

E-m a il: RCt h e ros e @a o l.co m

Class Web Site: www.usafa.net/ 1960

“ On D ecem b er 14t h , th e N ort hw est Falcon s h eld a l u n ch eon a t B a h a

ma Breeze Restaurant in Seattle,” wrote George Luck . “In the top photo: George Luck, Nels Delisanti , Chuck Diver , Dennis and Li n d a O’Keef e, Edie Diver and Vic Yoakum . Bottom photo: Bev O’Rourke (partially hid den), Carolyn Luck, George Luck and Nels Delisanti . (Jim O’Ro u r k e w as present, not photographed).”

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"Jim Glaza led off with the mandatory war story, which i n v o l v e d a n RF-4C mission wherein their wingman got hosed over i n Laos, cam e b ack with no hydraulics, stalled out over the runway, ej ected (successfully), but the aircraft continued on and wiped out the middle of th e b ase at U d or n , killing 27 people. Jim had a ringside seat, since they h a d l a n d e d fi r st a n d pulled off to watch.

“This meeting was our first experiment with a guest, and Maj or Elaine Bryant is the AOC of 24th Squadron, and Fred Por ter , w h o h a d k n o w n her from her days in the Aero Department, persuaded her to give us a better understanding of how the ‘sys tem’ operates. She did a remarkable j ob and captivated the audience, who mostly felt the need to tell her h o w much tougher it was in the old days. One of the more emotional topics was why-the-hell USAFA felt the nedd to wear fatigues all the time. Major Bryant was wear Sabre Society ing fatigues. The AOC tour is three years, but includes a Do no rs year to get a master’s in Counseling at Maxwell. She i s the rare exception, having not done that , while she h a s 17 h ad a rem arkabl e an d v ar i ed career. Sh e i s U SA FA 2000, m ar r i ed t o a U SA FA 1998, an d h as tw o son s, 4 an d 8.

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funky sports restaurant spells its name with two p’s). We had a great guest speaker, and 11 members showed up. Wayne Kendal l , our l e a d e r a n d social referee, had to leave early, so I kept notes. Ph ot o, fr on t r ow : D ick Schehr , Jim Glaza, John McCullough, and George Pupich. B a c k : B r u c e Mosier , Bill Hodson, Denis Walsh, Elaine Bryant (guest speaker), Wayne

m

Tony Bur shnick gathered DC-’60’s Group on 17 January 2 0 12 a t t h e Springfield Golf and Country Club. In the photo, front row, there’s Yogi (Yikes! What ’s a bear doin’ on Les’ lap ?), Les Querry, Ken Al nwick , Tony Bu r sh n i ck , an d N or m H al l er . Back : A1Joh n so n , Tom Bu r k e, B i l l H o c k e n berry, George Fries, Bill Car negie, Mike Loh, Jerry d e l a Cr uz , Bob Bad

ger , Ralph Lalime, and Leon Goodson.

“Mike Loh attended the USAFA /Toledo bowl game and was probably tbe only class member there,” said Tony. “Norm Haller t r av e l s t o O h i o t o celebrate his Mother’s 100th birthday! Bill Carnegie just returned from attending the Rose Bowl Parade; he has another test for his lymphoma.

Ralph Lalime recommends a book by former USAFA history professor Paul Ringenhalk that’s about Dean McDermott and all h e d i d f o r t h e Academy. Leon and Maryn Goodson are preparing for a su m m e r Eu r o pean trip. Bob Badger bought a coronet and is playing i n a l o c a l c h u r c h .

A1Johnson fi nished the guest apartment in his Maine home, so everyone’s invited to spend the winter with him and Gale. Our grand daughter let tered in volleyball after her fi rst semester at Indiana University. Finally, we decided to meet April 2nd for our Founders Day Luncheon.”

She had assignments as Maintenance Officer (F-16 at Hill), assignments at the wind tunnel at Wright -Patterson, then Exec to t h e C o m m a n d e r o f AFM C (t oo b ad t h at Yat es, it s fi r st com m an d er, w asn’t here!), grad school MS in Aero, instructor at USAFA, AOC. Very impressive, and I would hope that all the AOCs were as sharp as she.”

Howie and Judy Bronson moved from Big Bear City, CA t o 1 12 2 4 P r e sidio Drive, Raleigh, NC 27617, telephone (919) 797-2350. E-Mail: judyhowie3@yahoo.com. “We moved to North Carolina, much t o H o w i e ’s dismay,” wrote Judy. “It was time to be closer to family, as they are all on the East Coast; two sons living in the Raleigh area a n d t h e o t h e r i n N ew Hampshire. We own a townhouse here. We weren’t able t o sel l t h e h o u se i n Big Bear, and rented it to our carpenter and good friend; H o w i e m i sse s n o t being 20 minutes to the nearest ski resort, but hey -- we’re readapting after 21 years in the mountains, and, even longer in Southern C a l i f o r n i a .”

Colonel (Ret) William George Goodyear died 14 Dec 2011 in Atl an t a, GA from the effects of cancer, having been transferred from the hospital to a hospice after the disease entered Stage 4. Bill was diagnosed with lung can cer last August. While Bill lay on his deathbed, his daughter Lorelei called Bill ’s frien d D en is Wal sh , w h o w as du e to arr ive th at morning, and Bill died within one minute after hearing DL’s voice, according t o B i l l ’s b r o t h e r Ch arles, w h o w as at h is b ed sid e. M em orial Servi ce w as held on 7 Jan 20 12 at 1100 h r s at th e D r u id H ills M eth odist Ch u rch in Atlan t a, GA. A reception at M an u el ’s Taver n follow ed th e servi ce, a few b locks f r o m t h e c h u r c h . B i l l h a d

requested a small gathering of classmates following his death, all toasting their favorite alcoholic beverages. In the photo from left are Jon M cCl u r e, Aaron Thrush, Bill Hales, Denis Wal sh, and Joe Higgins.

Condolences to Mrs. Linda Neal Goodyear at Lngood365@att.net, o r ; 236 Spalding Gates Drive NE, Atlanta (Sandy Springs), G A 3 0 3 2 8 - 14 5 7 .

Bill’s body was cremated, and there are plans to have a ceremony at the USAFA cemetery to honor Bill’s ashes during the AFA-Navy game week end this Fall; details not yet available. (Polaris 1960, Bill ’s en t r ies; Jackson ville, Florida -- original home; Congressional, Cross Country 4, Dodo Staff 2, 1, En t er t ai n m en t Com m itt ee 4, 3.) Jon M cCl u r e w r ot e; “ I f e e l h o n o r e d

t o h av e b e e n a b l e t o a t t e n d B i l l ’s M e m o r i a l Se r v i c e a n d t o h av e b e e n h i s

classmate and friend.” “Bill was a unique and admirable fr ien d ; I cou l d not miss tbe chance to honor his memory.” wrote Aaron T h r u sh .

AARP Magazine rated Greenville, SC as the nation’s se c o n d “ B e st P l a c e t o Live.” Many ’60 classmates have lived there -- Chuck a n d Ed i e D i v e r f r o m 1880-1985, and Chuck said “probably four or five classmates l i v e d h e r e after pilot training at Donaldson.” Joe and Sue Higgins recently moved h ere, an d . Bill an d Barb ara H al es l ive i n Greer, m i n u t es f r o m G r e e n v i l l e .

What ’s magical about Greenville?We sent our crack investigative r e p o r t e r into this Rebel venue; our rapporteur discovered that t h i s w a s h o m e t o

Con serv at ive U S Sen at or Ji m D eM i n t , Su b ar u feat u res G r e e n v i l l e o n n a t ion al TV com m ercials, M ich el in’s N or th Am er ican H Q ’s h ere, t h ere’s a

JO I N T H E SA B RE SO C I ET Y !

Y O U R M O N EY H E L P S F U N D

CA D ET W I N G PRO G RA M S T H AT

W OU LD OT H ERW I SE GO U N FU N D ED. Denis Wal sh wrote; “I made it to Champps for the monthly m eet i n g on 11 January 2012, despite all the snow driving down to the Springs (this 94

CA L L (7 19) 4 72 - 03 00 X 2 0 0 .

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BMW plant. Peace Center, Greenville Symphony, Furman University, it’s a crucible for Tea Party formation, and, there is both a Sonic and Dairy Queen. Then, one sunshiny day in downtown Greenville, w e f o u n d o u r selves “spot-on” its’ maj or attraction: Joe Higgins a n d B i l l H a l e s n ex t t o “Shoeless Joe” Jackson’s statue (see photo) -- SJJ w as b or n h ere, t h ere’s t h e Sh oeless Joe Jackson Baseb all M u seu m , an d Joe ow n ed a liquor store after being banned from baseball in 1921. So, now you know.

Bill and Kitty Taylor ’s address is 5216 Scarborough Lan e, D al las, TX 75287, phone (972) 803-6577, E-mail: wtaylor@rand.org.

Final Roll Cal l. Nancy Clarke, wife of Michael J. Clarke, died January 14,

20 12, of h ear t failu re.

Ea r l N . “ Ne ls o n ” O ' Re a r

50 5 8 2 St oningt on Drive Granger, IN 4 65 3 0-8 24 3 H: (574 ) 273-2 597 E-mail: enoandtj o@gmail.com Class Web Site: www.usafa l 9 6 1.org

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M e m b e rs ;

O u r r a n k s w e r e f u r t h e r d i m i n i sh e d w i t h t h e l o ss o f C h a r l i e T h o m a s o n

November 2nd. You can read some of the highlights of h i s l i f e i n t h e G B N F section of this issue of Checkpoints. We will miss him and his friendly d em ean or. H i s w i fe, Gi n a, t h an k s all t h e w on d erfu l c l a ssm a t e s f o r t h e

beautiful flowers, cards, phone calls, and especially t h o se w h o a t t e n d e d Ch arl ie’s servi ce, w h i ch m ean t so m u ch t o h er an d t h ei r c h i l d r e n .

Our 50* Class Reunion, November 2-6,2011, highlighted this past quarter.

It was undoubtedly the best reunion we have ever had. It also was defi nitely the best attended. We all owe a great debt of gratitude t o o u r Reu n i o n C o m m itt ee Ch ai rm an , Ch arli e Neel , an d ou r classm at es in Colorado Springs, as well as the USAFA and AOG staff (especially Emma Ross) f o r al l t h e i r h a r d work in making it so. Those attending included 110 of our 171 living gradu at es (ab ou t 64%), w i th an oth er 10% un able t o att en d b e c a u se o f m e d i c a l

issues. We were happy that another eight classmates who began with our class in 1957 also attended, and especially pleased that eight widows joined us: Rosalind Apodaca Holloman, Dianne Bouquet, Margy Dingle, Karen Mandel Gilbert, Carolyn Moulton, Cathy Mul ler , Musa Wolcott , and Gayle Zompa. Additionally, many family members participated. A total of nearly 300 attended our banquet Friday evening. For a summary of ou r reu n ion , plus some pictures, go to http:/ / usafal 961.org/ products.htm. Our class gift to the Academy is dedicated to the service of all those w h o l i e i n U SA FA ’s cemetery and to the solace of their loved ones. The sculptures Airman on the Meadow and Winged Ref uge, pictured, are in the Academy’s cemetery.

(See photo at the top of the next column.) [ We extend special congratulations to a classmate w h o m t h e A i r F o r c e Academy selected as one of its two 2011 Distinguished G r a d u a t e s f o r h i s exemplary accomplishments: Randy Cubero. The award “ ...recognizes exceptional graduates who have [made] extraordinarily signifi cant con t r i b u t i o n s t o o u r n a t i o n a n d / o r t h e i r c o m m u n i t i e s . . .w h o se accomplish ments are inspirational and elevate the reputation and the standing of the U.S. Air Force Academy.” Well done, Randy.

Stu Boyd has been appointed Group Commander of Civil A i r Pa t r o l ’s

Green Flag program with squadrons in LasVegas and Alexandria, LA. They u se C e ssn a 18 2 / 2 0 6 a i r c r a f t m o d i fi e d t o si m u l a t e P r e d a t o r and Reaper Remotely Piloted Ai rcraft . Their Civil Air Patrol volunteer c r ew s w o r k with Army, Marine, and Air Force units being trained for deployment to southwest Asia. They replace contractor efforts that were providing simi lar training, but they are provi ding this training a t a b o u t 2 5 % o f t h e c o st the government was previously paying. They support monthly Green Flag exercises at For t I rw in , CA , an d Fort Polk , LA , as well as j oint unconven tional warfare exercises. They will also be flying in support of a major Special Operations exercise in March and will be working w i t h L u k e A F B to train F- 16 pilots before they are sent to combat squadrons. These air c r a f t h av e a l so b e e n u se d t o a ssi st i n l o c a l n a t u r a l disasters by linking their surveillance capabilities into local emergency response n e t w o r k s.

Corky Cochrane, on the recommendation of Bill Grif fis, d o w n l o ad e d Warren Kozak’s book about General LeMay to his Kindle a n d r e a d i t . H e was surprised when he got to page 67 and read, “The Air Corps needed a new route to Africa via South America. LeMay was again chosen, along with veterans C.V. Haynes and C. J. Cochrane. He now belonged to a very small and select group of top pilots in the Air Corps chosen for all the big assign ments.” C. J. Cochrane is Corky’s father, now deceased. I t w a s n i c e t o se e him mentioned in that context. Since Corky was born i n t o t h e 2 n d B o m b Group (B-l Os), Langley Field, VA, and grew up in bombers w i t h t h e 2 0 t h A i r Force and with SAC, much of the book brought back fond m e m o r i e s.

On 22 January 2012, Jim and Joy Dar nauer set foot on t h e i r sev e n t h continent at "Brovm Bluff ” on the northeast tip of the Antarctica penin sula. Unfortunately, Joy lost her footing after exiting t h e z o d i a c a n d c a m e ashore soaking wet . It was sort of a polar plunge, b u t sh e w a s sa f e . A f t e r her warm shower, they returned to enj oy the event. They have been quite busy. Jim is still working on his videos from the reunion but promises to h a v e h i s v e r si o n s av a i l a b l e w i t h i n a f ew m o n t h s f o r anyone that would like so m e o f t h e m . H e w i l l l e t u s k n o w .

Anne and Tom Eller spent Christmas in England with t h e i r so n Ro b e r t (USAFA ’96) and his family, where Rob is a Lt Col (Select) h e a d a n d n e c k surgeon at Lakenheath. Their daughter Elizabeth met t h e m a l l i n L o n d o n for a couple of days of fun. Anne and Tom are spending t h r e e m o n t h s i n Tucson as their fi rst venture into being Snow Birds. Ju l ie’s son , Bar rett (USAFA ’l l ), is in pilot training in Del Rio and her son, Connor, is a sopho more at Grinnell College in Iowa.

Lowell Jones sent a summary of their Christmas luncheon o n D e cem b er 6, w h ich H ect or h ad su b m it t ed ear li er. T h o se attending at the Springfi eld Country Club in Springfield, VA, were: Joh n an d Joan Koh o u t , Charley Dixon, Bill Sanzenbacher , Lowell and Sandy Jones, Cathy Mull er , Bill Foster , Terry Norr is, Jack and Diane McDonough, a n d H e c t o r a n d Joan Negroni . Lowell read the names of our departed c l a ssm a t e s w i t h their DOD, and they toasted them. The names included: Jam es D i ck son (03/ 13/ 89), Norm Cam pbell (11/ 18/ 96), Karl Kellerman (0 3 / 2 9 / 0 0 ) , D ar rell Koer n er (03 / 27/ 02), D ick M i l n es (04 / 09/ 03), K a r l W h i t a k e r

(01/ 08/ 07), Ron Muller (05/ 21/ 10), Roger Woodbury (11/ 08/ 10), a n d a l so a past DC member and frequent visitor, Charlie Thom as ( 11/ 02 / 11). Bill Foster discussed the then-forthcoming Military Bowl G a m e b e t w e e n A i r Force and Toledo at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, which many of them planned to attend. Special thanks to Charley Dixon for arranging the lun cheon at his country club.

Sue and Jerry Lefton spent January and February in Tu cson . In M arch , they are going to San Diego and Las Vegas before heading b a c k t o N o r t h Caro lin a.

Hector and Joan Negroni are in Naples, FL, escaping from the cold. They planned to be there from 9 January to 29 February and hoped the North east gets at least 50” of snow while they are away.

2011was a hard time for Richard and Carolyn Sm ith. The highlight was 95

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t h e 5 0 t h M i n i Re u n i o n t o cel eb r a t e t h e C l a ss o f 2 0 1 1’s Graduation. They

also planned to be at the big 50th Reunion but had t o m i ss i t w h e n Ri c h a r d had a maj or fall in his driveway late one evening. H e h a d sev er e c u t s o n h i s hand and head. They went to the ER, and they bandaged him up with a lot of stitches. Then they went to their family doctor w h o t r e at e d t h e c u t s.

H e w a n t e d Ri ch a r d t o h av e a n M R I t o en su r e t h a t h e h a d n o t b r o k en h i s

ch eekb on e. W h ile th e M RI sh ow ed th at it w as fi n e, it al so sh o w e d t h a t h e h a d ex c ess w a t er i n h i s b r a i n - a c o n d i t i o n ca l l e d N PH .

It causes loss of memory function, unsteady walking, and all of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Many people are committed to an Assisted Living Facility w i t h NPH. Richard went to a neurosurgeon and had surgery o n D e c em b er 14 t h a n d w e n t h o m e o n t h e 15 t h . T h e

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surgery involved drilling a hole the size of a nickel i n h i s Sabre Society head and installing a drain tube down to the intestine.

Do n o rs It also came with a lot of restrictions like no driving a n d constant supervision by Carolyn for at least 4 weeks.

13 Then Carolyn, on the 10th of January had a spell with her gall bladder and had it surgically removed. Their daughter, who lives across the street from them, is probably getting tired of being their transportation and caregiver. They are both on the verge of being healthy and living a normal life for the remainder o f 2 0 12 .

Terry Storm said that many of our classmates and spouses/ signifi ca n t o t h ers kn ow his and Carleen’s 40-year old daughter, Shari, from her singing at two previous reunions and attending the banquet with h er h u sb a n d at o u r 50* . She had a serious back fusion/ rebuild operation in N ovem ber, follow ed by another to remove a bad blood clot in early December, and followed by another to try to remove a serious staph infection, which has progressed into her bones. Aft er those three hospital stays, she is at home with a hospital bed.

Carleen spends part of each week helping to take care o f Sh ar i an d t h e i r t h r e e children, who live in Castle Rock about an hour away. Shari’s family also re ceives lots of help from friends and neighbors, especially si n ce h e r h u sb a n d ’s j ob requires a lot of travel. He spent weeks in Dubai during 2011. Terry and Carleen appreciate all positive thoughts and prayers.

Tom Wilson is still working to continue development o f t h e M i n n e so t a chapter of the AOG. They have had USAFA football and hockey tailgates/ socials this fall with some success and a “get-acquainted” d i n n e r . T h e biggest news is that they have successfully scheduled t h e C SA F t o b e t h e speaker for their First Annual Founders Day Dinner in lat e M arch , w h ich is quite a coup for them! Their two USAFA cadet grandchildren are only a year and half from graduation. It’s scary how quickly time goes by.

Nine of our graduate classmates have not shared e-mail a d d r e sse s w i t h me. While some have indicated they do not have one, it would help us stay in touch if any of the others who may have one w o u l d sh a r e i t w i t h m e

them to a deserving person. Right now he has 7 golden retrievers, 3 sheep dogs, a cross between a Chihuahua and another breed a n d a r e d - n o se d pit bull. Tom must really love them to have that many. And he is planning to j oin Chuck Cheeseman pretty soon for a Georgia hunting ex c u r si o n .

Send pictures.

Talked to Dick Hodgkinson in the colder reaches of New Hampshire.

D i c k l a m e n t s t h e f a ct t h a t h e l i v e s o f f t h e b e a t e n track and away from the centers of civilization. So he doesn’t see any Redtags in New Hampshire. (Except for you, they are extinct in New Hampshire.) Since leaving the Air Force he has been actively engaged in government and education.

The last time 1talked to him, he was the City Manager of Londonderry and enj oying it very much. He is plan ning to attend the 50* Reunion. His wife went to school Sabre Society

i n t h e D en v er ar ea . G r eat !

Do n o rs

Al so t alked t o M ike Ren t en b ach i n Kn oxvil le, T N . H e

is still working as a building contractor but the econo 12 my has slowed that pursuit. He has some back pain that limits his maneuverability but that doesn’t restrict t r av e l as the picture in the last Checkpoints showed him in Reno, NM with his grand son and Sam Dehne. He said he is going to be at the 5 0 * n o m at t er w h a t .

Had a call from Ted Dykes in Great Falls, VA. He’s still enj oying work and looking forward to retirement. He will be at the reunion. Marcy is from the Denver area and is looking forward to the return trip.

Got a picture of Bob and Bobbie Gibson with their two so n s a n d o t h e r family members. They all look like they are staying warm. See you at the 50* . No “Bears” this time. (Inside j oke from 45* reunion.)

Got an em ail fr om Bob Bax t er, t o w i t : “Jack, aft er only 49 years I thought it might be appropriate for me to thank you for all your years of service both to the RTBs and the country in many capacities.

“Red Tags have been scarce in my neck of the woods so no group pics with RTBs. (Bevo must live in New Hampshire. Call Hodgkinson!) I am enclosing a pic of me and my two eldest grandsons aft er a freefall (fr om 13,500’) t an dem jump. (See photo.) Seems a family tradition has developed where the grandkids want a jump for their 18th birthday present. Am n ow u p to 6 jumps and thinking of going solo. If I plant a landing, however, my two arti fi cial hips and reworked knee may give me some harsh feedback. See you at the 50th! Bob Baxter. Thanks Bob. Congratulations on your tandem jump.

at EN Oan dTJO@Gm ail .com . Th an k s.

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Jo h n W . “ Ja c k ” J a m b a

4 Judy Court

S at e llit e Be a c h , FL 3 2 9 3 7

H: (3 2 1) 777-5 520 0 : (32 1) 8 6 1-6279 Cell: (32 1) 43 2-1370 E-Mail: j wJamba@aol.com

Ralph Conlan. Nov 21; talked to Ralph at his Alpha Omega Glass & Mir ror Company in Daytona Beach. He and his wife, Pat, w i l l b e a t t h e 5 0 * Reu n i on on 4-7 Oct 20 12. H is son M at t , U SA FA ’93, i s now running the business but Ralph goes in every day to get on the computer. Ralph also enj oys golfing frequently and being in a bowling league w h e r e h e r u n s into Lyle Wilson weekly.

Chatted with Tom Young at his home near Tampa. He is not leaning toward going to the 50"’ at this time. So I think some encouragement from the Redtags could push him over the edge. One of his most beloved pas times is his love for dogs. He raises and sells them and sometimes gives

From the Haugens; “There will be another DC area RTB Pr e - Reu n i o n Party at the Haugens in September. Out-of-towners are welcome; just let us know. All Redtags in the greater DC area should update t h e i r c o n t a c t i n f o r mation [e-mail, phone, and snail mail} with the Haugens s o w e c a n c o n t a c t you when the date is fi nalized: WJENS77@verizon.net (7 0 3 ) 5 3 6 - 10 1 1, 6 9 5 6 Birch Street, Falls Church, VA 22046. Go Redtags! Bill Haugen.”

Got this from Shep. “Bob and Ginny McNaughton, Rose and Don Shepperd, Betty and Rudy Bow at Christmas Eve dinner in T u c so n - - t h e a m b i -

T he Class of '62 is currently raising money to support

t he new Cent er f o r Charact er and Leadership Developm ent .

For more information to participate in t his Class Giving Project , please co nt act Raze lle Do herty at

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Razelle.dohert y @usafaendow m ent .org, 7 1 9 -4 7 2 -0 3 0 0

ext . 222 .

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ance was better than Christmas ’58 at USAFA.” (See photo) I ’m sure it was better. Thanks. And thanks for all the work you have been doing in putting

together the Redtag Book for our 50'". Thanks also t o B u t c h V i c c e l l i o f o r

leading the task of tracking down all living classmates. T h e r e a r e st i l l so m e of you out there they haven’t been able to reach. And t h a n k s t o t h e Re union Committee for putting all the gears together for a great reunion.

Lloyd Milton McKnight of CS 11passed away on Friday, January 27'*’.

Milt made a final entry on his Facebook page on the day of his passing: ‘‘Today 1 earned my new wings. To all my family and friends, thank you for all your prayers and the time you allowed me to spend with you!” As of this writing a memorial ceremony was planned for February 11th at the Mowell Funeral Home Peachtree Chapel in Peachtree City, G A 50"' REUNION UPDATE: Bill Ball sent the following: ‘‘A s n o t e d i n t h e December Checkpoints our overall schedule will be similar t o p revi ou s re unions. There will be a few things thrown in to make the 50"’ special. We’ll keep you in the loop through these updates in Checkpoints."

One maj or addition will be the Thursday evening gathering, t h i s t i m e i n Arnold Hall and a special recognition of our class’sV i e t nam KIAs and POWs. Jimmie Butler (j immieb@q.com) has the lead for Thursday night’s program. Preliminary plans show more stories, info, and PICTURES for those classmates being honored are needed. Anyone with in puts/ thoughts that you think will be useful, please f o r ward them to Jimmie. Thursday’s program will include Sabre Society a special presentation of Pat Wyn ne’s Ring currently Do n o rs displayed in our cup case.

Ou r Cl ass’s tw o fo rm er POW s, of cou r se, are Joh n

Borling and Jerry Dr iscoll . The 18 classmates who did

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n o t c o m e h o m e f r o m So u t h e a st A si a a r e : L e e A d a m s ,

Got a note about the release of a new book by Kirk Vaughan titled “Let ters from a War Bird: The World War I Correspondence o f E l l i o t t W h i t e Springs” Heard from Tom Keaney, to wit: “Hi Jack, I am writing from sunny, but cold, Colorado. This semester I am a visiting professor at the Academy and loving the surroundings and chance to see Red Tags. I ret u r n t o m y full-time job in December. The football team has been so-so, but being able to tailgate before and after the games with about 10 Red Tags and wives has been a real highlight for Mary Beth and me, not to mention get ting involved in the Academy programs and with the cadets. My observa tions from interacting with cadets in class and comparing t h e m w i t h o u r class and with those I taught here in the 1970s: they now show up in class with their backpacks, laptops, water bottles, and dressed in camouflaged fatigues (except for Mondays), but they’re the same people we remember or were ourselves. Not sure what they think of me; someone’s grandfa ther, no doubt. I ’m looking forward to getting back h e r e f o r o u r 5 0 t h n ex t fall. Best regards, Tom.” The class was informed of the passing of Rick Wheeler on Jan . 22 in Colo rado. He was involved in a car accident after a skiing day at Vail, CO on the evening of 7 Jan. He was airlifted to Denver General a n d r e c e i v e d r o u n d the-clock care from a team of doctors. After many procedures an d test s, h e passed quietly with family and friends near his side. His obituary will ap pear in a future Gone But Not Forgotten section of Checkpoints. The Redtag Net was alive with prayers and kind thoughts about Rick and his family.

“Nancy and Tim Gilmartln are angels on earth; they w e r e t h e r e w i t h the family throughout: holding hands; taking people to eat; bringing food in; discussing; j ust listening. May we all have and be such good friends in diffi cult times.” Don Shepperd.

Bob Felts had this to add: “Here’s the last message I r e c e i v e d f r o m R i c k

Park Bunker , Doug Butter fi eld, Tom Clark , Bob Gilchrist , Ji m Goo d m an , John Hathaway, Joe Hem mel , Gene Knudsen, Tom Mitchell , Way n e New berry, Joe Pirruccello, Frank Ral ston, Bob Rex, John Sk o r o , Leo T h om as, Dave Wax , and Pat Wynne.

A Piece of History: Answering the call for pictures a n d st o r i e s f o r t h e Class History Tom Fryer included a pdf fi le and photograph i n a n e - m a i l to Lou Matj asko. The fi le is a report (copy) on the l o ss o f a n F 4 a n d c r ew during an armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam i n Au gu st 1966. The report, fi lled out by the other pilots of OZARK flight, is a fasci nating piece of history. The lost airplane was OZARK 3 that supposedly included our Classmate Pat Wynne (the pilots in the missing airplane are not named in the report). The photograph that was included i n t h e e mail shows Tom and Pat Wynne at Travis AFB as they w e r e h e a d e d t o SEA in June of 1966. There are four other pilots in the picture—like Pat and Tom all were GIBs. Tom identifi ed three of the other pilots as Bunny Talley (b etw een Pat an d Tom ), Bob Cl em en t s t h e 2"" fro m th e right and a USMA grad. The 3'" from the right is Joe Merrick. The pilot on the far right is unknown. In a recent book about Mike Wynne and Pat, 4 o f t h e 6 i n t h e photograph were shot down! ^<ahd

on N ov 23, 20 11, God rest h is so ul :

Bob, I 'm glad to see you came out with a good way f or the RTBs to stay in contact with each other prior to our 50th. I actually was going through some old pictures and came up with one taken when we w er e d o o l i es a n d it ’s hard to believe I actually didn’t have grey hair and a “Wrinkly ” f ace at one time! I ’m really lookingf orward to when we of the “Mature” generation can get together and reminisce about days of old. Thanks f or your ef forts on our behalf Rick Wheeler Sad day for Rick’s family and the RTBs. Rick was one h e l l o f a m a n a n d h e’l l b e m i sse d .”

That’s it for now. God Bless! Go Redtags! Jack No rm a n I. (S k ip ) Le e 6 3 1 1 9 E. Cat Cla w La n e Tu cs o n , AZ 8 5 7 3 9 -2 0 5 8

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Home: (520 ) 8 2 5-7980 Cell: (5 20 ) 24 1-34 98 54 wrs63@gmail.com

The Association of Graduates recently learned of the d e a t h o f L t C o l (Ret) Lynn E. Gulick , CS-09. Lynn passed away on 17 D e c 2 0 10 . T h e A O G apologized for having no other information available. Lynn’s last address was at La Quinta, CA. Whenever we receive more concerning Lynn’s death we’ll post it on the Web Site.

Mick Roth updated the Class Gift progress: “Our Class o f ’6 3 G i f t C o m mittee is very close to ironing out the fi nal details o f w h a t w e b e l i ev e w i l l be a unique and extremely meaningful gift to our Academy. “ O u r f o c u s i s o n w h a t t h e C e n t e r f o r C h a r a c t e r a n d Leadership Devel opment (CCLD) will actually pass on to cadets. Its n ew st r u c t u r e w i l l b e magnificent. We want to help make its lessons for cadets j u st as m ag n i f i c e n t . A n d t h a t i d e a l e a d s u s t o t h e e st a b l i sh m e n t o f a n E n d o w m e n t Fund which will support the CCLD, the History Department ’s C e n t e r f o r

Oral History (COH) , and our own effort; USAFA Class H i st o r i e s (U C H ) .

Through our efforts, and in conjunction vdth the Superintendent, t h e D ean , t h e Pr ofesso r of t h e CCLD , an d t h e Pr ofessor of History, there has been a recognition of how these three entities; CCLD, COH , an d U CH , can complement each other and become key efforts in teaching a b o u t C h a r acter and Leadership.

Our goal is to initiate what we hope will be long-term support for this unique effort . We have concluded the best way to do t h i s i s t o e st a b l i sh a significant fund to provide meaningful support during ou r l ifet i m es; an d importantly, to initiate the idea among other classes a n d d o n o r s t h i s i s a long-term proj ect. We’ll be contacting you soon.”

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George Freder ick said he sent video and picture links o f T o m C l ar k 's memorial ceremony to I T*’ Squadron classmates so they c o u l d se e t h e memorial ceremonies. George says he is collecting reminiscences a b o u t Tom from our classmates to be shared with Tom’s family. If you have a chance to visit the Tom Clark website you will see a n u m b e r o f o u r c l a ss mates signed the guest book. Go to: http:/ / barnettfuneralhome.net / o b i t uary/ major-thomas-e-clark.

B e a u t i f u l m u si c !

Bob Mazet (pictured) attended a four-day party given by our classmate Bill Wecker and wife, Mary Lin, celebrating Bill’s 70th birthday at their new home (which, says Bob, took four years to build) i n N ovat o, CA ; n o rt h of San Francisco. The entertainment the second night was a classic guitar player and you can easily see Bob concentrating intently o n t h e m e l o d i c strumming of the musical instrument John Heimburger ’s e-mails evaluating the presidential primaries and caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina a r e m a r v el o u s.

Joh n h as vi sit ed an d w orked i n each of t h e even t s. The stories are intrigu ing and you hear and see things that you can’t get f rom th e m ed i a. Next , I expect to hear about Florida. John has been busy lately. Back in Septem ber he took a biking trip across Ireland—536 miles. He says he will try the same thing in The Holy Land in 2012. John and wife, Ch r is, b ike 40 m iles very early each Sunday morning (4 a.m. to beat the Texas h eat ) an d t reat ed t h e m se l v e s t o a 2 8 - m i l e d o w n h i l l c r u i se o n M a u i ’s H a l e a k a l a V o l c a n o .

We received some very nice holiday notes from classmates i n D e c e m ber with lots of news and updates. I particularly liked the photo John Borling sent along and have displayed it here. John can do some pretty classy things especially when Myrna is involved!

John and Myr na Ed Pickens had the most noteworthy holiday letter informing u s t h a t

b o t h h i s so n s n o w l i v e a n d w o r k o v e r se a s. So n M a r k an d n ew w i fe, Ju l iet ,

are living in Kigali, Rwanda (for 2 years) helping VI SA set up cell phone banking in Africa. Son Geoff and family have recently moved from Japan and now live in Singapore. Lots of fun trips coming up for Ed and Caroline as they travel the world to visit family.

We received sad news from Dick Ferency that Lynne passed aw ay Jan u ary 8"' after a long battle with cancer. Condolences may be shared with the family at www.lohmanfuneralhomes.com.

Well, that’s it for this time around. We are enjoying some fairly nice w e a t h e r h e r e i n T u c so n . A l i t t l e r a i n a n d c o o l t h i s week but golf and out door activities are good. Everyone take care and let us hear from you.

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H u nt sv ille , A L 3 5 8 0 1

(H) (2 56 ) 532-3 923 (M) (2 56 ) 34 8-9794 bo b @ho v cle .us

As we start another year (I ’m preparing this in January.), I hope it will be a good one for the entire Class of 1964! Many of o u r c l a ss a r e st i l l w o r k ing - at least part -time - but most of us are “in retirement,” w h a t ev e r t h a t was supposed to mean. I think it means that you work h ard er, b u t d on ’t get paid anymore. Besides travelling (again, we pay instead of being paid to travel!), there’s a lot of volunteering going on. A n d , of cou r se, t h ere’s always the all-important Service football games.

Football - A1McArtor wrote about the Army game, “The Fa l c o n s w o k e up in the 2nd half! Troy must have ‘inspired’ them i n t h e l o c k e r r o o m at half time.” To which, Terry Isaacson replied, “You may not believe this, but I think I might have had something to do with it. At t h e halftime, I went to my closet and suited up. I grabbed m y blue and white Air Force shirt, one of my AF hats and a pair of AF socks with a Falcon on the side. Then I f o u n d a BEAT ARMY pin and fastened it to my shirt. My wife thought I was nuts, ’cause every time the Falcons scored, I yelled, ‘Slash ’em with a beak; rip ’em with a claw; bring Sabre Society on the meat wagon; Raw, raw, raw!’ I even called one o f Do n o rs the Army turnovers with, ‘Fumble play, fumble play, w e will have a fumble play!’ How ’bout that!”

37 AFA Athletic Corporation - On a more serious note, A1 continued, “We had very good inaugural board meetings for the new AFA Athletic Corp. This is a much bigger deal than any of us imagined, but we will get ’er done! We will n e e d t o e n l i st t h e a c tive participation / suggestions from all invested alums and j ocks. [John] Lorber and I are on this board and will have fun getting it all organized. In fact we voted Lorber as Chairman in one of the greatest ‘r a i l r o a d v o t e s ’ o f all time. Classic. Awesome. Good on ya. Lobster! All w eeken d , I h eard a l ot of kudos for the guys of ’64. Made me proud! We defi nitely h a d a C l a ss t h a t set the standard and moved the needle. 1 feel very f o r t u n a t e t o sh a r e t h e ’64 class crest with all of you.”

This is a big deal, and Terry summed it up for the rest of u s, A1 - “ You and John are a perfect fit for the non-profi t athletic corporation board of d i r e c t o r s.”

Greek/Holy Land Trip - Don Grah am wrote that he and Marilyn trav elled with Tony and Barb Covais on a wonderful adventure t o t h e G r e e k Islands and the Holy Lands. “We had a great time and saw some amazing historical locations. I don’t have any photos of us together in Jerusalem because we ended up taking different tours there.”

Don and Marilyn Graham with Barb and Tony Covais - living the tough lif e on Santorini.

AO “ G” ? - Dave Neal wrote, “Do you suppose that I am t h e fi r st n o n grad to be elected as president of an AOG chapter? It happened [in De cember]. I had invited Grant Bornzin to come up from SoCal to join us at the annual NorCal December dinner not knowing that he was the presi dent of the SoCal chapter. Grant indicated that his chapter meets every two months. I will be seeking ideas and guidance from h i m . “ I a m a l so i n t e r e st e d i n t h e k i n d s o f a c t i v i t i e s t h a t other chapters do.

It seems that the annual dinner is the only activity that this chapter has done in many years. Thirty people, including spouses a n d SO s a t t e n d e d t h e d i n n e r . G i v e n t h e n u m b e r o f A O G m e m b e r s i n n o r t h e r n Cal ifor n ia,

this is not a particularly impressive turnout. If there w ere m ore op p or tu

nities to meet for other functions, we might get a larger number of partici pants. I will appreciate any suggestions that [anyone] may have.”

Annual Update - Matt Feiertag reported in his annual l e t t e r ; “ T h i s h a s been avery exciting year for the Feiertag family, especially with the arrival of [granddaughter] Greta Louise Feiertag!

along theway. Great trip! Now back home, both back at work and catching up on sleep. Well, not much sleep for Norma, with her 3 volunteer j obs in ad d it i on t o h er w o rk at D u ke. Zzzzzzzzzz.”

U n t i l n ex t t i m e . !

B ru ce W o o d 76 10 So n a t t a Co u rt Lin c o ln , N E 6 8 5 1 6

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Home and Cell: (4 0 2) 470-715 2 brucewood 19 65@gma i I.com

After some suggestions to the AOG, they agreed we would hear “Taps"

at t h e en d of ou r m em or ial servi ce. Er rol Rei n er em ail ed m e w i t h a r e

quest that, after departed graduates’ names were called, the Squadron he was a member of responded with, “Absent Sir”. I agree t h i s w o u l d b e a n appropriate inclusion to the memorial service and will f o r w a r d t h i s r e quest to the AOG. "Be caref ul about reading health books. You may die of

In caseyou can’t picture it, here’sMatt as 'Grandpa.'

“I started the year skiing my butt off -- because we had a phenomenal

w i n t er w ith an u n b eli evable am ou n t of t b e w h it e st u ff . I a l so d i d so m e

snow-shoeing and some cross-country skiing with friends. I h a d l o t s o f

time for hiking and sailing and bike-riding.”

Matt made several trips around the country, including t h e R i v e r R a t Re union at Wright -Patterson in May, Reno Balloon Races, a n d t h e Re n o A i r Races, at which he is a volunteer for the T-6 Raffle Booth. Unfortunately, due to the crash, which killed the pilot and some spectators, t h e r e st o f t h e Races w ere can cell ed . In Oct ob er, h e con t i n u ed on t o Ft . W alt on Beach , FL, for t h e an n u al Ran ch H an d Reu n ion .

To finish up. Matt said he did his usual substitute teaching in the el

ementary grades, a little motorcycle rider instruction for the Dept, of Pub

lic Safety and Western Nevada College, and volunteering o n t h e Re d C r o ss Board of Directors. It ’s nice to know that being a grandfather doesn’t slow you down. Matt.

Al most a Reunion -- Sandy and I went to Dayton last August for a “Car rally reunion” that recreated a rally we attended, along with Ed and Jerri Mechenbier , in the early 1970s. Unfortunately, Ed and Jer r i w ere ou t of state visiting their kids/ grandkids. They now have seven grandchildren and Ed wants to know if he’s the youngest classmate with seven. Anyway, Ed says that he would have enjoyed the rally if he h ad b een h om e, b ecau se he has a “new ” 1982 Corvette with a new LS6 engine spewing 600 hp on the dynamometer.

As for Ed, he reports that “after a rather serious bout with a bleeding ulcer in May [2011], I am still swinging golf clubs (usually one round per day) and doing some consulting on the side for the A F Re se a r c h L a b a n d SAI C. Oth er ‘w o rk’ is con fi n ed t o fu n st u ff on Board s where either the pay is good or the tasking pleasant .”

Longo Travels- Norma (Ray) Longo wrote, “We’ve done a b i t o f t r av e l ling this year, as usual, most either east to England to spend time with our daughter Gina and the grand-dogs, or west to Washington to spend

time with our daughter Karen and the grand-cats. Along with these trips, we lived 6 weeks in England, relaxing and touring the Kent countryside.

We didn’t get our Christmas greetings out because we w e r e o n a Pa n a m a Canal cruise in December. (Ray was remembering the su m m er of 1962, w h en cad et s w en t t o Sou t h A m er ica on t h e overseas fi eld trip and toured th e M i rafl ores Locks area.) On th is cr u ise, w e st ar t ed in For t Lau d erd ale,

through the canal and on to Los Angeles, stopping in sev e r a l c o u n t r i e s

W ELC O M E ABO A RD

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Ray and Norma Longo board the Queen Victoria.

B UM A li a

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a misprint.” -Mark Ywain On Friday, October 28th, Steve Sheehan was sworn in a s a m e m b e r o f theTipton Airport Authority in theAnneArundel, Maryland, County Clerk of Courts Office. (Picture sent to me but was apparently t a k e n w i t h a c e l l phone and I can’t modify it to produce a clear enough image for publica tion.) Since Saturday the 29th was his Birthday, it was an extra special event. “I always thought security was a j oke at New York airports, and in U.S. airports to begin with. You can go through any European or M iddle Eastern airport and things are a lot tougher." -Richard D r ew

Major Brian E. Rausch, son of Leon Rausch, retired f r o m t h e A i r Eo r c e

November 10, 2011. Presiding officer was Colonel (BGen Sel ect ee) Bu ck Elton from Clovis, NM . (Again I received a picture b u t it was apparently taken with a cell phone and I can’t modify it to produce a clear enough image for publica tion.) Brian had over 6600 flying hours in the C-130, t h e CASA transport, and the T-6A. His flying assignments included Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Africa, and Britain.

Significantly, he flew until retirement, including a flight Sabre Society on his last day of duty, with an orientation ride for C o l

m

on el Elt on . H e w as aw ard ed t h e M er it o r iou s Servi ce M ed al f r o m C o l o n el E l t o n .

Do n o rs

20

From Tom Owens: “I enjoyed the no-hassle last year with e-mail in lieu of cards, envelopes, stamps and writer’s cramps - I had pretty much decided on same thing this year but am lat e - b u t h ow ab ou t t h is fo r an excu se: ‘b rain surgery’. Some have seen the post-op picture but I will spare the rest of you because it is actu ally pretty scary and probably looks worse than it really was. In summary -- 1have suffered for last four years with a strange se n se o f i m b al a n c e t h a t after all those years was finally diagnosed as Hydro-cephalous, w h i c h e s sentially means too much spinal fluid in my cranium which applies pres sure to various parts of the brain resulting in symptoms t h a t I h a d . T h e only solution to this problem is installation of a sh u n t w h i c h r e a c t s t o

pressure by allowing draining of excess fluid to abdominal t h e a r e a w h e r e

it is absorbed with no ill effect. Surgery was conducted at Johns Hopkins on 30 Nov. Doctor said 30 days for recovery and I ’ll be darned he appears to be right on. I was hoping and expecting better than t h a t . So I a m r e stricted from anything strenuous, going to work and driving. Recovery has been S-L-O-W but I am getting there. Wish I could say better every day - but NOT so fast - some days better than others but I am making progress. Consider this procedure successful but still have vague symp toms. Visit with neurologist in a week should be very telling. So here is hoping this worked! I will be very irritated if all for naught.

“Also newsworthy, Maria lost her 97-year-old dad in the spring. Burial at Arlington with full military honors in August - it was quite the event with family friends joining from all around the U.S. He was quite the sol dier. He started by fudging on his age to get into Navy at age 16 (which always contributed to the confusion of his real age). H e se r v e d i n T h e National Guard -- attended ROTC - got a commission and was a pony sold ier on M exi can b or d er w h en W W I I b r oke-ou t . T h en active duty army in Solomon Islands followed by Army Air Corps, then finally USAF - retir ing as Lt Col. Quite the legacy.

“So it has been quite tbe year. Work at NDIA going quite well for me, and Maria very busy in ber retirement days taking care o f h e r D a d ’s a r rangements and now paying more attention to her Mom. As I type they are at Arlington visiting ‘The Colonel’ with his new h e a d st o n e . A n d o f course taking care of me. Amongst all her other attributes, she is a pretty good nurse! Paul Wilke, Burke, VA, had a hip replaced in early June. He is doing quite well. He and I have hooked up a couple t i m e s. H e c o o k s a mean pot roast. Dave Bennett spent the first part of 2 0 1 1 i n A u st r a l i a . H e 99

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is an insurance adjuster and was doing that j ob when he wasn’t at the golf course or bar. Now August, he is in Montana doing the same thing.

“Jock Patterson is moving between Ashville, NC and N iceville, FL. He an d wife, Jane, recently got back from a trip to Greece t o see th ei r so n a n d f a m ily. Tough duty. 1really need to retire and get in on some of the fun trips. 1 keep tiydng to retire, but don’t seem to get it done. I am working for Siemens Enterprise Communications as a Proposal Manager for t h ei r Fed er al Se c t o r. I com m ut e betw een Rest on , VA an d Vero Beach , FL w h ere 1get in some fishing and a little golf between proposals. Chuck Allen continues t o w o r k as w el l at Northrop Grumman. He lives in Virginia as well. Mike Ritchey moved back to Kansas where he has a franchise peddling burgers. B o b Sv o b r em a i n s i n A r iz o n a . N o t su r e i f h e h as ret i r ed o r n o t . H e ei t h er is or was working for the railroad. Bill Hobbs is in California as is George (Cap) Stetz enjoying retire ment. Cap told me he and Pat are going across country to every baseball fi eld for at least one game. What fun. Rick l i ndeman i s r et i r ed i n I l l i n o i s o r Indiana, can’t remember which. Living the good life.

“There are a bunch of pictures on the Alumni site called ‘C S 17 - C l a ss of 1965’. There are a ton of pictures on it from the 4 5 t h r e u n i o n . L e t m e know if you want access, just request it and I’ll approve. “All the adversity I ’ve had in my lif e, all my troubles have strengthened me...You may not re alize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world f or you.” -Walt Disney (1901-1966) From Pete Miner : After retiring twice (USAF and State of U t ah ), I ’m in retail for the first time in my life, supporting my post -retirement hobby of woodturning. Working the cash register for the first time at 66 gave me a whole new appreciation for the kids at McDonalds!

Thanks to all for the input! I hope you are well and happy - disregard ing the effects of aging, pains, and agony.

Please note: As I explained in the first two entries, I c a n n o t ed i t c e l l phone pictures to produce an image we can publish. Please send photos taken with a digital camera - thanks! Bruce. ’65 - B e st A l i v e !

Ryan Denny 163 5 Mary Todd Lane

O’Fa llo n , IL 6 2 2 6 9

H: (618 ) 624-4 2 55 W: (3 14 ) 23 2-5117 E-mall: ryanden@aol.com

Greetings, Redtags! In case you missed it, the Class o f ’6 6 w a s h o n o r e d as “Class of the Month” for Jan 2012 on the AOG website (www.usafa.org).

TheAOG commended our class for exceeding our goal of $250,000 for th e

w i th a b eak”, bu t n o on e seem ed t o kn ow w h at h e w as talking about. I guess

the old cheers are too violent for today’s politically c o r r ec t en v i r o n m e n t .

The new cheer is probably “Tweet them with a twitter, u n f r i en d t h em o n facebook, shut down their internet, rah, rah, rah...”

Gary and Dianne Palmer warming up at the indoor tailgate party j ust prior to the M ilitary Bowl f ootball game in December In addition to the above mentioned folks, also seen at the game were Walt and Mary Schrecker, Dan Radtke, and Fritz and Suzanne McDougall .

In a separate email, Jim Roberts wrote that he was also there, along with his son, daughter-in-law, three grandkids and his wife. H e c o n f i r m e d t h at t h e whole day was really cold, but his grandson said that the B-2 flyover was the “coolest part ”. Jim is still working with the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency in the DC area. It’s something that he has been doing for quite a while; and I ’m guessing that he’s still working there because it’s hard to completely re tire from an organization that is doing such worthwhile w o r k .

Steve Conver didn’t say whether or not he braved the w e a t h e r f o r t h e football game, but he did say that he ran into Nick Keboe at a produc tion of Jersey Boys at the National Theater. (I assume that they were both i n th e au di en ce.) N i ck is st ill th e Presid en t of t h e Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation - another great organization that d o e s w o r t h w h i l e work -- and Steve is enj oying his third year of retirement. Upon seeing my work email address, Steve took the opportunity to r e m i n d m e a b o u t how way overrated work can be - and I am rapidly coming t o t h e sa m e c o n c l u si o n .

45th Reunion Class Gift Project which will support the Academy’s Center for Character & Leadership Development . In acknowl edgement of this gift, the Academy will name the main conference room in honor of our class. (Do you think they will paint the walls red?)

The webpage also included the announcement

ti l

k1

th at D ick M cCon n h as b een select ed to receive th e

Distinguished Graduate Award for 2011. This award recognizes exceptional graduates who have set

themselves apart by making extraordinarily signifi

30

day of thegamewasheld in the DCArmory—probably b e c au se t h e w e a t h e r

was so cold. Gary tried to get some help from the crowd w i t h “ sl a sh ’e m

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munities. Only two graduates are chosen for this honor each year, and Dick is the first member of our class to receive it. Some details on Dick’s many accomplishments can b e fou n d on th e AOG w ebsit e (an d in th is i ssu e of Checkpoints)— there really are too many to list them here. Congratulations, D i ck !

Gary Palmer reports that there were several classmate sightings at the Mili tary Bowl football game, the pep rally the night before, and the tailgate party the day of the game. He said that Tom Sbepler , Tom Doyle, and the Palmers attended the pep-rally at a DuPont Circle pub. TheAF Ch i ef of Staff , AFA Su perintendent, AFA Athletic Director Hans Mueh and other dignitaries were also present, as well as 5 Army Medal of Honor recipients. Gary said that the place rocked with “USAFA Pregame” cheers. The tailgate party on the

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JO I N T H E SA B R E SO C I ET Y !

YO U R M O N EY H EL P S FU N D CA D ET W I N G P R O 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 .

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The usual suspects line up at our 45"' Reunion: Bill Wacker, Sid Wise, D on Craigie, Jim Higham, Jim Meadows, and Eddie Shirley.

Bev Wacker (Bill’s wife) found the above picture on h e r c a m e r a w h i l e looking for Christmas shots of her grandkids. Actually, we had so many good pictures from the reunion that I ’ll be sneaking t h e m i n f o r t h e n ex t couple of years. One of the distinguished looking guys in that picture, Sid Wise, has found a way to avoid complete retirement by running his own traffic school in Melbourne, FL. The company’s website says that after Sid retired several years ago, his wife, Sandra, needed so m e “ r el i e f f r o m a l l the togetherness associated with Sid’s retirement ” so sh e t al k e d t h e i r t w o sons into including dad in their next business venture - t h e W i se T r a f f i c School. I ’ll bet that a lot of you retired folks out there are saying “Oh yeah, I u n d e r st a n d . . . ”

That was a long and wondering introduction to the real story here -which is that Dale Fowler flew his airplane into the Melbourne airport to do lunch with Sid. Dale and his wife, Janie, had flown Dale’s plane from their home in Virginia to Clearwater, FL to see Janie’s parents. Wh ile they

w ere dow n th ere. D ale fl ew acr oss th e st at e t o M elb ou r n e t o v i si t Si d a n d have lunch. Dale’s current aircraft is a 160hp Glassair I I FT, w h i ch h e re

cently flew to California to visit his four grandkids and take them up for a

flight. Sid said that Dale has racked up lots of flying t im e in h is ow n aircraf t since the Air Force grounded him in 1978, when he lost an eye in an acci dent while flying an Aggressor Squadron F-5E mission at Eglin AFB. If you

remember the event. Dale’s cockpit shattered while h e w as at 1.2 M ach , b u t he managed to fi ght through the pain and loss of vision and safely landed the aircraft. Dale was awarded the Kolligian Trophy i n 19 7 8 f o r t h i s h er o i c

flight, and went on to complete a very successful career i n t h e A i r F o r c e .

Now he flies for fun and motivates young people to get into aviation.

Bob Muldrow sent an interesting perspective on the Army game: “Lead

ing up to the football game, the weather experts were predicting 60 mph winds, possibility of rain or snow... My dear Dale said she had gone to enough games with me when I was a cadet and the 40 some odd years since, so she was going to pass on this one. Well, t h a t morning the wind was minimal, and the temperature was in the 40s, so I convinced her to come with me

to the ’67 tailgate... Stadium Boulevard was jammed packed by the time we got there, so we had to park about a quarter of a mile from the tailgate site. By t h e

time we trudged there and briefly met Tom and Beth Griesser, Jerry and Trudy Corwin, jack and Molly Fry,

Sabre Society Do no rs

and Pat Badell, a storm whipped in on us. The wind

24 was nasty: the temperature dropped, and we got pelted with something we called ‘grapple’... little ice crystals that are big enough to burn when they hit your face, b u t not big enough to hurt... I barely avoided getting divorce papers for brow beating my wife to coming to this game when it was o n t e l ev i si o n . . . ’’

At the UNM - Air Force football game, where the Falcons t r o u n c e d t h e

hapless Lobos, Dale and Stevie Hoekstra hosted an AFA group. Tom Evans sent a picture from the gathering.

Dale Fowler and his sporty little Glassair II on a trip down to Florida.

Ron Davis writes that he had the distinct honor and privilege to serve o n a n interview board for a local US Representative to select c a n d i d a t e s for Academy appointments. Ron says that he was genuinely impressed with the caliber of the two dozen candidates who attended. H e d o e sn ’t think the future of our Academy or our service is at r i sk b a se d o n w h a t

he saw of these young men and women (and no, he didn’t i n t erview any druids, witches or warlocks applying for an appointment).

Stay in touch and let us know what you’re doing, even i f i t se em s b o r ing - at least we’ll know that you are still alive! U n t i l n ext t i m e H ap py Landings!

Larry Wilson

1 3 1 0 0 Pin e h u rst Ave . N E

Albuquerque, NM 87111 H; (505 ) 29 1-8 949

E-m a il: Lw ils n 6 2 8 @a o l.c o m

Hello and happy winter - In New Mexico, there was early sn o w a n d t h e

ski areas are in pretty good shape; now temps are in t h e + 40- 50 ran ge.

So one can ski in the a.m., then golf in the afternoon. I have not yet done that ... Good inputs again - and away we go!

First , I received some nice pics and communication f r o m To m B o e t t c h e r and family. Tom, his wife, Pam Vennerberg, and daughters Evelyn and

At the Hoekstra soiree, guests included Gen. Bradley a n d Z i t a H o sm e r C59), Clint and Marilyn Pr ice and Thom and Helen Evans.

Another class fest: Beau Crosby last fall hosted “ ...a b u n c h o f t h e C S- 13 gang (in) Waco... to help Kathy and I celebrate our 25th. How she puts up with me I’ll never know. I guess it is because I let her fill the Belly Storage bay of the Fifth Wheel full of Three Buck Chuck that we picked up at the Trader Joes there on the north end of Santa Fe... and h a u l e d b a ck t o W a c o from Red River last summer ... It was really a surprise to have so many dear friends come so far... Some of the guys wanted t o h o l d a r e a l M a n ’s rifl e (an M 1) I dug out of the gun safe... Looks like the CMP is beginning to run short of these fine rifles. They make wonderful heritage pieces..."

I

I

l ily joined classmate Tom Menza and his wife, Debbie, f o r t h e A i r Eo r c e Army Football game in November." I can almost hear th em n ow , sh ou t i n g

“Horraido Yo Ho!" Or maybe not. Tom is dealing with some tough health issues. His indomitable spirit will no doubt be aided by good medical care and love of family and friends.

Fred and Linda Mi lanovich, Ron and Jerry Morishige, T h o m a n d H el en Evans, Mark and Patty Stugart, Clint and Marilyn Price, Roger and Geannie Wells at Beau and Kathy ’s October Anni versary Party Some sad notes: at the time of the previous Checkpoints, M i k e “ C i sc o ” Fr ancisco was home and in recovery mode. Sadly, he h a d a n o t h e r ev e n t and did not make it. Danny “Stump” Sowada, Chuck Beattie a n d Ru ss

Murray attended the memorial service in Ft. Walton Beach on Jan u ar y

27"’ - - “ .. .Ki n d of a cl assm at e an d lacr osse t eam delegation.” The obituary

an impressive tribute, to a patriot, a warrior and a good man. Here is the link: http:/ /www.legacy.com/obituaries/nwfdailynews/obitua r y .

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Tom, Pam, daughters Evelyn, a graduatestudent at Harvard; and Lily, a

senior at Yale; and Tom and Debbi Menza at theArmy g a m e.

aspx?n=michael-cabell-francisco&pid=154756257.

Also, Ray Marshall passed away recently. He, Lex Page, Em M o n d a, Abner Haynes, Pete Hugdahl, Rich McGill and I and others w e r e i n O SI 10 1

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Training class 67G once upon a time. I’m afraid I don’t h av e m u c h i n f o o n Ray though I know he had stayed in the OSI in the Reserves, retiring as a colonel. Another sad loss of a good man.

Bill Boi st u r e, Ch ai r m an an d CEO of H aw ker Beech craft Corporation and former member of the AOC Board of Directors, recently published a letter expressing dissatisfaction that the " ... U.S. A i r F o r c e h a s m a d e a fundamentally FLAWED DECISION to award the Light Air Support (LAS)

contract to the Brazilian-made Embraer EMB 314 Super T u c a n o . T h e 3 14

cost s over 25% m ore, an d it does less in th e m issio n e n v i r o n m e n t t h a n th e U .S.-m ad e Beech craft AT-6 .. .” Bill ’s l et t er r aises significant questions ab out t h e b asis for th is “ . ..b illi on d oll ar con t r act aw a r d . . . ” T h e H aw k e r

Beechcraft Corporation has “...filed suit against the U .S. G o v e r n m e n t i n the Federal Claims Court, and thejudge has agreed t o h e a r t h e c a se o n i t s

merits.” If you are interested in learning more and/ or weighing in on this, go to the website, wvm .missionreadyAT-6.com, “ ...and use the already

prepared letters to let our leaders know what you want d o n e .” T h e r e a r e of course many facets to this issue, and no doubt more w i l l b e r ev e a l e d

b efore th ere i s a decision on t h is m at t er.

From the Viet Nam era -- a Virginia group has assembled a c al e n d a r which features " ...pictures the 33 men from Alexandria for whom (they) have photos, 88 men from West Point (USMA Classes 1959, 1964, 1966 a n d 1968) - a full 26% of the Military Academy’s 333 losses i n I n d o c h i n a f r o m 1957-1975- and 30 men from your USAFA (Classes 1967, 1969 an d 197 1).”

Morg Donahue is one of those featured on the calendar. I n t h e c o u r se o f

assembling information for the calendar, Morg’s leading t h e “ G r e a t G o a t Caper of 1966” resurfaced - what a tale. “If you believe t h a t t h e C a l e n d a r is a fitting tribute to Maj Donahue and your 17 other C l a ssm a t e s . . . ” a n d / or for information on the Captain Rocky Versace Plaza a n d V i e t n a m V e t e r

an s’ M em or ial i n Al exan dr ia, VA , con t act Kevi n Ru e a t 7 0 3 - 7 0 4 - 4 2 0 4 .

From Les Jensen: “When 1was 6 years old, my big Christmas p r e se n t

was a Gene Autry guitar that my parents bought out o f t h e Se a r s Ro eb u c k

catalog for $25 in 1950. What happened to this guitar, 1 d o n ’t k n o w b u t i t is the instrument that motivated me to become a guitar player. 1 found a Gene Autry guitar on eBay about 5 years ago that cosmetically looked

good but was not playable. I had it made playable... Not only is it play able but has such a great setup that it plays like a dream and sounds great for at least a 60-year-old instrument.You can probably gather how excited I am to have this instrument...” Les continues to teach guitar lessons to servicemen returning from the Mideast - I suspect many o f t h e m h a v e not even heard of Gene Autry.

Friends, I have again reached my word and photo limit. Ta k e c a r e o f

yourselves. And - until next time - Vaya con Dios!

T im Dav id s o n

9712 Hidden Valley Road

Vie n n a , VA 2 2 1 8 1 -6 0 9 4

Phone: (703 ) 2 55-5313 Mobile: (703 ) 772-6052

E-m a il: t im d a v l 9 6 8 @ve ris o n .n et

Class Website: www.usafa68.org

GRANDPARENTS EXTRAORDINAIRE! In my fall column, I provided an update of Dan and Kathy Barker’s prolific family. The photo above was taken near the end of 2011with their 20 grandchildren—10 boys and 10 girls. The names from left are as follows. Front Row: Sophia, Briggs,

Anna, Alyssa, Daniel, Ainsley, Evan, Kathryn, Sean and Ryan. Back Row:

Rylan, Christian, Brinlie, Alayna, Elizabeth, Briana, Elysse, Grandma Bark er, Tate, Grandpa Barker, Grady and Collan. In his follow-up note, Dan writes that grandchild number 21 is due in March 2012. For you sports fans, that’s enough children to field two full softball teams plus a manager!

Battling health issues, Dan is scheduled to complete his chemo-therapy treatments in March. Please drop Dan a line at barker585@comcast . n e t to wish him well in his recovery.

HOLIDAYNEWS: Tom O’Beirnewritesthat heisretiring f r o m SA I C a t t h e end of February. Pam and he became grandparents in 2011with the birth of their grandson Mason. Although we both live in the greater D.C. area, I rarely see T o m locally, but do see him when we attend USAFA football

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gamesin Colorado. Hopefully, hisnewly acquired retire

ment status will free him up more often for classmate

luncheonsand/ or wine-tasting exerciseswithout having to make reservations somewhere in Colorado Springs.

Maurice and Antonia Ecung celebrated their daugh

ter Melanie’s graduation from the Morehouse School

of Medicine in Atlanta and assisted her in moving to Albany, NY, where she will be spending the next four

Sabre Society Do n o r s

32

years to complete her residency in Internal Medicine a n d Pe d i a t r i c s a t t h e

Albany Medical Center. Their youngest daughter, Allison, accepted finan

cial early-out incentives from the Air Force and was hired as the Manager

of Member Engagement with the Securities Industry and F i n a n c i a l M a r

kets Association in New York City.

Mike and Linda Cryer’s newsletter was replete with happy photos of them, their children, and their grandchildren. Mike r e m a i n s a c t i v e w i t h the Tempe YM CA Board and the Kiwanis Club. Linda loves being a full time “Nina” for grandson Greyson. They both enjoyed attending Mike’s 70-05 pilot training reunion in Savannah.

John (Sully) and Charlotte Sullivan’s holiday card p i ct u red th e tw o of them riding camels with the pyramids of Egypt in the background. I ran into John and Charlotte last October in San Diego for t h e Re e se A F B 7 0 - 0 1 pilot training reunion. Both are in good spirits and doing well.

Tony Marshall , Bruce Gerr ity, and Tony Eden all checked i n w i t h b e st wishes for the joys of the season. Tony M noted no changes since last year and says he is still enj oying retirement. I ran into B r u c e a t t h e U SA FA Navy game and he told me he is no longer working full time, but is doing some consulting work. He enj oys grandfather duties w h en h e v i si t s h i s

daughter in California. Tony E is enjoying his RV.

Dick Fast is still a “Big Sky” kind of guy with ski instructor duties keeping him busy during the winter season. In 2011, he also served as Bob Denny’s “Bwana” as they hunted for elk in the great outdoors. Dick reported the

score at the end of the hunt was Elks- 0 and Fast/Denny - 0 . H e d i d m e n tion that Bob bagged a nice white-tail before returning t o C o l o r a d o .

HELLO ’68! Happy 2012! As I re-hone my math skills, w h e n I su b t r a c t the year l 968 from 2012, 1get 44 years. That means when 2 0 13 r o l l s a r o u n d it is reunion time, again, for USAFA’s greatest class. So, for you longer range planners, ’68’s 45th Reunion Chairman, A1Blumberg, wants you to begin preparing to trek back to the Rampart Range at a date t o b e d e t e r m i n e d and join in the esprit, revelry, and embellished war st o r i e s t h a t w i l l b e o f fered to all who lend an ear. If you wish to volunteer for any of the activi ties or care to offer suggestions, please contact A1a t : a b l u m 6 8 @h o t m a i l . com. The countdown begins!

’68’s Gridiron Warriors and Spouses

’68’S FALCON FOOTBALL ALUMS GATHER: Neal Starkey sent a sh o r t

n ot e ab ou t t h e 20 11 U SA FA Foot b all Al u m n i Weeken d . During the week end, a ’68 Class plaque was dedicated with the names o f a l l 17 se n i o r s i n scr ib ed . It w as also n ot ed t h at ’68 w as th e fi r st cl ass to beat both Army and Navy. Couples in the photo from left- are: Sharon and Neal St arkey, Sandy and Barney Mills, Linda and Mike Rengel , Debbie and Carl Janssen, Kathy and Tom Zyr oll , Marsha and Jack Hanning, and Jean and D a v e A l l e n .

Dan and Kathy and 20 Grands.

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Visit the AOGWeb Site: www.usafa.org

Did Someone Say Fore?From lef t areDick Covey, Bobby Floyd, Buck Mc-

Can ts, a nd Ch uck Ka vcsak.

FOURSOME’S FOUR-DAY FORAY: Thanks go out to Chuck Kavcsak f o r

sending the photo of Dick Covey, Bobby Floyd, Buck M cCan t s, an d Ch u ck taken during a four-day golfing adventure at Barefoot Landing in South

Carolina last fall. Chuck said they had four great days of golf!

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS: The upside of being your scribe f o r t h e past 23+ years is the opportunity you have given me t o l i n k o u r c l a ss t o gether over time by recording and communicating the triumphs, achieve ments, and successes of classmates, spouses, children, and grandchildren across a wide range of career, volunteer, education, a n d l e i su r e a c t i v i t i e s.

The opposite pole is presented in correspondence and phone calls an

nouncing the onset of serious diseases and loss of l o v e d o n e s.

With deference to personal privacy, some of our crew wish to keep

h ealt h con cer n s t o t h em selves an d I w i ll h on or t h ose b e h e st s. I n o t h e r cases, I have received word through our network of c l a ssm a t e s a n d f r i e n d s about those who have not established such a precondition a n d 1 a m r e

questing you keep these people in your thoughts and p r ay e r s.

At this time, I ask you to take a few moments to pray f o r A b e A b r a m so n ,

Dan Bar ker , Bob Dal ey, and Bill Markham . If you are i n c l i n e d t o c o n t a c t them, I believe your communication would be greatly appreciated.

GON E BU T N OT FORGOT T EN : I h ave t h e sad n ew s t o rep or t the passing

Gar y H oe, 20 11

Ron and Gayle Love still live in Delaware, from whence Ro n c o n t i n u e s

his work with the Delaware Department of Education and Gayle continues nursing at Christiana Hospital, with their children spread from London to

Breckenridge to Puerto Rico. Ron squeezed in time for h i s a n n u a l t r e k to Belgium for the annual reunion/symposium at Supreme Headquarters

Allied Powers Europe, stopping in Germany and Spain e n r o u t e h o m e . I n addition, he scouted out a possible location for our 60"' Reunion in Singa

pore, and reports that the Long Bar at Raffles still serv es a m ean Sin gap ore

Sling, helped pioneer an over-50 softball league in t h e D over area, an d was on the Delaware Stars team that won a gold medal at the National Senior Softball Games; he’s looking f o r

players, if any of you have hit the “50” threshold yet .

Gene Justin is celebrating 16 years now with Boe

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ing, now at Huntington Beach, and has the distinc tion of being the only ’69er to have graduated from t h e

Drucker School of Management at Claremont Gradu ate University Sons James and Joe are teaching game

programming, starting companies, and building web si t e s.

Jeff and Anne Posner are in midst of the maiden voy

Sabre Society Do n o rs

34

of Don Harrington who succumbed after his long battle w i t h A l z h e i m e r ’s

age for their French-made sailboat. Joyful of Aspen, Wauquiez 40PS sloop. They set out on November 26 from A l a b a m a’s Jo e

c o m f o r t t h e m i n t h e i r t i m e o f l o ss.

w i n d s b e fai r.

disease. He was buried at Arlington Cemetery surrounded by his wife, Bette, his children and grandchildren, and fellow classmates Ed Eb er h ar t , Pat Heinig, Toby Sullivan , Charlie Seifert , and your sc r i b e . D o n w a s a w on der fu l fr i en d an d avi d avi at ion h ist or ian . H e w ill be greatly missed.

In addition. Bill Wal sh ’s wife, Paula, died on December 19 '*’ i n B l o o m ington, IL. Paula’s contributions to her family and her community were immeasurable. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Bill and his family to THAT’S A WRAP: Mind the fl ak; keep ’em flying, and keep those cards, letters, e-mails, and photos coming in to Pat Russell and me. Please go to our Class Website to see photos included in this column in full size by clicking on Scribe’s Page. Also, note the new e-mail address for your scribe i s t im d av l 968@ver izon .n et . Ci ao f or n ow . Tim

a

Wbeeler State Park Marina, taking the inland waterways t o M ob il e, t h en heading around Florida to Canaveral in May. Along theway, they conduct music ministry with their guitars and keyboard at places such as nursing homes, hospitals, churches, anchorages, and marinas. After dry-docking for six months during the hurricane season, they will se t o u t i n D e c e m b e r 2012 for the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, the islands o f t h e E a st e r n C a ribbean, and conclude in Trinidad. May Joyful prove seaworthy and the A1 and Mimi Dunham , in Burke, VA, are proud ‘parents’ again—rais

ing their grandson until next October while his parents in t u r n , b ot h West

Pointers, serve in different locations in Afghanistan; n e a r e r t o h o m e a r e

daughters Jennifer, controller of a technology company i n F r e d e r i c k s burg, VA, and Susie and husband, David, who tired of deployments, left

the Blue suites, and now work at the Joint Air Defense Operations Center in Washington.

Lindsey Parris 6 16 King's Cloister Circle

A lexa nd ria , VA 2 2 3 0 2

Last November, Les Dyer and Terry Brady attended the f i r st - ev e r B l a c k jack, Class 71-02 UPT reunion in San Antonio. Graduating 52, w i t h 4 1 st ill living, 19 mostly with spouses or significant others a t t e n d e d .

Home: (703 ) 8 36-3604

10 2 17 7.1 0 3 3 @co m p us e rve .co m

'SPM K

Spring best wi shes to all. Hope springs eternal at this time of the year, and 1know Dave Spencer is already prognosticating this year as the year of the Sox (ChiSox, not BoSox), and many are readying their newly-procured “retirement sets” of golf clubs for untold battles on and off fairways.

Rick Olafson, Dennis Ryll , Jim Downey, John Buckner , Flip Keck , Jimmy Cummings, and Chip Am brose, among others, are working the CO^-max for biking performance. Mike Chipman and Vinny Santillo a r e n o d o u b t

plotting this summer’s hiking trails. Capistrano. Swallows. T h e w o r k s. A

great time to be alive.

As recounted in the last Checkpoints, Gary Hoe hung up his lunch pail

aft er fou r d ecades of ser vice, b u t is con t i n u in g in t h e f in est volu n t eer i n g

spirit on several fronts. The picture below is indicative o f t h e f i n e f e t t l e in which he now fi nds himself, staking out the boundaries o f “ a c t i v e o n retired duty.”

Karen Brady and Connie Dyer grace the right, Les and Terry the lef t.

Randolph AFB UPT Class 71-02 Reunion.

10 3

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On Veteran’s Day, Skip Daly and Jimmy Cummings participated i n c e r

emonies at a Community Center in Alexandria, and read aloud ’69er Barry Lockhart ’s name during the memorial service.

Also in November, several of the usual suspects showed up in Phoe nix to abuse the local golf courses. Brian Nelson provided lodging, Gerry Schwar tzel and John Buckner lined up hosts for some o f t h e a r ea ’s m o st scrumptious courses, Craig Collins brought his chef ’s toque, Steve Cherry provided rules interpretations and levied fines, and I provided comic re lief, especially with a truly magnificent rendition of “Attack by Killer Cacti” t h at is d est in ed for t h e Ph oen ix M u seu m of M od er n A r t . So m e t a l e s w e r e

to all of you who purchased tickets for the game. We m et o u r a l l o t m e n t once again which will help us for future bowl games. Mega-kudos to John

Pomeroy for working with bowl game officials to honor sev e r a l M e d a l o f Honor recipients at the game. He hopes this program will expand next year and involve more MOH men and cadets from each o f t h e A c a d e m i e s.

Joe and Diane Burke were also at the game. They have b e e n o n t h e m o v e sinceJoe retired from Keuka College. China, Hong Kong, a n d C a n a d a w e r e on their itinerary. They have settled in Chesapeake,VA, but are planning a cruise to South America. Charlie Ward is a close neighbor.

told, to be sure, and adult beverages consumed, including a b o t t l e o f w i n e

with vintage 1969 gifted by Craig’s son; and, a local interloper (one who hits fuzzy yellow balls, not hard, white ones) even stopped in for a visit and dinner, and can be spotted at center stage in the photograph below, violating clothing decorum in a bright -red, collared sh i r t .

Vinceand Diana Puglisi and Mikeand Caryn Kelley enj oy thef esti vities

at the M ilitary Bowl.

Gerry, Steve, Col, Tom McGrain, Buck, and Nels dine in style.

Down in Tucson, Tom and Karen Keck are holding down the city from

their mountain aerie. Tom continues with Raytheon, b u t c a r v e d o u t t i m e

on Sunday for golf; however, in face of one of the reported ten days a year serious rain falls in Tucson, we said “Uncle,” and proceeded to dine,

drank, spend money in the pro-shop, and finally attend a n o l d - f a sh i o n e d slapstick melodrama.

Tim Mason continues to run Glenwood Springs Brewing Company and wife, Barbara, is still at Roaring Fork High School as deputy principal and ch i ef en forcer. Bot h are fit as fi d dles, an d Tim w il l be entering several half-

Ironman races this year with a goal of qualifying for the National Champi onships in September. A perfect set -up: hard exercise followed by quaff

Rich and Nanci Downing once again hosted a growing n u m b e r o f

Seventy men and their significant others after the Army game. This is be coming quite the mini-reunion every year. Following is a list of Seventy men in attendance (apologies if we missed someone); V ic Br ad f or d , Jim

Breckwald, Keith Bennett, Larry Bush, Russ Carparelli, Ch r is D u n b ar , Mark Ewig, John Gallagher, Dave Gaw, Greg Gilles, Bill H am i l l , Rich H ar

r ington, Frank Heming, Roger Hill , Bill Kirkman, Brian Lopert , Marty Mar tin, Speedy Marti n, Henry Mitchell , Jack Mueller , Ray Oak eshott , Bill Porter, Shawn Raintree, Steve Sharkey, Gerry Shaw, Dave Smith, Larry Vaughn, and Cookie Villareal. Great time was had by all—many thanks Ri ch an d N an ci !

ing one’s own brew. Nicework, Tim! Only wish you had com e u p w it h th is

cool concept back in X-country days.

Tom and Karen Fleming are ensconced in Fort Collins, Tom working

f o r t h e D A ’s

office, using one of his many hats, and continuing his consulting with DoD with another, which keeps him traveling often, especially to the Far

East , an d on a sch edu le Karen cl aim s is t i m ed t o coi n ci de w i t h C o l o r a d o ’s m ost m assive w eat h er event s. Karen con t in u es h er vol u n t eer w o r k w i t h

the Red Cross, mainly as an Emergency Response Vehicle d r i v er .

Dave and Debbie Spencer ’s 2011was fast and enviable, perhaps high lighted for Dave by his dream ride in one of Kermit Weeks’ P-51 Mustangs.

They celebrated their anniversary at the Oshkosh Air Sh o w a n d D eb ’s birthday at Wrigley Field, squeezing in time to visit w it h th e Ti b b et ses (h e of Bu ffal o fam e) at t h eir Al ab am a l ake h ou se an d at t en d t h e U SA FA - N o t r e D am e gam e i n Sou t h Ben d w it h t h e Cavat o s. A n d m u ch m o r e .

The Overstreets rock along between DC and their country getaway in Sperryville, VA, Jack in his traditional role of government r el a t i o n s w o r k for Lockheed-Martin and Laura part -time with the Rappahannock C o u n ty tourism office. Tourism nets some interesting trips, su c h a s o n e t o N ew Zealand; too bad Jack gets to tag along too seldom!

That’s it for now, folks. Hand salute to all, and may G o d b l e ss.

D ic k Ra us c h ko lb

130 Luxur y Lane Colorado Springs, CO 8 092 1 H: (719 ) 76 1-5764 Cell: (719 ) 310-69 28

Em a il: A0 G 7 0 @c o m c a st .n et Ric ha rd Ra usc h ko lb @us af a .e d u

How about them Falcons! The boys did manage to retain t h e c o v e t e d GIG Trophy after winning an exciting nail biter against Navy and a maj or come-from-behind victory over Army. The boys played h a r d t o e a r n a b ow l birth and Troy Calhoun made a gutsy call going for t w o a t t h e e n d o f t h e game and eschewing ( a word I learned at the P-school) a tie. Many thanks 10 4

The Downings host another great mini-reunion.

A big congratulations to Russ Carparelli for being aw a r d e d t h e 2 0 12

Brennan Award. The award is named for former Supreme C o u r t Ju st i c e William J. Brennan, Jr. It recognized Russ for his outstanding skills as a trial lawyer and member of the judiciary as well as his many contributions to the legal profession. Way to go roomie!

A little known but interesting fact, Marilyn and I recently shared dinner at the local AOG chapter meeting with one Francis C. Ch u b a (’67) an d his wife. As you should recall, Frank was the Wing M a t e r i el O f f i c e r w h o was telling us how to fill out the laundry slips when Bill Manning uttered the words that will live in infamy, “It ’s a screw j ob Seventy.” We had some good laughs about that May evening in 1967. Frank is recover in g at a lo cal hospital after some mysterious food poisoning.

Dan McFadden called me while I was sitting in the stands at the Army game. The connection wasn’t the greatest and the fans w er e goi n g cr a zy, but it was good to hear from Dan. Kirk Boyenga and spouse hosted

a retreat for over 60 cadets in Buena Vista in January. B r u c e M c R a e t o o k a n early retirement from Delta/Northwest, but is still instructing on the brand new B787Dreamliner. Bruce sent me the Academy Catalog that we

all used when applying to USAFA. Whizzer White sent m e a n e m a i l ex change he had with Dave Perron. Pat and Whizzer are retired (mostly) in Payson, AZ. Attached to the email was a picture o f C 2 C W h i t e i n h i s “gorilla” attack mode—including the requisite (another P-sch ool w ord) banana. Whizzer gave all credit to Phil Kolbe and John Laugerman for their “patient mentoring” in teach ing him this self-defense technique. Hard to believe the things we did to keep ourselves entertained at t h e Blue Zoo! Chuck Gray, Ken Greene, George Keys,Wood

Learned through an AOG email that our classmate, Felipe V i l l af r an ca, passed away in the Philippines on 28 April 2011. No f u r t h e r d et a i l s w e r e available. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Here’s a toast to another fallen member of the great C l a s s o f 19 7 0 .

Pa u l D . K n ot t 5 5 6 5 La nt a n a D rive

Colorado Springs, CO 80 9 15 H: (719 ) 570-9 16 2 E-mail: pk71knott @gmail.com

Woodhead, Mike Huber , and I used to do some exotic

things after meals that are best left in the Seventy A r c h i v e s.

John Verardo reminded me that many of us are due

to hit the big 65 in the near future. YUK! A big “get w el l so o n

t o Su e Ver ardo as sh e recover s from sh ou l d er an d

Sabre Society Do n o rs

45

rotator cuff surgery. Chuck Weir retired -- for a week.

He started working for Sallie Mae until he realized it wasn’t a strip club.

Gino and Nancy Quist are living in New Mexico and still o u r s e a t m a t e s a t

Falcon Stadium after 15 years! Got an email from Gerry Shaw promoting a male enhancement pill. I thought he was taking up a n ew l in e of w ork , b u t it tu r n s ou t som eon e h acked i n t o h is accou n t . At l east t h a t i s w h a t h e sa i d

when I tried to place my order.

Rex and Lynn Levoy did some serious traveling throughout t h e So u t h

east last year. Rex is moving up to the senior tees - - h e sh o u l d h av e d o n e

that years ago! Dusty Swanson sayshis golf game sucks - like mine - per hapswe need to move up to the senior tees.Wild Bill Stealey has launched a new computer game centered on tank battles. Looks pretty neat! Oh yes, I forgot to mention Wild Bill had another hole-in-one l a st su m m e r . I t h i n k

the course he plays uses 36-inch diameter holes. Saw Jack M u el l er , Joh n Gallagher, and Larry and Marleen Bush at the Rampart AOG Chapter Meeting. John Disosway checked in from Atlanta and we hope to link up in M arch w h en h e vi sit s. Som e kn ee an d r ot at or cu ff surgery have lim it ed h i s t i m e on t h e li n ks. We al so saw Bill an d D on n a Porter at the Supt’s

Christmas reception. Mike and Paula Gould know how t o p u t on a great

To all of us I wish the very best for 2012. Since we last came together: In football, the Falcons waited until the very last game of the regular season to become bowl eligible (Do I hear someone mutter

ing, “If the min weren’t good enough it wouldn’t be t h e

min”?), then came within a yard of winning the Military Bowl; the Broncos went from worst to fi rst in the divi sion and even beat the Steelers in the playoffs. In b a s ketball, the Falcons are looking respectable with both

teams and the Nuggets started strongly. In hockey, t h e

Falcons are in the hunt, the CC Tigers are nationally ranked, and the Avs up the road should fi gure a way t o always play on home ice.

I ’m not sure just how it happened, but we actu

11Sabre Society Do n o rs

34

ally started and ended 2011 with the same number of

classmates. John Watkins’ and Jim (Kieltyka) Kiel’s deaths were reported in 2011, but occurred in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Unfortunately, Gary Giesecke passed away January 4* , and was interred in Washington State.

If you are a political junkie, you may have heard or se e n Sa m C l o v i s o n

Fox or even Tribune stations explaining the Iowa caucuses a n d t h e i r e f f e c t on t h e n at i on al Presi d en t i al race. I ev en h eard on e of the pundits refer to Sam as the “Rush Limbaugh of northwest Iowa!”

ev e n t ! C a d et c h o r a l e w a s aw e so m e .

Don’t know if I mentioned it, but Speedy Mar tin is t h e Pr e si d e n t o f t h e Falcon Foundation which offers scholarships to young m e n a n d w o m e n who barely miss out on an Academy appointment. Way to go Speedy!

Mike and Melissa Huber traveled to Europe and visited so m e o f t h e i r o l d haunts in Switzerland. Melissa said the only downside was having Mike along. My exact feelings when he was my roommate.

Wouldn’t surprise me if the hockey team made the NCAAs this year. We

r

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finally beat the much despised Colorado College Tigers. D ave Gaw , Greg

and Janice Gilles, Gary and Sharon Dahlen, Larry and M a r l e e n B u sh a r e regulars at BB games. Linked up with Mike (I marched in ONE parade) Kelley at the BB reunion in Feb.Wish Gregg Popovich was coming, but the NBA schedule is brutal this year due to the strike.

Jerry McKee, Darrel Massey, and Roger Peterson were seen hiking and camping in Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Cedar Breaks. The picture is of the

intrepid threesome on Angel’s Landing in Zion. Three f e e t b e h i n d t h e m i s a drop of 1800 feet (YIKES!). Our classmates drank a toast to Skip Bennett

- Jeremiah Weed in silver shot glasses. Class act men!

The climbersf rom lef t are Dougherty, Strauss, Haggerty, D ena ro, Tor blaa, Garvin and Maggio.

Pete Peterson, Darryl Massey, and Jerry McKee toast Skip Bennett at

Z ion .

Hopefully when you read this, the documentary about t h e Acad em y - A Year in the Blue -- that I have been working on for t h e l a st 18 m o n t h s w i l l b e a b o u t t o b e r e l e a se d .

Unindicted conspirators and the evidence!

I’d hoped to have this particular set of photos for th e Fall i ssu e, b ut

the deadline for the last column was pretty close to when everybody was 10 5

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N ew s

heading home. Here’s the story that explained the sight we saw Thursday

velop socially conscious online games, while Pete is working on a natural

all the pre-climbing preparations - especially perhaps to Eileen Maggio for the sheets sewn together so distinctively - it t u r n s o u t - f o r t h e si z e

Bill Walker sends a short message and photo in which h e n ot es th at Jim (Yogi) and Kay Barr came to San Diego back in November, allowing for

of Reu n i on w eek . Fred Str au ss’ con t r i bu t i on ; " Th an ks so m u c h t o B i l l f o r

’71 perfect display as it were!”

The annual business meeting for theAOG’s Rampart Chapter o c c u r r e d in January, and Scotty Bowen, Honi Garvin, Bill Maggio an d I a t t e n d e d .

“T” Thompson from the national board announced that t h e r e i s n o w

a

Denver chapter of the AOG. If any of you guys from t h e D en ver area ar e interested in joining, go to the AOG web page or let m e kn ow , an d ch eck

health- and green-living-related TV network.

a nice visit with Bill and Pat at Yogi ’s on the beach in Cardiff-by-the Sea. Yogi at Yogi’s! Pictures of tbe Walker grandson (Jackson, born in January 2011) came out, and the Barrs explained retired life in Tu cson , AZ . Bill st ill enj oys working at Northrop Grumman on the Global Hawk High-Altitude Unmanned Aircraft program.

it ou t.

Tl®ClV

\

Bo b Be ll 1 3 Pa c if ic Ave .

Sinking Spring, PA 19608 (610 ) 6 78-318 2/ Fax: 6 78-4 513 E-m a il; ra b e ll 76 7 @a o l.co m

Hi again folks! Well, I have waited as long as I could to get this out, hopeful that there might be more messages from you as y ou are rem i n d ed of the newswhen reading your last issue of Checkpoints. But even though

it does trigger a few replies, I can always use more... Just food for thought as you read THIS issue.

The first email comes from Lee Rodgers where he reports o n t h e O c t o

ber air show at Randolph AFB. Since he had been a member o f t h e U SA FA Parachute Team way back when, his visit to the show included seeing the current team in action. A great show, as usual - i n f a c t b e t t e r t h a n anything THEY ever did, he says. His photo is with CI C Gabby Quinoa,

a current member of the team who performed at the Randolph a i r sh o w .

Looking at the photo he sees the obvious as it shows the age range of the team mates, 1972 and 2012 - boy, are we OLD!

Yogi and Bill at Yogi’s.

All report looking forward to the 40"’!

My one-time roommate Greg Jones writes next with a bit of a surprise, so here we go. It starts out “Hey Roomie...! got married, yeah I know it ’s

my second - but, this time I married my high school sw e e t h e a r t . I so missed her. We so missed each other. Got married by Chaplain Brad Da vis of the 911Air Wing, here at the Pittsburgh Air Reserve Base on Jan 14, 2012." Hearty congratulations go out to you, Greg...and my sympathy to Diane. (Just Iddding, of course...)

His further news includes that he is still working at Creehan & Compa ny, making a software product used in mail order pharmacies l i k e M e d c o and some retail pharmacieslikeWalgreen’s aswell as the Mayo Clinic. Just

recently his fi rm was selected to participate in a DoD study to see if their product and its capabilities would save the DoD and the VA some money.

Greg gets to manage that project. Supposedly the DoD a n d VA a r e w o r k

ing to replace their independent systems and want to create a single phar m acy syst em .

Greg is still in the Pittsburgh area until he retires a secon d t i m e i n Ju n e 2013. Possibly the only ’72 grad in that area, he is saying that he and Diane

will move (back) to their hometown - Big Rapids, MI, w h i c h i s o n t h e M u s kegon River, if you have your map out...Great hearing from you, Roomie - and see you soon, at least at the 40'" if not sooner.

Lee Rodgers and CI C Gabby Quinoa Pete McCar thy (CS-05) came in next with a note reflecting some hap penings he wanted to share. First, there was the Austin, T X a r e a A i r F o r c e Army football game get -together last Fall at which h e ran in t o Fr an k Pu l i s,

who is retired and enjoying that retiree lifestyle.

A n ew facet of Pet e’s w or ld i s th at h e w i ll soon b e a published author.

H is b ook en ti tl ed “Ad ren al i n e N at i on” w i ll h i t th e b o o k

shelves in August or September. The culmination of a four-year research proj ect, it covers the issues s u r rounding the pandemic of chronic stress in America and what we can do at the individual, organizational and societal levels to effectively deal with it. Congratu lations on your new venture, Pete!

Speaking of authors, since arriving in Austin, Pete

and Nancy have gotten to know ’71 grad Darryl Wim-

berley (CS-02) and his wife, Doris. Darryl is a successful fiction author, currently in negotiations to turn some o f

his writing into a TV series. Now getting together

Sabre Society Do n o rs

34

o n

most Sundays at the local coffee shop they do their best attempting to solve the world’s problems.

Finally, Pete has also been keeping in touch with former r o o m m a t e, Rick Koskella. Rick lives up the road in Dallas and like Pete, is working in the internet entertainment fi eld as an entrepreneur. His project is to de10 6

Greg and Diane

Now, another contact was made by yours truly, this t i m e i n o u r a i r l i n e layover hotel in London (well, actually in the Pub on the ground floor of that “lovely” establishment). Often running into wayward c r ew m e m b e r s

an d som et im es also classm at es, t h is t im e it w as D ave Whitney, with his

new wife, June, also known to many as his crew purser, or #1 flight atten

dant. They were flying the Miami-London trip on the 7 7 7 a n d w e h a d a

have been married great chancetojust sit awhileand chat. Daveand June i n h e a v e n o r a t l e a st a t

for 2 V2years and it looks like another match made a higher altitude. (Sorry about that one. I couldn’t help it.) Regardless, it i n t h e se t r o u b l e d w a s great seeing a senior Captain looking so happy even

Dave Ochmanek, Craig Lady, Ken Bonn, Gene Cuomo, Dennis Ren sel , Vance Lineberger, Bob Fraser, George and Jackie I ota, and Steve Kuprel .

George, Jackie, Jane, myself, Craig and Ken had lunch at the Ft Myer O Club after. Hope there won’t be any more funerals for a long while.”

t i m es at t h e ai r l i n e.

T h e l ast in for m at ion I h ave o n t h e Reu n io n is fro m Sc o t t St u r m a n i n

which he reports the choice for our Reunion weekend is dependent on knowing the Falcon Football schedule which will be known by April. At that point, we will get a confirmed date. Most feedback Scott is getting would indicate a mid-September or October weekend for t h e Re u n i o n i s

preferred. As we all know, the senior classes have f i r st c h o i c e , so w e a r e getting closer, but not quite at the top yet. Stay tuned and you will be ad vised as soon as we can tell you! Also if you would b e so k i n d a s t o c h e c k that your email address on file is current, wevdll be able to send you what ever w e kn ow w h en w e kn ow it .

Write again whenever you have something you would like t o sh a r e w i t h

the class. In the meantime I hope you all enjoy your Spring equinox and

the continuing political excitement in the national a r e n a . I t sh o u l d b e come very interesting...FPA

‘- I

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i W

Jo e Ka ho e 4 14 0 Sa d d le Ro c k Ro a d

i

John Pretz (pink shirt) and f amily, received f rom John's daughter Katie, this summer at a f amily gathering in Michigan where Joanne’s parents

Colorado Springs, CO 8 09 18 Cell: (719 ) 2 10-5568 j oekahoe@gmail.com htt p:/ / 73 .texascomput e rhelp.com

l i ve.

Mike Nishimuta reports a serious threat to his golf game in Italy... He’s been hired as site manager for Embry-Riddle at Aviano, w h i c h i n c l u d e s

the remote campus at Incirlik. Feel free to get another Class of ’73, news clips in this hard copy Checkpoints h av e b e e n a b breviated, but your complete inputs are on our web site http:/ / usafa73. org. vr/Joe Kahoe, CS-07

master’s degree with us online!

Bob (BG) Gilbert CS 20 - Living in Orlando, an offi cer for an aviation planning firm, Landrum and Brown.

Current assignment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Never married, but have a son who is an actor in London.

Bob Munson: “By the time you this, the National Character and Leadership Symposium 2012 will have

taken place. Our class is the “Flagship Sponsor” for t h i s

event, and with our annual funding NCLS has grown in size, quality, and quantity. The entire cadet Wing,

%

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Sabre Soc iety Do n o rs

33

along with some 500 college students, visiting faculty, and graduates will have dropped academics and intramurals for two days

to listen and discuss the messages from almost 40 speakers. T h e t h e m e for t h i s N CLS is “ Walk t h e Walk : Et h ics in A ct ion .” L o o k f o r a h o t - w a sh em ai l .

Roy Hart reports: A1Phillips’ son graduated from UPT at En id , OK an d

taking away all the honors, as well as just getting m a r r i e d i n T u c so n , A Z .

20 1 17 1 1 / 0 5

Nov 5"', 2011 at Steve Harman’s 60"' birthday party, f rom lef t standing are Tom Grayson, Ted Munsch, Stalker Reed, Jay Jabour, St e ve H a r m a n , Jimmy Amos, Ed Whitt, and Adrian Morales. Kneeling: M ike Davenpor t, A l Na ck e, a nd Glen Joh nst on .

Tw o w eeks l at er, St eve lost h is b at t le w it h can cer. (See th e Go n e Bu t N ot

Forgotten Section for a tribute to Steve.)

John Pretz passed away unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm o n O c t 15 with his family at his bedside and many friends nearby. His funeral mass was 21 Oct. Spence Way, Gene Cuomo, George Tota, Sam To r r ey , Bob Frasier , and Paul Freund were at the wake. Norty and Suzy Schwar tz came to the hospital before John passed. John was interned at Arlington on Jan 25th. Paul and Jane Freund attended and reported: “As always, the AF Honor Guard and Army Old Guard did a great job of performing military honors. The AF band also did a nice job with m u si c, w h ich Joh n would have appreciated. All of John’s immediate family w as p resen t , as well as much of his extended family. There was a great turnout from many of his former co-workers and friends, and a lot o f c l a ssm a t e s a s w e l l .

JOI N T H E SABRE SOCI ETY! YO U R M O N EY H EL PS EU N D CA D ET W I N G PRO G RA M S T H AT W O U L D OT H ERW I SE G O U N F U N D ED .

CALL (7 19) 472-0300 X200.

I

Joe Kahoe pinned Navigator Wings on his son Joey on D ec 2 '“‘ a t P en sa c ola upon graduation f rom the AF Combat Systems Off icer (CSO) p rogra m .

The wings were handed down by Joey ’s mentor, Luke Coker (Class of ’73 and retired Navf rom Joey ’s unit, the 302 AW), whof lew w i th h i m w hen Joey was a Flight Engineer.

Dan O’Hollar en: “Not much new here. Retired one year n o w a n d l o w e r

ing my golf handicap! Diane and I try and get to our b e a c h h o u se o n t h e Oregon coast often, have been on a couple of Caribbean cruises, plan to spend some time in Palm Desert in April then off on a 3-week European tour in September. I am still on the Board of Directors f o r t h e N a t i o n a l Guard Association of the US. That gets me back to DC 3-4 times a year.”

Mar k Stuckley: My oldest son was married on 10-01-2011. M ark (th e son) and wife, Kristen, honeymooned in Hawaii and loved it. My other son Matthew is getting married 5- 12-2012 to his coworker Maria and they too are going to Hawaii. My father will be 92 on Feb 13, 20 12, an d d an ced the night away.

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Don Rightmyer (Kentucky) finished his fourth year at t h e e d i t o r ’s d e sk of Kentucky Ancestors. 2011 was a busy year with his magazine publi cation work, numerous articles written, and several p resen t at ion s o n various Kentucky genealogical and historical subjects. H e b r o k e i n t o t h e national-level genealogical speaking scene with “Migration Ro u t e s i n t o Kentucky” at the National Genealogical Society conference i n Ch ar lest on , SC. (Websit e for m u ch m ore i n fo)

CS-31 Grim Reapers update from Tom Kennedy: Don Sloan c o n t i n u e s

t o b e act ive in th e w orl d of aviat i on . H e fl i es h is Stearman up and down

the East Coast where he is friends with many of the “ o l d - t i m e r s” o f av i a

tion. In the photo on our web site, Don shares stories w i th a fo r m er WA SP, Betty StrohRis, while in another photo he and his friend, Terri, spend a holiday moment with his Stearman, number 747. When not flyi ng, you might find him cruisin’ on his bike (photo on our website). In N ov, Tom

and Betty Kennedy hosted Bob and Sandy Errickson and so n , Jeff , for

dinner, (great pic on web site) Bob was with us for the fi rst 3 years, and while he had to leave due to a shoulder injury, aswe began our firstie year, he’ll always be a Grim Reaper. Anyway, he’s tried to keep up with some of us over the years, and in Nov, he, Sandy and Jeff stopped by to visit the

Kennedy family in Richmond,VA as they traveled up 1- 9 5 t o t h e i r h o m e i n

New Jersey. While the visit was far too short, it was really great to see him once again. As for Tom and Betty, their son, TJ has b e e n se l e c t e d f o r t h e spring semester Regimental Staff at the US Coast Guard Academy.

The Yestness family went on a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Disney Wonder for Christmas for the second anniversary of losing Dad (Bubby Yestness). (Website story and pic) Tim Long: I ’m upgrading again to Captain at UPS. I saw George Ram pulla and Ken Volkm an . Our daughter Nicole is in her 2nd year of a 5year program for PhD at UPenn in cognitive neuroscience.

Rick Karvosky: Had a great time in Pariswith my oldest daughter, Jenni, and my significant other, Denise. Great food and wine! Lots of shopping for b oth of t h em - cl ot h es, b oot s an d sh oes!!!! Go to our website for great pictures.

near Highland, IL (about 30 minutes east of St . Louis, MO) as opposed to

Chicago (Highland Park is near Chicago). John is a proud parent of two AF Officers. Son Jeremy, USAFA 2003, is currently a Captain flying C- 17s out of Charleston, SC. Hisyoungest daughter, Stephanie, an OTS grad, is a 2Lt

currently serving as a Missile Launch Offi cer at Minot AFB, ND. She plans

on getting married in February to an AFA grad who works i n t h e C o l o r a d o

Springs area (SPACECOM came to mind).

Another “here’s the real scoop” from John P. Jones. A t Ri c k ’s B r o o m ’s

house, he has the about 1/2 of an actual fuselage of a B-727 in h i s st u d i o, not just a painting of one. This is an actual part of an old U n it ed A i rli n es plane. He used to be a United pilot. Getting approval for the fuselage w a s an ordeal he said. Some of his neighbors were upset when they read an article in the Colorado Springs Ga .''f V zette about his studio containing an actual airplane. I t ’s really remarkable. He basically added on to his house

a new wing that houses the plane. The wings are not attached anymore but the entire cockpit and about 1/3 to 1/2 of the fuselage back from the cockpit is in h i s studio. I remember the nose gear being there also. H e made the fi rst class area a kind of living room. Rick i s truly an aviation “nut ”.

Keit h Qu i n n sh ared som e fu n n ew s. Keit h w an t ed

I K' -

Sabre Society Donors

27

to share his “pilot training” story with the class. “ I t o o k my fi rst two training flights as a 2nd Lt while stationed at Beal e AF B, CA as a KC- 135Q navigator. On 9/ 21/ 75 I flew for the fi rst t i m e ev er i n a GA aircraft (Cessna 150) with my tanker co-pilot / CFl 1st L t K e n H o f f . 1 f l ew again with Jack (everybody called him Jack) a month l a t e r . Tw el v e A F years, three contractor support jobs, and ten years owning a restaurant

later and I fi nally soloed on 8/21/ 11 in a Piper Warrior f r o m t h e W PA F B Aeroclub. 1just hope it doesn’t take another 35 years to complete my cer tifi cate.” Great to have new goals to strive for happy ending!

Wj Keith the Conqueror (guy on plane).

Frank and Steph Brewer sent an update. A few folks h a d b e e n t a l k ing about retiring. Frank’s note: “Unbelievable that ‘retirement’ is prob

ably foremost in everyone’s mind - shoot, it was just l a st w e e k I w a s st i l l

marching tours and hoping not to flunk Law 435 (??) so I could graduate.”

Steph sold her business, so she is now a domestic goddess. Jen n a, th ei r

oldest, is still teaching French and Spanish at McNeil High School. Ericka Rick Kar vosky and daughter Jenni at Eiff el Tower.

Michael Pat ton, R.A., CS-35: “I am helping the FEMA recovery from Hurricane Irene in upstate New York for 180 days. My older son, Casey is an Army E-7 (Army Intelligence) in Afghanistan for an oth er 4 1/ 2 m on th s;

second son Donovan (the Blues Clues actor) is expecting h i s se c o n d c h i l d

in June. Daughter Annabelle will hopefully be accepted to the year abroad program with the Woodstock Institute in India. She’s presently a sopho more at our local high school. Wife, Cindy, is still traveling around Mexi co, Cen tr al an d Sou th Am er ica for h er b ook bu si n ess (she averages about 150,000 miles of travel a year).

finally made the career change from aeronautical engineer at NA SA , an d

will graduate as a Vet from Mississippi State U in April. Frank is still paying the bills by working for Southwest, and after 18 years of working for the Pilot’s Union (SWAPA), I am free. Time for the young guys to run things.

Oh, and I have more time for skiing!"

Another family update came in from JJ and Cynthia Romano. JJ feel s it is cool that their son Joey is the third generation Ro m a n o t o e n t e r t h e Air Force. JJ’s father, Joseph Romano, entered the U SA in Oct ober, 1938

Jo e Bre zov ic

1209 Bayou Oaks Drive Fr ie n d sw o o d , TX 7 7 5 4 6

H: (28 1) 48 2-68 60 E-mail: j brezovic@comcast .net

HI classmates. I hope all continues well or gets better for you. I have a few corrections from prior postings. I welcome these so we may have the correct info to share in j oy or support, or just fun to kn ow ! Joh n Br ock m an helped me read correctly. It is slightly in error. H e i s r et i r e d b u t l i v e s 10 8

Proud parentsf lank the newest Romano Of icer.

a s a motorcycle repairman. He retired from the US AF in 1962 as a CW 0 4, head of Logistics. JJ of course entered in 1970/ 1974 a n d r e t i r e d i n 2 0 0 0 .

Joseph Romano entered the USAF May 13th, 2011, almost 73 years after his grandfather entered. It seems JJ added with a note of pride: “Not bad

for descendants of an Italian shoemaker from Calabria.”

Classmates strive to continue the long blue line whenever w e c a n . E d Whalen sent out an all-call for a January gathering o f cl a ssm a t e s i n t h e D.C. area as w e see i n th is em ail : Wh ales h er e.. .M ar ian n e a n d I c a m e b a c k

from the Middle East in July, and fi gured it was time for us all to try to get together if this opportunity aligns with your schedule. Mark Hyatt also joined the DC crowd last month. I hope someone took pictures of this gala event and a short story so the rest of us can enjoy the camaraderie -- electronically!

One note on gathering of friends and bringing them together... Ed Ladouceur was welcomed into the AOG as an honorary associate. M r . L i s a confi dant, encourager, supporter, helper, counselor, m u si c i a n ex t r a o r d i naire and family man who opened his home, with Carlotte’s blessings and

almost gave me a hernia from laughing so hard! This is a “living proj ect,” o n e

that will not be complete until the last of us departs t h e fi x, an d Bill

welcomes stories, pictures, videos, memorabilia, and anything else remi

niscent of our time together, then and now.

Mike Matte, aka Marathon CEO (marathonCEO.com), reported o n h i s

26 Dec 2011 speech at the 26th annual South Texas loint Se r v i c e A c a d emies Military Ball on Galveston Island. All of the 14 0 c a d e t s a n d m i d shipmen received copies of his book, “Marathon Fit t o Lead ,” w h ich M ike signed after delivering the keynote address. The speech i n c l u d e d r e f e r e n c e s

an d st or i es ab ou t t h e f am ou s Cl ass of 1975 an d w h at i t w a s l i k e t o

actually punch cardsto program a computer and live i n a N ew D o r m . T h e

b ook is availab le on M ike’s w eb sit e or A m azon , b u t he can send you an

autographed copy if you get it directly from him.

patience, to many of us over the years. Without fear of con t r ad i ct ion , h e helped many choir and chorale members make it through U SA FA . I a m sure many of us congratulate his selection and joining o u r r a n k s.

The Exemplar Dinner last fall was another opportunity f o r t h e b l u e l i n e to strengthen itsties. Rich Bowman is providing the ’74 leadership. At one

end is the class of ’74 and we were presented by the classmates and spouse s sh ow n b elow . At t h e ot h er en d w er e t h e cad et s of class 2014. To bring to mind the special dinners of yesteryear, here is the menu for the night of October 14: Beef Loin Strip Steak with au jus, Green Bean Al m an d i n e, To rtellini with cheese and pesto sauce. Bistro Rolls, Sparkl ing Red and White

Grape Juice, Mitch’s Mountains. After the dinner, 2014 a n n o u n c e d t h e i r

choice, Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Col. Jay Zeamer Jr. as their Exemplar.

He had received the Medal of Honor as a WWII bomber pilot on a recon mission into the Solomon Islands. Despite Japanese ai r at t ack , h e co n t i n ued the mission for over 40 minutes, receiving bullets i n b o t h a r m s a n d legs, one leg was broken. Despite injuries, he directed a safe landing 580 miles away. Army Air Corps was then beginning the tradition of courage and mission accomplishment we give our country today. May all of us have the valor to meet the needs. May you each live long and prosper.

M IT CH r LL

HALL

M i k e a n d Sh a r o n M a t t e

Duane Jones j oins the ORB universe: My time in Air F o r c e b l u e i s c o m ing to a close. I’ll retire from active duty effective 1 April 2012 with a last

duty day of 3 February. Our classmate Doug Fraser will o f fi c i a t e a n d i n doing so will become the last member of our class on c o n t i n u o u s a c t i v e

duty. Congratulations and thank you for your service, D u a n e !

More from the Beltway Bunch: John Charlton reports in from his post at National Defense University where he serves as Senior D i r e ct o r o f t h e Se cu rity Assistance and International Student Education Programs. “In a nut

shell, I am responsible for recruiting l OO-i- international st u d e n t s t o N D U each year, and then seeing to all of their administrative needs while they

are here with their families (300-r dependents). One of the nicer aspects of my job is to ‘teach’ them about America: We end up hitting about half of the states each year. This morning we are off to Texas: Houston and the Johnson Space Center, Galveston and the offshore oil industry, Dallas and the 6th Floor M u iseum, and Fort Worth to visit the F-35 production line

1^1

at Lockh eed M art in an d th e Ft Wort h St ock Sh ow an d

Rodeo. As you can see, we do a bit of industry, military JJ ^

J

Match Up! John Jones, Dennis Hughes, Lin Hughes, Bob Ri vas, Signe

Donaldson, Jim Donaldson, Bruce Anderson, Cathy Anderson, Lyn Yucuis,

Bill Yucuis, Peggy Bowman, Rich Bowman, Mace Macelhany, Steve Boy ce,

Scott Hamilton, Bill Van Horn, M ike Cranf ord, M ike O’Connell, Don Halley,

L oret ta O’Con n el l, Ed Wha len, a nd Ken Pethe.

Jef f Ch a p p e ll 14 7 2 9 Birke n St .

He rrim a n , UT 8 4 0 9 6

(80 1) 878-HOWDY Jt mj bda@sbcglobal.net

and culture. Another perk of the job is internationi

travel. Many of my ‘students’ go home and are soon

promoted to the highest positions within their military.

It’s fun to go and see them on their own turf. Wewill b e in Germany for a conference this spring, and then plan

Sabre Society Do n o r s

22

to visit Prague and Krakow, where we are sponsoring a n alumni event. We travel each year to a different part o f t h e w o r l d . So f a r we’ve hit France, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Dubai, and Th ail an d . I ret ired in 2002, then transitioned to the same job as a civilian. Hope t o c o n t i n u e f o r a b o u t four more years - we bought a lot in Ashland, NE last year on a small lake surrounded by a golf course, and plan to build our r et i r e m e n t n e st t h e r e i n the next couple of years. Grandchildren #9 and #10 checked in last year, so Bernadette and I do quite a bit of travel in that regard as well, as my kids are spread across Ohio, Florida, Michigan and California, and her kids (plus three grandkids) are out in the Omaha area. Life has been very good to us, an d of cou r se w e ow e a lot of it t o d ear old U SAFA .”

Guard Bum Chuck Schmitz has one more year to go in t h e O h i o A N G ,

including an upcoming tour in Afghanistan. “I left active duty in August of 1986 an d w en t t o t h e Gu ard tw o w eeks l at er as an A i r G u a r d T e c h n i

Dark Ages Greetings, Best Alive!

Recommended Professional Development Reading: Bill E st e l l e h a s done a fabulous job with the new “rogue website,” 75bestalive.org. I gu ar antee you will laugh, cry, and feel tingles, often simultaneously, as you recall people who affected our lives at The Zoo. Thanks to many class

m at es w h o con t r ib u t ed con t en t , w h i ch i n clu d es Cl ass B u si n e ss, N ew s,

GBNF, Galleries, Videos, Nostalgia, and History. YH S particularly enjoyed

the Nostalgia section entitled Gallimaufry -- the French exchange story

cian. Except for that two week transition I ’ve been active duty or ANG

since graduation. Last I heard from Don Lewis he went b a c k o n a c t i v e duty and was in Germany. Don’t know of too many other f o l k s o u t t h e r e

still doing this. I ’ll be off on my last adventure (sure the wife will be happy about that) at the end of January or early February, with three of my en listed folks supporting a flying ISR (intelligence, su r v e i l l a n c e a n d r e c o n naissance) operation.” Wow, another long-timer - you guys are setting all k i n d s o f r e c o r d s!

10 9

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Dan Beatty 12 196 St anley Canyon Road Colorado Springs, CO 8 09 21 H: (719 ) 4 88-19 62 C: (719 ) 3 38-0 276 E-Mail: whrlybrd76@aol.com htt p:/ / www.AFAcademy.com/ 76

Fell ow 7 6er s,

Chuck Schm itz in Iraq.

From Scribe Emeritus Paul Kent: Mike and Jan Goyden t r av el e d t o D i s

ney World during Spring Break for their first extended v a c a t i o n si n c e t h e i r

honeymoon 36 years ago. Wow, makes me feel guilty for a l l t h e v a c a t i o n s

I take. The only news from me is my son finished his Eagle Scout Board of Review and is going to study in Australia and New Z e a l a n d f o r 10 w e e k s in early January.

Congratulations Pablo -- he j oins an elite group in earning his Eagle!

Sounds likeVito has been working too hard though...

Idea for next reunion: Generate a list of progeny who f o l l o w e d o u r footsteps into the Long Blue Line, became Eagle Scouts, Rh od es Sch olar s,

All-Americans, and other such accomplishments. Our c l a ss h a s a n i m pressive history of accomplishment, and I think our c h i l d r e n r e f l e c t t h e individual greatness that comes from a background of greatness. Whaddaya think? Are the wheels in motion yet? It’s only three years away!

No rocking chairs for us. Mark Holmes reports in from su n ny San D i ego: Came upon a revelation j ust a few days ago: The address of my house.

I ’ll bet no one in the class has the same number; it n ev e r d aw n e d o n m e i n the nine years after we bought the house until I saw t h e n ew se c t i o n 7 2 5 8 on the AOG website and the light bulb went off, with st r a i n s o f “ W h a t ’s your altitude, smack?” “Seven Thousand Two Hundred Fifty-Eight feet sir; far, far above that of Annapolis or West Point.” Ta t t o o s w i t h t h e c l a ss motto, an address that ’s The Zoo’s altitude, I can’t seem to let it go...it’s a good thing, lots of great memories of great lifetime f r i e n d s. A l l ’s w e l l h e r e (no motorcycle accidents) other than a portable radiator dropping on a toe and losing the toenail, otherwise 58 feels pretty darn good. Got asked to enter a bodybuilding competition by the trainers at the gym so I guess I’m doing something right. I always thought 58 was rocker on the porch stuff when I was a kid; guess our generation doesn’t see it that way.

The “Dark Ages” are upon us... and the cadets. Ahhh... t h e m e m o r i e s.

Hope you all had good holidays and your New Year is going well.

Class Gift update: If you haven’t been contacted about o u r ’ 7 6 C l a ss Proj ect, please let me know.

Change to Legacy Class program : USAFA and The

AOG have changed the Legacy program to a 50-year vice 40-year post-graduation program. So all the infor mation in my previous articles and at the reunion is n o t correct. We will be a Legacy Class but with the Class o f 2 0 2 6 , n o t 2 0 16 .

Sad News: Jerry and Jane Salazar lost their young

est son , D avi d (Cl ass of 2009), on 11 N ovem b er. Pl ease

Sabre Society Do n o rs

keep the Salazar’s in your thoughts and prayers.

40

Moving up/movi ng on: Mike Gould to be inducted

into the Order of the Sword 19 March. Jim Hogue re

t i red fr om t h e U SAF Reserve Com m an d 09 D ec. N o i n fo on future plans.

Kevin Chilton now on theAOG Board of Directors. Congrats t o M ike, Ji m , a n d K ev i n !

General ClassStuff: Apologiesto Chuck Prihyl. I neglected t o i n c l u d e h i s

photo of the Doctors of ’76 attending our 35th Reunion in my last article.

From lef t in thef ront row are Doctors Bill Clif ord, Chuck Pribyl, Marv VanAvery, and M ike Eyolf son. Back row: Dave Arbutina, Joh n D ed ic, Ch r is Sullivan, Jon Tonetti, and Bob Livingston.

Chuck was selected as the Albuquerque “Top Doc” in orthopedics by “Albuquerque, The Magazine” for the last two years. Tom Tr ai nor j ust fin

ished his 5th year as Director of Facilities at Bethel University where wife, Deb, is Associate Academic Dean. Tom, Deb, and Larry and Kristi Boyes got together to watch the Army game last fall.

Larry works for Delta and Kristi volunteers now after retiring from the

More Cool Stuff About Us: The Dec 2011 Checkpoints ar t i cl e, “ Th e

public school system. Tom also says Dr Greg Toussaint i s D i r e c t o r o f

only eight classes with 20-year retention rates over 50%, an d on e of th ree with a double-digit 30-year retention rate.

Keep those updates and pictures coming, and until next quarter, good night and God bless!

versity school of medicine and received the Outstanding Se r v i c e A w a r d

Long Blue Line: Active Duty Retention,” highlighted B e st A l i v e a s o n e o f

Medical Student Education, Department of Pediatrics, Wright State Uni

for the Am erican Academy of Pediatrics for his lifetime o f se r v i c e t o t h e military and pediatrics. Greg’s wife, Susan, is an active volunteer in many cap acit i es. Lee Leb er (f ell ow h el o d r iver - Z U LU !) apologized for miss-

The Class of '76 is currently raising money to support

J

the new Center for Character and Leadership Development & t he W orld Trade Cent er M emorial. For more informat io n t o

participate in this Class Giving Project, please contact : - .! '

1 10

4

Razelle.dohert y @usaf aendow m ent .org 7 19 -4 72 -03 0 0 e x t . 2 2 2 .

SJf tf f l

The Trainors and the Boyes. ing my birthday party (more on that later) to celebrate his own birthday.

Bill Clifford inquired about any USAFA football bowl game tailgates and he apparently hooked up vUth Joe Wysocki for the game. Bill and Greg Boomgaard both pinged me with birthday wishes. Thanks guys! Boom also forwarded a nice note from Bernie Goldbach and passed on some wisdom about Christmas letters. Bob Bucher (early classmate of ou r s) h a i l e d a n d a sk e d f o r so m e c o n t a c t i n f o o n C l i f f Si m m o n s and Enrique Saa. Buchs lives in Durango, CO. Lee Cuevas and Gary Turnipseed both sent nice Christmas letters. Space limits the details but they both report families are doing well.

Randy Muncy pinged late night while on flying Reserve standby in LA. Said he was trying to contact Bob Bush but I never did fi nd out if they connected. Randy was in Denver in late November visiting h i s so n w h o had been inj ured in an auto accident. Son was recovering nicely. I did get an answer for Dave Ter ifay on the football kickoff r it u al , an d also sen t Jim Porter the site for our grad video I mentioned a w h i le b ack . Ki rk Bel l , Luckey Dunn, Terry William s, and Duncan Shields all se n t n i c e n o t e s about Mark Welch ’s leadership video I sent out. Thanks c l a ssm a t e s! I f you were not in my email list, let me know and I can send you Mark’s out standing presentation.

Rick Mantei visited USAFA with son and nephew in early January. He was able to get some info on a tour for the boys since they were inter ested in our Alma Mater. Good luck to them and you R i c k ! D a v e R o b i n son very kindly invited me to attend the presentation of daughter Taryn’s Aviation Scholarship at the noon meal on 27 Feb. Unfortunately, I w i l l be on duty that day and cannot attend, but I do appreciate the thought Dave. Mark Slown hailed from Rogers City, ML Says if any grads are in the area, he will give them a tour. He is city manager there and enj oys the work. Kathleen and daughter Karmen live there, and he has daugh ter Corin teaching science in Simi Valley, CA, and so n Sa m i n Sa n F r a n cisco area. Randy Schavr ien ’s son Scott pinned on Capt i n N o v e m b e r and daughter Nichole will have her first kiddo in June. C h a r l i e V o n o received first place award as chair of his Utah AIAA Section. He gathered the 1950’s designers of the Minuteman I Stage 1 for a panel discussion.

Congrats Charlie!

George Burnette says John Ar mor was his First Officer o n a C i n c i n n a t i Paris and return run in December. They were BCT roomies a n d a r e n o w both Atlanta-based Delta drivers. John Hazen reports nothing to report.

Phil Vollelunga flies Delta A330s: says he and Valerie are now grandpar ents. Doug Fry (also missed my birthday party) saw Sa l R ez a i n Sa n A n t o n i o i n D e c . Sa l i s Ex e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r f o r Ro b b i n s- G i o i a in Corpus Christi, TX. Dan Woodbury sent an email update. Thanks Dan! I got another ‘cherry’ input - Charlie Morgan ’s! Charlie sent a looonnggg note saying he drove from Louisiana to DC for the Dec game. He saw Lan ce Ch r i st i an , Jack Catton, and Larry Weaver there. Stayed with Larry and says Larry just had his cadet Trans-Am completely redone. Charlie w a s m o s t c o m plimentary about both Larry’s (DC) and Joe Drew ’s (C-Springs) h o m e s.

Saw Joe’s h o m e w h il e h ere for th e reu n ion . Said h is f o r m e r r o o m i e D a v e

Arbutina missed the game because his mother-in-law passed away a few days before. Thanks for a great letter Charlie!

Ed Morley has racked up over 300k in frequent flyer m i l e s o n h i s St a t e Department travels in the last 9 months. Said he saw M a r k W e l c h o n A F N TV quite a bit and says 1should ask Mark about his Holiday greeting on TV. Phil Houser sent an address update. Thanks Phil! Roger Yauchzy info’d me on his bowl game op-ord. Thanks Roger! And Mike ‘Yamadog’ Hoyes tells me he is working on a doctorate. That’s a long way from our shared days on ACPRO! Good luck Mike! Finally, I was honored t o h av e se v e r a l classmates and other USAFA grads join me and my family a n d f r i e n d s t o celebrate my 60th birthday. The party was on 28 Dec a n d a G R EA T t i m e was had by all. The mug shot follows

RussLaney, Pete Todd ,59, JoeWysocki, Dan Price, Dan Bea t ty, M on ty Lee, Win Macklin, Rick Ragaller ,83, and Rob Riester ’04.

Well classmates, again time to stick a fork in it. Send me your notes, in puts, address updates, suggestions, j unk mail, etc and I will do my best to keep all of you in the loop. As always, if you are headed to the Springs, let me and the other locals know. Keep flying your flags and let our deployed troops know you have them in your thoughts and prayers. The Spirit of 7 6 is STILL alive and well! Until next time... Beatty

Jo h n “ Lo u ” M ic h e ls , Jr.

4 107 Harvey Ave. Western Springs, IL 60 558 (312 ) 4 63-3412 j michels@lbbslaw.com loumichels55@gmail.com

At this point every year I think back to similar days at t h e Zoo, i n t h e heart of the Dark Ages. The truth is, we never knew h o w good we had it - Chicago is a truly dismal city at t h i s t i m e of year when it gets only about 30% of the available s u n I I 1 light. Even the worst weather in Colorado was almost a l N o t so ways followed by a signifi cant stretch of blue sky. here, where seasonal affective disorder reigns supreme.

Which I guess is the explanation for one of my more Sabre Society egregious errors - misnaming Duff Muir’s wife “Bonnie”, Do no rs when it’s really “Mary”. Af ter the last Checkpoints c o l umn came out. Duff very nicely wrote me and asked who 20 “Bonnie” was because Mary was asking some pointed questions. My apologies to the both of you; my only e x planation is that Bonnie is Duff ’s sister, whose name I se e o n Fa c e b o o k o c casionally. Mea culpa. At least now I know people are reading the column.

Im

Can you identif y the airline pilots in this picture?

John Christ (Louise) and Joe Al fano (Betty) are both Delta guys based out of Atlanta. Joe is doing international 767 stuff, while John pushes the venerable 737. Courtesy of Joe’s daughter, a Washington Re d sk i n e m ployee, they ended up getting sideline passes to a game in D.C. (Joe and Betty maintain their permanent residence in the Virginia su b u r b s.) T h e picture above was the result. For ease of reference, and to avoid any con fusion, Joe and John are the ones not wearing dresses an d Joe is on th e l ef t .

Thanks, gentlemen.

Updates: I got a nice note from Mouse Neumeister (Lorrie), w h o i s a l so holding down real estate in northern Virginia and last year started work ing for the Coast Guard as the guy in charge of their ship and boat acquisi tions. Mouse and Lorrie are signifi cantly involved in Big Brothers/ Big Sis111

C la s s

N ew s

ters, and hauled their charges all over the D.C. metropolitan area last year.

Somewhere in the middle of the new job and his surrogate family, Mouse is finding time to work towards an MPA from George Mason. He also gets to wander through the shipyards looking at metal being b e n t f o r v a r i o u s new vessels the CG has coming out soon. It is always exciting getting ex posed to a brand new environment like this - congratulations, M o u se .

Scott Jackson (Lisa) sent a nice message along with a very nice family picture. Scott used to labor in my old workspace - el e c t r o n i c w a r f a r e when he was handling Raytheon’s worldwide F- 15 and e l e c t r o n i c w a r f a r e business. Now he is into the missile stuff, working on Patriot programs for the UAE. Lisa has an interesting story of her own - sh e l e f t t h e w o r l d of fi nance for a new career as a marriage and family psychotherapist. As Scott aptly notes, there’s “no shortage of business in her fi eld," which spe cializes in family therapy for parents and their teenage c h i l d r e n . I ’m su r e many of us can relate there.

Roger Smith (Patricia) dropped me a note detailing his exploits flying on a 3-day trip for Southwest with Glen Kelley (Leslie). These gentlemen are based out of BWI, but Roger lives in Chattanooga, while Glen lives up in Manchester, NH. Roger said that they had a great three days together

flying from Baltimore to Denver to San Jose - Roger n o t e s t h a t h e w a s so busy catching up he didn’t even have an opportunity to crack open his newspaper. Now that’s one occupied airline pilot.

Glenn is spending his spare time flying high performance gliders and also is intruding into Scott Jackson’s territory by building and fi ying his own high-end model rockets, complete with Glenn-designed a n d b u i l t

circuit boards and suitable instrumentation. Very impressive - like Roger, I was a soft science maj or at the Zoo and can barely spell EE. Thanks for the update Roger - hope I’ll see you guys during one of my Southwest hops out of Midway.

Par ting Comments: I ’ve referenced our Facebook page sever al t i m es, and once again I’ll encourage you to get on board if you are not already.

Notwi thstanding the various discussions that get started on the page, you will get a chance to see some fascinating class history. T h i s t i m e a r o u n d I ’m thinking specifically of the video of ET Tulli a’s (D i an e) D FC M i ssi on in Iraq in 1991. Despite the failure of his defensive pods, ET manages to dodge six or so SAMs that get fired at him - the gun camera film along with the audio is fairly tense. If you are not on Facebook, make this your excuse to do so. The page also contains a lot of interesting updates from various people engaged in useful activities. If nothing else, reading about them will motivate you to take on some new challenge, or perhaps even make it t o t h e 3 5 "’ r eu n i o n t h i s Fa l l .

Sign Off: That’s all from the Windy City. I hope that everyone spent the winter warm and safe and that you are all looking forward to longer days and better times. Be seeing you.

Bob Kay

4 0 4 1 1 Te s o ro La n e Pa lm d a le , CA 9 3 5 5 1

Chris, Kimberly, Lisa and Scott Jackson at their place i n t h e A d i r o n d a c k s.

I ’ll trust that the holidays went well up in the mountains a n d t h a t ev erybody is now safely back in Boston. Thanks Scott.

Another Mea Culpa: I somehow managed to miss Dave Schmitz’s (H ol ly) message earlier in the year, along with a pre-reunion photo. Holly and Dave live in Northern Virginia, where Dave has been battling leukemia for the last eight years. Mercifully, he hasn’t lost h i s se n se o f h u m o r - h e describes himself in his message to me as the “Lead Ro d e n t " a t a st e m c el l transplant trial at NIH. He and Holly have two daughters, w h o a r e b o t h recently married, and a rising high school senior with aspirations for the Zoo. Congratulations on all counts to both of you.

Dave fired off a group shot of Chuck Delich (Lisa), h im self . Jack Kear ney (Cindy) and Pat Duff y (Jean) from last spring. They were all there for Chuck’s induction into the USAFA Sports Hall of Fame.

Home:(66 1) 274-220 1 Work: (66 1) 8 24-64 26 Email; Robert .kay78 @gmail.com

Greetings ’78ers...

Back at you for this quarter’s installment. I hope everyone has had a

b l e sse d C h r i st m a s a n d N ew Ye a r s.

Would imagine most of you by now have heard the great n ew s o f H e r b “Hawk” Carlisle getting his fourth star and PACAF command. Along with

Ed Ri ce (st ill th e A ETC com m an d er ), w e n ow h av e tw o

classmates who are not only four stars but running MAJCOMs. Congrats Hawk!

Speaking of Ed, he officiated Steve “Burner” Sargeant’s retirement the end of October in San Anto nio after more than 33 years of service. Ed and Steve were j oined by a large contingent of classmates, some from as far away as Seoul, Korea. It certainly was a “ st a r st u d d ed ” aff ai r w i t h Ed (fi rst 4-st ar i n t h e cl ass) a n d

Steve (fi rst ’78er to make 1- and 2-star rank) along w i t h his lovely wife, Vivie. Steve made specific mention o f

Kevi n Coch r an (CS-03 r oo m ie) w h o “cou l d n ot at t en d

Sabre Society Do n o r s

21

but sent a wonderful toast that was made by the MC a t o u r r e t i r e m e n t d i n ner the night before the ceremony.” Thanks Burner for y o u r m a n y y e a r s of exceptional service to not only our Air Force but this great nation and many of our allies!

D5 / 12 / Z 0 1 1

Chuck is currently a branch manager for Wells Fargo I n su r a n c e i n t h e Springs; he and Lisa have a son and a daughter (and a so n - i n - l aw i n t h e cl ass of ’99). Jack flies for D elt a ou t of A tl an ta, but perhaps more note worthy is the fact that he is a championship amateur golfer with national name recognition (and that ’s one of the few positive a sso c i a t i o n s I c a n make about golf, a game that has frustrated me since 2’’" degree PE). Jack and Cindy have two sons, one who is a traffi c controller a t H a r t sf i e l d a n d the other a j unior in high school. They also have two grandchildren, but Jack doesn’t appear that old - it must be the golf. Pat is also a Delta guy, flying international routes while residing in Denver. I w o n d er if h e sees Joe Al ford and if so, whether he has bumped into any Hogettes lately. Dave reports that they also saw John Mazurwoski and Doug Li eb r an d (Lau n a) at Chuck’s event. Dave, thanks for the detailed update and our thoughts and best wishes are with you and Holly. Hang in there.

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Jr

•

Next is something I’ve wanted to share even though you have to see a picture of my ugly mug...I have to admit though that this is fairly cool.

Back in August my son (2015) e-mailed informing us that his chemistry

in st ru ct or w as n on e ot h er t h an Ron Fu r st en au . Ron h as been teaching

chemistry at the Zoo for decades (off and on since a r o u n d ’8 4 I t h i n k h e said...mostly on) and we had the privilege of visiting his class during our Parents Weekend trip last August. While in class, he shamelessly put on his original cadet A-Jacket that fi t the same as it did when we graduated (unfortunately, I was not able to say the same even though I wore mine for the football game)! My son very much enjoyed having Ro n a s h i s i n st r u c t o r f o r t h e se m e st e r.

Bob Herris is still flying Predators at Creech AFB outside of Las Vegas.

He deployed to Kandahar in November of 2010 for a few m o n t h s t h e n r e turned to Creech as the Squadron Chief of Stan/ Eval. He thought he was

just going to fly but apparently theAF has other ideas. B o b w a s a l so sl a t e d

to transition into the MQ-9 Reaper but our ovm Charlie Sc o t t w a s t h e l a st retread (folks who came back on active duty post retirement) t o a t t e n d t h e short course. Bob is hoping to extend in the program until January of 2014 (he’s on military leave from American Airlines). One r e a so n f o r t h e ex t e n sion is that his daughter (Capt Erica Weaver) recently P C Se d t o C r e e c h from Kadena and will be working as an Intel Officer in the wing while her husband (’03 grad) fl ies HH-60s at nearby Nellis.

Bob also had the honor of attending Jay LindelTs retirement i n t h e Pe n tagon back on November 2P' after his 33 V2years of service. Jay’s final j ob was working for the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition as the Global Power Programs Director. The ceremony was h e l d i n t h e H a l l of Heroes at the Pentagon, and presided over by the A F V ice Ch i ef of St aff , Gen Phil Breedlove. Turns out Gen Breedlove and Jay w e r e b o t h K u n sa n AB squadron commanders at the same time. For those of you who were never stationed there, the competition between the Pantons (35"’ Fighter Squadron) and the Juvats (80"’ FS) is in a word.. .intense. B o b c o m m e n t e d that the bantering between squadron alumni continued right through the ceremony’s remarks! Jay is moving to Colorado Springs w i t h so m e se r i o u s relaxi ng and decompression planned before beginning the next phase. In

the great photo, from left is “proud dad” Bob (he always h ad a l ot of h ai r !),

Bob’s daughter Erica, and Jay and Bob’s son Kevin (T-1 instructor pilot at Columbus air patch). Since Jay and Bob married sisters, t o h i s k i d s i t w a s “Uncle Jay’s retirement.” Bob was more than thrilled t o h av e b o t h o f h i s AF kids there in uniform during such a significant event for their uncle Jay. Bob sai d th ere w ere oth er classm at es i n att en d an ce, but unfortunately there wasn’t an opportunity for a group shot . Thanks f o r t h e i n f o B o b a n d thank you Jay for another great chapter of ’78 service!

In some administrative news, I ’ve started a Linkedi n group called (what else?) “78 is Great .” I know several of us are on the w e b si t e a n d o t h e r c l a ss es have a site so figured it was time for us to do the same. If you’re on Linkedin, please consider going to the “Groups” section, se a r c h f o r t h e site and sign up. I had to close it to keep out the r i f f - r a f f so i t w i l l t ak e a

day or two to get a reply. This is a great opportunity f o r u s t o r e c o n n e c t

and network. Al so, Cliff Huff has agreed to update t h e c l a ss w eb si t e a n d certainly wouldn’t mind some help from anyone who is willing. Please contact him at cch@sei.cmu.edu if you’d like to help.

Speaking of Linkedin, it’s also a great way of hearing what some of you are up to: Doug Benj amin is a Test Pilot with Boeing a n d sh a r e d t h a t o t h er Boeing ’78ers include Gary Meiser (777 Chief Pilot), Dave Carbaugh (Chief Safety Pilot) and Ron Lockhart (working the N ex t G e n a i r t r a f f i c control proj ect Boeing is doing for the FAA). RD Johnson is living in the DFW metroplex and still fl ies for American. He and B e t h A n n a r e “ a l m o st empty nesters with two youngsters off the payroll. One graduates from Texas A&M this year and the other next year from South C a r o l i n a .”

On a fi nal note, Mike “Smacko” McMillie (working in A9, Analyses, As sessm en t s an d Lesson s Lear n ed , on t h e Ai r St af f ) is still our eyes and ears in the Beltway. He and Pam (just retired from Fairfax Schools) recently pur chased a small farm (largely trees) about 25 miles WSW of Fredericksburg.

He reports that a couple of guys will be hanging up their spurs. Dick New ton (currently the USAF Assistant Vice Chief of Staff ) ret ies in Ju n e an d Rick Devereaux does so in July (Dick and Rick, if you read this, please send some pix and info!). Rick retires as the Director, Operational Planning, Policy and Strategy in Hawk’s organization on the Air Staff (A3/ 5 Operations, Plans and Requirements). Further, it turns out that Russ Frasz i s a n SE S a n d Ri c k ’s deputy. Bo Marlin is also an SESand theTechnical Adviser for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Capabilities and Integration in Larry James’ organization (A2 -- Intelligence, Surveillance an d Recon n aissan ce).

Great to see that ’78 continues to lead in many areas!

That ’ll do it for this edition...my perpetual thanks for folks taking the time to let us know all that this great class is doing. See you in the spring.

G o d B l e ss. ’7 8 i s G r e a t !

Mike “Trash" Ashley

9 6 4 9 Re a c h Ro a d Pot o m a c , M D 2 0 8 5 4

79t rash@gmail

3 0 4 -7 2 8 -4 8 8 8

Gen t l em an , t ake seat s! Wel com e t o 20 12. A n oth er i n t erest i n g a n d

sometimes exciting year ahead. I hope this fi nds you all well and thriving.

News has been a bit sparse this quarter. But, here g o e s...

Looking up at the stars: Lt Gen Stephen (Boss) Hoog an d w ife, Cin d e, took command of Alaskan Command during a ceremony 7 N o v 2 0 1 1 at Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Boss will a l so c o m m a n d 1 l A F and Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command. H e w a s

previously commander of 9AF, Shaw AFB, SC. Boss, congratulations a n d

don’t forget to de-ice the wings! Lt Gen Jan-Marc (Juice) Jo u as (M ar i on ) assu m ed com m an d of 7A F on 6 Jan 20 12 at Osan AB, Sou t h Korea. They unveiled an F-16 with Juice’s name on the canopy! He also will be deputy com m an der of U N Com m an d Korea an d U S Forces Korea, and air compo nent commander of Republic of Korea/ US Combined Forces C o m m a n d .

Juice was previously PACAF/ DO at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, H I .

You’re leaving Hawaii? You do us proud.

Craighton Chin (Grace), Tom Teigler (Gail), Juice (with M s) and Gary

Cu r ry.

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C la s s

N ew s

This came to me from Tom: “Marion and Jan-Marc extended w o n d e r f u l hospitality to us. Made us feel like kings - VIP quarters, reserved seating at the ceremony, private dinner at their house with dinner cooked by a

f am ou s Fren ch ch ef (D ad), ki ds w ere fu n t o b e w i th a n d w a r m c o n v e r

sations with Mom. And daughter Jennifer’s pride and l o v e sh o w e d d u r ing the ceremony as the 4-star talked about Marion’s su c c e sse s a s w el l .

Gary, Craighton and I had fun hiking around Diamond Head, feasting on Waikiki Beach and touring the battleship guarding the U SS A r i z o n a o n the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Craighton knew some local places to get great food that tourists would never find. And he gave me good advice for my son in med school.

Gail and I drove up to Stafford Saturday for great f el lowship with Kathy and Steve Lepper. They are both

plaque. Life is good and the Good Lord continues to bless me despite me."

Thanks for the pic, Gary.

Ch r i st m as m ail : Keit h an d Su e Ab b ot t cam e east

(

While I was planning on having plenty of time to punch-out t h i s a r t i cl e on the road last week—to get it in on time—my company kept me busy

by mostly having me fly the night shift on the west coast . (Thankfully,

sl im an d t r im as w ell . D in n er w as fan t ast i c! Seem s t o

be a theme here - great food will get me to you. As o f about a year ago, 1have an original plaque on my saber

Don Myers

4 0 1 Chambray Hill Peacht ree City, GA 30 269-4 247 (770 ) 631-14 29 E-mail: DMyers8 0@hot mail.com ZoomieNat ion.usafa.org FB group: “ USAFA Class of 198 0 "

Sabre Society Do n o rs

14

last spring for son Cliff ’s USNA graduation. We met f o r dinner the evening before they returned to Palmer, C O . T h e i r C h r i st m a s card had photosof two graduations and awedding during 2011. Daughter Amy graduated as a veterinarian as well as getting married. Guy and Judy Wills sent a mailer from Niceville, FL. Guy and son St ev e n a r e i n v o lv e d i n Boy Scouts. Steven is now an Eagle Scout and Guy just stepped down as Scoutmaster. Guy teaches computers at Rocky Bayou Christian Sch ool , where Judy also works. You still look good in uniform. Gills. Joh n (JR) Dallas finally moved back to left seat on the Boeing MD-80. He says he is waiting for his time on this equipment then it’s on to Captain the 767, in about 2 years.

Th is fr om Jeff (Jam m er ) M oor e: “ 1 h ave b een ou t on Long Term Dis ability from UPS due to adverse side effects from chemo therapy in 20062007. In the interim I have worked a civilian contractor j ob in AF/A5RC at the Pentagon (where Brian Koechel hooked me up with the Saturday AM ’79er run and coffee gang) and more recently as a Sim I n st r u c t o r o n t h e A300/A310 for FedEx in Memphis, TN. The FAA sent me an early Christ mas present last month. I received a Special Issuance f r o m t h e FA A C a r d i o Review Board dated 22-Dec-2011 with details for renewing my Class-1 medical at 6-month intervals. After reviewing the requirements with my Cardiologist, my AM E issued me a Class-1 medical certificate o n 5 - Ja n 2012. The UPS company doctor cleared me to return to w ork on 6-Jan 20 12. 1 h av e a r et u r n t o w ork d at e of 23 Jan 20 12. 1 am looking forward to getting back into the cockpit. We (wife, Pattie, and daughter Andie) will be moving back to Louisville sometime soon, and the welcome mat is always out. Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement during the past 5+ years.” Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Jammer! This pho to is of Jammer and daughter Amanda, now in Navy garb.

we have an understanding editor.) I did see some beautiful parts of that region, including an area where an owner’s family was doing helioskiing n ort h of Van couver, Br it i sh Colu m b ia. M u st b e n i ce. A n d I w a s ev e n a b l e

to call Kathy as she woke-up one morning, j ust as I f i n ished my “day” and was going to bed. Such a deal.

A second, totally unrelated thought :Your Christmas/

holiday letters might contain some old news, but they are always welcome. Last time, I forgot to specifically

ask you to insure I was on your distribution list, so t h e number dropped-off this year. (Please take a moment and add me for next year—and/ or send what I missed.)

Also, if you did send one this way and don’t see any thing here. I’m likely saving it for what might be s o m e

m Sabre Society Do n o rs

27

slim pickings next time.

Here’s what I have to share this go-around The Dave (Cindy) Pr ahst clan had an eventful 2011, a s i t st a r t e d o u t with Pastor Dave having a heart attack. The result was a double bypass

and the standard, slow ramp-up to recovery. Cindy relates, “ O u r c h u r c h family was very supportive and understanding during th i s t i m e, w h i ch blessed us immensely! In May, Dave was feeling well enough for us to

fly to Kansas City for our church convention (C&MA Gen er al Cou n cil) , where we were able to reconnect with other pastors an d fr i en d s, si t u n d er some wonderful teaching, and also celebrate our 28“’ wedding anniver sary.” If I counted correctly, they are home schooling the youngest four children (2nd - 11th grades) and the oldest four are scattered throughout the U.S.—oil industry, engineering, counseling, and a semester in Italy.

A portion of the Prahst f amily.

41 X'

1

"

Bowling: My daughter Tara and I went to the Military B ow l i n D e c e m ber. Also attending were Paul Schuber t (Babette), wife an d son , an d Tom McGover n and party. I never found them or any other Mighty Finers any where. If you were there, sorry I missed you. See you i n W e st Po i n t n ex t f al l .

Last b u t n ot l east : M ik e (Roll s) Rol l er coul dn ’t at t en d the game; he was in St Thomas, USVI getting married! He and Diane have i n v i t e d F r a n c e s and me for dinner this coming weekend (28 January) f or i n t r odu ct ion s, fraternity and general sipping and chatting. Pics and m o r e i n f o t o f o l l o w in your next class news. Congrats to Rolls and Diane, many happy wishes f r o m t h e C l a ss o f 7 9 .

Next up: Mike Watson - michaelwatson@cox.net. Phone: 6 0 2 - 9 9 3 -

0840. 6428 W. Joh n Cab ot Rd , Gl en d al e, A Z 85308- 107 1 1 14

Paul and Ricki (Smith) Selva have allowed the AF to pry them out of the Washington, DC hub and they are now in Hawaii. Having a wife that quilts, I can appreciate what it takes to have a quilt of the quality to be displayed in a museum, but Ricki had two of hers in theVirginia Quilt Mu seum. Paul has taken over responsibilities of PACAF V i c e - C o m m a n d e r .

Scott (Jan) Carrothers have “entered that next phase of life: pre-empty nesters. Kasey is now a freshman at UCLA. We experienced a l l t h e e m o tions of sending your first child off to college. The j oy and excitement of college acceptance letters and graduation, the roller c o a st e r o f e m o t i o n s as you and they pack up to go off to college, and the tears when you get the tuition bills. The process is truly like the butterfly metamorphosis as they emerge from their chrysalis and start to spread their wings. Kasey had to be woken up every day of his senior year. After getting to UCLA, he signed up for the rowing team and now gets up on his own at 5 :0 0 (i n t h e m o r n ing!) and works out with the rowing team for two hours before going to class. Go figure! If he comes back with the “freshman 15” it will hopefully be muscle. One of Kyle’s fi rst questions after Kasey l e f t w a s c o u l d h e t e a r down the wall between their bedrooms and expand his r oom . U h h h h h , no! Kyle is a junior and just fi nished soccer season w h e r e h e w a s t h e v a r sity goalie and played every game. At 6’3”, he fills up the cage pretty well.

and he takes pleasure in telling/ showing everyone he’s n o w t a l l e r t h a n me.” Jan’s busy with Kaiser and her regular practice, as well as developing an elder care and skilled nursing program. Scott continues t o d o so m e appraisal work in Hawaii.

Ric h Tre nt m a n 1 1 1 0 2 As b e e St .

1

Jan and Scott adj usting to pre-empty nest.

Margie (Clark) (BJ) Var uska quickly penned, “We are still happy in Cape Canaveral and spend much of our free time volunteering w i t h t h e Se a T u r tle Preservation Society. We have two grandkids now w h o l o v e t h e b e a c h a s m u c h a s w e d o .”

Debbie (Dubbe) (David) Gray continues to homeschool third-grade daughter Jayanthi and “we truly value all the time we get to spend to gether.” Besides school, there are plays, piano, and the family “took our motor home on its maiden long voyage and thoroughly enjoyed it.” While D eb b i e con t i n u es t o d o a b it of con t ract w ork for t h e A F, D avid i s fi n i sh

ing his MBA while running his irrigation contracting business. They live near both families, in the Ft . Bragg area, and stay active with the military community.

I

Falcon, CO 8 083 1-8 170 Home: (719 ) 4 94-84 38 Work: (719 ) 234-0754 Cell: (719 ) 64 0-9 58 6

rt re nt m a n @f a lco n b ro a d b a n d .net Cla s s W e bs it e : w w w .u s a f a 8 1 .c o m

Scott Schafer emailed me awhile ago promising a lengthy, witty, and award winning literary input to our class article on t h e st a t u s o f o u r e n dowment gift fund, but the following will have to do: T h e ’8 1 E n d ow m e n t Committee consists of Scott, Bob Bledsoe, Randy Worrall , Tim H ar r i s, Tom K al m an , Beef H ad d ad , M ik e Bl o om fi el d , M ike Ross, Mary Beth Shagena, John Fagnan t , Drew Grant , and Mike Beal . Scott sa i d t h a t w e sh o u l d expect the efforts to begin later this summer. Scott sa i d w e sh o u l d h av e the selected program area for the endowment chosen

by August. I will have an update in the next article a n d on our ZoomieNation class page as soon as I fi nd out anything. Please consider giving to our class fund w h e n the time comes or anyt ime! Thanks to all of you above for volunteering your time!

Cl ass New s: I see D r D ean Car l son at A F b asket b all

games as he taps me on the head throughout the game.

He sits right behind me. I haven’t seen him at Dunkin’ Donuts in quiet awhile, so that means one of us is e a t ing better. Hmmm. The rest of usual ’81 basketball s u s pects are at all the games, too. (Frank Cheeseman and

Sabre Society Do n o rs

22

son w it h h is keen ob servat io n s of t h e fu t u re of Falcon b asket b all ; Tim H ar

ris, quietly rooting, observing, and reminiscing; Steve a n d Su sa n H i r st , always courtside cheering our Falcons; and Marty and Becky France, the steady eddies of basketball support.) Of course, as good fans, we know and discuss all the right coaching moves and when to m a k e t h e m ! W e haven’t figured out why Coach Reynolds doesn’t ask u s. T h e t e a m h a s a bright future with eight freshmen. It seems like only a little while ago, we were cadets watching the games. I also use it as an opportunity to visit with my son when I can get him to swing down from the c a d e t a r e a f o r a gam e or tw o.

.-S'!. 'i

-i

id

Scott Land emailed me that he didn’t get a chance to say goodbye at the reunion. I feel the exactly the same. It flew by! We lost an exciting football game to Toledo at the Military Bowl in the fi nal minute on a gutsy call, but

I,

Mother and daughter dressed f or the Christmas Pageant.

Fr om M ar ian n e (Ow en s) an d D av e LaRiv ee: D ave an d I a r e f i n e . D av e

was hired by the Air Force Academy into a permanent teaching position in the Economics Department. I still teach Business Law part time at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. We’ve had h e a l t h i ssu e s w i t h our parents, which took up quite a bit of my time this year, but that seems to be rather pervasive among our friends these days.” Unfortunately, I ’m sure most / many of us can relate to that last statement.

Got something in the mail from the USAFA Endowment recently. I no ticed the Board of Directors list includes “our” Nancy (M ar i an o ) (Fran k) Kudla. More good people doing good things. (Thanks N an cy !)

Dean (Carla) Eisberg is trying hard to remain on active duty with the Army at an ALCOM (Alaska Command) j ob so he doesn’t h av e t o r e t i r e in May. Add to this the CBP (Customs) folks tried to drop him from the employee rolls last November. It came to the point w h e r e D e a n h a d t o hire a lawyer to explain to this federal agency the federal law saying they couldn’t do that when he was on active duty orders. “ N o w C u st o m s w i l l welcome me back with open arms. I ’m not excited about arresting people and searching boxes, but it pays the bills.”

Finally, to tempt you back next quarter. I ’ll leave you with a sample of what’s to come from the Eisberg’s annual Christmas missive: “It’s 5 degrees below zero. Jeff runs the garbage outside wearing only sh o rt s, com es b ack in th e h ou se, sl am s th e d oor, an d d eclares, ‘M an , i t ’s c o l d o u t t h e r e !’ D e a n :

‘What were you thinking?’ Jeff: ‘Dad, I ’m a teenager; I wasn’t thinking!” ’ I take great pleasure in getting to “visit” with you this way. Even if I just get a quick email from you (hint), it perks me up—and it makes these articles more diverse and interesting. All the best. D o n

'81ers dancing 1 15

was the guest speaker. No word on what the topic was, but Bob’s working in the AF CIO’s offi ce. Here’s a picture of Bob and Mike f ro m t h at ev en t .

Mike also took the initiative to put together a lunchtime get-together for Redtags in the D.C. area just before Christmas. Mike does this periodi cally, and the events are always nice mini-reunions. I had some frequent flyer miles to burn and a free day on my work schedule, so I flew in to join in th e fu n .

Mosey, Little, Kilty, Chet, Potsy Bobby Renaud and Bob Bledsoe were there cheering on the boys in blue.

Rumor has it Amy Russell , Ken Smith and Mike Cox were th ere, t oo. Th i s article’s pictures are compliments of Jake Jakobi . T h a n k s!

The news info line has slowed to a crawl. I really n e e d m o r e e m a i l s a n d updates from all of you, so I don’t have to be a facebook creepster! If I don’t get more emails. I ’ll start digging up (or making up) st o r i e s f r o m o u r c a d et days. As always. Go Air Force! ’81 Second to None!

Ji m Ra t t i 2 8 6 0 A r b o r Po i n t e D r i v e

M i dd let ow n , OH 45042 (9 3 7 ) 7 6 0 - 2 3 3 3

rattijm@mindspring.com

Greetings Redtags!

It’s been a busy quarter with lots of news and plenty of stuff going on.

One of the big topics of discussion lately has been our upcoming 30"’ re u n i o n . T h e m a i n i t em o f i n t e r e st i s w h at t h e d at e s will be, as many of us w ould like t o block th e t im e on vacation an d w ork sch edu les. By the time this issue is published, we’ll know the dates, but as of this cold January day we’re still in limbo. The good news is that we’re getting sen ior (read : old) enough that there are more classes bidding for dates af ter us than before us (classes get to pick dates based on seniority). So hopefully the weather for the football game will be better than what we remember of t h e (in ) fam ou s Georgia Tech debacle of 11 Nov 1978. Reunion discussions o n M i k e Si n i si ’s e-mail list morphed into tales from that fateful day. Steve Vogt did some re search and noted that Eddie Lee Ivery of the Georgia Tech Yell ow Jacket s set two NCAA records that day - highest average gain per rush (13.7 yards) and Division One single game rushing record (356 yards) - w h i l e w e f r o z e o u r collective butts, ears and noses off (or camped out in a bath r oom st all . ..).

Ri ck M r az recall ed th at as D ool ies, h e an d h i s room m at e w e r e “ r e

lieved” from the SAM I that morning to be put on stadium cleaning detail.

The snow j ust kept coming and they couldn’t keep up, so the plan to let them all go back to the Hill to eat and change clothes before the game was abandoned. They kept clearing snow up until kickoff, a n d t h e n sa t through the game as well. Of course, all the upperclassmen got the first buses back up to the hill afterward, so Rick had even m o r e t i m e t o “ c h i l l o u t ” a t Fa l c o n St a d i u m . R i c k sa i d h e’d n ev e r b e e n t h a t c o l d b e f o r e i n h i s

life, and he’s from upstate New York! Some things are just forever seared (or frozen) into your memory, I suppose.

M ike Si n i si at t en ded an AFCEA (A r m ed Forces Com m u n i cat i on s & E l e c t r on i cs A ssociat ion ) lu n ch eon b ack i n Oct ob er w h ere B G e n B o b R an c k

T h e M i n i - R e u n i o n i n D .C .

Here’s a picture of the folks who made it. From left are Carl a Gam m on , Gerry Sohan , Rocky Reiners, Jim Ratti , Doug and Sharon D u n b ar , Gail Tar lton, Carson Berry (rear), Lyn Sherlock , Mike Sinisi , Mike Kempton (rear), Troy and Lisa (Tym an) Miller , Doc Kimminau (rear). Ar t Cr ai n , and Keith Zuegel . Of course as scribe, I had to grill e a c h o n w h a t h e o r she’s doing. Mike Sinisi is a Business Development V P for ECS Federal Systems. Carla just retired and moved back to D.C. from Germany in September. Gerry works for the AF District of Washington and runs an Ops Cen ter at Andrews. Rocky and Carson work in SAF/AQ, s UH K V )

n

and Sharon is on the Air Staff as the AI M, wrestling

•f ;

with the USAF’s manpower issues. Doug is a Reserv Sabre Society ist at Randolph, and also flies for the airlines and a s a Do n o rs demo pilot for the Gulfstream aircraft that Troy Mi ller r e t i r e d sells. Lisa is a lawyer for the CIA, and Lynn just 9 and was enjoying the freedom before j umping back into the j ob market after Christmas. After a long time out of uniform, Mike Kempton is now a Maj or in the Gu ard , an d h as an extended active duty gig as the Exec to the Chief Civil Engineer at ANG Headquarters at Andrews. Gail works at the National I n st it u t es of H eal th , and says she hopes she never sees any of us professionally, b e c a u se t h e people who come to NIH are “really sick!” Doc just retired and was get ting around amazingly well (that is to say, normally!) after having a hip replaced j ust t wo weeks earlier. Art is still flying for Jet Blue, a position he’s held since 2004. Einally, Keith works for the consulting fi r m A ccen t u re, which at 25,000 employees and growing, is about 1,000 times larger than the consulting firm I work for! But one thing we have i n c o m m o n i s t h a t Tiger Woods isn’t a spokesman for either of us.

Rick Burgess sent word that his oldest son, Justin (27, USMA ’06), got married at West Point in November. Rick’s youngest son (in the Navy in San Diego) flew in as did Tom and Nona LaVal ley (living in C-Springs).

Rick sent some nice pictures of the weekend, but they w e r e t o o l o w r e so l u tion for publication here.

My Doolie squadron mate Pete McCaffrey (’83) j oined M i k e’s e - m a i l l i st this fall, and reports that he’s retired (a Guard 0 -6, if I remember correctly) and is now Director of Business Development for Global Aerospace Logis t ics i n Ab u D h ab i , UA E. Pet e st ar t ed w i th ou r cl ass, then did the stop out thing and returned to graduate with ’83. Another Doolie squ ad ron m at e, BGen Tod Wolter s, is back from his Afghanistan tour a n d r e t u r n e d t o a Pentagon j ob. And speaking of BGs, we learned just b e f o r e C h r i st m a s t h a t

A b e l B a r r i e n t e s w a s se l e c t e d f o r t h a t r a n k i n t h e Re se r v e s.

Tony Rino j oined Mike’s e-mail list back in December and recently left a contractor position to take a Gov’t civilian j ob. He’s serving as the Finan cial Manager for the Joint HAS Digital Information Exchange program at Nellis. Mike Honsinger retired from Customs & Border Pr o t e c t i o n a b o u t a year ago and now has a small business guiding tourists o n sn o w m o b i l e tours through New England.

I recently got a note from Amy Cox (Wimmer , ’83) which included a picV i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e.

Gone But Not Forgotten, Merchandise and m ore! www.usafa.org B Gen B o b R a n ck a n d M i k e Si n i si a t t h e A F CEA L u n c h eo n .

1 16

ture of her with Kim Corcoran . Amy says Kim is retiring soon (if sh e h asn’t already) and is staying busy traveling. Amy and Kim were squadron mates in CS-39 and they just happened to book the sameVermont b i k e t o u r l a st summer. Here they are crossing back into the U.S. from C a n a d a .

Pacific in Stockton. Both Tom and I had a couple hours s i t t i m e so h e updated me on classmates and family.

So m e o f T o m ’s c o n t a c t s a r e T i m Sc h i f e r w h o i s st i l l a Se n i o r V P a t M a d i

son Capital in Naperville, IL. Kim (Korzeniewski) Chatfl eld i s a n 0 - 6 i n t h e GA -A N G at Roh in s A FB. Tom saw Bob Nol an , 2-st ar -Ai r CC of Special Ops, at a Test Pilot graduation. One of Tom’s cadets was a grad while Bob is revered in the Edwards community. Bob, we need more i n f o - - d o n ’t leave us hanging. Dave Specht is running a medical tech start -up in the Silicon Valley, Holly Franz is in the Bay Area and w o r k s a t t h e L aw e r e n c e Liver m ore N at i on al Lab. Su e (New h ou se) Ro ss is in th e Springs still run ning the Sierra Consulting and is on the Academy Board o f V i si t o r s. A n d who knows where Dave is, out flying around, whining about the pay. Jim Lyons (ex ’83er) is an 0 -6 USAFR in Intel and j ust m o v e d t o D C f r o m t h e Springs. Mike Vaughn is working for Boeing as an Engineer i n t h e H o u s ton area. Ted Zwij acz is thriving in Acworth, GA while Greg Meidt is a Sen i or VP at th e Brem er Ban k i n th e M SP area. Tom , it was great touching base with you. Keep in touch. Thanks for lunch!

Wade Wheeler sent me some info as his mail bag overfl owith. Joe Al d az thought that after 29 years he needed to update us o n h i s w h e r e a b o u t s.

Joe is currently the Director of the Rocky Mountain U SO w h i c h i n c l u d e s all o f C o l o r a d o .

Intrepid Bikers Kim Corcoran (L) and Amy Cox (’83).

Finally, Chuck Beckw ith had the opportunity to be a h e r o i n D e c em ber w h en a w om an rear-en d ed h is car, t h en con t i n u ed on into a nearby pond. Apparently her blood sugar had plummeted and sh e b l a c k e d o u t .

Chuck and another motorist (who happened to be a PJ from nearby Ft. Bragg/ Pope AFB) j umped in and rescued her. They got h e r o u t o f t h e c a r just moments before the water was over her head. Quite an adven t u re. I ’d say! I ’m glad the story had a happy ending.

With that I ’ll say farewell for this issue. Thanks for all the news, and my best wishes to all of you for a happy, safe, and successful 2 0 12 . U n t i l n ex t t i m e, b e safe. Rat m an

Ray B lust

7 Highland Park Wheeling, WV 260 03 (304 ) 24 2-7182 (304 ) 28 1-16 21 rj mablust @comcast .net

From lef t areAlyssa, Steven, Tami and JoeAldaz.

Joe, your family photo was much better than the other two. Daugh ter Alyssa just graduated from Colorado College after four years of col lege basketball. Steven is currently a freshman at t h e U o f D al l a s a n d a l so plays BB while Joe continues to coach HS BB after 26 years. Please visit Joe and the USO at www.uso.org. Great work Joe. So, you can help with the 30-year reunion?

Now from my Christmas mail bag. Mike and Edith Padilla a r e st i l l i n T e n n e sse e w h e r e M i k e fl i e s f o r Fe d Ex . K ev i n a n d C a r a M c M i l l i n w r i t e

Happy New Year! I hope 2012 is going well for all. 1 a m st i l l w i t h A A i n

JFK as an FO on t h e 767. I , l ike a few oth ers, ret i red i n 2 0 1 1 f r o m t h e Re serves-A LO. Ju l ie an d I con t i n u e t o b e am azed at h ow

fast time goes and how quickly the kids grow. Matt i s now a crew chief on the CV-22 Osprey at Hurlburt Field.

He suffered a back inj ury during Pararescue training and was reclassed to Jiis current job, but may be able to take another shot at PJ down the road. Audrey is st i l l our dancer, pianist and singer and is in the S"' grade.

Sabre Society Ran into Tom Kr ise on a leg from St. Thomas to Miami.

Do n o rs Tom grew up in STT and went back for a HS reunion Sh e 19 plus a 9-day sail boat cruise with his wife, Patty. works for Ford in the fi nance department where things are looking up. Tom retired at the Academy as a profes sor and was big help on our 20-year reunion. He is currently a Professor and Dean of the Arts and Sciences department at the University of the

from the brush up in Washington. Kevin, please send us a digital photo of your security team. Daughter Maureen is doing it all, bagging a trophy elk, visiting Paris and writing music. Get her music by e-mailing Kevin at cara4christ@msn.com. Robert and Ralinda (’82) Gregor sent a great fam ily photo also from Louisville, KY where Robert flies f o r F e d Ex .

Doug and Kim High are still in the Springs where Doug w o r k s a t Sc h r i e ver AFB in the AF TENCAP. Daughter Hilary is a soph at CSU maj oring in Biology and Music and Anna is a seventh grader loving bugs - not! Kim I feel your pain of knee surgery; I ’ve had three and the next may be a re placement - I hate gettin’ old! Ran into Ben Wilson at the Atlanta airport.

I was coming back from Hurlburt while Ben was heading h o m e t o K e n tucky. We said Hi, but that was about it. He flies f o r D e l t a . T h e i r o l d e st son. Bo, is heading to the Academy next year with the c l a ss o f 2 0 16 a s a baseball recruit. See you at the 30-year reunion. Tell A1 D ah a, h e’l l kn ow w h at I m ean !

Leslee (Forsberg) and Chris (’82) Washer write again fr om W h it efish , MT where Leslee continues to tutor math and play outdoors. C h r i s t r av e l s a lot while young Jacob is in his second year at the USMMA in Kings Point and of course he plays football -- dah! Daughter Rebecca i s a n ew b r i d e and is currently an Army 2"'' Lt. Nurse stationed in Honolulu. Les, I j ust counted the times your photo has been in the Checkpoints, an d b ad n ew s, I won’t be able to add your family photos ’till 2033. Sorry! Mike and Giesla Sh an ah an w r i t e fr om M on u m en t , CO w h ere t h ei r ol d est so n , Se a n , w a s

just commissioned a 2"'’. Lt . in the Army (Hey what ’s with the Army? Has Wade gotten into their heads!). Their youngest son, Kyle, was married on N ew Years Ev e of 20 10. I can’t rem em b er, b u t I ’ll assu m e si n c e M i k e l i v e s i n t h e a r ea h e f l i es f o r U n i t ed .

Andy and Jamie Lagrone write from San Antonio where they have set stakes and now have a pool - I ’m guessing you’re not coming back to Ohio! Son Jake j ust graduated from Bellarmine U. and w o r k s i n Sa n A n tonio while daughter Cameron works and goes to Baylor i n W a c o . Ro n an d Ton i a Gr av es are st ill in Yorkt ow n , VA w h ere Ron fl i e s f o r U n i t e d . F i

Ray and Tom Krise at M iami International.

nally, Pete and Gerry McCaffrey have had enough of t h e Re i d - N ev a d a a n d have moved into The Villages of Florida -- a retirement com m u n ity. Pet e 1 17

C la s s

N e w s

is still working in Abu Dhabi, UAE but should be back by now. If heading to Florida give him a blast at F16viper6@aol.com.

More from Wade as he got a late e-mail from Cheryl (New h ou se) Ph i l lips with some info on Mark Pohlmeier . Mark is currently a t t h e Pe n t a gon as Chief, Strategic Basing Division and on the Charles rowing team.

Thanks for the info Cheryl, Mark.

Jon and Brenda Duresky continue to hunker down in Warner Rob in s, GA where Jon flies for Air Tran/ Southwest. Jon, another great Christmas letter for those of us honored to be on the list. Congrats a n d c o n d o l e n c e s bud! Jon and Brenda are grandparents times two. Jon i s o u r n ex t sc r i b e .

His article is due mid-April. Please send info to Jon at dureskyjb@aol.com

a few moments while this article is fresh in your mind a n d se n d m e a n o t e about what is happening in your life. Thanks again for all you do. GO FALCONS! jens

Fra n k “ Q." W illia m s

13 209 Topsf ield Court

He r nd o n , VA 2 0 1 7 1

(703 ) 657-3 2 27

USA FA 1 9 8 5 @a o l.c o m

or call at (478) 396-7787.

A special thanks to Gayle Yam azaki for her continued w o r k a s o u r Se n ate Rep. She would like to step down so we need someone to step in. Let me know if you can help out and I will forward you to Gayle. Also if you live in the Springs/ Monument area and can help with our 30-year reunion please let me know. Take care and may God bless.

M ik e Je n s e n

1 2 0 3 5 M ila m Ro a d

Colorado Springs, CO 8 0908 l -(80 0 )-G0 -AFA-G0 michaelj ensen@remax.net w w w .usa f a 8 4 .co m

www.t witter.com/ usafa84

Attention in the area, and worldwide! Alright, I need t o d o a b e t t e r j ob of getting the info; you are holding out on me. It is becoming appar ently obvious that the more ways we have to communicate, t h e l e ss w e communicate with those out of our immediate sphere. So I am going to seek you out by any means possible. 1do this not for the pure enjoyment, but believe that we have some of the most fascinating i n d i v i d u a l s o n t h e planet, and 1 want to share some of their stories with you. So be ready, when I find you.

I did get a nice message from Phil Kilgore, who is in his third year on staff at Hillsdale College in Michigan. His wife, Melinda, is working at the local hospital, and like many of you, all their children (4) are in college. His work at Hillsdale entails helping groups form K- 12 classical charter schools around the country. And in so doing, looks for principals for t h e se schools. As you know, Hillsdale is looking for leaders, and a commitment and passion for that type of educa tion. Should any of you be interested in that type o f Sabre Society endeavor, please feel free to contact Phil.

Do n o rs Greg Quandt sent greetings from Atlanta, celebrating d o w n his 20"’ anniversary with Delta Air Lines. He lives 13 the road from Randy Fopiano, and sees John Sheedy, and his wife, Maria, who live up in Dayton, and some t im es r u n s in t o Wad e Pr at h er , D ave H ech t an d Er i c H u b er . Greg checked in with Scott Dickmeyer, and his wife, Daina, while in W ich i t a, KS. Scot t is an instructor with Flight Safety after retiring from the Reserves flying KC- 135s. Travelling to the other side of the world, Greg saw his old USAFA roommate Russ Davis while on a trip to Narita, Japan. Ru ss i s a r e t i r e d MC-130 EWO from Kadena, who is now doing contract work o v e r t h e r e .

For Greg’s 50"’, Jeff and Kathy Crosby stopped by. Jeff ret i red w it h over 20 years in Special Ops and now works with the Predator / Reaper c r e w s at Wright-Pat. Greg flew with Kara (Hayes) McElligott on a t r ip . Kar a w as able to bring her and Duff ’s daughter Katie, while Greg brought his son.

Matt. Needless to say, fun was to be had by all. Still travelling, Greg saw Rudy Tessnow while in Salt Lake City. Not bad for a fi r st t i m e w r i t e r . . .

Maybe I have found a replacement? Thanks, Greg, great j ob.

Pictures on-line: Due to the pixel requirements, many of the photos that are sent over the internet are inadequate for the magazine. BUT, they are not inadequate for the web pages. So please checkout w w w .u sa f a 84.com to see some of the photos that were sent in.

With Sadness: It is always difficult to report the l oss of a classm at e, an d this one is especially difficult. We lost Steve Johnson late in January. Ser vices were held and well attended by our class. A link to an obituary is on our website. I know Malcolm Petteway, MG Bell , David Joh n so n , M axi

Hi,

I hope everyone’s New Year has gotten off to a great st ar t . A s M ay 29, 1985 gets farther and farther behind us, we are still accomplishing great things in our lives and have exciting news to share w i t h o n e a n o t h e r . So let’s j ump into it!

As I promised last time, Patti (MacGregor) McCarthy B r o d e r i c k e mailed that she and Terry were at USAFA for parents’ w e e k e n d t o se e t h e i r THREE young men attending there. Chris Broderick, USMA Cl ass of 20 13, is on exchange to USAFA with his brother and roommate, Bryan McCarthy (’12) and Davi d McCarthy (’14). Patti said “ ...you can imagine, parents’ w eeken d w as a m ot h er ’s (an d fat h er ’s) d ream .” Pat t i sent a photo they took after the parade where Bryan marched the squadron h e n o w c o m mands, Shadow Seven. She said this was something she watched Bryan’s father, Mark McCar thy, do when we were cadets. David made a “legacy” move into Mark’s first squadron. Bull Six.

fi -

T h o m . St ew ar t an d Sh aron (Ru ck er ) H ol m es, Ju l i a (Ph i fer ) D on k i n , Tom

Doyne, Christina (Fromdahl) Lehnertz, and John Taylor w e r e t h e r e . I a m sorry if I missed anyone. Thank you for paying tribute t o a g r e a t p e r so n a n d c l a ssm a t e .

Upcoming events: The Falcons will be taking on the University of Michigan, San Diego State, Army, UNLV, Fresno State, and Wyoming for their away games this year. Also, the other intercollegiate a n d c l u b t e a m s have an extensive travel schedule, so stay tuned when t h e F al c o n s c o m e into your area and support them when you can. Speaking of support, take 1 18

From lef t are David McCarthy (’14), Bryan McCarthy (’12), Patty (Mac Gregor) MacCarthy Broderick, and Chris Broderick, USMA Class of 2013.

Mike Black sent an update and a picture with President O b a m a t h a t his family (Wife, Wilda, daughters Jordan and Hannah, son Cli n t on , an d Mike) had the opportunity take before his retirement. M i k e r et i r e d e f f e c tive 1 Jan 2012 having served 26.5 years (30.5 if you count the Academy -- and he does). Mike concluded his military career with a four-year as signment at theWhite House Communications Agency.

During his first two years with the agency Mike was t h e Deputy Commander. He finished his last two years as the Commander. Mike said it was a “fantastic oppor tunity to serve both the President Bush Administration a n d t h e Pr e si d e n t O b a m a A d m i n i st r a t i o n .”

H e sa i d

all he can say to sum it up is “Wow, what an experi ence!” Mike is j ustifiably proud of his service over a l l and in that final assignment in particular. Mike cited some accomplishments from the 2008 Olympics, to the

Aw ard of t h e N ob le Peace Pr ize, t o th e Ch i n ese Wall ,

m

Sabre Society Dono rs

14

to Iraq/Afghanistan, to Ghana and everywhere in be

tw een (over 35 st at es an d 35 cou n t r i es) w h ere h e l ed a 1200-p er son t eam

of selectively manned military and civilian personnel providing “no fail” se c u r e a n d n o n - se c u r e t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s ser v i c e s f o r t h e Ex e c u t i v e O f fi c e o f t h e Pr e si d e n t .

Mike said in December 2011 he had the pleasure of offi ciating a r e t i r e ment ceremony at McChord AFB, WA for Ken Banks (his r o o m m a t e f o r t h e last two years at USAFA). Mike said it was a very sentimental and touching ceremony because his father actually commissioned both o f t h e m b a c k i n May 1985. While in Washington Mike was able to see b o t h Ro b e r t Ev a n s

(Rob st ar t ed w i th u s su m m er of 198 1 an d b rot h er of Ken Evan s) an d Ch ri s M o r el an d (U SA FA 1986) .

M ike al so sai d h e w as ab le t o see Ch ed Jon es at h i s (M ike’s) ret i rem en t

ceremony and he communicated with Keith Dawki ns late i n 2 0 1 1. B o t h are in the Washington DC area.

Bo b Co le lla

9 247 Nort hedge Drive Springf ield, VA 22 153

7 0 3 -4 5 5 -3 1 76 rk a s co le lla @ve rizo n .n et

Greetings Classmates, A short update with lots of good news to share about class gatherings.

Most recently graduates here in the Northern Virginia / D C area got t o gether to enjoy the Air Force - Army football game. It was a great time for all and we had some great participation. Images below provide photographic proof of the event and as usually, there were 34 separate checks, but no Form 10s issued.

'4 ■ ^ Retaining the CINC Trophy was a great way to end the day.

In a USAFA Class of ’86 first, there was a sitting o f Tom and Julie Zimmerman - for those who thought he Sabre Society had been abducted by aliens - not so - he has been off Do n o rs

I

From lef t are M ike, wif e, Wilda; son Clinton, daughters Jorda n a nd

H a n na h, a nd Presid en t Obam a.

Gary Rafferty and his wife, Kristyn, are back in Colorado Springs after 11 years in the Metro Washington, DC area where Gary w o r k ed at T h e Pen tagon. Though the j ob market is tougher in Colorado than they expected, the Rafferty’s did have some highlights. Gary’s oldest was a distinguished graduate at Army Infantry School and is now a Ranger just back from Af ghanistan. Gary was blessed to shave his beard and shed some pounds to commission his 2"'’ oldest in the Air Force (see photo). H i s 3 "** o l d e st w a s awarded an AFROTC scholarship and is attending Colorado St a t e U n iv e r si ty in Fort Collins. All he needs now is a steady job a n d a h o u se f o r h i s w i f e !

t o l aw sc h o o l a n d i s n o w k n o w n a s T o m Z i m m e r m a n

11 Esq. Small world department , Tom and Julie’s son Matt was in Katy’s first grade class a few years ago and t h a t i s h o w I r e c o n n e c t e d w i t h h i m - so t h e l i t t l e Z i m i s a chip off the old block and did well, by all reports in Mrs. Colella’s P‘ grade class - not unlike the older Zim’s accolades in the good old days as a Magpie.

Other faces in the crowd (see photo) Carlos Qui tero, Lou Nol an , Bob Col el l a, Scott M cCl ean , M ich ael Lo Gr an d e, A n d re H or t o n , M ary (D o n o

hue) Matusiewi cz A1McBride,Patrick Goodman, Jill Stiglich , Su sa n B i e r , John Rued, Roger Thrasher , Tom Zimmer man and Andy Har t .

’

Gary commissions his 2nd oldest into theAir Force.

Keith Lam bert , my old roomie from Blackj ack 21, sent a n o t e t o l e t m e know that he and his family have moved to my “neck o f t h e w o o d s.” Fe l low southerners know what we’re talking about but for t h o se f r o m o t h e r parts of the country .. .Keith said he’s moved to the Metro Washington, DC area. Keith is currently assigned to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (D TRA) w h i ch is l ocat ed at Fo rt Belv oi r, VA . Keith i s t h e C h i e f o f t h e Re d

Team. He said he enj oys the work but decided to voluntarily r e t i r e o n 1 Sept 2012. Keith said his retirement ceremony will b e in m id -Ju n e b u t details are currently TBD and will be announced later. K e i t h sa i d “ ’8 5 e r s in the area are certainly welcome to come share a cold o n e !”

Sandy (Thompson) Gr aves sent a short update. She said her son Robby Gr aves j u st received h is ap p oi n t m en t t o t h e U SA FA Cl ass of 2016! Sandy said he was a swimming recruit.

Marc Powell sent an update. Marc said his life is good; fi ll ed w it h l ove, opportunity and joy. Marc said his three kids are all in college. Marc’s two girls are at Princeton and his son is at Colorado College. M a r c sa i d h e i s enj oying growing another business. He said he has bounced a r o u n d si n c e getting grad degrees at Harvard, Colorado, New Zealand, and New Jersey, and now he is splitting his time between New Mexico a n d N o r t h e r n C a l i fornia. Marc said he’s been divorced for 5 years after a 20-year marriage, but he is in a very happy relationship now.

Like last time, but certainly not a normal or frequent occu r ren ce, I h ave one more update with a picture that I can’t share right now due to space limitations - only three pictures in normal Checkpoints; b u t w e h a d a couple more right after reunions. I suppose it’s a good problem to have as class scribe, if folks can be patient . Next time I ’ll lead off an update from Jim Fl et ch er an d an ot h er classm at e.

Until the next time.. .be good. Q

T . ; I i r.u T

We had a wonderful time watching the game, and had so m e h e a r t pounding moments until the Falcons decided to put the game away in t h e se c o n d h a l f .

There was a lot of catching up to do and we didn’t actually watch the game all that much as we caught up on what folks were doing as we ap proach the activ e-duty retirement phase of our lives.

I have another photo to share - from a Road Runner Re u n i o n o f so r t s with DJ Hauck (BG Hauck, if you are reporting around for a Coke), D ave Bryant - Captain with AA, and Chris Knehans - FO with So u t h w e st A i r l i n e s.

From lef t are DJ, Dave Bryant, and Chris Knehans.

They were all in Dallas area for a visit where Dave l i v e s a n d C h r i s fl i e s in and out of and took advantage of the opportunity t o h a v e d i n n e r . N o t e the check sitting on the table and nobody reaching for it - ah , I m iss th e 1 19

C la s s

N e w s

old days. Dave is married to Cindy (Haney) Bryant (’88) - w h o h a d a si st er B et h i n o u r cl a ss a s w e l l .

I don’t have much else to report other than to note that Roger Thrasher is looking for donors for the USAFA endowment effort t h a t w e t o o k o n during our 25th reunion - his email is rogerthrasher@me.com a n d I k n ow he is looking for serious donors to make a commitment t o t h e i n st i t u t t i o n t o w h i c h w e a l l o w e so m u c h .

John & Carolyn Sammart ino 3 10 7 Wo o d s Cov e La ne

Woodbridge, VA 2 2192 H: (703 ) 49 2-54 92 W: (703 ) 8 08-6234 j sammar@verizon.net

Two thousand twelve; wow, really hard to believe it is 2012 already, and the year of our celebration of 25 glorious years since we graduated from this tremendous institution. No word yet (as of this writing) of when our reunion will take place, but keep an eye on the web-site http:/ /www.usafa. org/ connect/ reunions_1987 or our Facebook page for late breaking news.

Heard from several new folks this cycle, which is always good news, and the quarter was highlighted by the announcement of sev e r al n ew 19 8 7 General Officers! Tim Fay, Scott Howell , Bruce McCl i n t ock , an d Sarah Z ab el w ere all sel ect ees on t h e l a t

est one-star list; way to go all—we know who’s buying t h e m o st a t t h e r e u n i o n !

Tim Matson checked in via e-mail: “Here s a quick update from the front range of Colorado. I retired again at the end of July 2011 (or as the AF said, I r e Sabre Society verted to retired status). I returned to my previous j ob Do n o rs at AF Initial Flight Screening in Pueblo. It s like a m i n i Class of ’87 reunion down here. Mark Maryak is still 15 chief pilot. Al so here from our class are myself, Jim Z i etlow, Tim Press, Greg Johnson, Mike Bettner , and Ed Conroy. Hope you had a great holiday season!” Sounds l i k e a b u n c h o f “ l o cal ” v o l u n t eer s f o r t h e reu n i o n co m m i t t ee t o m e!

Lynda (Merrym an) Baldauff reported in that “I have been meaning to write an update for years and finally got around to it. Our first big news is that our daughter Melissa is now Cadet 4th Class Melissa Bal dau ff , Cl ass of 2015. She is in CS-36 (my old squadron) and since sh e i s “ d o u b l e h e r i tage,” she will graduate out of CS-33 which is Regis’ graduating squadron.

Besid es M elissa, w e h ave a son Joe w h o is 16. I at t ach ed a recent picture of our family as well as one of Melissa, Regis and me by our Class Crest.

Jenny was my Basic and Doolie roommate so it was fun t o sh a r e A c ceptance Day with her since we started out together so long ago. Jenny started a financial planning business in Albuquerque which keeps her very busy. She is married to Walt Migdal (’86) and they have two daugh ters. This summer Regis will finally hang up the “Blue Su i t ” a n d r e t i r e a f ter what will be 25 years. We plan to head back to Colorado Springs at least for the next few years. With Melissa at USAFA, I a m su r e w e w i l l st a r t sponsoring cadets again. (We had a house full of cadets while assigned to the Springs.)

Bill Vogt is also retiring and heading back to Colorado Springs. Thanks for taking on Scribe duties and we are looking forward t o t h e n ex t e d i t i o n of Checkpoints." Sounds like some more C-Springs residents w h o w i l l b e great for the reunion committee!

One of Carolyn’s fellow roadrunners Raul “Taco” Garcia sen t u s an u p d a t e f r o m N ew M ex i c o : “ T h e n e e d s o f t h e A i r F o r c e h av e kept Danielle and me out in Albuquerque since 2005. It ’s beginning t o f e e l l i k e h o m e so we plan on staying after retiring on 1 Aug. I ’m beginning to take the j ob search seriously now. Meanwhile, I ’ve been the ROTC PA S a t t h e U n i v e r sity of New Mexico molding kids in an AFA image. Seems t o w ork ; w e w ere #1 in the Southwest and finished in the top 4 in the nation last year.

“In November we took the cadets soaring in Moriarty, NM . 1 managed to put my 20+ year old soaring skills to the test. Two former AF pilots were letting each other know how my excellent (poor) soaring sk i l l s w e r e . I d i d manage to make a crosswind landing. Yea, Airmanship 2 5 1!

“My wife, Danielle, my son Raul (“RJ”-13) and my daughter Ravy n (12) are all looking to get their Black Belts in Tae Kwon D o . I ’m a b o u t 8 0 % r e covered from dropping my Hog (Harley) on my ankle and having surgery in June. Soon I ’ll be able to run with the cadets again.”

Didn’t run into too many classmates at the Armed Forces Bow l ; I kn ow a lot of people decided not to go due to the cold and wind, although it was nothing like some of the games we attended in the Springs. It was a great comeback and they almost pulled it out ; I was hoping for overtime.

I did see Tom and Stacey Miller and their 2011 grad N ath an , h om e for t h e holidays from pilot training in Del Rio. Heard Tim Applegate was there, an d I t h in k Rick Cov en o sai d h i , an d a few ot h er s t h at due to old age slips my mind right now.

That’s all we got for this quarter, keep the great inputs coming and bug our other classmates who never write to send us something, no input is too small! Fly Safe ’87...

Craig McCurdy

4 6 9 9 2 S m it h w o o d Co u rt Pot o m a c Fa lls , VA 2 0 1 6 5

Cell: (20 2 ) 570-3 0 58 ccicdJmccurdy@yahoo.com

Letter from Kip Tur ain , Commander 52 P' Air Mobility Operations Wing: A quick update from me with some associated photos. I was on my way to Airlift / Tanker Association and as I was boarding the plane I turned around and saw Pedro Tr inidad walking through the Charlotte Airport!

1didn’t have much time to get much of an update, but Pe d r o f l i e s f o r U S Airways and lives in San Antonio. Seeing him brought b a c k f u n m e m o ries of us being on the same 3-person team during SERE and wondering aimlessly through the woods at night ... wonder what Seb Tr ost , ou r ot h er team m at e i s u p t o !

The Balda ujf f amily: Joe, Melissa, Regis and Lynda.

Jenny (Warder) Migdal (’87), was able to drive up from Albuquerque and j oined us for the Acceptance Day Parade. 1am forwarding a se p a r a t e email with a picture of Jenny, Melissa and me.

12 0

Tr i n i d ad an d T u r ai n

The other photo was taken at the 18 AF Conference in O c t o b e r . T i m Bush (319 ABW/ CC at Grand Forks), Sam Bar rett (15 Wg/ CC at H i ck am ) , Chris Pike (21 EMTF/ CV at McGuire), Dirk Smith (3 Wg/ CC a t El m e n dorf ), Jackie Van Ovost (89 AW/ CC at Andrews), and Gary Gottschal l (615 CRW/ CC at Travis). Wondering what number this is of the percentage of ’88ers still on active duty?!

-

and soccer, and skiing. They also do martial arts together. Sam is higger than Shelley now, and Shmo says soon he’ll he able to heat him up with his kung fu! Always great to hear from you Shmo!

Fellow CS-39er Tony “Scritty” Pollizzi is happy to report that the family is hack together this Christmas following his 1-year deployment to Iraq!

Tony served as an advisor to the Iraqi Air Force Headquarters, spending much of his time transitioning US Air Force support to the US Embassy.

Now Tony is the Emerging Operations Branch Chief at Scot t AEB, w h ere they plan airlift for worldwide exercises and contingencies. Although not flying, he says the mission is very rewarding and they w i l l ex t e n d t h e r e through spring ’13. As Tony explains, this will provide so m e m u c h - n e e d ed stability following their spring ’09 PCS to Scott A FB, su m m er ’ 10 m ove back to their Marysville, CA home, and summer ’ 11 r et u r n t o I l l i n o i s. So n Dominic is glad to be back in his familiar Ice Hawks Hockey program and crossed over from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts in Eeb. Younger brother Nicholas has taken up Tae Kwon Do and can’t stop talking a b o u t t h e camping he’s done as a Wolf Cub Scout . The Pollizzi family also has a new member of the family, a second dogTasha, who they adopted from Tony’s parents. Great to hear from you Tony and welcome home!

From lef t are Turain, Bush, Barrett, Pike, Smith, Van Ovost, a n d Gott -

sh a l l .

I’m fortunate enough to continue to cross paths with my former room mate, Dave Ar gyle. He’s the 514 OSS/ CC at McGuire, but currently in Ramstein on a 179-day TDY, working as the 404 AEG/ CD. We’ve enj oyed time together and it brings to light that it ’s always good to pay up on l OUs! tsB I s<

C h r i s “ M o o k i e” W a l k e r i s t h e CA O C A M D C h i e f . H a d

a nice opportunity to interact with him on an interna tional support issue at the end of Operation Odyssey D aw n .

Also, while waiting for a connecting flight had the pleasure of talking with Gen (R) Coolidge, who contin u e s t o se r v e U SA FA a s a b o a r d m e m b e r . O u r d i sc u ssi o n

Sa bre Society Do n o rs

13

was regarding support and continuation for USAFA programs. The opportunities don’t just happen out of the benevolence of large donors. It is a result of many contributions from those who can donate what they can. It made me consider my donations over the years and when I returned home I logged onto t h e U SA FA w e b si t e an d a d o n at i o n .

?

Pa u l W . T ib bet s , IV

1200 Blazing Star Court SE Albuquerque, NM 87116 (50 5 ) 717-20 12 E-mail: p2a2t lbbets@gmall.com or p2a2 me.com Cla s s w e b s it e : ht t p :/ / w w w .

usafaclasses.org/ 198 9/

Hello classmates! Spring is upon us, with now just a short couple years to our 25-year reunion. Can you believe it? Our class president, Don Simpson, has started planning and touched base with E m m a Ro ss a n d Leigh Frigm from the AOG. The football schedule and timing will not be set until early 2014, but we are looking for anyone interested in helping out with coordination. If that is you please contact Don directly at don. simpson89@gmaiI.com. We plan to use our Facebook

si t e “ U SA FA Class of 1989” (l i n k ab ove) as ou r p r im ary veh i cl e t o di ssem in at e in f or m at i on , as w ell as ou r cl a ss

web site (also above) and contact information residing at the AOG. So, consider j oining our FB group, and i f you haven’t updated your data recently with the AOG, drop them a note (http:/ /www.usafa.org). Received a couple updates this quarter (yes, via Christmas letters, Tm not ashamed!), so we will get right to the news!

Here is the address for the class facebook page: http:/ / www.facebook.com / group.php?gid=43101356987.

E r i c “ Sh m o ” C h a n d l e r w r i t e s f r o m

Scritty with the initial cadre of the Of f ice of Security Cooperation - Iraq and the Kansas City Chief s Cheerleaders.

Also heard from my good friend and best man Scott Madison, w h o w i t h his lovely bride, Melinda, are still enj oying the Chicago a r e a w h e r e Sc o t t i s flying the Super 80 for American and Melinda is teaching 4"' grade. Their traveling took them to some diverse places this year, from hiking and bear spotting in the Smoky Mountains to canoeing and kayaking i n G u n F l i n t Tavern and rock repelling in the Porcupine Mountains. The holidays were spent with family in Minnesota. Thanks for the update guys!

From USAFA we hear from Jeff Louie, who just pinned o n 0 - 6 . . .c o n grats! Prior to his current position as Director of Strategic Languages and teaching Mandarin Chinese, Jeff was working as Deputy D i r e c t o r f o r I n ternational Exchanges and instructing junior and senior c a d e t s o n A si a n politics. He also had the opportunity to travel internationally t o C h i n a during a cultural immersion trip with a group of cadets, a n d e sc o r t so m e foreign exchange cadets to DC for a visit to the White H ou se, Pen t agon and Capitol Hill. His wife, Dana, just returned from a 6-month deploy ment to the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, arriving just in time for Jeff ’s promotion ceremony! Dana will retire from the A F t h i s su m m e r . T h e newlyweds (j ust celebrated their 4''’ wedding anniversary) met up several times this year, attending two Star Trek conventions, escorting cadets to the International Ball at Annapolis, M D, and visiting Amish country. Ap preciate the note!

i NOKIi .V * ,

Sabre Society Do n o rs

13

M i n - i - so o o - t a

where he wrapped up his squadron command tour which, i n h is w ord s, “was the great honor of my life and flying career” and, with flying the new Block 50 F-16, was “humbling and a memory I ’ll always t r e a su r e .” W i t h wife, Shelley, daughter Grace (8) and son Sam (11), the Chandler family traveled coast -to-coast visiting grandparents and other extended family for the holidays. They’ve added a new member to the family, a lab-some thing mix named Leo. The kids (minus Leo) are healthy, playing piano

Jef , Dana, Simba and Sora enj oy somef amily time together!

12 1

C la s s

N ew s

Our last update comes from Christy Kayser-Cook, who j ust returned from a 6-month deploym ent to Kabul, Afghanistan where sh e w a s C h i e f of the Intra-Theater Airlift System for ISAF. She is n o w b a c k a t U SA FA teaching Physics and getting checked out in the new C i r r u s SR 2 0 - T - 5 3A - aircraft at the Academy Airfield. Husband, Gary, r et i r e d f r o m t h e A F Re serves and is also working at the Academy. Daughter Haley (10, 4* grade) is excelling in math and science, playing soccer and participating in the school Science Matters program and Marine Science Club. O l d e r si st er Fmily (13, 7"’ grade) is playing the trumpet in the sc h o o l a d v a n c e d b a n d and after-school j azz band. She is excelling in soccer and just fi nished a drama performance where she was Signora Medici in Sh e r l o c k ’s F i r st Adventure. Welcome home Christy!

Germany. The family went skiing in the Alps over the Ch r i st m as b reak , and have traveled to Paris, Italy, Austria, Amsterdam and Belgium and as a family are all immersing themselves in the German language and cul tu re! We l ear n ed fr om ou r Ch r ist m as l et t er s t h at D an D aetz t ook h i s b r i de,

Esme, to see the palace and fortress complex Ahhambra l o c a t e d i n t h e Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It must have been after t h a t v a c a t i o n w h e n

he broke the news to Esme that they will be returning t o E d w a r d s A F B in the Moj ave desert for the third time—this time as the vice wing com

mander!We look forward to welcoming the Daetz family b a c k t o t h e a r e a .

A n ot h er fr i en d ch ecked i n from a d iffer en t d eser t ou t si de of Albuquerque, M arcu s Sch u l th ess. M arcu s h as retu r n ed h om e t o San dr a a n d c h i l d r e n

Anika, Adam and Kyle from Kabul, Afghanistan after completing a suc cessful “short” tour at NATO headquarters. (I bet Sandra may take issue with 6 months being termed “short ”!) When not touring the Afghanistan countryside, Marcus immersed himself in a fitness routine t h a t ev e n h a d him running a half marathon inside the grounds of the US Embassy.

Someone else from our class is running...running for o f f i c e t h a t i s!

John Tree sent in the following: “Here’s some news for Checkpoints... I ’m running for the U.S. Congress in the 10th Congressional D i st r ict of I ll in oi s, seeking the Democratic Party nomination. You can read a l l a b o u t i t a t www.johntree.com. I hope my classmates in mighty-90 w i l l c h e c k o u t t h e website and consider (supporting) my campaign, which you can do on line on the home page of the website.” Great to see a classmate so directly engaging the political system!

h.

Christy, Haley and Emily enj oy Hawaii during the holidays!

That ’s a wrap for this quarter. Keep those cards and letters coming.

T ak e c ar e an d G o d b l e ss!

Mike Shepherd 38 0 1 Derby Circle Quart z Hill, CA 93 53 6 (66 1) 2 66-2 133 michael.j .shepherd@hot mail.com

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Cla ss We b S it e : w w w .usa f a 9 0 .co m

It ’s the Dark Ages as I type this. In Southern California those dark days are normally not much of an issue, but when I sat down to the keyboard this weekend and started thinking of Colorado Springs t h e c l o u d s d a r k e n e d a n d a w i n t e r st o r m w a s su m m o n e d — a s i f o n c u e !

If the weather holds to the historical Dark Ages pattern, at least it should be bright and sunny again soon.

The rainy cold weather (cold for California—my friend Shane Riza and I just re-“connected” on Linkedin and I see he is Ops Group Commander at Eielson AFB Alaska where the temp is forecast to be about -25F tonight!) was j ust right for sitting dpwn and reading through Christmas cards again. The most distant letter was from Phil and Val Wielhouwer postmarked form their 4-bedroom apartment on Osan Air Base, Korea

I

Sabre Society Do n o rs

5

w h e r e Ph i l w o r k s a s t h e 7 * A i r Fo r c e D i r e c t o r o f Pl a n s.

Children Madison, Brett and Jake are all budding Tae Kw o n D o st u d e n t s and no sooner had they been outfitted in winter gear for the savage Ko rean winter when Phil found out he will be moving this su m m er t o su n ny an d w ar m D avi s-M on t h an AF B in Tu cson , AZ t o assu m e c o m m a n d o f t h e

Operations Group flying A- 10s!

From the other side of the globe Jordan and Allison Kr i ss sen t an u p date from Jordan’s posting at NATO headquarters at Ra m st e i n A i r B a se i n

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Joh n Tr ee It ’s n ot th e D em ocr at i c N at i on al Con ven t i on t h at h ad Laura Radley

journeying across the country, but the equally invigorating A i r l i f t T a n k e r Association Convention. Laura spent the week swapping st o r i e s o f a c a d emy exploits with Dave Kuenzli and Dan Yenchesky, and r a n i n t o D a r r e n Jam es as w ell . W h en sh e is n ot on t h e con ven t ion ci rcu i t , Laura is working at AM C A3 Fuel Efficiency Offi ce as a long term military personnel appro priation (MPA) days’ assignment . Speaking of Darren, h i s b r i de, M el i ssa, wrote to let us know Darren is fi nishing up his tour as vice wing com mander at Charleston AFB and assuming command for the wing at Vance AFB—but not until their son graduates this year from high school.

Quick updates: Greg Langas j ust fi nished flight surgeon sc h o o l a n d moved to Randolph AFB, San Antonio... Bill Gregory continues to fly for Delta, and reports Kirsten and children are doing great ...Tom “ C o m a” Bowm an is leading the Electronic Warfare Combined Test F o r c e a t t h e ANG AFRC Command Test Center in Tucson ensuring our 4* genera tion fi ghters continue to dominate any proj ected battlespace (spend 5 minutes with him and you know the future of our legacy platforms is in capable hands!)... Michael Shea reports “Heading to K a n d a h a r t h i s su m mer to take command of the 451st EMXG. Doug Bugado a n d M a r k W e b e r are going to be together at Travis as the Support Group a n d M a i n t e n a n c e Group commanders respectively: only ones I know of specifically, but I ’m sure the list for commanders is much longer.”

The Class of '90 is currently raising money to s u p po rt

the new Center for Character and Leadership Development .

For more information to part icipate in t his Class Giving Project , please contact Bryan Ossolinski at

Bry an.Osso linski @no rt hco m .m il 12 2

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Our class Facebook page is growing...new additions in cl u d e Bill Jaco bus, Don McCar thy, Katharine Combs Yingst and Tim Kane; pushing our group membership over the century mark. You can j oin at anytime—it is the easiest way we’ve found to get in touch with one of your classmates! A final remark: I am now gainfully employed in the civilian sect or, t h an ks i n no small part to all the help I received from countless f o r m e r c o m m a n d e r s and co-workers, many of whom are counted among the al u m n i i n t h e se pages. If you are considering the transition and have any questions, I ’m willing to share what I learned along the way. For everyone else, I ’d sure like to hear what great things you are up to and share your exploits with the most glorious class! Mighty 90—Flash.

C a rs o n Ta v e n n e r

6 8 2 8 Ra cc o o n Co u rt W a ld o rf , M D 2 0 6 0 3

(20 2) 23 1-248 4 DSN: (3 12 ) 4 28-248 4 Home: (30 1) 374-2752 Carson_wendy@comcast .net

Bol d Gold ,

92 of our classmates appeared on the 0 -6 selection list! Congratula

t i o n s t o al l t h o se se l e c t e d !

Richard Aaron, Frank Al berga, Billy Bar nes, Johnny B a r n e s , A a r o n Benson, Sara (Beyer ) Gamblin, Severin Blenkusb, Matt B o n a v i t a , V a n essa (Rebello) Bond, Robert Borj a, James Boster , Erik C. Bow m an , Jay Boyd, William Brooks, Jeffrey Brown , Sharon Burnett , C h a r l e s B u t l er , Pat r i ck Bu t l er , Kevi n Cab an as, M ike Cal l en der ,

John Cinnamon, William Cook , Wayne Cooper , Hank Cor mier , John Culton, Doug DeMaio, James Dermer , Rob Dotson, Dave Drichta, Roy Fatur , Hilary Feaster , Keith Felter, Laura (Gray) Foglesong, Jeff Gast , Reggie Godbolt , Chris Gough, Keith Green, Rick Griffi n, Hank Gr iffi ths, Henry Hamby, Todd Ham ilton, Dexter Har r ison, Bernard Hatch, Rob Haug, Brian Hill , Don Hill , Thad Hill , Andy Hird, Mark Hoehn, Mark Hoelscher , Lars Hubert , Scott Jacobs, David Keesey, Kevin Kennelly, Bob Kraus, Kent Landreth, Mike Lawrence, Rene Leon, Todd Levi ne, Rod Lewi s, Brian Lindsey, Mark

Sabre Society Do no rs

9

M acDo n al d , Geoff M ak i , Joh n n ie M ar t i n ez , Jam es M cCu n e, John Melloy, Ed M o n ar ez, D erek Oak s, Ken n et h O’Nei l , A n d rea Psm i t h e, D ave Qu i ck ,

Tim Rapp, Nathan Rump, Andy Sasseville, Earl Scott , Dave Siegrist , Nate Smith, Laura (Al exander ) Soule, Randall Sparks, Chris Spigelmire, Karen Stoff, Rob Str asser , Chris Sullivan, Angie (Wal lace) Suplisson, Gerald Szybist , Scott Thatcher , Kevin Therrien, Chuck Tomko, Doyle Tur ner , John Vaughn, and Mike Veneri !

I don’t know how this stacks up to other years, data-wise, b u t I b el i e v e we can all take pride in seeing so many of our friends and colleagues con tinue to rise successfully in the United States Air Force, w it h ou t a d ou bt the fi nest aerospace force in the history of the world! And j ust think... we’ve all had a chance to LEAD this thing, each in our own way! How inspiring is that!? I am so glad to have been a part o f i t .

To all who had their hopes pinned on seeing their names grace the 0 -6 list, but did not (yet?), please receive this word of encouragement from yours truly that you are bound for great work and meaningful c o n t r i b u tions to or world, regardless. Everyone in the Class o f 19 9 1 c a n h o l d t h e i r heads high and reach out to one another in common brotherhood! I hope everyone is enjoying a satisfying season of life, whether you are seeing your military career stretch before you, or not; whether you have contin ued in the military, or not; whether you have continued i n G u a r d o r Re serve service as a part of your civilian identity, o r n o t .

And...more than promotion news is out there. Retirement a n n o u n c e ments pour into the Linkedin community at a regular pace. In the past three months, Jon Watson and Bartz Sykes retired; Mike B e c k a n d Ji m M c Donald have “dropped papers”. No doubt this is the tip of the iceberg and I ’ve just not heard everything.

Promotions, retirements, and a reunion, oh my! Collectively, o u r c l a ss went through a great deal last year! “Happy Chinese N ew Ye a r ” i n t h i s year of the dragon! 2011 (whether Gregorian or Lunar) i s n o w b e h i n d u s.

Eor me, it was an emotional rollercoaster; many hair-tingling highs, many spirit-crushing lows. A promising 2012 is now ahead; what are we going

th at th e Ai r For ce n ever h ad cau se t o t r ai n m e for. I m e n t i o n e d i n t h e

previous column that I’ve made the j ump to founding a non-profit for u s/ China relations, TheTai Initiative. We aim to strengthen a n d h u i l d t h e capacity for real communication between American and C h i n e se l e a d e r s using the sub-national (state/ city/ university/ citizen) level of relationship as an assi st t o t h e n at i on al level . Well , I w ou l d n’t be doing this if it wasn’t for the Class of 1991 and your encouragement, and that is not j ust a trite saying! I hope all of you who value a future filled with trusting coopera tion between skilled, capable American and Chinese leaders will j oin me in the j ourney to form it! Please visit me at www.taiinitiative.o r g .

Rod Lewi s is doing well at the White House (for those catching up. Rod

w as sel ect ed t o b e a Wh it e H ou se Fell ow , an d ser ves i n t h e O f f i c e o f t h e

First Lady. We always knew Rod was first a ladies man. Unfortunately he is not allowed to write press reports w / o approval for d issem in at io n , so w e get the generic “all’s well". Do good things. Rod! Derek West will be making his long-awaited return from Zambia in July, but he might not be making it back to CONUS but instead be forced - gasp - to move to Germany. The horror! And Bartz Sykes left Ru ssia t o set u p a homestead west of my location; he and Tamara have a great place in Oak Harbor in Whidbey Island. Visit me in the Cascades a n d t h e n w e’l l m a k e a trip over to TP Bartz’ house.

Mike Beck reports that he was working on a master’s in Theology but is now reconsidering based on factors involving retirement timing and resi dency requirements. Mike is living in Riverview, FL. Thad Bibb is now a student at NATO’s Defense College. T h a d w i l l b e learning the finer points of how to stretch a fi ve-minute c o f f e e b r e a k i n t o 3 0 m i n u t e s. T h a d i s a l so n o w t h e o f f i c i al b e a r e r o f the Class of 1991 flag, for those who missed the ceremony at the reunion.

Casey (Legler ) Hinds came through Puget Sound visiting r e l a t i v e s f o r Christmas, but unfortunately we did not have an opportunity t o v i si t . I also heard from Nancy (Weiss) Castro and she is doing well; still very busy with the FBI if memory isn’t failing me.

Before closing, I want to remind everyone that we have begun our class gift campaign. The committee of volunteers could use some help; if you or a spouse are interested and willing to give some time to make phone calls, please let me know so that we can lighten the b u r d e n o f t h i s c a m paign from the shoulders of those few who have been generous enough to already step up to the plate! Leslie Beaver s has been a real partner to all of us in taking this on; she has help, but could surely u se m o r e . W h et h e r you give time to assist the campaign efforts or not, I ask you to please give generously to the important process of building excellence i n t o t h e C e n ter for Character and Leadership Development!

Have a wonderful spring, everyone! Carson Ja m e s S . M e ht a PS C 3 , Box 1 5 1 5 A PO A E 0 9 0 2 1 DS N: 3 1 4 -4 8 9 -6 0 7 7

James.meht a@us.af .mil j amesmehta@eart hlink.net

True Blue ’92! Thanks for reading another column for the great Class of 1992. In less than a year, we will have the opportunity t o se e o n e a n o t h e r at our reunion. The date is still not set as it depends o n t h e h o m e f o o t b a l l schedule and then we get to pick a date behind the classes of 1962, 1972, and 1982. Shortly after you read this, we should know the date. I hope everyone will make an extra effort to come and share i n w h a t sh o u l d b e an exciting event. I challenge those of you reading t h i s c o l u m n t o r e a c h out to your old squadron mates, roommates, and teammates w h o a r e n o t as connected as you and encourage them to attend the r e u n i o n . H e r e i s a photo from our 10 year reunion—I know we can beat that t u r n o u t !

to d o w ith it?

Linkedin announced to me this morning that “39 of my c o n n e c t i o n s started something new ” in 2011. Including me! I ’m now on my seventh month of retired military status as I write this. For me, the change has been an easy adj ustment. My Army buddies tell me that’s b e c a u se I c a m e from the Chair Force, but I suspect it has more to do with having super vised civilians at DIA for five years before taki ng my last orders. I treasure those years of transition, learning so much about another w o r l d o f w o r k

1992 Class Photof rom 10-year reunion.

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C la s s

N ew s

Short and sweet! Yep, I ’m talking about this column. I didn’t get too much fodder to work with this quarter. I actually went o u t a n d b e a t t h e bushes a little (very little). My faithful fountain of in for m at ion , D ave Ku mashiro, provided me some good info as usual. He’s on t h e Joi n t St aff at the Pentagon where there are a number of classmates since it is usually a place with a heavy concentration of USAFA grads.

Dave had dinner with JJ and Kelly (Ki rkpatrick) Menozzi an d Josh Burgess the other night in Old Town . JJ and Kelly are both working in OSD right now. They told him about their future plans to start a winery in Washington State. They recently bought some land close to Spokane and are looking forward to their first season in a few years. Yeah, and so are we—future unofficial reunion site? Also, JJ and Kelly, may I suggest some nice wine names; “True Blue Chardonnay” or “Semper Excelsior Syrah" or even since they were both in Jaguar Squadron with me during BCT, "Jammin’ Jaguar Gewiirztraminer?’’ I think those have a nice ring to them, don’t you? Dave also reported t h a t Josh is in language training for AFPAK Hands and will Sabre Society be deploying in April to Kabul to work anti-corruption Do n o rs efforts. I hear he may be studying his fi fth language!

Dave recently had lunch wi th Tommy Roberts (also in 11 OSD). He and his wife, Marci, are pretty excited about heading back to the Springs where Tommy will take command of the Ops Group at Schriever AFB. Timrek Heisler i s a t t h e Pentagon after turning over command of the 1st Airlift Squadron to do his “penance” working DV Airlift issues. Also, Jacque Mongeon is working in the Colonels Group on the Air Staff.

Which brings me to a great transition.. .there are a n u m b e r o f ’9 2 e r s w h o have already been selected for Colonel and many more will undoubtedly be within the next year. Also, the 2012 Command Screening B o a r d r e su l t s recently were announced. Needless to say, there are a n u m b e r o f ’9 2 e r s taking group, wing, or vice wing slots. Pretty awesome! Ta k e a l o o k o n t h e Colonel AFPC web page for the full list . Between several of u s, w e n ot ed the following ’92ers on the list—I ’m sure we’ll miss som e, so w r it e an d t ell m e if w e d id : Kevi n Cu l l en , M ike Fl or i o , Jason Gr een , Joh n Kub en ic, Brook Leonard, A1Miller , Rick Moore, Mark Polomsky, Mike Ri ck ar d , Joe Riz -

zuto. Tommy Rober ts, Kabrena Rodda, Mark Slocum , Bill Spangentbal , M i ch ael Bob St ar r , M ik e St even son , an d Joh n W i l son .

D av e a l so m e n t i o n e d a m i n i r eu n i o n a t t h e A i r l i f t T a n k e r A sso c i a t i o n C o n v e n t i o n i n N a sh v i l l e b a c k i n N ov e m b e r . L o o k s l i k e no one had a pho to of the group, but JR Twiford and Lee Smith were a l so t h e r e . T h a n k s f o r

th e in fo, D ave!

Old Jedi Knight! I got an e-mail from my old smack CS-39 squadron mate Steve Bar rows. It had been a VERY long time since w e h a d t a l k e d .

Last summer he finished his second tour on the faculty at U SA FA (t each ing economics) and is now the AFROTC detachment commander a t t h e University of Nebraska, Omaha. He’s enjoying the AFROTC assignment, but does miss the teaching. During a commander’s conference l a st Fa l l a t Maxwell AFB, eight 1992 grads got together for a photo o p .

Finally, I got a follow up from Norm Bertke. I mentioned i n a r e c en t column that Norm is a Senior VP for The Huntington N a t i o n a l B a n k i n Ohio and was participating in a bike ride to raise money for cancer re search. Norm completed the Pelotonia bike tour to raise money for OSU ’s James Hospital. Norm’s team raised over $100K and his company raised abou t $2M of th e $ 10M t h at w as rai sed over all . N or m sai d , “ I r od e 102 m iles fr om Colu m b u s t o At h en s, Oh i o. It w as a fan t ast ic event for a great

cause.” It ’s inspiring to see classmates make incredible c o n t r i b u t i o n s i n so many areas in and out of the AF. I look forward to hearing from you soon and even more importantly, seeing you at the reunion later this year. Keep looking a t t h e A O G w eb page for the date and more info. Please get involved and help out if you can . God bl ess. Tr u e Bl u e ’92! Lat er, Jam es.

M ic ha 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 A le xa nd ria , VA 2 2 3 0 8 2 0 2 -7 5 7 -0 0 8 0 M ic h a e l.s u n d st e d @a f n c r.af .m il Cla ss W e bs it e : w w w .zo o m ie n a t io n

.org- ’’Class of 19 93 ”

Happy Summer to the greatest class ever at USAFA! Congratulations to those fi ne cadets who will graduate in the Class of 2012 to join our ever growing blue line! Things are going well for my family a n d m e h e r e i n Virginia. It ’s been a busy spring with sports, work, e t c . a s I a m su r e i t h a s for all of you. I want to thank the flurry of emails I r e c e i v e d f o r l a st f a l l ’s article. I have sought the advice of one of our classmates (t h an ks Ju d d !) and checked out the “Class of 1993” Facebook page. Many of the updates l ist ed i n th i s ar t i cl e ar e fr om t h at si t e. Pl ease, though, continue to great emails and stories as we lead up to our reunion!

Speaking of our reunion—I made some calls out to you w h o a r e i n t e r ested in helping in any capacity earlier last year. If you are still interested, please send me a note. Ideally, our class needs a few of you who live in the Colorado Springs area to step up a little more t h a n others who volunteer. We have numerous special proj ects lined up for our class (both during and after t h e reunion). We have a lot of work to go to help secure our class’ post graduate legacy at the AOG and I would like all of you to be a part of it . Please let me know i f you are a volunteer to help in the planning phase of t h e reunion, execution of the reunion, and/ or post reunion Sabre Society D o n o rs clean up and communications.

Lance Gill checked in from Oklahoma City. He owns 11 a manufacturing company in the air conditioning and refrigeration industry. He ran into DJ Vanas who con tinues to do great things with his motivational business. Maybe we can get a nice motivational speech while at the-20 year reu n i on ! D J liv es i n Colorado Springs.

Tom “Chili” Hermel is leaving Randolph AFB for Offutt A F B w h e r e h e will fly the RC- 135. Colonel John Price is going to sc h o o l a t M .I .T . f o r h i s Senior Development Education/ Fellowship—that’s funny John, I ’m going to school early in the morning at Andrews for mine—I like the Boston gig better! John and family will fi nd himself in the DC area in July.

Speaking of Colonel—there are several ’93ers who have been promoted to 0 -6! Congrats to all were recently selected! Congrats t o M ike Bal l ek , Steve Beasley, Kieren Denehan, John Lussler , Matt Powell, Lar ry Sp i n et ta, Glen Chr istensen, Randy Huiss, Mike McClung, Ali (War d) Tr evi n o , Kr ist in U ch i m i r a, an d Joh n Wal k er . Please l et m e kn ow if I missed your name! Congratulations from the Class of 1993. You guys are buying at t h e r eu n i o n ! O r w e c a n al l h av e sev e r a l b e e r s a t t h e C o l o r a d o M o u n t a i n

True Blue ROTC Commanders: From lef t are Stephen Barrows (Un i ver sity of Nebraska), Brian Delamater (University of Tennessee), Ted W ei b e l (MI T), Jara (Fatout) Lang (Texas Christian University), R o b H e r n d o n (Northwest Region CD,f ormerly Utah State), Darrell Lockhar t (Fayetteville State University), Brandon Doan (Northern Arizona University), a n d H i en Nguyen (Bowling Green State University) Since graduation, Steve’s earned his Master’s and PhD a t Pe n n St a t e and Auburn University, respectively, done a couple of teaching tours at USAFA, and some acquisition assignments at Robins, Wright-Patterson, and Los Angeles. Steve is married to Kim, a doctor, and they have 2 boys and 2 girls ranging from 2 to 10 years.

Steve passed along that Ed Cavanaugh—also a CS-39 alum—is f u l l t i m e in the AF Reserve Command and may be retiring next year. Ed and his wife have 7 children and are living in the Robins area.

12 4

Brewery owned by our own classmates!

Ben Malisow moved to Sacramento, CA last year and works f o r T e t r a T ech as Program Manager and also teaches some computer secu r ity cou r s es at Carnegie-Mellon University. He ran into Gaelle G l i c k f i e l d a b o u t t w o

w e e k s a f t er h e m o v e d t o t h e a r e a .

Jerry Siegel , our class Senator for the AOG, works w i t h t h e A O G o n a l l matters USAFA. If you have any suggestions or updates l e t h i m k n o w .

My next bit of news is not what I like to deliver. Fo r t h o se w h o h a v e n ’t heard—one of our great classmates, Tuan H. Nguyen , passed away on 12 Oct 20 11. “ Tu n er ” l eaves b eh i n d h is b eau t ifu l w i fe, Grace, an d fi n e son

Luke. Tuan was born in Hue, Vietnam. His family fled the fall of Saigon in April of 1975. Tuan set the world on fire when he arrived i n A m e r i c a . Su perb student and phenomenal athlete—in fact a top ranked tennis player.

He was in CS-06 and when he graduated served our beloved A i r F o r c e a t LA AFB and Wright-Patterson AFB. Tuan left active duty, but maintained Reserve status i n 2 0 0 0 a n d w e n t o n to get his MBA at Columbia University. He excelled i n t h e r e a l e st a t e i n d u s try in southern California. There is a great tribute at the following website

(Thanks Rauhmel!)—http:/ / www.youtube.com /watch?v=2WjISSvD2Jc. You are gone, but not forgotten. Proud to be 1993! H e r e’s a t o a st t o t h e h o st . . .

Craig Allen 8 5 Quail Creek Drive De l Rio , TX 7 8 8 4 0 H: 8 3 0 -3 1 3 -7 0 8 9 C: 6 6 0 -8 6 4 -5 3 74

kegsdoolitt le@yahoo.com

Spring Break 2012. I hope everyone is thawing out of the post-Christ mas break, dreary winter months and looking forward to a raging Spring Break. Actually, it’s been in the 70s down here in so u t h w e st Tex a s f o r m o st of January and we’re instead going to seek out some c o l d w e a t h e r f o r Spring Break with a ski trip up to Winter Park...the o l d favorite spot. It’ll be a bit different this time, compared to the cadet days, staging out of Idaho Springs and h i t ting up all the best ski areas every weekend with the Bros. This time, Colleen and I will have three little girls

w i t h u s...t h a t ’s a l o t o f o u t f i t s a n d a c c e sso r i e s! Sh o u l d b e fu n .

O T

Sabre Society First up this quarter, I got a great end-of-footballDo no rs season update from Jim Winner . Jim recently moved from Colorado Springs to the DC area and was able 3 to attend the Military Bowl with his kids in December to watch AFA take on Toledo. Jim said his family had sponsored AF player Jonathan Warzeka (#15) since his freshman year and they were able to watch from the sidelines as Jonathan completed a great football career. Al so in attendance with Jim was Tracy West . Ji m sai d h i s job for most of the game was to distract the security guards while Tracy tried to celebrate with the AF players after their n u m e r o u s t o u c h d o w n s.

Sounds like it must have been great to see all the action up close, even the unsuccessful fake PAT at the end. A solid update Jim, t h a n k s.

Carol and Galley this past New Year 's Eve. Also recently spotted in the squadron hallways at Laughlin was Andy Ratliff , who j ust returned from a six-month deployment to Dj ibouti. He was coordinating search-and-rescue efforts in the Horn of Africa region (and doing a lot of scuba diving). Andy is flying T-l s h e r e a n d w e d i sc o v ered that we live right around the corner from each other in Del Rio. Andy and his wife, Michelle, have two sons, ages eight and six , w h o are avi d young baseball players. The Ratliff family also recently enj oyed a Disney c r u i se t o t h e C a r i b b e a n o v e r C h r i st m a s. W e l c o m e b a c k !

Finally, I heard from Tony “Fargo” Retka who just found o u t h e ’l l b e t a k ing command of Kunsan’s world famous 35th Fighter Squadron a s Pa n t o n Lead. He’s currently at Misawa in the F-16, so his family will be able to remain relatively close by in Japan for his year stint in Korea. Congrats Fargo. Even though you’re a former Juvat, I ’m sure you’ll realize soon that you’re on the good side of the Kunsan team now ..Push It U p !

That ’s what I ’ve got this quarter. Periodically I get emails from people that start out by saying, “I’ve never sent anything to Checkpoints, but ...” I love to get those kind of updates. Have a great spring a n d se n d m e so m e input, especially if you’ve never sent me anything! And send a pic too.

Thanks, Kegger.

R . T r a v is K o c h

10 0 Tr ie st e B lv d .

Panama City Beach, FL 3 2407 W:(8 50 ) 28 3-4 23 1 DSN 74 2Ho m e : 8 5 0 .2 4 9 .8 8 2 0

Cell: (8 50 ) 49 9-8 24 2 richard.koch@tyndall.af .mil t raviskoch@yahoo.com

Jim Winner and his kids...in Eagle 8 athleticj ackets!

Also in the DC area is Elissa Beddow Myers. She lives in Maryland and teaches lower elementary, fi rst through third grade, a t t h e B e d d o w Sc h o o l (which is operated by her parents in Waldorf, MD). I w a s sa d t o h e a r t h a t Elissa’s husband passed away a year ago, leaving her a n d a so n w h o i s f o u r and a daughter that is two. Elissa said her kids and teaching are keeping her busy and that despite the events of the last year, they are doing well.

She mentioned she was hoping to set up a fi eld trip f o r h e r st u d e n t s t o nearby Andrews AFB, so I put her in contact with Eric Bulger and the ’94 VI P airlift contingent there. I ’m sure her students w i l l l o v e t o se e t h o se tricked-out, blue and white, G-5 airplanes.

I continue to realize that the ’94 contingent at Laughlin i s m o r e r o b u st than previously reported. I ran into Calley Poarch recently. We were both on an out-and-back from Laughlin to Chennault International i n L ak e Charles, where the Etouffee and Po’ Boys are awesome (and priced right at $1). Calley and his wife, Carol, live in Boerne, TX with their two boys who are ages eight and nine. He has flown T-l s at Laughlin for the past eight years, most recently in the Reserves. Calley’s also fl o w n f o r So u t h w e st f o r the last fi ve years, while Carol is a middle school algebra teacher. Their boys are hoping to carry on the legacy and attend the Academy. In addit ion , th e boys are very involved in karate, with the oldest about t o t e st f o r b l a ck b el t .

With karate belts and a pilot and an algebra teacher in the dojo, the Poarch boys are well on their way to USAFA appointments. Much like Mr. Miyagi’s “wax-on, wax-off” instructional technique. Miss Carol u ses “exp on en t -on , exponent-off ” in the classroom. I hear the technique is highly effective!

Dankeschon: Want to thank Nikki (Gumina) Ballinger for stepping up with the following update: So after spending the last 11 years of my Air Force career in training status, I fi nally got a job, and was lucky enough to land one in Germany. Prior to making our way to Spangdahlem, Rex a n d I headed out to the Springs for a proper send off. Festivities began at Nicole (Roberson) and Craig Prichar d’s house, who were nice enough to host us along with Audrey (Al lcorn) and Miles Mathieu, Antoinette (Val er o ) an d Tom Rose, and Ruth (Rumfeldt ) and George Germ an (93).

Ruth, Nikki, Antoinette and Nicole. ..signed out to Co S. The Prichards got back to the Springs last year after N i c o l e f i n i sh e d a Reserve tour in Abilene serving in the JAG corps. Now she serves as Supermom to four great kids while Craig is living the dream as a flight instructor at USAFA. George German is flying with Craig, while Ru t h o n t h e o t h e r hand spent the summer living out my worst nightmare a s t h e m e d i c a l d i rector for BCT and now spends her days making cadets turn-and-cough.

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Antoinette and Tom flew in from New York after just having baby #4. As for Audrey and Miles, he is serving as the Comptroller at Pet er son , w h il e Audrey spent the summer making sure her twins got into t h e b e st sc h o o l in the Springs and ended up putting them into a charter sc h o o l l o c a t e d somewhere on Nevada between a porn shop and a liquor s t o r e .

We had so much fun that fi rst day that they agreed to have everyone back the next day, with the addition of Meghan (McCann..,class o f ’9 5 wannabe) and Ken Gj one who drove up from Abilene.

After completing two grueling years in Turkey with t h e Olmstead Scholarship, Kenny is doing big things in Texas, but secretly spends most of his time plotting t o hij ack a C-130J to get his family out of there. Mean while Meghan bides her time at the yoga studio and longing for the mountains.

Sabre Society Things kicked into high gear the following day with Do no rs the pure barbeque genius of Colby Hoefar . With the help of his beautiful wife. Tori (Matt Poma’s sister), 7 and honorary ’95ers Sid Yoder and James Manu, the amount of meat put away that day was legendary. We were also j oined by Brian “V” MacDonald who is living i n A u r o r a a n d d o ing the work of two men until Colby is able to j oin his group. A couple of DVs showed up later in the day. Commander Scott Trinrud broke away from his troops at Schriever in order to spend a few precious moments with family and friends, and “The Man to Know ” in AH, D erm ott Col l , took advantage of the 4th of July break to rub elbows w i t h so m e c o m m o n

LtCol John McCurdy (’88) wanted to pass an update of a memorial being made in honor of Frank Bryant . Check out www.airadvisormemorial.c o m for details. John Clune is currently stationed at the University of Kansas, working on his PhD in History. Damon Anthony is the Ops Officer for the 389FS at Mountain Home AFB. Sean Slaughter is on his way out to Luke AFB to command. Jon Shultz is flying with the Al ab am a A N G, w or k ing at NASA in Huntsville, is married to Mary Scott H u n t er (Cr im son Ti d e Alum), got two patents for an omni-directional wheel and has three great looking kids. He is most proud of the wheel ...it is w i c k e d st a b l e . H e r a n into George Culver (’95), Jack Joyce (’95), Jonathan Boyd (’92), and Nate Drummond (’92) up there. Finally, Jon “Guido” Cory passed a thorough update of the Cory family. They moved from the 48th r a n k e d a c a d e m i c state (Georgia...sorry Cotter) to Crawfordsville, IN where his boys even tually landed in the 7th (Greyson) and 8th (Justice) grades. Jon took a gig supervising a corrugated plant with Temple-Inland and h i s b eau t i fu l w i fe, Diana, bought him a new deer rifle. Guido sent me pictures o f h i s “ d el i cious doe” but 1opted for the pic of them doing the d i sc o u n t d o u b l e ch e c k instead. Thanks for the update and keep them coming.

fo lk .

Rex a n d I t h e n h e a d e d t o L ak e Tah o e f o r t h e r est o f t h e m o n t h b e f o r e

making our way across the pond. Upon arrival at Spangdahlem w e w e r e given the “Red Hot” carpet treatment by Mark Schmidt (’ 94). Schmidty’s been living the good life as “Mr. Mom” ever since he got out of the Air Force about eight years ago and has been following his wife, Ki m , arou n d w h o works in the med group here (hmmm sounds familiar). O n c e w e se t t l e d i n it was time for fest season and we made plans to meet A n drea (K i r k m an ) and Mike Miller (’94) at the Wittlich Pig Fest. While enjoying some local swine, we were approached by none other than Otis Jones who is serving as Commander for the 726th AMS at Spangdahlem. 1then r e t u r n e d t o W i t tlich a month later with’98 grad Cheryl (Crow) Riise f o r O k t o b e r f e st .

A Very Cory Chr istmas.

Till then, keep the Faith, T.Koch.

Melissa S. Cunningham 9712 Hidden Valley Road

V ie n n a , VA 2 2 1 8 1

(C) 719-33 2-4 9 12 (W) 703-6 93-2 13 2 Melissa.Cunningham® Js.pent agon.mil f mcunningham@me.com

Happy Spring Everyone! I’m still enj oying life at the Pentagon. It’s fun ny, your entire career you always hear stories of people trying to avoid the Pentagon, so you start to dread it too. Actually, it ’s been great. I ’m get ting an opportunity to work when incredible people a n d I c a n ’t b e l i ev e I ’m saying this, but it ’s actually less stressful than being out at the base level.

Maybe I ’m still too new, but I hope it stays this good!

P r o st !

And, lest we forget ...The Hamby section. Rex and our boys took a hop

b ack t o D C, so h e cou ld m eet w i th h i s Ph D advisor at A m e r i c a n U n i v e r

sity. They were hosted by the most gracious Butler Clan. Kenny has j ust finished a long and distinguished tour as exec/ speech w r i t e r f o r t h e V i c e Ch ai r m an of t h e Joi n t Ch iefs an d w ill n ow rem ain in the DC area working for the White House. His lovely wife, Patty, has started h e r o w n b u si n e ss making personalized baby gifts; check her out at PattyBenJack.com .

While in DC, Kenny and Rex met up with Hambone at Ray’s t h e St e a k s.

There they were j oined by Curtis Green, who I think i s t h e r e f o r a t o u r w i t h a local Guard unit with Josh Har tman (’93). Finally, I w o u l d b e r e m i ss i f I did not respond to Pat Fox, the ’98 grad who named m e a s h i s f i r st i e c r u sh in the last issue of Checkpoints. Pat, I am glad to k n ow t h a t I w a s a b l e t o give you at least a small retreat from the sad existence t h a t i s f r e sh m a n year at USAFA. I j ust hope that the statute of limitations for contributing to the delinquency of a minor is less than 15 years.

Thanks again, Nikki, but I am disappointed in your support of under age drinking...sign yourself up for a 60-60-and-3. Stand-by for an update next issue from Jon “You can call me Jon” Tinsley, who hopefully, will also include a Jon Hamby section of the update.

Parting Shots: Got to have dinner with Garrett Lowe who just transi tioned from four years in the UAE and is now in Korea. G-Lowe’s daughter is in college already. Awesome. He is raising money for Maj or Troy “Tro jan” Gilbert’s family. Troy was killed in an F-16 crash in Iraq, and left a wife and five kids behind. Garrett is running the Seoul Marathon and if you’d like to donate to his cause, follow this link: http:/ / 2012seoulm a r a t h o n .k i n tera.org/ faf / r.asp?t=4&i=994932&u=994932-348201722&e=5415936833.

12 6

The Varner Family: Caleb, M ike, Denise and Jaden.

I received a great update from Mike and Denise Var ner ! They continue to enjoy living in Colorado and being close to the Academy is an added bonus. They have two beautiful children Jaden (3 V2) an d Cal eb (2) . Jad en has been an avid Academy hockey fan since he was 18 m o n t h s o l d a n d enj oys going to AF home games. He is also taking skating l e sso n s so t h e Varners spend some time up at the Academy Cadet Ice Arena almost every week. Both the boys also enj oy Falcon football. Attending t h e Fa l c o n s “kids day” has become a family tradition (2 years running).

That’s all the news for now. Please make it one of your New Year’s reso lutions to email a quick update and photo. If you are trying to decide w h et h er or n ot t o w r it e in , t h e an sw er i s “ Yes.” We look forward to hearing from you.

Tak e care, M el .

M e lv in E. M a xw e ll, Jr.

1410 9 Kelly Drive

Be lle v u e , N E 6 8 1 2 3 6 1 8 -4 0 2 -4 6 1 1

mel_maxwell97@hot mail.com m e lv in .m a xw e ll@of f ut t .a f .m il

(13 Sabre Society Donor s) Little Falcon Fans at “Kid Day".

Denise keeps herself more than busy taking care of ki ds, a l ad i es b ib le study, leading Awana, working in “Tiny Town” (the church’s Sunday pro gram for kids), and helping host the small group. She has accepted the fact that she is going to be a “hockey mom” and even got her own hockey skates for Christmas. Way to go Denise! Mike is still working at the Global SATCOM Support Center that is now part of the new USCYBERCOM. H e also works at the Space Innovation and Development Center (SIDC) for the AF Technical Exploitation of N a tional Capabilities (AFTENCAP) during his Reserve time. He commented that he’s certainly seeing some of the effects from all the budget cutbacks, but it t h a n k fully it hasn’t impacted his organization yet. Mike i s also taking advantage of the Post 9/ 11 GI bill benefits Sabre Society working toward a MS in Proj ect Management from Do n o rs Colorado Technical University. Each Sunday, Mike and Denise support their church by hosting a small group 3 which has been extremely rewarding.

Brian Grasky also sent a quick update from Tucson, AZ. He is now a Guard bum part -timer in the Arizona G u a r d . H e i s t h e Wing IG, on a short hiatus from flying F-16s. Tom Obroachta an d Ju li an

m

Greetings ’97!

As always, hope this update fi nds you well. Quiet on t h e n ew s f r o n t apart from the steady news of IPZ ’97ers putting on Lt Col. Congratula t i o n s t o a l l - i t ’s h a r d t o b e l i ev e w e a r e t h a t o l d . 1did get one shout out from Brett Lucas this quarter. Brett and his wife, Kristy , l i v e i n W h e a t o n w i t h their four kids spanning kindergarten to 6th grade. B r e t t h a s b e e n w i t h PepsiCo for 6 years, primarily in the Gatorade supply c h a i n . H e st a r t e d and leads the PepsiCo’s veterans/ military employee group and is on the USO Illinois board of directors. Last October, PepsiCo sponsored the 2011 USO Gala in Chicago. Brett sat next to Miss USA during t h e ev en t - - sh e was so enamored with Brett she spilled her wine all o v e r h i m .

i , s '-

P a c h e c o a r e o t h e r ’9 6 e r s i n t h e T u c so n a r e a . B r i a n m a d e t h e d e c i s i o n t o

go part -time to focus on his main gig, triathlon and endurance sports coaching. Brian is on the National Coaching Commission f o r U SA T r i a t h lon and recently returned from an internship at the US Olympic Center.

He capitalized on the training by launching his own Endurance Sports Performance Center in Tucson. Brian manages the advanced coaching, b iom ech an i cs an d form cor rect ion , w h il e h i s w ife, Jill , is the head strength coach. In addition, they have 6 coaches on their staff. Grasky Endurance Coaching has grown into a national force, and they n o w h av e sev e r a l c l i ents who are world and national champions.

Brett and Kristy Lucas with M iss USA, Alyssa Campanella.

Brett also had the chance to meet the First Lady, the C h a i r m a n o f t h e Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen Martin Demsey, and for m er CJCS M ar in e Gen (ret) Peter Pace and has enj oyed giving back from the private sector.

Brett also mentioned having lunch with Chris Gizzi i n Jan u ary. Bret t re ports Chris, wife, Jennifer, and their new daughter live in Chicago where they run Atlas CrossFit. Check out more of Chris at ZoneReady.net (Chris’s human performance consulting company) or at the Alumni Spotlight fea t u r e a b o u t C h r i s a t Pa c k e r s.c o m . T h a t ’s a l l I h av e f o r t h i s r o u n d . U n t i l n ex t t i m e . . .M el

P a t Fo x

15 20 Pershing Dr., Apt . E

Sa n Fra n c isc o , CA 9 4 1 2 9

Lunch Date:] D with baby Bennett.

Finally, I got a note from JD Hoskins. He just finished m e d sc h o o l a t USUHS in Bethesda, MD in May 2011. They pulled up stakes a n d m o v e d out to San Antonio to start his residency. They found a great home and they are enj oying Texas. Just after they arrived, he st a r t e d a r o t a t i o n i n OB / GYN w h ere h e ran in t o Bar t St aat (’97) w h o i s a staff physician. A few weeks in to internship year, he was actually able to perform his first and only delivery of his third child, Bennett. Bennett actually ended up in the NICU for a few days (nothing JD did, of course!) but recovered very well.

Since JD was down the hall working in OB, he was able t o se e B e n n e t t a f ew times a day and spend his lunch hour giving him his bottle -- the picture is during that time. While in San Antonio, JD has been ab l e t o see Jen n (Trost) Vecchione as well as Jasin Cooley and Harry Dyson. JD should pin on Major in the next few weeks (he lost some rank due t o t h e n ew c a r e e r field -- strange system) and things are coming along very well . He will fin ish intern year in June and start his training in Radiology in July.

pmf 6@pge.com

(3 Sabre Society Donor s) (Editor ’s note: We did not receive an input f rom Pat this quarter. He said that due to a move, a change of j obs and pneumonia, h e w a s n o t a b l e t o submit a column f or this quarter. Please send him your inputs and photos f or the next magazine.)

V i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e.

Gone But Not Forgotten, M erchandise and more! www.usafa.org 12 7

C la s s

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Ja m e s W . Bus c h

86 18 Rockbridge Circle Montgomery, AL 3 6116 Cell: (830 ) 734-2411 Buschf l 6@yahoo.com

as the Deputy Director of Finance for the Navy Reserve. He’s had a tough go the first two years watching Navy win the CINC trophy, so t h e l a st t w o seasons have been especially sweet. He got married i n 2 0 10 t o t h e f o r mer Erika Johnson, a Security Forces officer in the W i sc o n si n A i r N a t i o n al Guard, and they are expecting their first child in July. Congrats Ben! As a final note, many of you remember that our classmate, D av e B r o deur , was killed in Afghanistan last year. There is an effort underway to e st a b l i sh a m e m o r i a l i n h i s h o n o r t o b e d e d i c a t e d i n April on the day he a n d sev e n o t h e r c o m r a d e s w e r e k i l l e d . P l e a se t a k e t h e t i m e t o v i si t t h i s

Class - greetings again from the Air, Space, and Cyber (b u t n ot n eces sarily in that order) Command and Staff College. With command and promotion lists still hot off the presses, it warms my heart to see that we continue to crush t h e competition. Congrats to everyone that made it—way to go!

1just finished closing out this year’s Super Bowl w i t h fellow ’99er Roger Buckner , and as you can tell from Sabre Society the picture below it is not the first maj or sporting e v e n t Do n o rs of the academic year that we have spent together. We had a great mini-reunion at my place for the AF/Army 7 game back in the fall. If we can squeeze in the WNBA Finals and the World Curling Championship we’ll call it a clean sweep—we’ll take j ust about any excuse to rally for some drinks and laughs (and get our minds off of “work”).

From lef t in the back row areJohn Getgood (random d ude) , Jason Tr ew , Nick Evans, Ryan Moon, Scott Weyermuller, Roger Buckner, M a r k Sl et t en ( ’00) , Joh n Wa h r m u nd (’98) , Scot t Wi ela n d , a nd M i ke H a r ts o n . B o t t o m

row: Jeremy Lushnat, James Busch, Kevin Lord (’00), and Mary Sletten (St e w e r t) .

Speaking of football, I saw that classmate C Warren has been promoted

t o U SA FA A ssi st a n t H e a d C o a c h a n d D e f e n si v e c o o r d i n a t o r . Way t o go C, let ’s see if we can get those guys playing defense l i k e w e d i d b a c k i n ’9 9 !

Ben Glon checked in after 12-i- years. After earning h i s M BA f r o m t h e

University of Southern Mississippi, he landed in DC where he is a working

link to see how you can give: http:/ /www.airadvisormemorial.com.. U n t i l next time, keep the notes and photos coming. -James

Ja s o n S im m o ns S im m o ns @USA FA2 0 0 0 .co m

Classm at es,

I hope everyone is doing well. As you meet up with c l a ssm a t e s o r r u n into each other, be sure to take some pictures and pass updates to me.

Please share news about career, family, education, moves and anything else that you’d like to pass on to your fellow Two Granders. A n d o n t h a t n o t e . . . on with the news. I’ve finally j oined the ranks of you who are parents with my little angel, Lillian Rose Simmons, who was born January 15th.

M el issa Si m m ons, L i l l ia n, a nd Jason Si m m on s.

Rob Ellis thought it would be impossible to run into a n o t h e r Z o o m i e i n Tanzania - well that is exactly what happened to Rob. He met Jeff Stamp (’92) while both are living in Tanzania. Rob and his family are in Tanzania learning the language and culture in order to establish a missionary orga n izat ion t h ere, an d Jeff i s a t each er at an I n t er n at i on al School. I guess the world is not so big after all.

Ji m H o r n e an d h i s w i f e, Em ili e, an d w el com ed t h ei r third child, a boy, on January 2nd. Jim notes that his other tw o are Noah, four years old, and Elliana, two years old. He’s enj oying the AF Fellowship Program with sever al of ou r cl assm at es: Lau ren (M ah er ) Cou rch ain e, Jeff L aFl eu r , Kev

in Griswold, and Brian St ahl are also in D.C. Jim figures he’s most likely headed to SAF/AQS as a Space PEM for his post-fellowship follow -on , b u t hasn’t heard anyt hing official yet .

Su m m er Ko on s h as m oved b ack t o Flo r id a w it h h er fell a, Mike Hagg and baby boy, CJ. Summer recently opened a new business, “Baby 2

Ben Glon and wif e, Erika, with an endangered species.

12 8

Su m m er Koo n s an d so n CJ

Child,” a baby and children’s consignment store in Ft W alt on Beach , FL. Here is a pic of Summer and CJ having fun.

Jason William s is enj oying the life on the other side o f t h e z o o . H e’s currently stationed at Peterson working budget integration for space and cyberspace issues at HQ AFSPC/FM. Thankfully, the job has predictable hours and the quality of life has been great this assignment. Ja so n n o t e s that he tries to make it to as many AF sporting events as possible and is

also sponsoring a cadet from the class of 2014. Jason’s so n L i n d e n i s n ow 3 years old and Jason is training him for a future Falcon Soccer sl ot , b u t i n the meantime letting having him play with other toddlers!

Jason Goldberg ran into Pat Schuldt in Kuwait in December a n d m a n aged to get home on Christmas day from the final deployment o f A C - 13 0 s supporting OIF/OND. He reports that the air traffic in New York was espe cially accommodating on theway back. Jason sharesthe following picture of him, kiddies, and wife ... they couldn’t wait any longer!

Eric Ba llew Wo rld Ce ll: + 1 .8 5 0 .5 4 3 .9 9 3 6

ericba IIew86@ya hoo.com

e ric .ba llew @us .af .m il Class Fac e boo k : USAFA Cla ss of 2 0 0 2

Class Website: www.usafa0 2 .org

Hello classmates. The first thing I wanted to do was thank Amy (Schul tz) Kauvar for keeping us all updated the past ten years on what has been taking place since we graduated. I ’m helping her out and taking over the class scribe position from here on out and my contact i n fo i s ab ove so d on’t h esi t at e t o w r it e or call m e s o

we can fill the rest of the class in on where everyone is at and what we’ve been up to. Since 1just took o v e r I don’t have any updates so I decided to fill you in o n what I ’ve been up to. After pilot training, my fi rst a s

signment was at TravisAFBwhere I flew the C-5 for f o u r years. While I was stationed in California I got married

? -

to my wife, Renee, and at the end of that assignment I

Sabre Society Do n o rs

3 moved to the East coast and continued to fl y C-5s at Dover AFB. We have two kids, Tyler (age 2) and Ashley (9 months) while we’ve been stationed in Delaware and I ’m probably looking to get orders to move again sometime t h i s su m m e r .

I ’m excited to hear what ’s new with you and fill everyone e l se i n so sh o o t me an email so 1can get your update into the next Checkpoints or better

m

yet drop the dime and tell an embarrassing story about o n e o f o u r c l a ss Tracy (Tini anow) and Tom Bozung and I are still at D M . T o m P CA e d

mates. I’ll catch up with you later.

over to the 12 AF and is now the Director for PR. Tracy is working at the clinic as the medical director of the family health clinic. Both are busy as always especially with Nathan turning 4 years old in M ay. Tr acy n ot es that it is nice to be home from Afghanistan (returned in July). She’ll prob ably be at DM for another 16 months, so look her and Tom up if you’re in the area. She was in an ORE process ing line and ran into a grad group of A- 10 pilots: Bry an Grady, Steve Snow (’99), and Kim (Reed) Campbell ’97.

Tracy too thinks it’s a small world considering they were literally all back-to-back in line. Tom and Tracy are planning a trip to Ann Arbor for the USAFA vs U o f Sabre Society M game in Sept 12 and notes that Casey (Tini anow) Do n o rs

i

1-

Par i n i , h er h u sb an d , an d kid d o w i ll m eet t h em t h ere

probably too... so, any folks in the area should look a t 7 j oining them.

Jamie Rand now performs trauma surgery at St. Tou ts University Hospital. Jamie is still on active duty and assigned to CSTARS St . Lou i s (a t r au m a refr esh er cou r se for m ed ics, RN s, PA s, M D s, D Os, et c).

She did her first tour in Afghanistan the last half of 20 10, b u t i s n ow b ack

for another tour. She hopes to run into some classmates, as long as it’s outside of duty and around base.

Best wishes to Jamie and other classmates currently deployed to distant lands - perhaps I’ll run into some of you soon as 1 too am packing my bags. On that note, please get me class news updates as the news hap pens.. . otherwise our section might get thin, plus some of you are reading this and not contributing... time to pony up. Please send news and pic tures often and as much as you like to Simmons@USAPA2000.com.

Fait h (Flitchcock) Dunn

6 4 2 3 NW 9 4 t h Co u rt Jo h n so n , lA 5 0 1 3 1 Fa it h d 0 3 @h ot m a il.co m

(3 Sabre Soci ety Don or s)

(Editor’s note: We did not receive a column f rom Faith f or this issue as she did not have any contactsf rom her classmates. Please send your inputs and photos to her at her email address above or contact her on the Class of

2 001 Facebook Page.)

The Ballew Fam ily

Susan Lynn (Doyle) Maly (703 ) 9 09-3 83 0 USAFA20 0 3 @gmail.com susanlynnl 98 1@yahoo.com

Class Facebook Page: Usafa Zerothree

(3 Sabre Society Donor s) Hey Bongers, I didn’t hear from anyone for this issue. Pl e a se se n d a short note and some pictures to me via Facebook or gmail. Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the New Year! Take care, Su sa n

Breezy Long

PSC 7 8 , Box 4 2 5 2 A PO A P 9 6 3 2 6

Home: (2 14 ) 26 1-20 6 5 windyshort 8 2@gmail.com

V i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e.

Gone But Not Forgotten, Merchandise and m ore! www.usafa.org

Happy 2012, 2004! (How weird does that sound? Haha.) W e h av e t o n s of news this quarter, so let ’s dive right in!

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Tino Garcia is marrying his lovely fi ance on 24 March 2 0 12— b est w i sh es!

Alexis (Eberle) and Jeremy Nelson have glad tidings to report. First and foremost, Alexis graduated from medical school at Tulane Universitywow, congrats! Doesn’t she look scholarly?

2011 after two years of incredible experiences within corp or at e Am er ica and DoD, plus countries throughout Asia as he and his colleagues trav eled abroad. At the graduation, Kaz became the fi rst A F m e m b e r i n t h e history of the program to earn the William T. Powell A w a r d a n d s c h o l a r

ship—go AF and go Kaz! The award is a boarded process t h a t r e su l t s i n another scholarship for a second Masters. Beyond that h on or, Kaz ear n ed the 2011 Defense Logistics “Beyond the Call of Duty: Logistician of the Year Award” with his innovative project that directly supported increased use of life-saving Aerial Delivery down-range. The photo was taken w h en Kaz received th i s aw ard l ast N ov em b er in D .C. From left are Maj or

General (Ret) Gary T. McCoy, Former Commander, Air Force Global Logis tics Support Center, Scott AFB; Col Ken Backes (Kaz’s fi r st C o m m a n d e r i n

the AF) 782nd Training Group Commander at Sheppard A FB; Van N oah ,

Program Director, l U-UNC LogMBA, Institute for Defense an d Bu sin ess; Kaz Kostrubal a; Vice Admiral (Ret) James M . Zortman, V i c e Pr e si d e n t o f Life Cycle Logistics and Support and site manager of the Unmanned Sys tems Development Center for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems;

and Rear Admiral Tom Meek, Director of Military Support, N a t i o n a l G e o spatial Intelligence Agency (NGA).

Jeremy Nelson with wif e and newest med school grad, A lex is (Eber l e) !

Jeremy is working hard and doing great things at Booz A l l e n H a m i l t o n .

In his spare time (as if!), he is also working on his P h D d i sse r t a t i o n w i t h hopes to complete his degree by spring 2012...possibly by the time this magazine is published! On the social side of things, Alexis and Jeremy were happy to report they’ve been able to hang out with several classmates while living in San Antonio, t o include Amanda (Baranek) and Casey Weinstein, Dan Reid, Theresa Hunt , Austen Lefebvr e, Carmel Patton, and Patrick Sergeant .

Leigh-Anne (Withers) and Ryan Fitzgerald wel comed their second child, Liam Jude Fitzgerald, on 15 Sabre Society Dec 2011. Leigh-Anne also shared that their daughter Do n o rs Reese (already 18 mos. old—time flies!) loves being a big sister and gives her brother lots of pats and kisses.

3 This super-mom continues to work as an RN on an adu lt cr i ti cal care fl oor on an as-n eeded b asis, w h i ch

allows her to stay home more with the kids. Meanwhile, super-dad Ryan continues to fly the RC-135, and in 2011 he completed SOS on top of his fifth and sixth deployments. The Fitzgeralds were all grateful for the best Christmas gift at the end of 2011—all being together! Ryan has been gone over the holidays over the last two years, so they defi nitely appreciated that special treat. They’re still living in Omaha, NE, and enj oying the Mid west. With Ryan’s PCS cycle on the horizon, both Ryan and Leigh-Anne are excited to see what opportunities the future might hold. Keep us posted!

Kaz Kostr ubala, 2011 Def ense Logistics “Beyond the Call of Duty: Logis tician of the Year".

Kaz’s next challenge will carry him away from his dear family on a 365 to Southwest Asia. We wish you a safe return!

Last, but certainly not least, we have a too-close-to-home, h e a r t - b r e ak ing piece of history and a worthy cause shared by Tom Filber t . I typi cally put my own spin on class news submissions, but I t h i n k t h i s o n e i s best left in Tom’s words. When you’re done reading, I hope you’ll visit the website and “like” the Facebook page for the Air Advisor M em o r i al (w w w . airadvisormemorial.com). Every time we go back to the d eser t , I f eel as though “gone but not forgotten” takes on new meaning—and takes per m a n e n t r o o t i n o u r h e a r t s.

Leigh-Anne (Withers) and Ryan Fi tzgerald, proud parents of Reese and

L ia m .

Kazimir Kostrubal a has lots to share since ’04, mostly a t t h e en c o u r agement of his beautiful wife of seven years (they w e r e m a r r i e d a t t h e C a det Chapel a week after graduation). They now have two sons, 2.5 yrs and 9 months old. Kaz’s wife wanted to brag a little about her hubby—and for good reason! About two years ago, Kaz competed f o r o n e o f D o D ’s funded master’s programs called LogTech, a three-way partnership be tween University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill ’s Kenan-Elagler B u si n e ss School, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, an d t h e D oD (l U UNC LogMBA). The parent organization is the Institute f o r D e f e n se a n d Business. Completion of the program awards an MBA and a c e r t i f i c a t e in Supply Chain Management. Only two AF slots are allowed annually, and Kaz was selected on his first application! He graduated i n D e c e m b e r 13 0

“I don’t know if you’ve heard about it, but shortly a f t e r I r e t u r n e d h o m e [from my last deployment], the small unit of advisors that I was deployed with was attacked by one of the Afghans we were training. H e k i l l e d n i n e of our best. We now call them the ‘NATC-A NINE’ (NATO Air Training Command - Afghanistan) - the mentors training the Afghans h o w t o b e an Air Force. The attack happened on 27 April 2011. We l ost 7 offi cer s, 1 enlisted, 1 civilian contractor (retired military), two USAFA grads, one USAFA foreign language instructor... nine of the AF’s best people. ...I ’ve been working with the commander of the Air Advisor Academy at Mc Guire AFB, NJ, to get the ball rolling on the construction o f a m e m o r i al f o r our fallen nine—the single biggest combat loss to the A F si n c e V i et n a m .

W e w a n t t o d e d i c a t e t h e m e m o r i a l a t t h e A i r A d v i so r Academy on the oneyear anniversary of the attack, 27 April 2012. We’re gonna need help to make this happen. ...USAFA [also] wants to dedicate a b en c h o n t h e o n e year anniversary, though hopefully USAFA can adj ust the timing of that dedication—one of the victim’s families is distraught because they can’t be at both places at once. ...Anyway, I ’m pushing this a s h a r d a s I c a n . I t ’s kind of a personal thing to me. The ‘average’ advisor pulled a full 365 de ployment . I only had a six-month deployment as an advisor. My replace ment was in the room in that same meeting that I ’d sa t i n f o r six m o n t h s . . .

Every day, I toast them ... All I can do now is try to help the families of the fallen by giving my full devotion to this memorial and pushing it as hard as I can to get it built.”

Tom, thanks for sharing this—I hope the proj ect turns o u t a s b e a u t i fully as you’ve envisioned. Your 2004 family is with you every step of the way. We never know who, or when, or why... Here’s a t o a s t .

[

Visit the AOGWeb Site: www.usafa.org

1

Hope this note fi nds everyone well and keep sending me your updates!

T a k e c a r e a n d G o d b l e ss . . .

Joh n

Jo h n Ta m a s it is

80 1 King St , Apt . K Columbia, SC 29 20 5

Dayle (Morell) Hart ung

Ta m a s it i@e m a il.sc .e d u Ce ll: 6 1 0 -8 5 0 -3 3 5 2

1 2 9 1 8 5 0 t h Ave . Co u rt NW

Gig Harbor, WA 983 3 2 daylehart ung@gmail.com Facebook group:" Feel t he Fire’

Class of 2005,

Wanted to fi rst say hello to all out there and hope everyone is doing well. We have a few updates to share with everyone.

First , news from Amanda Young who wanted to share a great photo of “ Th e A n n u al GRBD reu n ion” at t h e A i r Force-A r m y game at USAFA!

All the girls got together and spent the weekend remembering so m e o l d times and just had an absolute blast! The folks there were Emily Bulgar

(Haag), Taylor Rigollet (Sciulli), Julie Honeycutt , Amanda Young, Chris tine McLean (Todd), Jenn Ford, Amber Poole (Hoffman), D aw n H ar n ack , Elaine Adams (Taterek), and Cookie Day. Also along were ’05 grads For rest Poole and Joe Adam s along with Nelson Prouty (’04).

Happy New Year Class of 2006! 1have lots to report ...

First, in November David Kilpatr ick and Josh Wolfr am m o u n t a i n - h i k e d 210 miles in 7 days crossing the Thailand peninsula f r o m Su r a t T h a n i t o Phuket. David will be PCSing to Creech AFB in February w h ile Josh i s d e ploying for 6 months to Kabul, Afghanistan and will then PCS to Langley AFB upon his return.

Also, Jenny (Evans) Miller and Jesse Miller had a wonderful holiday season, as they were both, by luck able to fly thousands o f m i l e s t o m e e t up on the other side of the world from their home and In other news, shortly after Jenn Ford PCSed from Travis t o C h ar l est o n (where Cookie Day and her Husband George are also now stat ion ed) sh e announced her engagement to Nelson Prouty! They will

be tying the knot later this year in Minnesota! Taylor Rigollet (Sciulli) also announced that she and her h u s band will PCS from Little Rock to Yokota, Japan for t h e i r

next assignment flying the C-130! Also, Dawn Harnack

received orders to PCS from Dyess to Elmendorf Al aska!

In other exciting news, Brett Hadley and his wife, Leslie, just added a new member to the Hadley team, baby daughter Ashley! She was born on Veterans Day (Nov 11"’). Leslie and Brett are currently stationed a t Joint Base Pearl-Harbor Hickam and have finally com pleted the transition into the Medical Services Corps

spend the last few hours of Christmas day together.

Santa would be proud! Morgan (Stewar t) Musser and her husband. Matt Musser, just left on their third d e ployment in as many years in the C-130. They will soon be PCSing from Little Rock to a location TBD. There are lots of little RTBs coming in the future o r have j ust arrived! Amber (Collins) Chen and her hus band are expecting their first child as well and are s e t

tling in nicely in Taiwan. Bryan Kloepper and his wife,

Sabre Soc iety Do n o rs

1

after graduating from the University of Southern California’s M a r sh a l l

School of Business. Congrats on this exciting new chapter i n l i f e !

Finally, this photo is from Will Guthr ie’s wedding in Philadelphia this past March. In the wedding were ’05ers (from left) C h a n c e l l o r L a r r acu en t e, A ar on Jo n es, W ill Gu t h r ie, Sean M i t ch el l a n d Ro b e r t B a r k e r s .

Robert Barkers was also wed in September to his fiancee, T a m i k a a t t h e

Sabre Society Do n o r s

4

Trinicia, welcomed a beautiful son, Gabriel J.E Klepper on Thanksgiving Day. The whole family is doing well.

Andrew LITE Gray and his wife Taryn, are pleased to a n n o u n c e t h a t k i d # 3 will join the family this summer. In the meantime he is loving the Raptor and looking forward to another Falcon Football winning se a so n n ex t f al l and CinC Trophy! Also, Kimo Yam ashiro and his wife are expecting their first child, due towards the end of February.

Last b u t n ot least Carl Ch en an d h is w i f e, Sarah , an d w e r e B EY O N D excit ed t o w el com e th ei r son , A n drew Car son Ch en , at t h e Pe n sa c o l a N a

val Hospital on 30 Nov 2011. Mom and baby are doing really well, and Carl writes if his ability to do pushups on old dad is any indication, he should have no trouble holding the front -leaning rest when he reports in

Academy chapel.

C a r l a n d A n d r ew C a r so n C h e n 13 1

C la s s

N ew s

for Beast in about 18 years! Carl got picked up by A F PC t o t r a n si t i o n f r o m

WSO to Pilot and he is currently in j oint training with the Navy at NAS Whiting Field. By the time this hits publication, he sh o u l d b e fi n i sh e d with T-6s and on his way to Vance for Phase III . To his knowledge, he will be the only Air Force guy to have done Navy navigator training in the back

seat of a T-6A and Navy primary (Phase II) pilot training i n t h e f r o n t se a t o f a T-6B .

Former Wild Weasel Scott Kotowski , his wife, Natalee, an d h i s son Jack son are enj oying their time in Japan while he continues to fly the F-16 for the 13* Fighter Squadron. Mike Orcutt and his wife, Megan, have been traveling around Europe... I wonder if they’ve run into Kyle Rutherford or Mike Napolitano, both of whom are flying F-16s out a t A v i a n o w i t h

the 510* Fighter Squadron and doing a good bit of traveling o v e r t h e r e a s w el l !

A few RTBs have started moving forward with their careers. C h r i st a Sperling separated and is currently living in Washington DC working for Booz Allen Hamilton. Colin Kubera also separated from t h e A i r Fo r c e and got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Catey Coppini. He is livi ng in Sunny San Diego working for BAE Systems.

Also, Antoine Hood was recently signed by the San Antonio Spurs! He is sh ow n at t h e X Gam es w it h Sh au n Wh it e. H e an d h i s w ife, Ch an t e, are

beyond happy with all of the good news!

D o t h e D ive, 5-Year Reu n i on !

It’ll be interesting to see who from our class decides to separate from the Air Force and who decides to stay in after our commitment is up.

Let me know if you’ve decided to live on the “outside” a s a c i v i l i a n a n d what your plans are. Speaking of people getting out, I spoke to Charlotte (Freedman) Gac the other day and she’s offi cially filed her separation pa pers from the Air Force and will be a civilian in a f ew m o n t h s. H e r h u s

band, Pete Gac, is stationed at Little Rock AFB flying t h e C- I 30J, so sh e’s

planning to get a j ob with a local government contractor t h e r e . C h a r i s currently a Logistics offi cer and they’ve both been continually deployed so this will hopefully give them some stability. Good lu ck Ch ar ; l et u s

k n o w h o w l i f e i s o n t h e o u t si d e !

Weddings:_It was great to hear from Justin Kucht a the other day. He re cently married Katie Paton, a ROTC graduate from the University of Okla homa and a Logistics offi cer. They met during their fi rst assignment at Vandenberg AFB and married last September in Colorado. The wedding

wouldn’t be complete without a few of his fellow classmates p resen t : W ill Meister , Sergio Nazzaro, and Brendan Greenaway were a l l m e m b e r s o f the wedding party. Here is a beautiful picture of their fi r st dan ce, a Ru m ba! Congrats Justin and Katie; we wish you many years of happiness!

A n t o i n e an d C h an t e H o o d

Additionally, Tina Matej ik is running a marathon and f u n d r a i s ing in memory of her sister Laura Eberts. You can donate by going to

the following website: www.donorschoose.org/donors/viewChallenge .

h t m l ?i d = 2 17 9 18 .

Out here in rainy Seattle, Mike Lucky got engaged to his beautiful girl friend Lauren over the holidays, and recently left for a quick 60-day de

ployment in the C-17. Eleanor (Kunesh) Morgan and her h u sb an d , Wes

Morgan, both fi nally got time away from work (and together) t o t a k e a t w o week vacation to Hawaii—I am so j ealous! Jenny Coker and Rob Camp bell are both still enjoying flying the C-17 and awaiting their next assign ment away from McChord.

Keep me updated! Spaatz.

Ju s t i n a n d K a t i e K u c h t a

Casey (Bayne) Whit son P.O. Bo x 3 0 0 5

El Segundo, CA 9 0 24 5 (3 10 ) 34 3-59 6 9 checkpoint s@caseybayne.com

Ms. Pink Truck herself sent a beautiful update about h er recen t w ed ding. Caitlin Butter field married Kyle Reilly on October I 5, 20 11 on t h e Outer Banks of North Carolina. She planned most of the wedding while on her deployment to Kuwait over the summer, and they married only 3 weeks after she returned! It rained the whole week prior, but thankfully their special day was perfect for a beach wedding. A b o u t h a l f o f t h o se i n attendance were military (Air Force, Navy, and Marines), so it w as qu it e the party! From our class, Amanda Curtis, Aaron Sanchez, Er i c Li scar ,

H i Cl ass of 2007,

I hope everyone is doing well! It’s been almost fi ve years since we left the Zoo and you know what that means, it’s our five year reu n ion i n Las Vegas! Please take a look at everything DT (aka Daniel Taylor) and DotheDive have planned; it’s going to be a blast. They’ve made it exactly what you want a reunion to be...fun!

Below is a message from DT: “2007! It's been nearly 5 years since graduation. That means some of you are married, some of you have babies, some of you have deployed, some of you have advanced degrees, some of you have traveled around theworld, s o m e Sabre Society of you have deployed again, and all of you are nearly 3 0 Do n o rs years old. Sounds like a good time to reconnect and cat ch up. Well, I’m happy to tell you that our class will b e th e fi r st 5 class in USAFA history to host a fi ve-year reunion!! If you haven’t heard yet, we will be celebrating our fi ve year re union July 6-7,2012 (4th of July weekend), at theTreasure I sl an d H o t el & C asin o Ballroom in LasVegas, NV! You can fi nd more information ab o u t o u r reu n i o n at www.dothedive.com. Take a look at the agenda, and encourage your fr iends fr om our class to come. Tickets are selling NOW, so c h e c k i t o u t !”

13 2

Kyle and Cai tl in (Butterfi eld) Reilly

Brandon Murphy, Khary Branch-Romero, and Matt Huber w e r e a l l i n a t

tendance. Caitlin loved having her classmates by her side on her special

day. Her husband, Kyle, is a Marine F-18 pilot stationed in Beau for t , SC

and Caitlin is flying C- 130s out of Pope AFB, NC. They are looking forw ard to hopefully living together at their next assignment in a couple years.

Caitlin and Kyle, sounds like it was an amazing wedding a n d w e c a n ’t w a i t

in St. Clair Shores. Katelyn is a Graduate of Texas A & M at Galv est on , TX .

The couple met in 2009 at the wedding of Joshua’s older b rot h er, w h ere

Joshua served as the Best Man and Katelyn as the Maid of H on or. Josh u a’s roommate from CS-40, Jared Thompson, and his wife, Sarah , w ere i n at tendance at the wedding.

to hear what life has in store for you next. Congrats!

Other Updates:_Brian Walsh sent me a very historical update on Facebook. He flew the very last operational mission out of Iraq with 125 mili tary personnel (including two major generals) onboard a C - 17 . T h e t o w e r

controller was even onboard maki ng it a takeoff from a n u n c o n t r o l l e d a i r field. All that remains are embassy personnel. He said it was an amazing and emotional experience for all on board. Brian also had another impor tant mission a few weeks ago; he flew fellow classmate a n d T r a c k & F i e l d

teammate Lindsay (Bengard) Williams out of Afghanistan h o m e f r o m h e r deployment. Here’s a great shot of them together in the cockpit. Great job B; you’re doing great things and making us proud!

Joshua and Katelyn Callahan

John Rader recently returned from a deployment to Al D h afr a A B, UAE,

where he served as a wing intelligence officer. He’s currently stationed at Buckley AFB, CO, along side fellow ’08 grads Austin Bergstrom , Ty Paf fett ,

Jake Lynes, and Greg Adam. John and his wife, Brianna (Pet r ie), recen t ly celebrated their second anniversary on Feb 27'^ Coincidently, John’s fat h er an d Bri an n a’s fat h er w ere classm at es i n th e U SA FA C l a ss o f 19 7 6 .

Brian Wal sh and T.indsay (Bengar dI Wil liam s

John says, “we don’t have any kids, but we have a Great Dane that keeps us pretty busy." Before leaving on deployment last fall , Joh n an d Br i an n a drove to New Mexico for the AF/ UNM football game. While in Albuquer

que, they were able to spend time with Tim Doster and h i s w i fe, Ol ivi a, as

Trent on Sand berg 24 0 0 4t h Ave., Apt . 4 5 9 Se a t t le , WA 9 8 1 2 1

(719 ) 64 6-90 9 0 t renton.sa ndberg@gmail.com

Rich t er Class,

Jethro Sador ra married Ashley Timmreck on Nov 19'" in Williamsburg, VA. The couple met at Langley AFB, VA, where Jet was st a t i o n e d a s a C i v i l

Engineering Officer. Jet and Ashley spent their honeymoon i n t h e D o minican Republic in a week of relaxation by the pool a n d o n t h e b e a c h .

This past December, Jet departed on a remote assignment t o O sa n A B , Korea. Ashley is currently employed as the Base Water Quality Manager for Langley AFB. Ashley, a New Orleans native, holds an undergraduate

degree from TexasA&M and an MBA from Colorado Tech.

w e l l a s Pa u l C a r u so .

Casey Bustamante has returned from her overseas assignment t o A v i ano AB, Italy, and is currently assigned to the Pentagon. Sh e m a d e t h e

move last May and loves living in Washington, DC. Casey a t t e n d e d t h e

wedding of Jet and Ashley Sadorra in nearby Virginia l a st N o v e m b e r .

Cory Pilinko iscurrently assigned to Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, where he flies the HC- 130P In December, Cory returned from his fi rst deployment to SW Asia. Later

this year, he’ll be transitioning to the HC-130J and w i l l

likely have another deployment in the cue.

CJ Thomsen returned from a deployment to Kan dahar Airfield, Afghanistan at the end of January. C J

was assigned to the 772d Expeditionary Airlift Squad ron, flying the C-130J in support of OEF. Specifically, CJ transported cargo and passengers to isolated air

fields throughout the country. He also airdropped a

Sabre Soc iety Do n o r s

2

tremendous amount of supplies to Forward Operating Bases, thus alleviating the need for ground transportation o n l E D - l a d e n roads. CJ currently lives in Abilene, TX, with his wife, Brittney, two dogs and no kidsjust yet. “To the class of 2008 -- Conp ats if you got selected

as Captain; otherwise you may be one of the first to ' 5 a n d d i v e ’ a s a I L t !"

Steve “Mumbles” Burgess is currently living wi th his w i f e, Jessi ca, i n

LasVegas, NM. Steve is assigned to the 65"’ Aggressor Squadron (F- 15s)

as an Intelligence Offi cer. Living in Vegas has been great for Steve, as he has taken up card counting as a hobby. Last week, on a whim, he bought 3 M5s and hired Mario Andretti to deliver them, personally. Why? Well, as Steve puts it , “why not?” Check out his Facebook page for some pretty crazy photos.

This will be my last submission as class scribe. Christin B r o d i e w i l l b e

taking over my duties and can be contacted at christin.brodie@ram st e i n . af.mil and cbrodie2@me.com. It has been a pleasure Faceb ook (an d ot h erwise) stalking you for the past 3V2years, and I w ill co n t i n u e t o do so, b u t in a less “official” manner ...- Trent Sandberg

V i si t t h e A O G W eb Si t e. / ethro and Ashley Sadorra (courtesy of Kim Harrison Nodurf t Photog raphy) This past fall, Joshua Cal lahan married Katelyn Capizzo o f St . C l a i r Shores, ML The wedding was held on Oct 8'" at St. Joan o f A r c h C h u r c h

Gone But Not Forgotten, M erchandise and m ore! www.usafa.org 13 3

C la s s

N ew s

Fo rrest Un d e rw o o d 9 2 2 0 B Ca r ls o n St .

De l Rio , TX 7 8 8 4 0

Sobey is deployed fl ying KC-135s. Cameron Unterberger, Br ook s A d am o ,

58% M e m b e rs ‘

Erin McCor mick , Tyler Stecker , Brian Dunn, Ross Jones, Kar an Ban sal , Lisa Bush and Greg Jemo are deployed fl ying MC-12s. Kelly McGowan is

t h e fir st of ou r cl assm at es t o ret u r n fr om an M C- 12 t o u r . Sh e ’s h e a d e d t o

Charleston to fl y C-17s! Welcome hack! SpenceArmstrong is deployed.

Dave Butler ran the Honolulu Marathon. Derek Andeweg h a s su r v i v e d Little Rock and will be testing his mettle in Japan. Brian Mueller j ust fin ished up his 2-year Marshall Scholarship in the UK a n d e a r n e d t w o M a s

forrest underwood@gmail.com

Fa c e b o o k : Fo rrest J. Und e rw o o d

Classmates! Keep sending updates on where you are, what you’re do

ing, and I ’ll continue to post!

ter’s degrees from King’s College London (MA in Science and Security) and Queen’s University Belfast (MA in Violence, Terrorism, and Security).

He’s starting ENJJPT on 26 January.

Mike Knapp had his dollar ride.

If you happen to be a family member, friend, etc. and you would like

m s

to submit info for the next Checkpoints update for t h e

Class of 2009 (HUB!), please feel free to send it my w ay :

forrestunderwood@gmail.com.

'A,

It ’s ou r t im e, For rest .

EN GA GEM ENTS; Lau r a Wal sh an d Er ic Evan s, Sean

Rotbart, Stephen Jude, Dan Castle, Jeremy Fox, Bob

€m

M A RRI ED : Kedem Al on , Josh H ef fer n an , Al ex

Sabre Society

' OlH

Car ney, Mike Laney, Nick Grleco, and Jessica Soto.

Vane, Alex Hill, Jennifer Gulbransen, Mark Bishop, Nate McCaskey, Spencer Lee, Brian Groth, and Brady

jM e m b e rs ] To d d Ga m lle s

20 1 Ocheckpoints@gmail.com (503 ) 36 7-0717 '■

Donors

None Yet

Ubanovsky.

BABIES: John Fugate, Aaron and Merideth (Leak e) Kirkof, Sean Mal anowski , Jay Cor rell , Preston Moon, a n d B r i a n D o sa ( T W I N S!) .

EXPECT I N G: Josh M ar tz an d D ave Br ow n

ASSI GNMENTS: Brian Williams (Intel) - Ramstein AB; Nate McCaskey - F-16, Luke ALB; Ryan Harr ison - C-21, Ramstien AB; Kedem A i o n - K C 135, Fairchild ALB; Mike Reeder - RC-135, Offutt ALB; a n d K u r t C l o u t i e r - A - 10, Korea.

DEPLOYMENTS: Jordan Bar ber is a deployed CL Officer.

Another great quarter for the class of 2010. Starting things off as usual in the marriage/ engagement department. Brian Thor n m ar r ied h is w if e, Eleanor, back in May 2011 at the Cadet Chapel. The couple is currently stationed at Buckley ALB, CO.

Classm at es i n th e Sab er Ar ch in clu d ed Sam Bar b ar o , Au st i n K r oh n , an d D an i el H u r t t . Ot h er m em

bers of the arch were 2d Lt Jordan Sheffer (‘11), CI C

David Gillette (‘12), CI C Jeff Keating (‘12), and C2C

Pet er Jack son (‘ 13). Grad u at es i n at t en d an ce i n clu ded

Shannon Bar bara , Seung-Min Baik, Hannah Marceio, I Lt Chris Schlener (‘07) and his wife, LeAna; I Lt Austin Bergstrom (‘08) and his wife. Holly; I Lt Doug Sutton (‘09); 2d Lt John Dolan (‘10), 2d Lt Stephanie St anford

Sabre Society Do nors

None Yet

(’l l ); CI C Jordan Keefer (‘12), CI C Stephen Mellinger

(‘12); and C2C Molly Crosby (‘13). Speaking of Hannah M ar cei o , sh e an d

Greg Haverkorn (’09) also got engaged recently. DougZschoche proposed to his fiance, Marissa, our Class President Josh Lapso got engaged to his fiance, Flor, and Michael Bates proposed to Jess Gentry (’ l l ) .

Jo r d an Bar b er ) OT H ER SPOOGE: Jesse Pr at er refu els for m er r oom m at e Mike Laney.

B r i an an d E l ea n o r

It’s also been a good month for our classmates like M i c h a el B a t e s w h o

have completed all phases of fl ight training and have b e e n aw a r d e d t h e i r

Prater and Laney Maria Sadorra graduated from the Army’s MISO course i n O c t o b e r 2011 and is now filling an Army billet at MacDill AFB EL. Spence Ar m strong was one of the last to deploy to Iraq. Hanna Joy Kosirog is a de ployed Contracting Officer in Afghanistan. Andrew Roberts is deployed is a Depot Liaison Engineer. Katelyn Rielly is deployed to Afghanistan. Matt 13 4

aircraft assignments. Michael got a C-130J assignment, V a n e ssa W a r w i c k will be fl ying U-28s, and Eric Dar wi n got C-17s to Hickam (rough assign ment!). Other assignments for those in the “heavy track” include: Ryan For tney and John Kuconis will fl y C-17s out of Charleston. Jo e A n d e r se n was assigned to a C- 17 squadron at McChord, Ryan McCoy will pilot C130s from Little Rock, Jared Wagner picked up a KC-10 assignment to Mc Guire, Josh Schiffer is heading to Travis to fl y KC- l Os, M a r c u s M o s h e r i s

heading east to fl y KC-135Sat Seymour-Johnson, Jay Sb a l e c k b r i sk i i s a l so

heading to Washington to for KC-135Sat Fairchild, an d l ast b u t n ot l east , Tim Philips will be in the cockpit of some E-8s down a t W a r n er - Ro b b i n s.

John Reboiiedo got himself a nice gig to Yokota AB to fl y the C-130E/ H and Matt Fair will be joining Marcus at Seym our-Johnson but will be fl y ing the F- 15 Strike Eagle.

Best of luck to those moving on to their next assignment! If you are in

of the support or maintenance career fi elds at one o f t h e b a se s l i st e d above where these future pilots are heading, give ’em h oller, d o a l it t le catch-up, and make them feel welcome. As always, if you know of some o n e

class-related news I didn’t share, please write to th e e-m ail ad d ress ab ov e or drop me a note on Facebook. ’Til next time, blue skies and tailwi nds!

Schaer (a civilian police officer) in Caramel, CA on the beach. They are

now residing in Enid, OK, where Courtney is rocking o u t i n U PT .

Kim Burghardt and Lamin Jackson were fi nally married (waiting 5 years!) on August 19, 2011 and are happily living out t h e i r m a r r i e d l i f e a t Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina where Kim is a n a i r c r a f t m a i n t e n a n c e

offi cer and Lamin is a munitions offi cer. Kyle Moses m a r r i e d N i k k i

Godinez on July 10, 2011 in Huntington Beach, CA. They are currently at Sheppard AFB where Kyle hasjust started ENJJPT.

Eliza b et h Bo r ro n i 8 1 4 9 A Jo h n so n St .

Del Rio, TX 7884 0 (979 ) 571-118 0 elizabet h.borroni@gmail.com

T Class of Ol ds,

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a great start t o t h e N ew Ye a r and is doing well. I sit writing this as I take a break from studying the

mounds of study material that has built up for UPT. It’s been crazy here at Laughlin but I would have to say that all the Lts from our class going through pilot training right now would agree that it is awesome flying 200 KIASand doing crazy aerobatics in the air. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

With that being said, I hope everyone is excelling at their respective tech sc h o o l s a n d i n t h e i r n ew u n i t s !

It was a pretty quiet quarter for class updates, but I d o h av e a f ew a n nouncements. Courtney Vidt Schaer was married on July 6, 2011 to Greg

K e n an d N i k k i

Andy Cutler proposed to Rebekah Chace over Christmas b r e a k a n d they are planning their wedding for May 26, 2012 in M er i di an , I D . D om i nic Collins got engaged to Kylie Sullivan and Neil Delaney got engaged to

Ashlee Robb. Jamie Lemieux and his wife, Beth, are e x

pecting their second child so please congratulate them

if you see them!

Our class has also had some exciting news in sports.

Jacques Lamoureux is currently playing professional hockey part time for the Alaska Aces while he is sta t i on ed at Elm en d or f A FB. H oll an d D avi s Can t er (m ar

r

m

I

' ’Oti l I- s'-

%

ried to Garrett Canter, ’10) competed in the Iron Man

Sabre Society

Way to go Jacques and Holland!

I know that our class is doing great things, so please feel free to send me updates. It was pretty quiet this

N o n e Ye t

Naturally competition and won P' place for physique!

Do n o r s

quarter and I don’t want to have to resort to Facebook to get good info.

So again, keep the news and photos coming so everyone i n o u r c l a ss c a n be kept up to date with engagements, weddings, babies, deployments,

Court ney and Greg

moves, drops and anything else special or exciting! Al so, if you happen to be a family member, friend, etc. and have some great news concerning a

2011grad, please feel free to send it to me! Take care u n t il n ext t i m e, Liz.

GoneBut Not Forgott en: David J, Salazar, V9 (Conti nuedfr om page 92.)

Dave, ever the silent machine, hung back with the rest o f u s u n t i l w e

got tired, then raged as we fell back. Training sessions were routinely a contest among upperclassmen to see who could throw the most weight in a ruck and keep up with the freshmen. Dave didn’t always win, but it sure hurt trying to beat him .

CS-28’s nickname communicated how highly we thought o f h i m : “ 4 0 Dave.” We never specifi ed GPA, M PA or PEA, because D av e w a s su r e to achieve them all through silent diligence. Dave n ev e r b o a st e d - i f w e

wanted to congratulate him, it required us asking how w el l h e h a d d o n e .

Dave was a Distinguished Graduate (#28 - Badass Blackbirds!) o f t h e USAFA Class of 2009. We know he did that on purpose. After gradua tion, Dave was assigned to Minot AFB as a Security F o r c e s o f fi c e r .

Dave was always a true friend, a genuinely selfless ally, helping sev

eral peers move their belongings ahead of massive flooding i n M i n o t in 2011. This is no surprise - the hundreds of folks w h o h av e b o r r o w e d

equipment, received a car ride, asked for help with sch o ol w ork , h ad

a moral dilemma, or needed a workout buddy know Dave was always available, always placing others’ needs above his own. I n a c u l t u r e t h a t places great pride in being a good wingman, Dave was t h e b e st .

The many phone calls, emails, and letters I’ve received in the past month highlight how highly CS-28 and the Cadet Wing t h i n k o f D a v e .

Thank you to everyone who helped spread the word in a respectful and

meaningful manner. (Andrew Teague, closef riend and classm a te)

(Editor’s note: TheAOG does not always have all the inf orma

tion concerning the death of a graduate. We only publish t h e inf ormation we haveavailable on each deceased graduate.)

At press time we learned of the deaths of the following grad

u at e s:

Col. (Ret) Richard C. Wheeler, Class of 1962, who died o n Jan. 22, 2012 in Denver, Colo.

Lt . Col. (Ret) Lynn E. Gulick, Class of 1963, who died o n D e c .

17 , 2 0 10 .

Col. (Ret) Kenneth R. Marshall, Class of 1967, who d i e d o n Jan. 9, 2012 in New York City, N.Y.

Maj. (Ret) Gary E. Gumbert, Class of 1970, who died o n F eb .

19, 20 12 in Au st i n , Texas

Lt. Col. (Ret) Gary F. Giesecke, Class of 1971, who d i e d o n

Jan. 4, 2012 in Bellingham, Wash.

M r. Keith C. Steinbaugh, Class of 1976, who died on Feb. 22, 20 12 in Pl an o, Texas.

Mr. Timothy M. Hughes, Class of 2004, who died on Feb. 2 1,

20 12 i n Bu rb an k , Cal if .

1st Lt. Justin J. Wilkins, Class of 2009, who died on Feb . 18, 2012 in a U-28A aircraft accident in Dj ibouti, Africa.

Our sincere condolences to the family and friends of t h e se graduates.

13 5

Editors note: Dick Rebolledo is the father of Class of 2010 USAFA graduateJohn E. Rebolledo.

■

D o ne w i t h t he Ai r Fo rce I w ou ld be.

Back from “Nam” in sixty nine, my active duty complete.

But what might lie ahead to r me?

lust a k id , I c rew ed a Merc f or th e 374 th . An “A” m o d el t o b e ex a c t .

Her name was 55-007 as 1recall. But now, j ust a memory f o r u s a l l .

Now bu sin ess, sch ool , a sk i m ou n t ai n in Ver m on t . W h at more could a single guy want?

Next, marriage and a family you see, “truly blessed” my friends would say to m e .

Then a son arrived, handsome, curious, and smart.

“A meel” he would yell as he pointed to the sky, his little word for airplanes that flew by.

Td talk about my mighty Here and all that she could do. His dark little eyes wide with interest.

Bu t n ev er a w o r d I k n ew .

Dad's Here always brought him home at the end of the day,” I would say.

Perhaps you might fly in one someday?

Was it the tales of my powerful Merc to this little boy with eyes so dark that lit the spark in his heart?

B u t n ev e r a w o r d I k n ew .

Private school, orthodonture, skiing and CAP. Better grades and hard work is where it’s at.

Then one day a letter came, “Congratulations," it said. " Bu t Dad , w hat shoul d I d o?

Son, you can not go wi ong wi th the Silver and Blue.

It was a good day.

Four years went by in a Bash- how our lives had changed.

As the jets thundered by we all learned what makes service caps fly!

Our handsome firsty cadet smiled bright. A proud young officer that night.

Was it th e tales o f th at nob l e I lerc that f lew FAC at night over that dangerous trail that lit the fire i n h i s h ea r t ?

B u t n e ve r a w o r d I k n ew .

Now here 1am standing tall , numb with pride. Silver wings in my hand say my handsome young lieutenant will fl y.

A joyous day for those in blue- tradition, respect, dignity through and through Yes, it all comes clear to me. A Hercules pilot he w i l l b e.

Cod and the 1lercs knew my destiny.

I lercs got m e hom e so a fat her I cou ld be, to t ell the stories now just a memory.

Not i n m y w ildest d ream s cou ld t h is com e t r ue.

His orders say th e 374th.

The fortunes of life can puzzle you.

D on e w it h t h e Air Fo rce I w o u ld b e?

1 had no clue, w h at t h e Ai r Force h ad in st o re fo r m e .

Take comntand of your f ut ure.

J o i n t h e U SA A Te a m .

Joining t he USAA team means more t han j ust st art ing a new j ob. We are dedicated to helping t hose in t he milit ary community m e e t t h e i r f i n a n c ia l goals wit h insurance, banking, invest ments, and an u n m at c h e d le v e l o f service t hat always put s our membership's needs first . Your milit ary service is t est imony t o your values and work et hic, and you k n o w o u r m e m b e rs better t han anyone - you're already part of t he family w e s e r v e .

See what we have t o offer t oday. usaa.com/careers | facebook.com/usaacareers Insurance Banking Invest ment s Ret irement Advice

U SAA W e k n o w w h a t it m e a n s t o se r v e ?

USAA means United Services Automobile Association and itsaffiliates. USAAisan Equal Opportunity/Afl firmativeAction Employer. ® 2012 USAA. 136719-0212

POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Checkpoints, Association of Graduates, Doolittle Hall, 3116 Academy Drive, USAF Academy, CO 80840-4475.

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