CLASS NOTES than what I can get off MySpace or Facebook. They are too poor quality to put in the Review. Just send them to me as the original file, and I’ll be sure to put them in the Review for you. Take care, and God Bless! Rah VA Mil!!!
’07
Sally Coffman Arciero
I hope that these notes find everyone well. It’s certainly been a struggle keeping in touch with you all after graduation. We are all beginning our careers and moving to different areas of the country and even the world. My knowledge of your updates is limited, and I need your help to ensure that I have current information. If something awesome has happened to you and it’s not included in this first set of notes, then I probably don’t know about it. So, if there is something you want in the next set of notes, use my contact information to update me. This includes new marriages, births, PCS orders, etc. ... I will endeavor to check up on all of you the best I can, but you know how to reach me, as well, so don’t be strangers! And now, on to the notes ... As most of you probably know, Joe Cassin married Caitlin Cassin soon after graduation, and they are now the proud parents of triplets. I believe these are the first ’07 babies! Joe is now working as a hardcore police officer in California. I was able to catch up with the Cassin family, Chris Chang-Lo and Lt. Jenifer Farkas in San Francisco over the 4th of July weekend and got to see these babies myself! It was an enjoyable time, and it was nice seeing some familiar faces out here on the West Coast. Chris Chang-Lo is living in San Rafael, California, and is working as an Internet Banker in San Francisco. Sounds rich ... Lt. Jenifer Farkas is currently stationed at Vandenburg Air Force Base in California. I believe that Lt. Paul Issler and Lt. Justin Blanks are there with her. From what I gather, she is enjoying herself immensely. Elizabeth Davis (Gauthier) and Josh Gauthier married last year, as well. Last I heard, they are living happily in Florida. I believe they have a new house and 3 dogs to keep them busy. My old roommate, Vanessa Berrios, married Lt. Jeff Butwell ’06 pretty soon after graduation. They live somewhere down South, I think, maybe near Fort Bragg. Isaac Ostlund also tied the knot to the new Mrs. Candace Ostlund. I have a crazy story concerning Isaac. I was driving home from work out here in Monterey, California, one day, and I was passed by a bicycler at a traffic light. I thought it looked amazingly like Isaac Ostlund, but I had no
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knowledge of him being in Monterey, as well. As soon as I got home, I sent him a message seeing if he was indeed living out on the West Coast. Turns out he does not live here, but he WAS visiting Monterey on a business trip and he WAS biking around the town in his spare time. Small world. So, apparently he is now happily married and NOT living in California. Lt. Blair Zaremba (DiDomenico) also married Lt. Joseph DiDomenico ’04 last year. Currently, she is deployed to Iraq, I believe. My thoughts and prayers are with her, as well as with Lt. Abby Ward, who is also deployed to Iraq right now. I hope they both return safe and sound. I keep in touch with Jeff Choma from time to time. He is working as a Maryland State Trooper now and lives with his girlfriend, Tori, and 3 cats. So, if you’re ever passing through Maryland, keep an eye out for him cruising the roads. We have several Brother Rats attending graduate school in Virginia (at Virginia Tech, I think). Among them are Eri Kamura, Karen Bill and Wesley Thomas. From what I hear, they’re living it up and having a great time. I’m pretty jealous. (Editor’s Note: At press time, Karen Bill is teaching at VMI in the Civil Engineering Department.) I’m sure you know that our Regimental Commander Lt. Sal Sferrazza is making his way through Pararescue School. Good luck to him in his endeavors, but I hear he doesn’t really need luck to kick a#&. Would you really expect any less? Jamaal Walton, our fearless leader, is in graduate school at FSU. I’m sure he is enjoying the Florida beaches in his spare time. Lucky guy. Lt. Quincy Washa is newly stationed in San Diego, California, at the Marine camp there (Camp Pendleton, is it?). Lt. Farkas and I are trying to get another West Coast reunion together for the Labor Day weekend, but looks like Lt. Washa won’t be able to make it. Lt. Tabitha Pinter is in North Carolina doing Marine things. She has a nice house and has more fun than I do. Mira Veis is living in Washington, D.C., or Arlington ... or are they the same thing? She definitely seems to be having a great time. She has a new dog, as well. Also in Washington, D.C., is Laura Hash who lives with Danny Plitnik. I think they are both in grad school. Lt. Jose Lopez just moved somewhere, but I forgot where – Oklahoma or something like that. He’s doing hardcore Army stuff. We keep in touch sometimes, but apparently he leads a boring life, as he doesn’t seem to have much information to pass on to me. (Just kidding, Joe-Frank.) Finally, for myself. I am married now and I am living in Monterey, California, where I am working for the Air Force. I am actually studying some hardcore Arabic out here at the DOD language school. I have 3 dogs, and they are quite possibly
the spawns of Satan. I’ll be moving on from Monterey, hopefully, in the fall when I graduate the course here and they put me in Texas for some more schooling. Until then ... wish me luck with the final test ... I hear it sucks. That about sums up all the information I have on you all. Please, don’t hesitate to contact me with updates or information or even just to chat. My phone is pretty much perpetually off, but I’m pretty good about calling back, once I get a message. Remember, if I don’t include something important about you, I don’t know it. So, make sure that I do for the next notes! Hope to hear from you guys. Take care of yourselves, and God bless.
’08
Robert Hill
As it gives me great pleasure to submit our first set of class notes, I must also pass on some bad news. On the 8th of July, 2008, Cpl. William “Billy” McMillan III was killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Billy spent his Rat year at VMI before deciding to enlist in the Army. He was serving as a medic with the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, parents Lloyd and Marge, and siblings, Brad and Lauren. Billy earned the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. Ty Anthony, Zach Carmen, Scott Sanders, Jacob Widrick and Lexington local Brice Bahhur recently returned from a trip to Uganda, Africa. Uganda is bordered by the Sudan on the north, the DRC in the west, Rwanda in the southwest, Tanzania in the south and Kenya in the east. The group went to volunteer at an orphanage in Lira, Uganda, which is in the northern part of the country. Their trip was set up thru MAJ Diorio of the VMI Navy ROTC department. Mrs. Diorio is from Uganda and MAJ Diorio has travelled there several times. His wife is good friends with the hosts of the VMI group, who have built over 70 schools and orphanages around Uganda and the neighboring countries. The group’s first few days were spent in Kampala, the capital, with their hosts. After staying in Kampala, the group travelled to the primary and secondary school in Lira, Uganda, a few hours north of the capital. Their hosts also had a house near the schools which they built, so they stayed with them. The children in the secondary school/ high school are sponsored by donors overseas and stay in dormitories. According to Ty, “They are mostly orphans who have lost their parents and/ or families in the recent civil wars in Uganda.”
VMI ALUMNI REVIEW