CLASS NOTES well as Eric Hunter, Evan Roddenberry, Matt Mitchell, Jarrett Moran, Andrew Sullivan, Jacob Widrick, Christopher Boyls-White, Chris Haviley, John LaRue, Jonathon Tishman, Patrick Zanelotti and David Jacobs. Congrats to Jesse and Michelle. Philip Jones was also married recently. He and the former Ms. Christine Flood were married in Lexington on Aug. 8th. Congrats to the two of you! Phillip is in his second year of law school, as well as serving in the Coast Guard Reserve. Ben Curle was kind enough to send me an update on a few of our BRs before deploying. Ben wrapped up Army Transportation School at Fort Eustis in December of 2008. Ben graduated with Jake Vishneski, Garrett Smith, Mike Karlson and Josh Wilson. Eric Swann was in the next class. That group of guys managed to dress up like penguins for Halloween and ventured down to Norfolk to party with a few West Point grads. After Ben completed school as part of the reserves, he started his trainee program with Norfolk Southern at Greenville, SC. During his program, he ran into Mike Boykin and Josh Patoka. In March of 2009, Ben was called to active duty with the South Carolina National Guard. He is currently serving as the 1st Platoon leader in the 1055th Transportation Company in Iraq. They are escorting numerous conveys around. Before heading to Iraq, Ben ran into Peter Blades at the PX at Fort Stewart. Ben also gave me an update on several BRs he’s visited with since graduation. He visited Sean Ruppert in Charlotte. Sean is working with Bank of America and is doing well. Ben also headed to Steamboat Springs, CO, to go skiing with Nick Cutting and Frank Mariaro ’09. In numerous trips to Richmond, he saw Jim Andrew, Josh Gemedschiew ’07, Joel Keneipp and Jay Pontius. As I was writing these notes, Ben’s dad, Mack Curle ’75 (also the class agent) wrote me a note; they talked to Ben on Aug. 8th as Ben was completing a mission in Iraq as part of convey security. Chris Malta is still living in downtown San Diego while awaiting deployment as the strike officer on the U.S.S. Princeton (CG 59). They are scheduled to deploy in the summer of 2010. Tim Hichak is stationed at Camp Lejeune as a platoon commander for the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines. Phill Yi is still living in Newport News while working on his M.S. in environmental engineering which he will hopefully complete at the end of the fall term through Virginia Tech. Chip Chace has recently gotten back into VMI. He completed the spring semester with a 3.79 GPA and plans on graduating in December. Congrats! Bryan Curry is currently working as a New York City police officer in Brooklyn. He said his life has been exciting since graduation. Jason Pettengill and Peter Borchelt have finally
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started pilot training for the USAF. They are currently at Laughlin AFB and should be in training for about a year. They spend their free time in Del Rio and floating down the Bean Dip River. Nikolai Howe is also busy with pilot school in the Navy where he recently selected jets. Brett Skoog finished OCS for the Marine Corps in May and had eye surgery on Aug. 13th before heading to flight school which starts in November. Donnie Cowart is moving to Charlottesville, VA, to find a job and continue his running career. Donnie had an outstanding senior year. He was named the Co-Big South Track and Field Athlete of the Year. According to the VMI Keydets Web site, he was also named an All-American and finished 12th in the NCAA finals in the 3,000meter steeplechase. He also qualified for the U.S. National Outdoor Track and Field Championship in Eugene, OR. His outdoor season was amazing, in addition to a great indoor season. Congrats to Donnie on his accolades. Kurt Helfrich is in Texas for intel training in the Air Force. He mentioned how hot it is in Texas, but he loves the West. Lawton Drake is at Eglin Air Force Base for EOD school for the Army. He is living on the beach and blowing stuff up for a living, which doesn’t sound too bad. He is set to graduate on Nov. 10th. Kellen Travis is at Fort Rucker, AL, for Army Flight School. He left for SERE school on Aug. 10th for three weeks before returning to flight school for an additional 18 months. Evan Lyne taught English in Madrid, Spain, for the summer and returned to Richmond on Aug. 23rd. He is looking for a government job in the DC area. Ian Morris has been deployed twice to Iraq since leaving VMI. He is currently serving with the 6th Marine Regiment. He will be leaving the Marines in March of 2010. Tyler Anthony took a minute to express his feeling for Penn State. I guess he’s still taking the loss from 2008 pretty hard. Hopefully, by the time you read these notes, I’ve witnessed Penn State take it to Ohio State at Beaver Stadium. Tyler was close to graduating from Infantry Officer Course with Chris Alderman and Scott Sanders on Sept. 24th. Soon after, Ty will be heading to Afghanistan. Will Flathers took some time to send me a note about a few Brother Rats while he’s in school in England. Clint Adams is in flight school for the Marines at Pensacola, FL. Joe Prinzinger visited Will in May for New Market Day and our 1st anniversary of graduating in a Sheffield Pub. Will reported that the majority of the EEs from our class met in Richmond around Christmas of 2008. Will’s research is on Air Traffic Control Systems, and it’s going well for him. He’s traveled to Ireland, France and Italy. I am very happy with the amount of e-mails, Facebook messages and phone calls I received
for these class notes. I am also very excited to report that our class has done extremely well in giving back to the Institute since we’ve left. We have raised about the same amount of money as the class of 2007 since their graduation. You all answered the call in these tough times for each of us as well as the Institute. As I write these notes, I am preparing to head back to state college for another year of graduate school at Penn State. I’m living at the fire house, and it’s been great. Thanks again for all your support and communications. Stay safe, and God Bless!
’09
IanWilliams
Brother Rats: Can you believe that we finally have our own section in the Alumni Review? It doesn’t seem too long ago that we were in New Barracks courtyard screaming for cadre, and now we are alumni. I guess time flies when you’re having fun, right? Since graduation, most everyone I have talked with is staying pretty busy. I think the biggest news from the class so far comes from Jillian Weatherford (O’Hara). She and husband Grant Weatherford ’07 gave birth to Maebry Elanie Weatherford on June 21st. There have also been a number of weddings and engagements in our class. Josh Gerardo married his girlfriend, Heather, in Richmond, VA. Michael Harvey married his girlfriend, Erin, in Madison, VA. Corielle Parsons and Issac Putnam are engaged, as are Matt Hyatt and Roxanne Franck. Congratulations to all of you. Those BRs who commissioned into the Navy have been very busy. Doug Trask is in Charleston, SC, at Naval Nuclear Power School. He is roommates with Justin Smith, and Drew Thompson is there as well. From all accounts, they seem to be doing more studying there than they did at VMI. Holly Giacolone is currently deployed with the Navy out of Pearl Harbor on the U.S.S. Paul Hamilton. Thelmar Rosarda gets deployed with the Navy out of Mayport, FL, in October. Many of the Army second lieutenants were together after graduation. Daniel Brewer, Chris Brown, Gordon Holloway, David Schlaseman, Dave Radke, Tom Stauffer, Drew Miraldi, Zach Youngsma, Trent Blackman, Mark Gliebe, Hamilton Harris and Tom Duncan were all at Fort Lewis in Washington state to help with LDAC for the Army. When LDAC finished around the end of July, everyone scattered, mostly to Fort Benning or Fort Sill. Brewer had to stay at Fort Lewis a little longer
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