Checkpoints June 1998

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To

To

RW Yates, ‘60

2001

MA Anderson, ‘61

JJ

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RL Jones, ‘71

DLHargrove, '85

‘89

CHECKPOINTS

MBCasey, ‘96

ABOUT OUR COVER

The AOG Headquarters Building, Doolittle Hall, attracts many types of wildlife to include turkeys and deer. On the cover, “Bambi” was caught nibbling new spring grass in front of the flagpole and Pegasus near the building’s circular drive. Our thanks to AOG vice president. Development, Jim Shaw, ‘67, for his astute photographic skills.

CHECKPOINTS {ISSN 0274-7391) USPS 898-080 is published quarterly in Feb¬ ruary, May, August and November by the Association of Graduates, U.S. Air Force Academy. (Phone: 719-472-0300, DSN; 333-2067. FAX: 719-333-4194, Email: aog@aog-usafa.org) It is provided as part of amembership package of which the magazine subscription annuaUy accounts for $10. Single copies of CHECKPOINTS for members $2.50. Periodicals postage paid at the U.S. Air Force Academy, CO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to CHECKPOINTS, Association of Graduates, Doolittle Hall, 3116 Academy Dr., USAF Academy, CO 80840-4475

Opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policy or attitude of the Association of Gradu¬ ates, its officers or the editorial staff. The appearance of advertisements in this publication does not constitute an endorsement by the Association of Graduates of the products or services advertised. Copyright, Association of Graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Spring 1998

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80840

VIEW FROM THE HILL

Lt. Gen. Tad J. Oelstrom, ‘65, Superintendent

Numerous indicators suggest there is an information void across some spectrums of society concerning Air Force commissioning opportuni¬ ties. My fear is that we’re missing some of America’s best and brightest high school students simply because they don’t know about the Acad¬ emy or they don’t receive that crucial extra contact that may be the dif¬ ference in starting or continuing their application process.

Lt. Gen. Tad J. Oelstrom, ‘65

We’re fortunate to have an Admissions Liaison Of fi cer (ALO) force spread across the nation and overseas. They do great work for very little or no compensation. They spread the word about the Academy and AFROTC through various high school and civic venues and assist top-notch students in their application processes. Some are Academy grads, many are not, but all of them are dedicated to finding and moti¬ vating Air Force leaders of the future. As an alumnus, you can helpeither by joining our ALO team or by assisting ALOs in your area. Your duty status is not afactor; most of our ALOs are Reservists, but there are also Guardsmen, active-duty of fi cers, retirees, and civilians who round out the force.

An ALO is typically responsible for 5-20 high schools near his or her home. ALOs work closely with guidance counselors and other influen-

Donations Needed Now for Class Ring Display

Class rings from the U.S. Air Force Academy represent aU that the Academy stands for and form aunique, common bond among graduates of all classes. With the financial support of the Class of 1968, the Association of Graduates has established aclass ring dis¬ play on the second floor of Doolittle Hall. It is housed in abeautiful display case provided by that class on the occasion of their 25th reunion.

The display will consist of one ring (actually worn by agraduate) from each class. All people donating will be recognized for their donation, but no one will know whose ring is actually on display. Selection will be based upon the condition of each ring donated. Besides alist of donors, long-term plans could Include audiovisual or interactive computer presentations dealing vnth the heritage and tradition of the class ring, donor information and/or information on each class.

Several rings from each class will be maintained in reserve. Re¬ maining rings will be melted down to form an ingot. As the rings for each new class are poured, apiece of this ingot wili be included so that every cadet ring includes apiece of rings from all previous classes and represents an unbroken circle of heritage and tradition. The display case is completed, and we are now accepting ring do¬ nations. Besides the heritage and tradition that you will help estab¬ lish, your donation can serve to honor or memorialize agraduate as part of the donor iisting. Of course, any donation is also fully tax deductible. If you or someone you know are interested in donating aring, please contact Jim Shaw or Jack Mueller at (719) 472-0300.

tial school officials to contact promising students. Additional recruit¬ ing opportunities include air shows, college fairs, civic groups, and par¬ ents’ clubs, to name afew.

If you are already in the National Guard or Reserves, you can become an ALO as an additional duty. ALO duties become avaluable second source of points, and in today’s changing Guard and Reserve environ¬ ment, an ALO position is an excellent backup if your main slot changes or becomes unavailable. Active duty officers can also serve as ALOs as an additional duty. ALO duty is an excellent way to become involved in your local community and can be avery rewarding experience.

You retired officers and civilians are welcome to be ALOs, too! Many of you are long-term residents of your communities and are involved in civic activities. Your assistance could be very valuable to the Air Force! Many of our civilian ALOs have past military experience, are affiliated with local schools, or have sons or daughters at the Academy. Your material compensation will be minimal, but our ALOs tell us the real reward comes from knowing you’ve helped adeserving young Ameri¬ can get an Academy education and become apotential leader in tomorrow’s Air Force.

Regardless of your status, we can use your help in the ALO program. The real payback is helping America’s youth and, simultaneously, help¬ ing your Air Force. We’ll be glad to put you in touch with your local ALO director-just contact our Admissions folks at 1-800-443-8187. Ihope you’ll help us build the leadership base for tomorrow’s Air Force.

Former Superintendent Earns Character Develpment Award

Acting Secretary of the Air Force Whitten Peters presented former Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Bradley C. Hosmer, ‘59 with the first Malham Wakin Character Development Award during the secretary’s visit to the Academy April 17th.

Acting Secretary of the Air Force F. Whitten Peters presents former Acdemy Superintendent Lt. Gen. (Ret) Bradley C. Hosmer, ‘59, with the first Malham M. Wakin Character Development Award medal. (Photo by S.S. Hampton Sr.)

The award recognized significant acts which are consistent with the Academy’s definition of character and the Air Force core values. The award honors retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Malham Wakin, professor emeritus of philosophy, and is presented to Academy graduates, ca¬ dets or members who made significant contributions to cadet charac¬ ter development.

Hosmer is credited with creating acoherent, unified character devel¬ opment program across all Academy mission areas. He established a blue-ribbon panel composed of senior Academy and civilian officials to determine the Academy’s character development requirements and recommend acourse of action.

Ultimately, Hosmer created acharacter development center and al¬ most doubled human relations training and emphasized arespect for human dignity across the Academy, at times becoming personally in¬ volved in cadet discussion groups.

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DEAN’S DELIBERATIONS

Brig. Gen. Ruben A. Cubero, ‘61 Dean of the Faculty

Dean Bids Farewell and Recaps Last Seven Years

At last year’s graduation Ihad the occasion to speak at my old 15* Squadron’s commissioning ceremony. 1told the about-to-graduate cadets and their parents that in looking back on 36 years of active duty 1was totally surprised about four things. First was the durability of the friendships Ihad made with other cadets that has lasted throughout my lengthy military service. Second was the depth of feelings 1had for the Academy as my Alma Mater and the crucible of my development as an officer and person. Third was the realization that being amem¬ ber of the profession of arms was more difficult, and more rewarding, than Ihad imagined. And, finally, there was the profound sense of gratitude 1felt to my parents, wife and family for all their support, sac¬ rifice and love over the years. As 1leave the position of Dean, my think¬ ing has not changed. 1stUl cherish my family and friends, marvel at the complexity of being awarrior and feel exceptionally grateful that Ihave had an opportunity to guide the development of ffiture officers as the Dean of the Faculty for the last seven years.

Ihave also been most fortunate to work with amagnificent faculty and staff, both military and civilian, officer and enlisted. 1am proud of the quality of work we produced for the Academy, the Air Force and our nation. The first two years of my tenure as Dean were spent simply learning the tools of my trade. For the last five years the faculty and I have faced five major challenges that caused us to spearhead anum¬ ber of initiatives that will posture us well as aquality institution of higher education for the 2P' century. 1believe, we have made signifi¬ cant progress in each of these important areas.

The first challenge that we faced was ASSESSING THE CURRICU¬ LUM—rediscovering the roots of our educational philosophy, notic¬ ing how and why it has changed over the years and envisioning what it should be like for the future. Moreover, it was important to develop a process by which we could make significant changes to the curricu¬ lum. Finally, this challenge required that we articulate specific educa¬ tional goals or outcomes that we would be able to measure in our ca¬ dets and graduates in an effort to determine how well we were per¬ forming our jobs as educators. Overlaid on our traditional knowledgebased curriculum was our deep interest in developing critical think¬ ing, lifelong learning, and relevant and effective professional officer skills in all courses taught at USAFA. What rernains is to assess these skill-based outcomes and to incorporate those assessments into our curriculum change process.

The second challenge has been INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY into the very fabric of our educational curriculum. When Iwas acadet the technological marvel was the slide rule, afar cry from the sophisti¬ cated computers and fiber-optic networks that our cadets operate to¬ day with ease and efficiency. During my days as ateacher here, Ibe¬ came convinced computers would never replace teachers, but teach¬ ers who used computers effectively would replace teachers who did not. The technological revolution has had asignificant impact on ca¬ det education at the Academy by energizing instructors to learn more

about the learning process and to customize instruction to the needs of the individual. For the future we need to guarantee that funding will be available to meet our growing technology requirements and that reliability is ensured with technology now essential to almost all our academic programs. We also must reduce the burden on the faculty for the operational maintenance and upkeep of this vast technological in¬ frastructure.

The third challenge is INTERNATIONALIZING THE ACADEMY. There can be no doubt that for military solutions to world problems, the United States can no longer go it alone. In the same vein that we fo¬ cused on Joint Operations in the recent past, the time has come to ex¬ pand the horizons of our cadets to the world around them. We believe the United States military will participate in coalition forces as agen¬ eral rule rather than the exception for the 2P' century. Our officers need to have abroader awareness and deeper understanding of the cultures and people who will be fighting alongside them as allies. As the centerpiece of this challenge, there are 40 international cadets who attend USAFA for four years. Thanks to our International Programs Office (DFIP), we have enhanced their development here by providing them with suitable, nurturing roommates and sponsors. For the future, we need to continue strengthening our relationship with these cadets, es¬ pecially after they graduate, and afford them opportunities to stay con¬ nected with USAFA. Moreover, we should solicit their return as cap¬ tains or majors on the faculty to teach cadets from the perspective of a respected Foreign Liaison Officer.

Our fourth challenge has been CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR SUCCESS. We needed to bridge the culture gap between high school students and fourthclass cadets at USAFA. Part of the problem lies with the students and can be traced to alack of motivation, an immature work ethic, and confusion in setting priorities. Another part, however, rests with the institution in not properly developing learning skills that can help high school students negotiate avery rigorous first-year col¬ lege academic program at the Academy. Thanks to our Student Ser¬ vices Division under the Registrar, we are accomplishing much more nowto properly orient our fourthclass cadets toward satisfying the aca¬ demic requirements they will face in their first year at USAFA. By insti¬ tuting aLearning Skills Course, we have enhanced student learning, resulting in less academic failures during the first year.

Finally, the challenge with the most potential for dramatically improv¬ ing officer training at USAFA is arenewed focus on CHARACTER DE¬ VELOPMENT in all our cadets. We can be very proud that everyone stationed here plays arole in this program and that it is an integral part of the Air Force’s chain-of-command responsibility. Our character de¬ velopment program is based on professional core values and on the premise that healthy and frequent moral dialogue leads to higher moral action. We want the cadets to internalize the core values of our profes¬ sion: Integrity First, Service Before Self, And Excellence In All We Do. We want cadets to understand what makes America great by purposely focusing on our nation’s founding values. Moral dialoglng at USAFA will be carried out in the classroom with teachers, on the athletic fields with coaches and in the cadet squadrons with AOCs and MTAs. More intensive dialoging will be achieved by anew professional mentoring relationship between cadets and faculty and staff. Mentors, we are con¬ vinced, hold the key to the overall success or failure of the character development program.

Ihave been very involved with the Academy’s character development program since its inception five years ago. We are not only interested in developing our cadets into “good and just officers” but also we want them to develop into “good and just warriors." This is important be¬ cause it establishes the context for the entire character development program at USAFA. The major theme in that context is the Air Force’s “warrior ethos”— the guiding beliefs of our profession of arms. My great hope for our character development program is that all of us at USAFA

(Continued on page 9.)

W js:ai

Brig. Gen. Cubero, ‘61

First Annual Founders* Day Dinner Hosted at Doolittle Hall

More than 100 graduates, guests, and friends of the Academy gath¬ ered in Dooiittie Hall on April 3to celebrate the establishment of the United States Air Force Academy on April 1, 1954. Superintendent Lt. Gen. Tad Oelstrom, ‘65, was joined by former Superintendent Lt. Gen. (retired) Skip Scott in welcoming graduates from across the Front Range. An evening of fabulous food and special camaraderie was enhanced by historic artwork (including the Cecil B. DeMille uniform paintings) and memorabilia (including his own personal collection) which Gen¬ eral Oelstrom brought to Doolittle Hall.

Graduates, guests and Academy friends enjoy the Academy’s first Founders' Day dinner.

(Dean’s Deliberations: From page 7.)

will clearly present the Air Force’s “warrior ethos” to our cadets and help them understand and commit themselves to it. Ithink, how¬ ever, we still have work to do to be sure we ourselves can clearly articu¬ late and exemplify our service’s “warrior ethos.”

Last year Iattended alecture by the President of Little Big Horn Com¬ munity College, Dr. Janine Pease-Pretty on Top, aCrow American In¬ dian. She spoke earnestly about warriors in her society and what they mean to the Crow nation. Her articulation of the significance of war¬ riors in American Indian society is agood place to start to explain the Air Force’s “warrior ethos” to our cadets. To summarize her message, she presented three insights that provide an excellent foundation for our “warrior ethos.” Her first belief was “warriors guaranteed the sur¬ vival of their nation.” She then mentioned that “warriors provided her people with hope,” and she concluded by saying that, “warriors needed to be educated to reach their full potential for the nation.” In defining the Air Force’s “warrior ethos,” we should consider those same three insights.

The first guiding belief, then, of the Air Force’s “warrior ethos” is guar¬ anteeing national survival. This means that our cadets must fully un¬ derstand our military mission of “Flying and Fighting.” The last thing any of us wants is to have agraduate who discovers after graduation that he or she can not accept the moral implications of developing and using lethal military force. We need to emphasize strongly to our ca¬ dets that aU military members are warriors regardless of their career fields. If the symbol of lethal destructive power for the Air Force is the bomb, it doesn’t matter if you assemble the bomb, repair the bomb, maintain the bomb, transport the bomb, load the bomb, or drop the bomb; you are part of our warrior class. Our mission also stipulates that we engage in combat when ordered to do so by competent au¬ thorities, and we must have adeep-seated trust and con fi dence our leaders will do the right thing regardless of the consequences. We to¬ tally agree with George Washington who said: “Wars must be fought by leaders of character who are always activated by honor.”

The second guiding belief of the Air Force’s “warrior ethos” is that we bring hope to our people. This hope stems from our warriors’ willing¬ ness to fight. Amilitary member is willing to place himself or herself in harm’s way for the good of the country, for the good of the society he or she is protecting. Moreover, awarrior is willing to continue to fight until the adverse condition is improved or until the threat to survival is removed. The warrior validates the concept of sacri fi ce and service and defines what is “noble” in conflict or war. That is not to say that war itself is noble, though war can be and should be just. FinaUy, the willingness of awarrior to fight and possibly die for his or her country is THE noble gesture we need to instill in our cadets. The legacy of

One of the highlights of the evening was the display of historic Acad¬ emy artwork.

The superintendent presented awonderful slide show highlighting the history of the Academy and the contributions its graduates have made to the nation. Entertainment for the evening was provided by theAirForceBandofthe Rockies (formerly the Air Force Academy Band) whose patriotic shows are always outstanding.

Some other chapters, most notably the North Texas Chapter, have been holding Founders’ Day celebrations for anumber of years but this is the first time that Founders’ Day has been celebrated at USAFA. The Rampart Chapter, the AOG, and the superintendent hope to make this an annual event.

military members who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our coun¬ try is asource of great strength among all military members and repre¬ sents asacred bond that must never be broken.

The third guiding belief of the Air Force’s “warrior ethos” is the need to educate our warriors so they can fulfill their potential to our nation. When Ifirst became ateacher at USAFA, the Dean had quotes and say¬ ings placed strategically where the faculty could read them and reflect on their meaning. Iremember my favorite as: “When acountry draws abroad line of demarcation between its warriors and its intellectuals, it runs the very grave risk of having its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.”

Our country can afford neither, and so it falls on the Air Force Acad¬ emy to educate our officer candidates for our profession of arms. We must produce the tight blend of soldier-scholars, individuals who have agood understanding of Just War, and who can clearly express why nations go to war and how they should conduct war morally and le¬ gally, as well as militarily. Our cadets must learn the importance of our core values: Integrity, Selflessness and Excellence. If they are to be¬ come good and just military leaders, they must uphold high moral stan¬ dards in their everyday life so when the time comes for them to make heroic life-and-death decisions, they will instinctively seize the right course of action. Moreover, we must educate these officers so that they understand and appreciate our American values and our legacy of de¬ mocracy and freedom to fully comprehend why they would risk lives and limbs to defend our way of life. At USAFA our aspiring officer can¬ didates should be allowed to examine our nation’s founding values in open forum, from diverse perspectives and with time for reflection and critique. Over time such an educational foundation for our officer corps vUll provide the intrinsic motivation for our warriors to fight vUth their hearts and minds and virill allow them to commit themselves to our pro¬ fession of arms. Brig. Gen. Mai Wakin, the former Permanent Professor of Philosophy and Fine Arts at USAFA, summed this up very well for his classes on Just War in asaying: “The unexamined ideal is not worth dying for.”

There are many examples of great warriors in our society, but my choice is Senator John McCain from Arizona. Senator McCain was a prisoner of war in Hanoi, Vietnam, for more than five years and had to endure solitary confinement for 31 straight months. When he returned to the United States, areporter asked how he felt about the large num¬ ber of Americans who protested the war and our military involvement in Southeast Asia. After aslight pause, he answered simply that he didn’t mind because as amilitary person he was defending their right to do so. Ican find no better example of awarrior who understands our American values and is committed to our “warrior ethos.”

Farewell, my friends, and best wishes to the Academy for continued success in developing the Air Force warriors for the 2P‘ century.

Character Development Center Hosts First National Symposium

The Center for Character Development transitioned its annual sym¬ posium from aregional conference in 1997 to anational-level confer¬ ence in 1998. The symposium was held at the Air Force Academy from 4to 6March 1998. This enhanced forum attracted 18 speakers of na¬ tional prominence in their respective fields, as well as 10 other regional speakers.

The infusion of national authorities gave cadets, Academy staff, and invited guests the opportunity to interact with character-development experts. For the first time ever, this national-level format linked ca¬ dets, Academy staff, invited guests, and the center with research re¬ sources that are on the cutting-edge of character education in the United States.

The symposium offered 29 different sessions on character, leadership, and the warrior ethos. An average of 50 cadets, staff, and guests at¬ tended each session, with some speakers drawing up to 140 people in their session. The symposium also featured five keynote speakers, with atotal of approximately 8,000 cadets in attendance across those par¬ ticular talks.

Keynote speakers included Mr. Robert Timberg, author of The Nightingale’s Song; Maj. Gen. Jack Klimp, USMC, commanding general. Marine Corps Recruiting Command; Col. Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., staff judge advocate, U.S. Strategic Command; Col. Ronald M. Sega (Class of 1974), USAFR, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sci¬ ence, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs; and Col. Lloyd F. LeRoy, ‘71, and Lt. Col. Steven A. Simon, ‘77, USAF, Secretary of the Air Force Personnel Council.

During the symposium, retired Brig. Gen. Malham M. Wakin, profes¬ sor emeritus, was honored with the establishment of the Character Development Award in honor of Malham M. Wakin. The award will be given annually to an individual affiliated vdth the Academy who has made significant contributions to the character development of cadets at the Air Force Academy. General Wakin also presented the closing address to students attending the symposium.

The expanded format attracted 34 students from civilian institutions including The College of William and Mary, Baylor University, The Uni¬ versity of Texas at Austin, Notre Dame University, VanderhOt Univer¬ sity, Hampton University, The University of Arizona, Pepperdine Uni¬ versity, Colorado State University, Pacific Lutheran University, Bradley University, Cedarville College, The University of Puget Sound, The Cita¬ del, and Tulsa Community College. Twelve cadets and midshipmen from the Army and Navy service academies also attended. These 46 students interacted with more than 50 of our own USAFA cadets in a daylong student consortium, which included student presentations.

Other highlights of the meeting included aSenior Leadership

Dr. Russell W. Gough, professor of philosophy and ethics, Pepperdine University, discusses “The Value of Personal Ethics in Everyday life." Roundtable during which Academy senior leaders such as Lt. Gen. Oelstrom, Brig. Gen. Cuhero, and Brig. Gen. Lorenz exchanged charac¬ ter development and leadership ideas with eight of the symposium’s expert speakers.

Ahook-signing session gave attendees the opportunity to meet eight of the speakers who authored significant hooks in their field. Among the authors was Chad Hennings (Class of 1988), Desert Storm veteran, All-American foothall player and member of the Dallas Cowboys. Chad and Brock Strom (Class of 1959), as the latest and first Air Force Acad¬ emy All-Americans, conducted apanel entitled. Excellence in Charac¬ ter: The Winning Edge. Apanel dedicated to women in leadership was conducted by Maj. Gen. Martha T. Rainville, the adjutant general of Vermont; Col. Hedy C. Pinkerton, vice commandant of cadets, USAFA; and Lt. Col. Rita A. Campbell, selected permanent professor and head. Department of Management, USAFA.

The ability of the Center for Character Development to conduct the 1998 National Character and Leadership Symposium was due in sig¬ nificant part to the generous gift funding provided through the Asso¬ ciation of Graduates. Through the AOG funds, the center was able to meet the demands of this new and enhanced national program in ways that the center’s appropriated budget would not allow.

Students discuss character and ethics issues in the Arnold Hall Ballrom during the student consortium.

Seated at the table from left, Maj. Gen. Martha T. Rainville, the adju¬ tant general of Vermont; Col. Hedy C. Pinkerton, vice commandant of cadets, USAFA; and Lt. Col. Rita A. Campbell, selected permanent pro¬ fessor and head. Department of Managment, USAFA, discuss “Excellence in Character and Leadership: Breaking the Giass Ceiling."

Retired Brig. Gen. Malham M. Wakin was presented the first medallion commemorating the naming of the Malham M. Wakin Character De¬ velopment Award March 4. Wakin served as an Academy instructor and permanent professor from 1959 untii his retirement in 1995. He was also honored by the Association of Graduates in 1995 by being inducted into the AOG as an honorary member. (Photo by Roy Frazier.)

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Ritchie, ‘64, Named to Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame

Brig. Gen. (USAFR) Steve Ritchie, the Air Force’s first and only pilot ace since the Korean War and the only American pilot in history to dovm five MiG-2 Is, was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame on Nov. 1,1997. Chosen bythe Colorado Aviation Historical Society, Ritchie, currently an Air Force Reservist serving as mobilization assistant to the Air Force Recruiting Service commander at Randolph AFB, Texas, was honored at ceremonies at the Air Force Academy Officers Club.

Colorado Governor Roy Romer proclaimed Nov. 1as “Colorado Avia¬ tion Hall of Fame Day," coinciding with the induction ceremony. Ritchie, the only Air Force pilot ace of the Vietnam Conflict, flew more than 800 combat hours in the F-4 Phantom during 339 mission in the skies over Southeast Asia. On Aug. 28,1997 he celebrated the 25th anniversary of an aerial feat yet to be equaled. On that date in 1972, Ritchie, then a captain assigned to the famed 555th “Triple Nickel" Fighter Squadron, Udorn, Thailand, dovmed his fifth MiG-21.

In 1968, Ritchie served as an F-4 aircraft commander at DaNang Air Base, Vietnam, where he flew the first F-4 Fast FAC (Forward Air Con¬ troller) mission in Southeast Asia. He was instrumental in the spread of the Fast FAC program throughout Southeast Asia, which proved to be one of the most successful operations of the entire conflict. In 1969, he completed the Air Force “Top Gun" Fighter Weapons School in the Phan¬ tom and became one of the youngest instructors in the history of the school.

Ritchie volunteered for asecond tour in Southeast Asia in 1972 and compiled the aviation record which has not been equaled. He shot down aMiG-21 on thelOth of May and another on May 31st. He downed two more on July 8th in aclassic low-altitude dogfight. Ritchie was victori¬ ous again on Aug. 28th while flying his 339th combat mission, qualify¬ ing him as an ace.

Still actively flying, Ritchie is apopular speaker at aviation events and last year took part In the premier U.S. Air Force 50th Anniversary cel¬ ebration. HeflewanF-4EPhantomII during aspectacular event at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., staged to coincide with an historic air power meet¬ ing of more than 80 global air chiefs from around the world.

Currently, Ritchie travels the country, performing at air shows in aT38 supersonic trainer, swearing in new recruits and speaking to com¬ munity leaders and young people about opportunities available in today’s Air Force. Ritchie dedicated his special flights to all who flew

Brig. Gen. Steve Ritchie, ‘64, climbs from the cockpit of the McDonnell Douglas F-4D number463 after downing his fifth MIG-21. The aircaraft, now astatic display on the Academy’s terrazzo, was the only aircraft cred¬ ited with six kills since the Korean War. Ritchie made two of his kills in the aircraft.

the Phantom; paying tribute to the thousands of Air Force maintenance and support personnel, without whom he could not have survived more than 800 hours of aerial combat; and to the POWs, Missing in Action and Killed in Action of America’s armed forces.

Cadet Yearbook Takes Numerous Top Honors

Eor the fifth time in seven years and the fourth year in arow, the Acad¬ emy yearbook. The Polaris, was judged to be the best overall yearbook in the 14-state region that makes up the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Media Association (RMCMA).

The first place/best in yearbook honor for the 1997 Polaris yearbook was announced March 24 in Colorado Springs athe 74th annual RMCMA conference. In addition to this top honor, the 1997 Polaris and its staff earned 10 awards in individual categories.

The other 1997 RMCMA yearbook awards for the Polaris staff included: Cadet 1st Class Greg Pleinis, Cadet Squadron 9, won first place in the use of color category; Cadet 3rd Class Cory Willis, CS-5, tied for first in

the color photo category: Cadet 2nd Class Brian Brandow, CS-1, took first place in the feature photo category; Pleinis and now 2nd Lt. Rusty Evers tied for first place in the theme category.

Also, C2C Gayle Apolonlo, CS-34, won first place in the picture story category; CIC Mike Connor, CS-4, won second place in special effect photo category; Pleinis and Evers also tied for second place in the cover category; CIC Phil Hagen, CS-21, and Apolonio tied for second place in the layout category; CIC Elizabeth Ferrill, CS-6, earned third in the black-and-white photo category and now 2nd Lt. Mehdi Darakjy took second place in sports photo category.

Along with the RMCMA regional awards, 1997 Polaris staff members earned nine Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Circle Awards in national yearbook competition.

The Gold Circle Awards went to Pleinis, Hagen and Evers for afirstplace finish in mini-magazine design category; CIC Tom Preston, CS8, took first place in sidebar mini-magazine writing category; Brandow won third place in photo feature category; Darakjy received honorable mention honors in the academic photo category; C2C Celeste Rodriguez, CS-28, earned honorable mention in the academic spread category; Hagen and Evers earned honorable mention in division page design category; Pleinis and Evers earned honorable mention in theme development category; Willis and Evers earned honorable mention in caption writing, and Willis earned second place in the academic writ¬ ing category.

In November, the 1997 Polaris yearbook placed fourth in a“best of show” competition sponsored by the Associated Collegiate Press and the College Media Advisers.

This marked the first time the Polaris had piaced in the top five in this contest. (Information submitted by the Polaris staff, published in the Academy Spirit.)

Three 1997 Polaris staff members, from left, C2C Stafanie Myers (CS38), CIC Phil Hagen (CS-21) and Cl CGreg Pleinis (CS-09), relax in back of the award-winning yearbook.

Val Bourque, First Graduate War Casualty, Remembered

By Robert F. Dorr Air Force Times Columnist

(Editor's note: Our thanks to Mr. Dorr and the Air Force Times/or per¬ mission to reprint this article which appeared in theMarch 9,1998 edi¬ tion of the Air Force Times newspaper entitled "Always remember the price.” Mr. Dorr, an Air Force veteran, lives with his family and Labra¬ dor retriever in Oakton, Va.)

In mid-February, while plans shaped up for airstrikes on Iraq, one Washington bigwig after another trotted before television cameras to warn us that there would be aprice.

Before the situation was at least temporarily defused, the White House national-security adviser, Sandy Berger, stood in the bright iights and told Americans that military action against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein would mean casualties.

The men and women of the armed forces are prepared for this. No one wants to see asingle American fall in battle -we have even grown adverse to death and injury on the other side -hut if it should happen, we will need to remember.

On Oct. 25,1964, the Air Force lost apromising pilot, 1st Lt. Valmore Bourque, in aregion few American knew about, in awar that was soon to grow bigger than anyone could guess.

“He made adry pass,” flying over the drop zone to check wind condi¬ tions and to verify the location. Neither Bourque nor Thorpe realized that they were in the wrong place. Bourque signalled that he was pre¬ pared to make the airdrop. “He opened the ramp and that was when he was hit. He went into aright turn and crashed. There were eight Ameri¬ cans on his airplane, including two Army special-forces men.”

Thorpe remembered that “we saw no flames, no flash.” Hollywood loves fiery explosions, but in real life aircraft usually crash with adry, rending clump.

Later, it was apparent that the C-123B formation had strayed into Cambodia -acountry the United States would bomb later but with which it was not then involved. The United Sates acknowledged the error in astatement repeated in the Oct. 30,1964, edition of the news¬ paper Stars &Stripes. Bourque went dovm 300 yards from the Cambo¬ dian border.

Sadly, there is not enough space on this page to pay tribute to the other Americans aboard the C-123B or to the 58,000 more who per¬ ished later in Vietnam. But when Iponder the price of freedom, Valmore Bourque stands in my mind as the embodiment of everything Ameri¬ cans have been willing to give when called upon.

Bourque was my age. In high school, his goai -like mine -was to be accepted into the first class at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Unlike me, he made it.

He was the first person to take the oath as acadet at the Academy July 11, 1955. Academic troubles prevented him from graduating with the academy’s first class in 1959, but he did graduate with the class of 1960. He flew with the 11 th Aeromedical Squadron at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J. before going to Vietnam. He was, as Thorpe remembered, “a fine man and a fi ne of fi cer.”

Iwish we had agranite wall athousand miles long on which we could chisel in mile-high letters the name of every American who paid the ultimate price, as Bourque did. Should we ever forget, even for amo¬ ment, we will deserve our fate.

Some in Air Force blue may remember Bourque for another reason. He was the first graduate of the academy to die in combat.

COLORADO SPRINGS AREA

Valmore W. Bourque, ‘60

Bourque belonged to the 309th Troop Carrier Squadron at Saigon, capi¬ tal of acountry where 14,000 Americans were caught up in one of sev¬ eral obscure brush-fire wars raging around the world. He was pilot of a C-123B Provider, apropeller-driven transport used to haul supplies to the South Vietnamese army.

Ithink of Bourque when the price of war is pondered. He was from South Hadley Falls, Mass., and was active in baseball, soccer and ski¬ ing. He was regarded as asuperb pilot and officer but not ascholastic genius. He was the kind of American you’d want living next door and the kind you’d want standing with you in afight.

In 1964, Vietnam was an adventure where oddball characters fl ew old planes in the exotic Orient. As is often the case, ordinary-looking trans¬ ports were doing the hard work.

Retired Maj. Robert Thorpe of Clinton, Wis., who flew with Bourque, remembered that “we would have abeer on the sixth fl oor of the Rex

CHRIS WARACK '60

FALCON FOOTBALL 72-75 (SON MARK ’87) Hotel, look out across the Saigon River and see fighting in the distance.” Bourque spoke of his dream to fly executive transports at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., near Washington D.C.

The squadron was temporarily moved to Nha Trang. As Thorpe re¬ membered, “We were working for Army special forces, resupplying sat¬ ellite camps.” The C-123Bs were dropping supplies by parachute in a region where much of the ground was controlled by hostile Viet Cong guerrilias.

‘It was Bourque’s turn’

“It was our third mission of the day,” Thorpe recalled. “Bourque’s air¬ craft had been hit” by small-arms fire on the first two. The job of lead¬ ing the formation was rotated among pilots and it was Bourque’s turn. “We were dodging thunderstorms and making bundle drops near the Cambodian border when we spotted aplace on the ground that ap¬ peared to be our drop zone.

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Perspective Ojfered on T-3 Firefly Training Future

By Brig. Gen John F. Flanagan, ‘62

It looks like aminiature P-51 and as Iwatched it turn in the traf fi c pattern at USAFA, Ienvied the cadets who had the opportunity to fly the T-3.1 thought back to my first flight experience as acadet, the Pilot Indoctrination Program. It was in Texas, Harlingen, Moore Air Base, someplace near the Mexican border and the beaches of Padre Island. Recognition was behind us as was the 1959 Spring Field Trip. We were 3rd Classmen now, and were about to experience our first hands-on Air Force.

Eager for our experience, there were maybe eight of us in our group. We stole awalk to the flight line and approached the T-28, the aircraft that we were to fly. To me, it was awesome, even overwhelming, its cockpit towering over our heads, its prop glinting in the broiling sun, the skin so hot it couldn’t be touched. The following day we would meet our instructors, the masters of the sky who would help us tame this monster airplane.

Gathered in the flight room, we snapped to attention when the in¬ structors entered, led by awell-seasoned captain. The captain said a few words, then turned us over to our assigned instructors. Mine was of slight build, grizzled and hunched -the hunch probably from years of wearing aparachute. Acigarette dangled from his mouth -not ex¬ actly the image we were expecting of steely-eyed fliers and officer mod¬ els. And they weren’t; theywere civilian contract instructors who earned apaycheck teaching aviation cadets and the occasional officer. They couldn’t understand why we were putting in four years of college as cadets and wouldn’t even be pilots. But we got our flights, some per¬ forming better than others, and my instructor’s closing words to me were, “We’ll even make apilot of you.” Not very inspiring. He didn’t understand that Iwanted to be amilitary pilot more than anything else in the world and that was why Iwas at the Academy.

Now it was 1996. Ihad been invited to be the guest speaker at the Class of ’99 Recognition Dining-In. In anticipation of my visit, Ihad inquired if Icould have the opportunity to fly the T-3. With over 2,200 hours in the 0-1 and 0-2,1 had turned afew props and wanted to fly the Air Force’s newest recip aircraft. Paul Stein was the superintendent, and he pushed through the command bureaucracy for the appropriate clearance for me. Ihad learned that the T- 3s and the associated train¬ ing at the Academy were not under his purview, but were apart of Train¬ ing Command in distant San Antonio, Texas.

TheT3 Fire fl y Trainer

On the appointed day, my then-cadet stepson, perfectly attired in his flight suit, delivered me to the flight line. Iwas pleased that Icould still wear my Nomex suit without any unsightly bulges, although my boots were purely black cowboy style. Itried to slip unobtrusively into the building to meet my instructor. Gingerly, Iopened the door.

“Squadron, atten-hut,” cried acommand voice. So much for the stealthy entrance.

"Carry on,” Ireplied. Alieutenant colonel approached me, snapped a precise salute, and extended his hand. Ishook it.

“Welcome to the five fifty-seventh, sir. I’m the commander. Glad to have you fly with us.” He went on, before Icould respond. “Read your book, sir. Sierra Hotel." Trim, erect, smiling. After 37 years Ihad finally met the steely-eyed flight instructor. And he knew combat. At least vi¬ cariously.

Imet my instructor pUot, amajor. We sat at one of the briefing tables. We reviewed check lists, flight maneuvers, comm procedures, training areas, airfields, and emergency procedures. Thorough and impressive. We walked down the hall and drew acouple of parachutes. Ipulled the leg straps tight. No problem. Ihad made acouple of jumps in ‘Nam with the Vietnamese Rangers.

Ifollowed the IP around during the preflight, appreciating the sleek lines of the little bird. Slipping easily into the cockpit, Istrapped into the left seat, it being the secondary seat. The aircraft was of British design, but in Air Force custom, Iwas in the left seat, the command seat. The cockpit configuration reminded me of the civilian TB-10 To¬ bago, of French manufacture, that Ihad been flying. The T-3 had a solid feel as the engine fired and the prop spun up to speed.

“Academy ground. Rally 32, Taxi,” called the IP as Iheld the brakes.

“Taxi runway one six left,” and the tower continued vidth the winds and altimeter. Aquick run-up at the active, and Iswung the bird onto the 3,500-foot strip, expecting asignificant performance penalty due to the 6,600-foot altitude. Islid the throttle forward and was pleasantly surprised by the engine’s power as we quickly ate up the runway and leaped into the air.

We headed southeast, towards Bull’s Eye, the auxiliary field, leaning the engine as we climbed. There was aslight engine roughness as I inadvertently overleaned, but the engine quickly responded as Iin¬ creased the mixture. Some steep turns -light control forces, quick re¬ sponse, this was areal beauty. Awingover, achandeUe, Iwas getting the feel of the aircraft. Ipulled the nose up, and under the tutelage of the IP, put my feet on the horizon, and rolled. This was fun. If only I could be acadet again. Well, maybe not.

“Any limitations on maneuvers?” Iasked my instructor. Ihad spotted atarget on the ground, amoving truck.

"No. Just stay within max airspeed and glimits,” he responded. He had been an F-15 pilot before attending graduate school and was now aprofessor in the Management Department.

“Ever do any air to mud?” Iwas tracking the truck heading towards Kansas.

“No. Iwas strictly air to air.” Rocket pass went through my mind. The truck was mine. Ipulled the nose up, snapping the throttle to idle to kill the airspeed. Irolled, and sucked the nose down, spotted the truck, and roUed upright. Iwas steeper than planned, but so what -the steeper the dive the less the error. The truck was square in my imagi¬ nary sight, Isqueezed my imaginary trigger, whooshed the rocket from the pod for asure shack, and pulled out of the dive. And pulled hard. I’d show this fighter jock how the old FACs used to do it. Nose through the horizon. Ijammed the throttle full open. Instant response from the engine. But now my vision tunneled in. Blacker, paused, then gradually widened. Iglanced over at the IE Didn’t even phase him. The aircraft had asix-g limit, but my old body was only good for three. Time for some benign traffic patterns.

“Could you set zero thrust for me. Iwant to try aforced landing.” I thought Icould make Bull’s Eye, the auxiliary airfield, from the transi¬ tion area.

“You got it,” as he aligned the throttle.

As we got closer, Irealized that Iwas high, forgetting that the field was 600 feet lower than the Academy airstrip. But Ididn’t have enough altitude to do a360 and still make the runway. Full flaps, but Iwould still overshoot. Aslip. Left aileron, right rudder, nose down -we de¬ scended like afreight elevator, the airspeed stable. Istarted to take the cross-control out, confident that Iwould touch down in the first third of the runway.

“Watch the truck,” cautioned the IP. There was amaintenance truck creeping onto the runway. Go around. Throttle full forward -once again the engine instantly responded. Flaps up and we climbed to pat¬ tern altitude and headed for Colorado Springs airport for some touchand-goes.

The patterns went well, the touchdovms -some firm, some soft -got better as Irecognized the optimum landing attitude. We headed back to the Academy strip for afull stop. While cruising, taking in the majes¬ tic view of the Rockies and the silhouette of the Academy chapel, Icould only think how much progress the Academy had made since my gradu¬ ation. Anew dormitory, an expanded library, a fi eld house, astadium, anew academic building, an active flying and soaring program -truly bigger was better. My instructor made the full-stop landing. He was truly askilled aviator, afighter pilot temporarily turned academician.

Ihung around the squadron ops, answering questions about the early days of the Academy and relevant experiences from my career. The focus of the conversation was the cadets, and every officer, NCO, and enlisted person had committed themselves to being the very best role

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U.S, AIR FORCE M

model and to produce the very finest officers for the Air Force and the nation. It was amajor change from my cadet flying experiences.

During asubsequent visit to USAFA, Imet more of the academic in¬ structors who were active in the T-3 program as IPs, supplementing the assigned Training Command cadre. Again, aplus for the cadets as they would see these same officers performing their skills in aflying envi¬ ronment. The opportunity to fly was also astrong motivator for the academic and military training staff as they felt that they were still a part of the “working” Air Force and were able to keep their flying profi¬ ciency. This was areal plus as more rated officers were attracted to Academy assignments and contributing to, as the dean, Randy Cubero, had stated, “the intellectual capital investment of the Air Force” when they returned to operational assignments.

Unfortunately, the T-3 program has recently experienced some mis¬

AF4

The author, John Flanagan, ‘62, on one of his visits to the Academy, shows theAOG crest on one of the Academy’s high-performance sail¬ planes theAOG purchased for cadet use through contributions to the Air Force Academy (AFA) fund.

haps, resulting in the tragic loss of lives and microscopic scrutiny of the entire program -from engine and airframe through pilots and syl¬ labi. The aircraft are grounded, the program suspended, while the Air Force command structure, civilian and military, convene boards and investigations to guide them in their decision-making for the future of the program. Although, from my experience, the aircraft performed superbly, problems were found and engineering changes are under¬ way. That seems to be the easier part.

The very core of the program is now being threatened. Hondo, the other pilot-screening activity in the Training Command (more fully now Air Education and Training Command), uses civilian contractors to per¬ form the screening. This concept, for whatever reason, is now being considered for the USAFA-based program. It will probably be justified as being more cost effective, but from my business experience, Ihave learned that what often appears to be the best short-term, minimumcost solution is not always the best solution from the longer term and broader perspective.

The justification reasoning for contract training may include the criti¬ cal shortage of skilled pilots as resignations from active duty reach an all-time high. The experienced fighter-trainer pilot is ascarce com¬ modity and needs to be retained as anational asset. Irecall my experi¬ ences from Vietnam when the collective skill levels of the fighter pilots declined as more pilots were retrained from desk jobs and benign air¬ craft and thrust into acritical combat scenario. These currently-re¬ signing pilots, many of them Academy grads, would probably welcome the opportunity to join aReserve unit screening cadets at the Acad¬ emy. The precedent and success of this concept has been established at other pilot training bases.

Under ajoint Reserve program, there would probably be areduction in IP cadre, satisfying some of the Air Force’s shortages. It would also allow the Academy staff officers to continue their piloting responsibili¬ ties, ensuring the future pipeline of the best-qualified officers, rated and non-rated, to serve at the Academy.

The Academy has proven its worth as it has produced leaders for the military, business, academia, and government. Short-sighted decisions should not be allowed to detract from its formula for success.

Unscreened Pilot Progragm Readied While T-3A Is Studied

The Air Force is moving ahead with aplan to accommodate unscreend pilot candidates when T-3A flight screening resumes in September. The plan assumes the Federal Aviation Administration will have approved T-3A modifications and all instructors are requalified by then.

After suspending T-3A flight screening last June, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) is faced with abacklog of unscreened pilot candidates from all commissioning sources, the Academy, ROTC and OTS. The challenge is how to effectively dislodge the bottleneck and get pilot candidates through flight screening and then into pilot train¬ ing within the constraints of limited training bases and other resources.

Here’s the plan. There are 225 unscreened pilot candidates in the Class of 1998. Assuming screening resumes in September, those unscreened pilot candidates will remain at the Academy. They will choose their Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (SUPT) start dates and loca¬ tions based on the pilot rank-order list. None are expected to enter SUPT before November. Once SUPT bases are chosen, flight-screen¬ ing dates will be assigned to ensure screening is completed before trans¬ ferring to aSUPT base.

Expectations are to screen approximately 50 candidates amonth. The objective is to schedule T-3A training as close to SUPT as possible. If an unscreened individual is qualified for Euro NATO Joint Jet Pilot Train¬ ing (ENJJPT), he or she will choose from available ENJJPT slots and start dates.

Academy cadets who completed T-3A screening before the program was suspended go to SUPT before those who are currently unscreened, beginning with the August 1998 SUPT classes. The rate at which these screened candidates enter SUPT may increase following apolicy re¬ view now underway at the Air Staff. If this happens, cadets will have a greater variety of start dates from which to choose. More specific in¬ formation will follow on this aspect as it becomes available.

Historical and ongoing information concerning the T-3A follows: On July 9, 1996, the Air Force directed an independent analysis to deter¬ mine the cause of unexplained T-3A engine stoppage and, in Septem-

her, Oklahoma City-Air Logistics Center awarded the contract for this analysis to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

In October 1996, SAIC began testing two T-3As (one from Hondo, Texas and one from the Academy). SAIC presented adecision briefing on their findings in September 1997 recommending 10 aircraft systems modifi¬ cations to the fuel delivery and cooling systems. Currently, these modi¬ fications are being validated by the Federal Aviation Administration and are scheduled to be complete in June. Following validation, the modi¬ fication process should be complete by August.

In addition to the SAIC study, aT-3A Broad Area Review (BAR) was commissioned by Lt. Gen. John C. Griffith, AETC vice commander, last summer. The AETC inspector general was directed to examine the en¬ tire T-3A Enhanced Flight Screening Program (EFSP), conduct arisk analysis of the program, and offer recommendations.

The BAR researched aircraft procurement and acquisition, operational testing, maintenance, instructor pilot training, and flying operations. In December 1997, EWhitten Peters, acting secretary of the Air Force, tasked Lt. Gen. Richard Swope, Air Force IG, to conduct an investiga¬ tion along the same lines as &e AETC’s BAR. The results of this investi¬ gation are expected to be released soon.

Some changes in student and instructor training within the T-3A pro¬ gram are being considered, including reducing the student syllabus of instruction and expanding instructor training. The student syllabus may be reduced by three sorties (deleting several of the advanced aerobat¬ ics).

T-3A instructor pilots will receive an additional 23 hours of ground train¬ ing emphasizing instructor techniques, aircraft systems, and aerodynam¬ ics. The initial instructor flying training program will likely be increased by afew sorties. These additional sorties will emphasize advanced air¬ craft handling characteristics, simulated forced landings, and spin train¬ ing. Flight safety wfll continue to be the cornerstone of all training. (In¬ formation for this article was compiled from AETC’s T-3A Update Web Site.)

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Colonel (USAF, Ret) Don W. Box, Class of 1961, afaithful friend, a loyal servant, aGodly man, went home to be with the Lord Feb. 22, 1998. He crossed the Veil after ashort bout with cancer. Don viewed himself as aprivate in the Army of the Lord and he served with dis¬ tinction. Now he awaits the rest of us near the Throne of God

Don was born in San Angelo, Texas, April 1, 1939, the son of Clyde and Marie Box. He was an outdoorsman, an Eagle Scout, and amem¬ ber of the National Honor Society while astudent at Lake View High School. After graduation from the Academy in 1961, he received his pilot wings at Webb AFB, Big Spring, Texas. He flew B-52s in the Viet¬ nam War and concluded his varied and distinguished career of 28 years as commander of the Defense Language Institute, Lackland AFB, Texas.

Don Box and Joyce Lesh joined forces shortly after his graduation from the Academy and had 37 dedicated years to make their eternal investments. In addition to Joyce, Don awaits his daughter Dawn and her husband, Ken Rosegay; son Scott and his wife, Susann; son Gary and his wife, Beverly; his grandchildren James, Allison, Chelsie, and Chadley; his brother John, and sisters Clydene Russ and Echo Roeder. Don’s parents and two other brothers welcomed Don home.

Don will be greatly missed by all who knew him, not just because he was atrue and loyal friend, but because he was wise enough to know not to boast of Ghariots or to trust in Horses, but to rely upon the Lord. (A friend and classmate.)

Don H., ‘67, and Cherie Owen

Don H. Owen and his wife, Cherie, died Feb. 15,1998 in aweatherrelated automobile accident near Fairplay, Colo. They were laid to rest at the Air Force Academy cemetery four days later. The impact Don and Cherie made on people’s lives in personal relationships, profes¬ sionally, church activities, in the community and in and through their children was evidenced by the capacity assembly at the Protestant Ca¬ det Chapel for their funeral service. In this tragic time of remembering their life, we do not become bitter in trying to justify their death, to ourselves or to God, who created all and knows all and controls all. Rather we give thanks for the lives they had, lives that touched ours.

Don, amember of the 20'*' Cadet Squadron, was born in Joplin, Mo. He met Cherie, aColorado Springs girl who was also aJoplin native, early in his time at USAFA. They were married graduation day, June 7, 1967. Together they served the Air Force for 29 years, having 30 differ¬ ent addresses.

Don’s career included assignments flying C- 130s in Vietnam, amaster’s degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology, two tours at the Pen¬ tagon, acommand pilot and commander of aflying squadron on Guam, and comptroller of the Air Force Space Command. But all that not¬ withstanding, Don Owen was not aman who would be defined by his career path or accomplishments, although they are distinguished. I say this not with the intent to understate them, but to look at how Don would have de fi ned himself

At Don’s retirement ceremony in November, 1995, he reminisced on his life and career. His priorities as ayoung lieutenant were pilot train-

ing, aflying career, and success. He shared that there was avoid in his life until he allowed Jesus Christ to be Lord of his life and career. His priorities became God first, then family and others, and then his job. Many people set these priorities, but Don got to them all, and did them well. Through this hierarchy of priorities came the essence of Don’s life. Though Iknew of Don as acadet, this was the man Icame to know. The Owen family knew and practiced hospitality. Quite afewyears ago while Iwas TDY to the Pentagon for few days, Istuck my head in Don’s office just to say hello. He not only made time for avisit, but invited me home that night, where Cherie greeted me with genuine warmth, several little ones underfoot, and anewborn in her arms. After dinner Iwas included in their “family time’’ as if Iwere amember. Iwas.

Don and Cherie invested time and energy into relationships to keep them vital (I call it as aggressively friendly) and they were good at it. Don enjoyed success as ahusband, father, Air Force officer, and amem¬ ber of the community -wherever he lived. Aquality leader in any situ¬ ation, Don made an easy transition from colonel to mister. Following his retirement, he served as the president and chief executive officer of the Air Academy Federal Credit Union. Just afew weeks before his death he was recognized for having led the Credit Union to its best financial condition in decades.

Cherie was a“Superwoman.” As ayoung wife and mother she com¬ pleted her college degree in 1974. Her sense of humor and kind and caring heart defined her life. The Owen children have chosen averse out of Proverbs 31 for their mother’s headstone, “Her children rise up and call her blessed.” This chapter lists many attributes of awife of noble character. Cherie’s name could be written in the margin.

Dick Jacquin, afamily friend, observed in his eulogy at the funeral ser¬ vice, “Don and Cheri were aman and woman of God. They loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all their hearts. They felt there was no other rela¬ tionship more important that that one. Iknow they would want me to share with you the foundation of their lives. They truly loved the Lord with all their hearts. They understood completely the meaning of Jesus’ words when he said in John 14:6, Tam the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.’ Iknow they would not want this gathering to end without me inviting you, if you don’t have this relationship with the Lord, to seek after Him. Assurance of heaven is avaOable to all of us and Itrust you will take advantage of it.”

Don and Cherie are survived by their five children: Erin Boline, Megan, Blythe, Caidin, and Benjamin, along with Don’s parents, abrother Gary, and sister Debbie McEntire, Cherie’s mother Geraldine Irving, brothers Shannon and Sammy, and sister Sandra Harris. Shannon is the guard¬ ian of Caitlin and Benjamin.

The Air Academy Federal Credit Union has established amemorial fund for the benefit of Caitlin and Benjamin Owen, 1355 KeOy Johnson Blvd., Colorado Springs, Colo. 80920. (Gerry Corwin)

Stanley R. Seltzer, 69

Rick Seltzer was one of the few high-energy people Ihave known. He could not sit still for more than five minutes before he had to be doing

DonW.Box,‘61

Don H., '67 and Cherie Owen

Stanley R. Seltzer, 69

Don W. Box, ‘61

something constructive. Rick also had the most positive attitude of anybody Iknow. Though given many lemons during his life, Rick con¬ tinually used them to make lemonade.

Rick graduated from pilot training in 1970 at the top of his class. He got one of only three fighters in the class, an F-101 to Tyndall AFB. His joy of achieving alife-long ambition to be afighter pilot was short-lived. In 1972, while turning off the runway after amission, Rick had difficulty pushing the rudder pedal. Doctors discovered agiant cell tumor in his leg, an extraordinarily rare disease. This led to losing his leg and amedi¬ cal discharge. This disease continued to flare up every three, four or five years for the rest of his life.

Rick looked at his discharge as aminor setback and as an opportu¬ nity to pursue another of his dreams, to be asuccess in business. Soon he became president of Royal American Companies in Panama City, Fla.and led them to increasingly successful years. But, Rick always wanted to own his own company. At the peak of his success, he took a gamble to follow his dream and founded Seltzer Management Group. In avery short time, this new business prospered under his leadership opening offices in Destin, Pensacola, Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando. For Rick, creating abusiness was not enough. He wanted to give some¬ thing back to the community as well. So, he became involved in poli¬ tics holding positions as aBay County commissioner, chairman of the Bay County Commission, member of the Bay County Airport Author¬ ity, and secretary of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Rick’s in¬ telligence, integrity and honesty were his tradmarks. The progress of Panama City and Bay County through the 1980s and 1990s has Rick’s fingerprints all over it.

Rick’s free time was spent with the biggest loves of his life: his wife, Cindy Lou, daughter Catherine, sons Trent and Zach, and his boat. He was famous for weekend boat trips to Shell Island with family and friends. Rick’s love of cars was also well known. Afriend offered to let him drive astock car at the Talladega Race Track during car testing. Rick was lifted into the car and drove using acane to help with the brake and clutch. The lap time was nothing to be proud of, but it demon¬ strated something he could be proud of, azest for life and an attitude that nothing could hold him back.

In the end, Rick was given one last lemon he couldn’t beat. In mid 1997, Rick was diagnosed with leukemia. After battling hard to the end, Rick passed away at his home on March 6,1998 surrounded by family and friends. The following day, the Panama City Hera/d front page headlines read; “Rick Seltzer Dies At 50, Bay Political, Business Leader Remembered as aCan-Do Visionary.” That day, the county voted to name alarge public park on Panama City Beach the “Rick Seltzer Com¬ munity Park.” These were final tributes to areal gentleman. God bless you Rick. Tm proud to have known you. I’ll miss you! (Al Leland,’69)

Daniel B. Schick, 78

Daniel Barton Schick passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from a subdural hematoma on Feb. 4,1998 at his home in Yorkville, 111.

Dan was amember of Eagle Eight where he was afierce competitor both academically and athletically. Upon graduation, Dan gave up his leave to go immediately to pilot training at Reese AFB, Texas (Class 79-05). On May 13,1979 he married Georgine Haddad who he had met in Colorado Springs shortly before graduation. From Reese, Dan went on to fighter lead-in school at Holloman AFB, N.M. and eventually RAF

Upper Heyford, United Kingdom, where he flew F-11 Is. It was during his assignment at Upper Heyford that Dan and Georgine began earnestiy seeking God’s wili for their lives. Dan returned to Holloman AFB as afighter lead-in instructor and then, in June 1986, with mixed emo¬ tions, he separated from the Air Force to fly for American Airlines. Dan enjoyed his job with American and in 1992 he was promoted to captain in the F-lOO and then the B-727.

Dan loved his God, his family, and his country. As aChristian, Dan was active in his church, bible studies, and his daily walk with the Lord. He was generous with both his time and money in helping those less fortunate. One of his most admirable qualities was his constant struggle to improve upon his self-admitted shortcomings.

Dan was extremely proud of his family. He and Georgine were in the process of raising and homeschooling their six children. Whether as an assistant Scoutmaster or coach, Dan did his best to work his schedule around his children’s many activities. He was a“kid at heart” and en¬ joyed activities with his family including everything from skiing to scuba diving. However, Dan felt the best thing aman can do for his family is to instill in his children the desire to always do the right thing, regard¬ less of the consequences.

Dan was proud to have gone to the Academy and to have served his country in the Air Force. The pilots who knew Dan both in the Air Force and at American Airlines enjoyed working with him and admired his flying skills as well as his character qualities. Dan was adoer, not acomplainer, taking on responsibilities willingly.

For many years Dan wanted to return to Colorado Springs and he had just begun to search for ahome while on afamily skiing vacation. But as he had so prophetically stated just afew short weeks before his death, “time waits for no man.”

Dan is survived by his wife, Georgine, and his children: Brittany (14), Aaron (12), Adam (9), Bethany (6), Courtany (3), and Christian (10 months). As one of Dan’s favorite verses goes; “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” And those closest to Dan can attest that “this Eagle has arrived Home!” He will be missed here on earth. (Jim Schlicting, 78)

Peter Zarate, 79

On Monday evening, Dec. 15,1997 we tragically lost Peter Zarate to a gunman’s murderous bullet. Peter, who resided in Mexico City, was on his way home from work when he hailed ataxi. The gunman, working in conjunction with the cab driver and others, accosted Peter in arob¬ bery attempt. The robbery attempt was bungled as the murderers tried to reach Peter’s house and family. Peter, ahero to the end, thwarted this effort and saved his family. However, shots were fired. Peter died almost instantly from abullet to the chest.

Peter was aremarkable individual. He was adevoted Christian, fa¬ ther, husband, son, brother and friend and it is difficult to sum up his accomplishments or capture the essence of his life briefly.

Peter came to the Academy from San Jose, Calif, where he had gradu¬ ated from Westmont High School. Peter was an outstanding high school swimmer and was arecruited to swim for the Academy. He swam for the Falcons as afreshman, and was amember of Cobra 14. Those of us in 14 remember him as avery spirited doolie. (Continued on next page.)

Daniel B. Schick, 78

Peter Zarate, 79

Peter kept the same standard the next year when he moved to the 38th All-Stars. He quickly surrounded himself vdth atight group of friends and set out for three years of “thrill-seeking.” No adventure or chance for fun was ever bypassed. With the help of an old truck that may have arrived alittle earlier than our classmates’ cars, we covered a lot of ground.

Pete earned his jump wings through AM 490 during the summer of our junior year, but that wasn’t quite thrilling enough. He attended the three-week Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) training with the Navy in San Diego our senior summer. There he found something that he thought would be both challenging and thrilling: the Navy SEAL Team.

Peter spent alarge portion of his first-class year getting himself physi¬ cally ready for the demands of SEAL Team Training. When most of us were relaxing in the final weeks of May 1979, Peter was running stairs in the natatorium in his combat boots. When we graduated, Peter took his commission as an ensign, USN. He successfully completed his SEAL training and spent 31/2 years on active duty as aSEAL Team Member, stationed at both main SEAL Team operating locations. Little Creek Amphib Base near Norfolk, Va. and in San Diego. He continued his

CIC Damian G. Maertens Loses Battle with Cancer

Cadet First Class Damian Grant Maertens, abiochemistry major and commander of Cadet Squadron 15, valiantly battled malignant mela¬ noma since July 1997. Tragically, Damian’s struggle ended on March 28, 1998 at his home in Puyallup, Wash.

CIC Damian G. Maertens,‘98

Damian was born in Washington, D. C. on Feb. 17,1976. He was agradu¬ ate of Rogers High School in Puyallup in 1994 and has since attended the Air Force Academy. He was selected for post-graduate medical edu¬ cation upon graduation from the Academy.

Damian loved Scouting and became an Eagle Scout and ajunior assis¬ tant Scoutmaster. His Eagle Scout project involved the planning and building of anature/hiking trail at Northwest Trek, awildlife park near his home. This trail will be dedicated to Damian’s memory and named in his honor at aceremony on May 30, 1998. He was an avid hiker and introduced many of his friends to their first backpacking experience. Athletics brought great pleasure to Damian and he enjoyed immensely playing sports and engaging in fantasy leagues. Despite the severity of his illness, up until the last few weeks, he was an assistant coach of the South Hill Strikers, aU13 soccer team in Puyallup. He ran the Pike’s Peak Ascent in 1996 and was training for the marathon in July 1997 when he was stricken.

Damian gave much of himself in helping others and touched many lives during his short time on earth. At the Cadet Catholic Chapel where he served as an acolyte, he coordinated the schedule of the Liturgical Service participants. He loved the Academy and lived what it stands for: integrity, service, excellence.

Damian is survived by his father and mother, Kenneth and Marcia Maertens of Puyallup; his brother. Cadet Third Class Nathan B. Maertens of the Air Force Academy; his grandparents, Joseph and Helene Schreiber and George and Jessie Maertens of Minnesota; as well as his aunts, uncles and cousins. Damian will live on forever in the hearts of his family, friends and classmates through the wonderful memories he forged throughout the time we were blessed to share with him.

tough guy ways, not surprising for aSEAL. 1remember one time Car¬ rie and 1saw him while he was convalescing after having his appen¬ dix removed. Apparentiy, it had been ruptured for two days and he was “gutting out” the pain before he had to break dovm and go to the clinic. He was dangerously close to dying then. Another notable inci¬ dent occurred while he was performing HALO (high altitude low open¬ ing) jumps. His main chute became entangled on opening and he was having difficulty cutting it away so that he could deploy his re¬ serve. Again, literally seconds before disaster, he successfully cut away the main and his second chute opened just in time. Ahard landing, but he walked away unharmed. He was medically discharged under honorable conditions in 1983 from physical dif fi culties encountered after breaking his arm some years earlier.

Peter started his post military career as part ovmer of achain of health clubs. He was then employed as amember of Gordon Hall Properties and later as an investment counselor with Kidder Peabody, aU in Phoe¬ nix. In 1989, Peter’s life took adramatic change. Peter, searching for meaning in his life and with his young son, Michael, discovered the love of Jesus Christ. In typical Peter fashion, Peter became completely devoted to his faith and living his life according to the principles of God. While on aretreat, Peter met Robin, his soulmate. They were soon married and together they had three wonderful sons. In 1991, Peter became an industrial real estate broker with Cushman-Wake fi eld and relocated to San Juan Capistrano. In 1993, Peter and Robin ac¬ cepted atransfer to Mexico City. Over the past 12 months, Peter’s business with Cushman-Wakefield was going very well. Not only was he an “up and comer” with the company, he had earned the right to special recognition as one of the top world-wide commission pro¬ ducers for 1997. He was apioneer in the market of commercial real estate in Mexico and was considered to be the foremost authority on industrial real estate in Mexico. At the time of his death, Peter had everything going in the right direction: astrong faith, asuper job, a wonderful wife, and agrowing delightful family. He had found true happiness.

Only afew of us had kept close contact with Peter since graduation. It’s important for all to know that Peter’s life had changed because of God’s love for him. Peter was keenly aware of his ovm sinfulness, but had found his own personal and meaningful relationship with Jesus. He had adependence on God that reached out to those around him and had acommitment and calling to follow God’s leading. He pas¬ sionately, though not pushily, desired to see his family and friends know Jesus as their personal savior.

It was shortly after his death that Icame across the following poemto me it was Peter.

“Some people come into our lives quickly and go.

Some people move our souls to dance.

They waken us to new understandings with the passing whisper of their wisdom.

Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon.

They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same.”

Peter is survived by his wife, Robin, his four sons, Michael, Gabriel, Nicolas, and Daniel, his father, Louis, and his mother, Elvira LaBarts. In addition, Peter has two sisters, Gristina Beyers and Monica Giocomini. (Robin Zarate, Brian Koechel and Fred Jacobsen 79)

At press time, we had learned of the deaths of the folowing gradu¬ ates:

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Donald R. Simmons, Class of 1963, who died of cancer on April 9,1998 in the Los Angeles, Calif, area.

Maj. (Ret.) William R. Engebretson, Class of 1965, who died of a heart attact on July 23,1991 in Saugus, Calf.

Roberto V. Ravina, Class of 1983, who was killed in ahit-and-run accident on April 10,1998 near Eastliampton, Mass.

Christopher K. Coffland, Class of 1985, who was killed in apri¬ vate aircraft crash on March 8,1998 in Elbert County, Colo,

Capt. Kevin J. Stone, Jr., Class of 1990, who died on March, 1998 in asnovwnobUing accident at Eielson AFB, Alaska

2nd Lt. Amie L. Grabanski, Class of 1996, who was kUled in ahitand-run accident on March 14,1998 in Corpus Chrlsti, Texas. Our condolences to the family and Wends of these deceased graduates.

Academy Aviator Wins National Acheivement Award

From the days of the Wright brothers and colleagues Katherine and Marjorie Stinson, to the legendary flight of Amelia Earhart, women have played avital role in the advancement of aviation throughout the 20th century.

Womens’ contributions to aviation are recognized by the National Aviation Club’s new national award, the Katherine and Marjorie Stinson Award For Achievement. The award, first presented to astronaut Dr. Shannon Lucid in 1997, honors women who have made ameritorious flight, significant achievement or other enduring contributions to avia¬ tion.

The Academy is home to the 1998 winner of the achievement award, Maj. Sue Rose, deputy commander, 1st Cadet Group. Rose, an Acad¬ emy graduate from the Class of 1982, is the second recipient of the award and the fi rst Air Force of fi cer to receive it.

She was one of 10 candidates from organizations around the world, including the Federal Aviation Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Transportation and all branches of the military.

“All of the candidates were of such high caliber,” said Rose. “1was amazed to win. ..it’s areal honor.” Rose was chosen for her accomplish¬ ments as an Air Force pilot, humanitarian efforts with acivilian air ambulance service, contributions to airpower theory and education and commitment to encouraging America’s youth to enter aviation careers.

NMaj. Sue Rose, ‘82, accepts the National Aviation Club’s 1998 national aviation award, the Katherine and Marjorie Stinson Award For Achieve¬ ment, from Lt. Gen. David L. Vesely, assistant vice chief of stajf of the Air Force, at left, and ]. Richard Brown, president ofthe National Aviation Club. Major Rose is the second person and the first Air Force officer to receive the prestigious award. The first recipient was astronaut Dr. Shannon Lucid in 1997.

An Operation Desert Storm veteran,Rose, apilot with more than 3,800 flying hours, flew 60sortiesasaC-141B aircraft commander and was part of her unit’s first airlift wing aircrew to fly into Kuwait City.

Close to the same time period as Desert Storm, Rose also co-founded the Mercy Medical Airlift of California, anonprofit charitable air ambu¬ lance service for those who could not afford the full cost of afixed-wing air ambulance.

Teaching aviation has been another important part of Rose’s career.

Doolittle Hall Available For Many Special Occasions

Doolittle Hall is now available at very reasonable rates for special functions. To date the AOG has hosted avariety of events: depart¬ ment meetings, retirements, wedding receptions, workshops, cock¬ tail parties, luncheons and formal and informal dinners. Doolittle Hall can accommodate as many as 300 at asit-down dinner and more than 500 for acocktail party.

Available facilities include conference rooms, the library lounge with bar, and outdoor patio area, weather permitting. AOG mem¬ bers receive preferential rates. For more specific information on your special-function needs, please call Jean Bickford at the AOG at (719) 472-0300.

As afaculty instructor at the Air Command and Staff College at Max¬ well Air Force Base, she taught war theory, war termination and theater air campaign studies. Her research in war termination earned aSoci¬ ety of Strategic Air Command Research Excellence Award.

Recently, Rose’s career has brought her full circle back to the Acad¬ emy, where she assists in the command and control of more than 1,000 cadets and supporting officers and noncommissioned ofltcers. In ad¬ dition to administration of morale, welfare and training of cadets. Rose teaches classes of officership and military theory.

Rose credits her success to the Air Force. “It takes ateam effort and this is agreat award for the Air Force to have won," she said. “The Air Force has led the way.”

The achievement award is named after two sisters who were aviation pioneers. The Stinsons performed aerial demonstrations, operated a World War Iflight school, flew airmail and conducted skywriting.

The Stinson Award trophy is displayed in the National Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C. The historic trophy, created in 1937, was originally created to be given to Amelia Earhart upon her remrn firom her around-the-world flight. (The Academy Spirit)

Standing Nominating Committee to Identify AOG Board Candidates

The recentiy-revised bylaws ofthe Association of Graduates (AOG) contain new provisions for the manner in which candidates for elected director positions are identified, evaluated and nominated.

Of primary interest in the new procedures is the establishment of astanding, vis-a-vis an ad hoc, nominating committee of the board. This committee will have the responsibility for identifying, research¬ ing, interviewing, evaluating and recommending to the board can¬ didates for future board membership.

In essence, the nominating committee will maintain acontinuing list of potential nominees from which it may select candidates to meet the board’s requirements for service over aparticular term of office. Individual candidates will be constandy evaluated regarding their qualifications, ability and desire to serve.

This and future issues of Checkpoin ts will carry the names of mem¬ bers of the nominating committee and information on how each can be reached. Interested AOG member may contact one of the committee members to indicate their desire to serve as adirector.

An indication of interest, however, will not necessarily result in placement on the list of qualified candidates. The needs of the asso¬ ciation will take precedence at all times.

Directors Nominating Committee

(Contact one of the following to show interest in becoming a candidate for the AOG Board Directors.)

MajGen (Ret) Larry D. Fortner, Chair

19Woodbildge Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80906-4401

Home: (719) 579-8620

Office; (719) 574-0050

Col (Ret) Andrew W. Biancur

4174ECumorahDr.

Salt Lake City, UT 84124

Home: (801) 278-4866

LtCol (Ret) Richard M. Coppock

3116 Academy Dr.

USAF Academy, CO 80840-4475

Home: (719) 590-9452

Work: (719) 472-0300

Gen (Ret) Ronald W. Yates

525 Silhouette Way

Monument. CO 80132

Home: (719) 481-9169

Office: (719) 481-9174

RESERVEYOURPIACEINHISTORY

Margaret &Thomas Bancroft

In Memory of Captain WASmith '67

In Honor of John Quincy Adams ‘99

Link yourself forever with the traditions and future of the Air Force Academy by inscribing your name on a Pegasus Plaza granite paver. Pavers inscribed with the names of graduates, parents, children, and fhends of the Academy will pave the Pegasus Plaza located in front of Doolittle Hall, the alumni house, at the Academy. For your unrestricted taxdeductible donation of $250, apaver with your name or another name you designate will be placed in this prime location for all to see. Funds received will be used to support die Association of Graduates, cadet activities, graduate programs and Academy needs. The $250 donation can be made in alump sum or over one year (monthly, quarterly, etc. in equal payments).

Pegasus Plaza pavers make excellent gifts for events such as birthdays, graduation, retirement and Christmas. You can also honor or provide amemorial for afriend or relative through this program. Acertificate of notification will be sent, upon request, for such gifts.

Please send acerti fi cate of noti fi cation to: Iwould like to support the Pegasus Paver Project.

NAME:

STREET:

CITY:

PHONE:

IAM: □ GRAD:

STATE: ZIP: Circle one: Home Work

NAME:

STREET:.

CITY:

PRESENTED BY:

STATE: ZIP:

In each block below, fill in Ihe character (lener, number, apace or &) to be engraved on your paver(i). There are 13 blanki per line and three linea per paver. (For longer family names, pleaae call or write.) Leave aapace between namea, and before and after Minor changea may be required to conToim to engraver limilationa and standardization procedurea. Lines will be centered on the paver. Put information for additional paven on aseparate sheet of paper.

BUILDING FUND DONORS

The AOG Board of Directors acknowledges with sincere appreciation the following contributors who pledged or made cash contributions to the AOG Building Fund and entered the following donor levels during the period from April 9,1997 through March 31,1998. We encourage others to join these dedicated graduates and friends in this most important project. Contributions and pledges received after March 31,1998 will be listed in afuture publication of Checkpoints.

CHECKPOINTS DONORS

($25,000 -$99,999)

Ms Betty RKrause TRUST

Mr &Mrs Dennis Burrows

Mr &Mrs Michael Calderaro

Mr &Mrs Dan Carden

Lt Col &Mrs James RCaswell

Mr &Mrs Richard PCatalano

Mr &Mrs James EHarris

Mr RPaul Hayes

Mr &Mrs Tim Hayes

Mr John PHealy

Mr &Mrs Edward LHeil

Mr &Mrs Donald EMandy

Mr &Mrs George DMartin

Mr &Mrs Christos Martini

Cdr &Mrs Myron Martinson

MasterCard International

Mr &Mrs FKeith Withycombe ‘66 Incorporated

CONTRAILS DONORS

($10,000-$24,999)

Mr &Mrs James BBronson

FALCON DONORS

($5,000 -$9,999)

Air Products &Chemicals Inc

Mr &Mrs Stephen FBurke

Mr &Mrs Thomas EBurke Jr

Burlington Northern Sante Fe

Foundation

Mary &Neal Murphy

Mr &Mrs William EStraw ‘67

Mr &Mrs Thomas MWalpole

TALON DONORS ($1,000-$4,999)

Mr Doug Alien

Ms Debra DArgel

Mr &Mrs Marcelino GArmendariz

AT&T Foundation

Mr &Mrs Greg Badgett

Dr &Mrs Patricia Baerwald

Cdr &Mrs Jack MBailey

Mr &Mrs Arthur SBak

Mr &Mrs Arthemas Banks

Mr &Mrs Roger ABarack

Mr &Mrs Raymond Bates

Dr &Mrs Sidney Becker

Mr &Mrs Richard WBenn

Mr &Mrs John RBinder Jr

Dr &Mrs Grover CBlair

Mr &Mrs Richard Blakewood

Mr &Mrs Thomas SBounds

Col (Ret) William RBowman ‘68

Dr &Mrs Roger WCadin

Mr &Mrs John Chaperon

Mr &Mrs Sergio Chavez

Mr &Mrs Charles JChiaramonte

Mr &Mrs Gary VChris

Mr &Mrs Robert JCline

Mr &Mrs Edward Cobb

Ms Lynne MCogswell

Mr &Mrs Kenneth Coonrad

Ms Sandra ACousin

Mr &Mrs Michael JCronin

Mr &Mrs James Cuddeback

Mr &Mrs Joe Dayoc

Mr &Mrs George TDodd

Mr &Mrs Colie LDonaldson

Mr &Mrs Perry FDouglas

Mr &Mrs William Eaton

Maj Kenneth CEdberg

Mr &Mrs Dale Eisenhofer

Mr &Mrs Cecil MEpps

Mr &Mrs Roger Farrow

Mr &Mrs Bob Finch

Col &Mrs Brian GFinnan

Mr &Mrs Ronald CFlood

Col (Ret) George LFrederick Jr ‘63

Lt Col (Ret) Ralph HFreeman ‘69

Mr &Mrs Nick EFresques

Mr &Mrs Roberto MGarza

Mr &Mrs Valerio Giadone

Ms Vivian DGile

Mr &Mrs Robert MGil fl Uan

Mr &Mrs Frank Gingrich

Mr &Mrs Aart Gosma

Mr &Mrs Michael RGrados

Mr &Mrs Celestinus AGreen

Mr &Mrs Larry BGrimes

Mr &Mrs Philip Hammers

Mr &Mrs Dallas IHanson

SSgt &Mrs Robert GHarley Sr

Mr &Mrs Paul Helms

Mr &Mrs Douglas HHemmingsen

Maj &Mrs John Matwick

Mr &Mrs Don Hendrickson Maj &Mrs Vance GMatzke

Mr &Mrs Leland SHinton Jr

Mr &Mrs Earnest LHolloway

Mr Walter Howard

Mr &Mrs Chuck Howell

Mr &Mrs Spencer Hoynes

Mr &Mrs Yong HHwang

Mr &Mrs Michael DIsacco

Mr &Mrs James Jabara

Mr Bryan DJandorf Sr

Mr &Mrs John Jessop

Mr &Mrs Douglas FJohn

Mr &Mrs Ronedd EJohnston

Lt Col (Ret) Roderick RKallman ‘75

Mr &Mrs Rodney LKarsten

Mr &Mrs Eric WKelly

Dr &Mrs James Kendall

Mr &Mrs Mark JKernan

Mr &Mrs Douglas RKetterer

Mr &Mrs John Kielkucki

Mr &Mrs John Knapp

Mr &Mrs Tony Koury

Mr &Mrs Douglas RKrueger

Mr &Mrs Michael TKuhlman

Mr &Mrs John FKurutz

Mr &Mrs Gregory Lau

Mr &Mrs Ken LeClair

Mr &Mrs Ken Ledeboer

Mr &Mrs Ho SLee

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Mr &Mrs Cecil Lopez

Mrs In Son Lord

Mr &Mrs Gary DLove

Maj &Mrs Jeffrey DLowe

Col &Mrs John Ma

Dr &Mrs Stephen PMalin

Mr &Mrs Nicholas Mandrik

Lt Col &Mrs John HMcAfee

Dr &Mrs Richard PMcClintock

Mr &Mrs George JMcColgan

Dr &Mrs James PMcCullough

Mr &Mrs Paul McDowell

Mr &Mrs Boyd LMcEwen

Mr &Mrs David MMcGrath

Mr &Mrs Martin McKay

Mr &Mrs Jerald Meartz

Mrs Veronica Medina

Mr &Mrs Vincent JMerlo Jr

Mr &Mrs Matthew JMesser

Mr &Mrs George Mikula

Mr Steven AMiller

Mr Dennis EMoffett

Mr &Mrs Jorge Montanez

Mr &Mrs James MMorris

Mr &Mrs Larry Morris

Mr &Mrs David Mueller

Mr &Mrs James AMuir

Maj Paul DMusic ANG ‘77

Mr &Mrs Richard JNealon

Mr &Mrs Jerry Nelson Sr

Mr &Mrs Marshall NNey

Mr &Mrs Darrell Nicklin

Mr &Mrs James O’Brien

Mr &Mrs Thomas FO’Hara

Ms Donna Oiland

Mr &Mrs Robert AOrd

Mr &Mrs John ROster

Mr &Mrs Kenneth RParker

Mr &Mrs Anthony PParriUe

Mr &Mrs Brian JPartridge

Mr &Mrs Robert Perry

Mr &Mrs Jerome Peterson (Contintued on next page.)

DEVELOPMENT UPDATES i

Col. James A. Shaw, Jr. (USAF, Ret.), ‘67, AOGVice President, Development

Fund Raising -What’s It All About?

Colleges and universities across the country are engaged in major fund raising efforts to endow their schools with the resources necessary to cover the difference between what tuition income can provide and what the school needs to ensure atop notch educational experience. The service academies tu-e no different. Government funding does not cover all the requirements of the Zoo, let alone the Academy’s desires.

While other universities have paid development staffs working with a university foundation and alumni association to solicit private fund¬ ing, service academies cannot, bylaw, allow anyone on the government payroll to “ask” for funds. Thus, at the Air Force Academy, fund raising is conducted by six independent, private, nonprofit organizations:

-The Falcon Foundation provides scholarships to otherwise out¬ standing cadet prospects who need to strengthen their math and En¬ glish skills at preparatory schools.

-The Friends of the Library support the Library. (See Checkpoints, Spring ‘97)

-The Academic Research and Deveiopment Institute (ARDI) endows academic chairs for the Dean of Faculty.

-The Air Force Academy Foundation built the football stadium and

Leave ALasting Legacy

In 1993, the AOG received $25,000 bequest from the estate of Mr. Herman L. Frank who left equal amounts to West Point, Annapolis, and the Coast Guard Academy. In his Will, Mr. Frank stated “I make these bequests as tokens of my love and esteem for my country and for those future leaders that the (service) academies will develop.” For more information about estate planning and planned giving, contact Gary Howe at (719) 472-0300.

Building Fund Donors: from previous page.

Dr Gus Charles Petras

Dr &Mrs James EPierog

Mr &Mrs Scott Propper

Quaker Oats Foundation

Mr &Mrs Joseph Queen

Mr Frank Quinn

Mr &Mrs Dennis JRaetz

Mr &Mrs Abe Ramirez

Mr &Mrs Dennis Ringwald

Col John RRivers ‘74

Mr &Mrs David GRoberts

Mr &Mrs John HRoberts

Mrs Michael Roberts

Mr &Mrs Kenneth ARobinson

Mr &Mrs Dan JRoot

Mr Brian Ross Sr

Mr &Mrs Timothy Ross

Mr &Mrs Rex RRudd

Mr &Mrs Robert ERyan

Mrs Ernette Ryba

BGen (Ret) Monroe SSams Jr ‘67

Ms Sandra MSayre

SBC Foundation

Maj Donna GSchutzius ‘82

Mr &Mrs John Sco fi eid

Mr &Mrs Arthur Sharp

Mr &Mrs Stephen Sheehan

Mr &Mrs Patrick Shipstead

Mr &Mrs Edward Silok

Mr &Mrs Michael Simms

the Barry Goldwater Visitors’ Center and is currendy inactive.

-The Air Force Academy Athletic Association (AFAAA) supports ca¬ det athletics.

-The Association of Graduates raises funds to support some of these and all other Academy needs.

The Association of Graduates supports itself through dues, merchan¬ dise sales, special activities, building rental, and other direct donations.

The AOG raises funds to augment other revenue sources and to sup¬ port the Academy through avariety of campaigns:

-The AFA Fund annually raises unrestricted funds for USAFA and cadet activities.

-The Doolittle Hall Building Fund is paying off Doolittle Hall.

-The Pegasus Paver Project supports AOG operations and Academy/ graduate programs.

-Planned gifts provide long term funding.

-The Sabre Society recognizes our most dedicated donors. It sup¬ ports many important Academy programs.

-Class gifts, major gifts from individuals, and grants from corpora¬ tions and foundations fund specific Academy needs.

The Association of Graduates is working hard to help provide the "ex¬ tra margin of excellence” which will keep the Academy’s position and reputation among the finest in the country.

DO YOU HAVE APPRECIATED STOCKS AND WANT TO AVOID CAPITAL GAINS TAX?

Effective planning can avoid those taxes. To learn if you can benefit, call Gary Howe ‘69 at the AOG (719) 472-0300.

Mr &Mrs Larry Slade

Mr &Mrs Gregory VSmith

Mr &Mrs Gregory &Janice Somers

Dr Thomas Sonne

Mr &Mrs John LStarrett

Mr &Mrs Craig RStephens

Lt Col &Mrs Richard W

Swengros

Mr &Mrs Dean TTerry

Lt Col Charles HThompson Jr ‘60

Mr &Mrs Richard KThompson

Lt Col (Ret) Daniel CUlmer ‘71

Mr Randy VanVeelen

Mr &Mrs Fred MVice

Mr &Mrs Barry Warnke

Mr &Mrs John Watson

Mr &Mrs WMWayman

Yes! Please send me... information on the free, no obligation estate planning review. information about the benefits of estate planning.

Name:

Address:

Mr &Mrs Michael PWegner

Mr &Mrs Wesley HWelch

Western Resources Foundation

Mr &Mrs Dennis KWhitehead

Ms Janice Wick

Mr &Mrs Gregory LWiele

Mr &Mrs Richard AWillhardt

Mr &Mrs Frank EWUls

Mr EWayne Wilson

Mr William DWimer

Mr &Mrs Michael Winslow

Mr &Mrs Dennis JWyffels

Ms Ok SYang

Mr &Mrs Neal LYoungpeter

Mr &Mrs Thomas SYounker

Ms Lydia Zapata

Mr &Mrs Jack GZarybnisky

Ways to Make Charitable Gifts Work Harder Highlighted

By Brad Gann ‘83

We all like to think of ourselves as smart shoppers who work hard to get the greatest value for our dollar on everything from cars to cauli¬ flower. We want to know that we got great value in return for our money.

We ought to have the same attitude when we give to charity -those special religious, educational, environmental, and other causes that we care so much about. We give because we want to make adifferenceand realize atax benefit. But are we smart shoppers who are getting the greatest “bang for the buck?” Can we get abetter “deal” for the char¬ ity and for ourselves? Here are three ways to make your charitable dollars work harder for your favorite charity and for yourself:

Give appreciated assets instead of cash. As someone once said, “Cash is always an appreciated gift.” But giving an “appreciated” gift such as stocks or real estate, can give more money to the charity and save taxes for you. Suppose you have stock or real estate that you’ve wanted to sell but the capittd gains tax is more than you want to pay. By giving the stocks or property to aqualified charity, no one pays. The charity sells the asset for it’s fiill value and does not have to pay capital gains tax. You get to take an income tax deduction for the full market value of the gift and you pay no capital gains taxes. You give alarger gift to your favorite charity at alower cost to you. Everyone vdns.

While it’s an excellent idea to include charities in your Will, there are ways to enjoy the rewards of giving right now.

Status of Coach Bob Spear Endowment Fund Explained

Iwish to bring you up to date on the funds we have contributed in memory of Coach Bob Spear over the past several years. Iwill not try to cover every¬ thing in great detail, but will touch upon the highlights foryou. Dottiesigned the agreement in late March to formalize the coach Bob Spear Endowment Fund under the auspices of the AOG. Current value of the endowment is $7,985.

There were two different sources of money that are now combined in the endowment fund. During our reunion(many years ago) of Coach Spear’s play¬ ers from the early years, we collected approximately $2,900 which Iplaced in the Athletic Association’s Nonappropriated Fund (NAF) following our gath¬ ering. At the time it seemed like areasonable idea, and each year the money is used for the Bob Spear Leadership Award. The award is presented annually to amember of the USAFA Men’s Basketball Team who demonstrates those qualities of leadership that Coach demanded from each of his players over the many years. The award is awhite ceramic falcon on apedestal with en¬ graved plate. The cost is approximately $250.

The second source ($5,000) was collected when Coach passed away. The contributions were sent to the AOG which has continued to manage the me¬ morial fund. The rate of return with NationsBank managing the AOG funds tracks very closely with the market each year. That is certainly better than the rate of return for the NAF that is fixed at 5% per year. Therefore, Iasked the AOG President/CEO, Dick Coppock, to build an agreement that would en¬ able us to place the funds under AOG management. Col. Randy Spetman, the athletic director; Col. Brad DeAustin, his deputy; and Coach Reggie Minton have been most supportive in making it happen, and agree vrith our decision to combine the two sources. The process for Reggie will be easy -send aletter requesting funds for the award to the AOG each year.

Dottie is very appreciative of our efforts though she did not realize how much had been collected. Ibelieve there are sufficient funds to continue the lead¬ ership award for aconsiderable time. However, may Isuggest that aU of us should consider contributing additional money. Ibelieve that we need to ensure that Coach Spear remains apart of the Academy heritage long after we are gone. Second, it is within the realm of possibility through your gener¬ osity that in several years we could be able to offer one of the players an op¬ portunity for aone-year postgraduate scholarship in memory of Coach Spear. Should you decide to contribute, please send the money to the AOG and stipu¬ late the Coach Bob Spear Endowment Fund.

May Iencourage each of you to give some thought to this article. Ineed your feedback and ideas for the future. Ialso realize that there will probably be some questions on my course of action. Some may not see this article, so Ineed those who do read it to spread the word. My address is 15050 La Jolla Place, Colorado Springs, Colo. 80901. Telephone: (719) 481-8264. E-mail: Julm62777@aol.com. Though 1may regret this, it is time to bring us all to¬ gether again. Any volunteers? Suggest you also consider giving Dottie acall, or visit her if you are in Colorado Springs. She is doing fine, but will always enjoy hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Jim Ulm (’61)

Give life insurance instead of acheck. Just like abequest in aWill, a gift of life insurance is often called a“deferred gift” because the charity will not receive any money until your death. Agift of life insurance is also called a“magnified gift” because the charity will receive asub¬ stantial amount for amodest outlay from you. You can name the char¬ ity as the primary or secondary beneficiary on the policy and you can either retain ownership of the policy or assign ownership to the char¬ ity. If you retain ownership, your estate will receive atax break by hav¬ ing the value of your estate reduced by the amount of the proceeds paid to the charity. If you assign ownership, you can take an income tax deduction now for either the net premiums you’ve already paid or the policy’s fair market value whichever is less. You can arrange to con¬ tinue to pay future premiums and deduct those contributions as well.

Instead of giving both principai and interest, keep one for yourself. It is possible to have your cake and eat some of it, too. Acharitable remainder trust allows adonor to place an asset (cash, securities, or property) into atrust. The donor receives atax deduction for the value of the donation and receives income from the trust for life or aspeci¬ fied number of years. The charity receives the remainder of the trust. Atrust, in essence, works in reverse. Adonor who does not need in¬ come but wishes to preserve an asset for family members places that asset in atrust for aspecified number of years. The charity receives the income from the trust and the donor receives atax deduction for the annual income paid to the charity. At the end of the specified time period, the asset reverts to the donor’s beneficiary.

Leave alegacy by helping your favorite charity survive and thrive. And be asmart shopper! For information on wheAer acharity is qualified and worthy, contact the National Charities Information Bureau at (212) 929-6300 and request their free “Wise Giving Guide.”

Estate planning and charitable giving are highly complex, highly per¬ sonal issues. You must consult with professionals in the field before making any irrevocable arrangements. We can arrange afree, no obli¬ gation analysis of your situation for you or any of your friends or fam¬ ily. Please contact: Gary Howe or Jim Shaw at the Association of Gradu¬ ates: (719) 472-0300

CHAPTER NEWS

Alamo Area Chapter

Keeping alive achapter tradition of long standing, members of the Alamo Chapter gath¬ ered on the evening of Friday April 3, 1998, to observe the 44th anniversary of “Founders’ Day”. Utilizing aformat that features an infor¬ mal evening of conversation, good food, out¬ standing entertainment, afew traditional toasts, and fun for all, the assembled graduates and guests enjoyed amemorable spring evening in Military City USA, San Antonio, Texas.

Chapter vice president Forrest James, ‘88, was the official host for the evening in the absence of president Harry Icke, ‘66, who is ofi'learning to fly airplanes...again. Pete Hugdahl, ‘67, was the coordinator for the evening; and Jim Wheeler, ‘64, served as master of ceremonies for the formal portions of the program. John Blaha, ‘65, well-known astronaut and San Antonio na¬ tive, was the featured graduate for the evening and entertained everyone with some reflections on his experiences in Russia prior to his tour on MIR. Mark Anderson, ‘61 was the senior graduate in attendance.

The evening started with an informal recep¬ tion and cocktail hour with background music provided by individual musicians from "Sky Country”, an element of the USAF Band of the West. Next, everyone found their tables and Larry Freeman, ‘61, offered the invocation. Three traditional toasts to honor the Com¬ mander in Chief, the U.S. Air Force, and the Air Force Academy were made; and after the ladies were seated, the gentlemen offered atoast in their honor. The master of ceremonies then pre¬ sented remarks related to the occasion and in¬ troduced several distinguished guests. Aspecial thank you was offered to the USAA Federal Sav¬ ings Bank which was the corporate sponsor for the third consecutive year.

Atasty dinner followed - fi sh, fowl, or beefand after aquick intermission, John Blaha made his remarks and then relinquished the stage to “Sky Country” for aprogram of country-andwestern songs and jokes that got everyone into afoot-stomping mode that would carry over to the dancing that followed the program. And, fi¬ nally, in keeping with an Alamo Chapter tradi¬ tion, the structured portion of the evening con¬ cluded with the reading of “One More Roll”, the appropriate water toast “to our absent com¬ rades”, and arousing rendition of the chorus of the Air Force Song...By any measure, amemo¬ rable evening for all who attended. {Jim Wheeler,

Northern California Chapter

The Northern California Chapter met for din¬ ner in Oakland in March to hear from Andy Biancur, ’60, who is amember of the AOG Board of Directors. The chapter meets at various lo¬ cations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our up-

coming events include apicnic at Angel Island, and our annual dinner in December at Moun¬ tain Home Inn. If you would like to attend or if you would like to be on the mailing for our meetings, please contact Chuck Reed at Reed Elliott, Creech &Roth, 99 Almaden Boulevard, Eight floor, San Jose, CA 95113. Telephone (408) 993-9911, facsimile (408) 993-1335, e-mail Chuckreed@aol.com. (Chuck Reed, 70)

How To Request Academy Staff as Speakers

In order to provide better assistance to AOG Chapters seeking speakers from the Acad¬ emy, please submit aletter to HQ USAFA/ XPAA, USAF Academy, Colo. 80840-5241, at least six months in advance, with the follow¬ ing information: What, when, where?Who on the Academy staff would you like to have speak at your function? Also provide the names of two other speakers you would like to have if your first or second choice is not available.

To aid speaker preparation, we will also need to know the audience, along with any particular interest of the group in any aspect of the Academy, and arecommended speaker’s attire for the event. Please include who will be in the audience (i.e., alums, spouses, parents’ clubs, LOs, etc.) and what the occasion is for the event.

Apoint of contact for the event (i.e., name, address, home and work phone numbers) is needed to make the appropriate arrange¬ ments. You can call XPA at (719) 333-3832, DSN 333-3832, for initial inquiry but must back up your call with aletter requesting the spetiker.

Orange County Chapter

Greetings from the Orange County Chapter! Once ayear the chapter sends aletter to all known graduates living in the Orange and Los Angeles Counties area highlighting the major events of the past year.

The chapter was formed in 1983, initially to help provide information about the Academy for high-quality, prospective candidates in the area. Since then, we have evolved into apri¬ marily social and business networking group. Time for the yearly update of the chapter ac¬ tivities. Last count showed us with approxi¬ mately 55 dues-paying members. We usually schedule two AOG Golf Tournaments at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro golf course with typically around 20 members playing.

Steve Shay, ‘71, does asuper job in setting up and arranging the teams for these events. Ken Wentzel, ‘64, organizes all member meetings at the Officers Club following the tournaments, where we enjoy libations, eat hors d’oeuvres and reminisce about days gone by. This past year we hosted only one golf outing in July. Addi¬ tionally, we received great acclaim for the deli-

cious wine-tasting dinner in November at the Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach, where good food, wine and Mendship were enjoyed in very elegant surroundings. Michael Mercier, ‘86, set up, organized and coordinated the event.

Another highlight of the year was afabulous dinner cruise in August out of The Cannery Res¬ taurant in Newport Harbor. Bryan Zawikowski, ‘89, spent many hours ensuring the event was well attended and enjoyed by all. Fabulous job Bryan!

Finally, several members trekked out to Las Ve¬ gas in December to watch the Ftdcons play Or¬ egon in the Las Vegas Bowl. Overall, we had a great year with numerous activities for all to enjoy. You can support your AOG by attending as many of these events as possible. Hope to see you there in ‘98!

For 1998, we have tentatively scheduled the following events: Awine-tasting dinner at The Sutton Place Hotel on April 17. In May, agolf tournament and membership meeting. In Au¬ gust, aspecial event, golf tournament, and membership meeting. In October, another wine-tasting dinner. In late Fall, atailgate party for members only.

The planning and direction for the chapter’s activities is still entrusted, to aloosely-federated group we call the chapter’s steering committee. This group is currently comprised of interested graduates (spread from ‘63 to ‘89) of whom six or seven are relatively-active participants.

The steering committee meets on abimonthly basis at Scott Jackson’s law office in Irvine. Any graduate who is interested in working on the steering committee is encouraged to attend these meetings. We encourage all graduates in the area to join us.

The steering committee has developed amem¬ bership roster for networking and job-finding purposes, and we encourage all members to participate. We are aselect group of people, and our members are active, successful leaders and professionals. We have acommon bond of edu¬ cation and experience, have learned the value of depending on each other.

(Continued on next page.)

Support Your Local AOG Chapter/Society

Do you want to know what is happening with graduates in your area? Are you inter¬ ested in establishing ties with the local graduate community and with the Acad¬ emy? In addition to social activities, many chapters/societies provide mentor services, job-search information, and business net¬ working. Take advantage of the opportuni¬ ties that exist. Contact your local chapter/ society for information on meetings and activities. See “Graduates” on the AOG web page for acomplete listing: www.aogusafa.org.

Sixth Service Academy Golf Classic Slated for October

It’s time to make your reservations for THE SIXTH ANNUAL SERVICE ACADEMY GOLF CLASSIC. This popu¬ lar tournament will take place on October 18-19,1998 at Trophy Club Country Club located close to the DallasFort Worth Airport. Trophy Club features two golf courses designed by Ben Hogan and Arthur Hills.

The SERVICE ACADEMY GOLF CLASSIC is the only NCAA-sanctioned tournament that features direct com¬ petition between cadets and midshipmen from USAFA, USMA, USNA, and USMMA.

Graduates and friends of the Academies sponsor this tournament at no cost to the Academies. Our unique format will provide you with the opportunity to support the USAFA golf program while participating in a two-day, 36-hole golf tournament.

Players receive 36 holes of golf (18 with acadet joining your foursome), cart and range balls, competition for vduable prizes, abreakfast, brunch, lunch and banquet dinner, beverages, and more for your entry fee of $295. Rooms are available for out-of-town golfers at the nearby Marriott Solana for $80 per night.

The tournament is organized by Dallas-Fort Worth area volunteers. The Service Academy Golf Classic is a (501 -3.C) organization so aportion of your entry fee or your entire donation is tax deductible.

We invite you to browse our web site at fagc.org for additional details, call or fax Jerry Ahmann at (817) 4160346 or write to us at Service Academy Golf Classic, P.O. Box 1056, Grapevine, Texas 76099-1056.

Join the ranks of the AOG, USAA Federal Savings Bank, and the Elk Corporation as an official sponsor. Make your commitment today!

Association I of Graduates, 1USAFA

The Association of Graduates was one of numerous tee sponsors for the 1997 Service Academy Golf Classic. The tournament committee is continually looking for support of this worthy event. Give them acall.

(Chapters: From previous page.)

and know the benefits of being reliable, participating members of a team. We all have something to offer whether it be professional ser¬ vices, business opportunities, employment counseling in all areas of expertise, or many other unique areas. If you are interested in this net¬ working program, please call Michael Mercier, ‘86, who is in the jobplacement business, in the evenings at (714) 251-9079 for further infor¬ mation.

Those who are interested in serving as Air Force Academy liaison of¬ ficers should contact Denny Shields ,‘71, at (714)249-6942. Member¬ ship fees for annual membership in the chapter are $20 to cover post¬ age and supplies. For more information, please call Scott Jackson,‘67, at (714) 851-7427 orKenWentzel at (909) 481-3114.

Rampart Chapter

The Rampart Chapter in Colorado Springs has started 1998 with a bang. Our membership is up to almost 200 and we seem to be in the “high energy” mode. Our plan is to have something for everyone, with some sort of event each month. In January and March we held net¬ working lunches. These were informal, no-host affairs where chapter members got together to discuss the world, as it ought to be. Atten¬ dance averaged eight to twelve and we expect that to grow.

In February we held our first formal lunch of the year at the Peterson AFB Officers’ Club. Our guest speaker was Lt. Col. Bill Berry, ’79. His very interesting and informative topic was the origins of the Russian space program and the beginning of the space race. Bill had aPh.D. in Russian Studies and has done considerable research, much of it in Russian Archives. The 18 attendees certainly enjoyed the presentation. In April, the chapter, in conjunction with the Academy and the AOG, hosted the Founders’ Day Dinner at Doolittle Hall. Over 100 guests, including two past superintendents (Generals Clark and Scott), en¬ joyed the fabulous food, special camaraderie and entertainment by

If you are interested in being amember of this growing group, contact Bernie Amels at (719)590-4951. (VicAndrews, ‘66)

Diego Parents’ Club, and the West Los Angeles Parents’ Club.

The Air Force Academy Golf Team with Coach Gene Miranda at left show off the Bill Reemstma Memorial Trophy which they won at last year’s annual Service Academy Golf Classic.

the USAF Band Of the Rockies. Lt. Gen. Tad Oelstrom ’65, the current superintendent, gave ashort presentation on the contributions of Acad¬ emy graduates to the nation. We plan on making this an annual event.

Superintendent Speaks to Parents’ Club Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Tad J. Oelstrom is thanked by co¬ presidents of the Tri-Counties Parents' club of California, Sue Hendrix and Mary Ann Apgar (standing at right of photo). The general spoke at the club’s Annual General’s Dinner which was held on March 9on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif The dinner was planned this year by the Tri-Counties Parents’ Club, and included the Inland Empire Par¬ ents’Club, North Los Angeles Parents’Club, Orange County Parents’Club, San

Association of Graduates Available Member Bene fi ts/Services

AOG ojfices are open Monday through Friday, 0730-1630 Mountain Time. For all offices, telephone: (719) 472-0300 (DSN: 333-2067/2073). E-mail: aog-usafa.org.

CHECKPOINTS MAGAZINE—

your quarterly link to friends, classmates and the Academy.

REGISTER OF GRADUATES—

annual presentation of biographical information on all Academy graduates.

CHAPTERS—

support for some 29 chapters throughout the world.

AOG MASTERCARD—

favorable terms and credit limits from Air Acad¬ emy National Bank. (800) 365-5980

UNE OP CREDIT—

unsecured line of credit at 6.4 percent over prime rate from Security Pacific Executive/Professional Services. For information call (800) 274-6711.

SCHOLARSHIPS—

● apreparatory school scholarship viathe Falcon Foundation,

●post secondary scholarships to graduates’ chil¬ dren.

LOCATOR SERVICE—

need to find afellow graduate? We help!

SABER RENTAD-

sets of six for the military wedding.

TRAVEL SERVICE—

Year-round full-service travel program for vaca-

tion, business, special Academy events and re¬ unions. CallABetterWayTravel Service at 1(800) 347-9002 and mention your AOG affiliation.

REUNION/HOMECOMINGS—

coordination and planning by your AOG.

MERCHANDISE/MEMORABILIA— Academy/AOG-unique items created especially for members.

AUTOMOBILE PURCHASE DISCOUNT—

2% over factory invoice on new Pontiacs and GMC tmcks and receive all applicable factory re¬ bates. Drop-shipping available. Contact the Commercial Sales Division, Ferguson PontiacGMC Truck (719) 596-5005/ (800) 782-0826/ fax (719) 596-7569

CAR RENTAL DISCOUNTS—

special 10% discount rate from Budget: (800) 4552848 (AOG ID T507 400). You must present your AOG-provlded Budget card when picking up your car.

HOTEL DISCOUNTS—

●save 10% at participating Clarion, Comfort, Econo Lodge, Rodeway, Friendship,Quality and Sleep Inns, Hotels, Resorts -(800) 4-CHOICE. (Ask for the travelers discount for AFA AOG mem¬ bers, ID#C00041511).

●15% savings atWoodfin Suites- (800) 237-8811

●an approximate 20% saving at the Embassy Suites Hotel of Colorado Springs. Call (719) 5999100 and ask for the AOG RSVIP Rate (excludes special and group events). You must present your AOG membership card on check-in.

●save 10-25% at the Radisson Inn North (formerly Sheraton Inn North) just outside the USAFA South Gate. Call (719) 598-5770 and askfor the Associa¬ tion of Graduates rate (excludes special or group events...discount depends on time of year and room availability). You must present your AOG membership card on check-in.

●save 50% at the Colorado Springs Marriott when traveling January, March, April and October, No¬ vember, December. Call (800) 962-6982 and ask for the AOG VIP Rate (excludes group, special events and promotional rates). Discount based on rack rates and subject to availability. Must present AOG membership card upon check-in.

● save 50% at the Sumner Suites of Colorado Springs when traveling January through April and November/December. Call (719) 265-9385 and ask for the AOG Special Rate (not valid for groups, spe¬ cial events or with any other promotion). Discount based on regular rate and is subject to availablility. AOG membership card required upon check-in.

Rules Outlined for Graduate Golf Course Use

Through the efforts of the Association of Graduates (AOG) and the Di¬ rectorate of Development and Alumni Programs, the following proce¬ dures have been arranged for graduates wishing to play golf at the Academy’s Eisenhower Golf Course.

Active-Duty and Retired Graduates may schedule their own tee times by calling (719) 333-3456,72 hours in advance. These are the same res¬ ervation rules applicable to all active-duty personnel not stationed at the Academy and retirees. Green fees are $16. Reciprocal privileges are in effect for active-duty graduates who have annual memberships at other Air Force courses. Golf cart fees are $16.

Nonretired, Nonactive-Duty Graduate AOG members: The AOG is al

Ferguson Pontiac-GMC Offers

AOG Special Vehicle Program

The Association of Graduates is proud to announce asubstantial price reduction agreement with Ferguson Pontiac-GMC Truck of Colorado Springs. Ferguson Pontiac-GMC has been astrong supporter of your AOG and of the Academy for anumber of years. They were instmmental in the AOG receiving adonated GMC 4x4 Sierra pick-up truck and they are also long-time active participants in the AFAAA sponsorship program.

As part of their continuing association with the Academy, they are offering adiscount pricing program which allows you to purchase or lease avehicle at aprice which rivals those currently being offered to cadets. The vehicle price is aremarkable two-percent over dealer in¬ voice and you still receive any factory rebates. 'This benefit program is available to all AOG members and their families and it provides aroy¬ alty to your Association.

To take advantage of this great program, call Ferguson Commercial Sales Division at (719) 596-5005/(800) 782-0826 and order the vehicle of your choice (with acouple of restrictions) for pick-up in Colorado Springs or at any Pontiac or GMC dealer nationwide. You’ll have friendly sales people to work with and no-hassle pricing, making this apleasur¬ able buying experience.

Check out this exceptional deal the next time you are in the market for anew car. Drop by the showroom or call the dealership directly to further explore the details on this excellent AOG benefit. Be sure to mention your AOG affiliation as the AOG receives a$100 royalty on each purchase or lease.

Bring back memories of the great deals available to you when you

located eight tee times per month. Nonretired graduate AOG members who are no longer on active duty may play at these special times. Tee times begin after 1000 hours. Graduates wishing to use these tee times must make reservation through Steve Knight at the AOG. He will con¬ tact the golf course to schedule your desired date and time. After con¬ firmation of the tee time, he will notify you of the date and time. We emphasize that these graduates must go through the AOG office for res¬ ervations (719) 472-0300.

Graduates may schedule only one tee time per month to insure all graduates have an opportunity to use one of the eight tee times. If by the 25th of each month the eight tee times have not been reserved, a graduate who played earlier in the month may schedule asecond tee time. Green fees for nonretired, nonactive-duty graduates are $40 and golf cart fees are $16.

Reunions and Homecoming: Atournament will be scheduled by the Academy and the AOG to accommodate graduates at aset fee for all players. The fee will be independent of military status or golf course membership.

AOG SELECTS NEW TRAVEL AGENCY

The AOG has anew agreement with agraduate-owned local travel agency, ABetter Way Travel Service, for lowest-priced available air line fares and special prices on tours and cruises. As you might ex¬ pect, the owner. Bob Denny, ‘68, has also arranged for adiscount on selected carriers for air travel to class reunions, graduation, inprocessing and Parents Weekend.

The general details of the AOG arrangement are published as an ad in each Checkpoints. You can contact ABetter Way Travel Service to check out their rates at 1-800-347-9002 (Colorado Springs local number: 599-9500). Be sure to mention your affiliation with the AOG. There can be substantial differences between the prices for landing at the new Denver International Airport versus landing at Colorado Springs, so be sure to have them check both airports for the best deal.

We encourage AOG members to give this AOG-af fi liated travel agency acall and check out their prices and service.

For your information, by mutual agreement, the AOG no longer has any formal arrangements with Camelot Travel.

ATTENTION IN THE AREA

By Col. Jock C.H. Schwank (USAF, Ret), ‘60

Register Deadline Aired

Amajor AOG service is one of providing up-to-date information on graduates through the annual Register of Graduates. The most recent hook was mailed to members of record in November, 1997. The bio¬ graphical information form printed near the center of each magazine should be used on an ongoing basis to update graduate data. Since the individual graduate is the critical source of Register information, it is vital that you keep the AOG informed of address changes, promo¬ tions, new jobs, etc. Information updates to be included in the 1998 Register must be received by 1July 1998.

Inappropriate Use of Register Addresses

The AOG has noticed asignificant increase in the use of graduate ad¬ dresses listed in the Register for business and political purposes not sanctioned by your AOG. This is directly in violation of AOG policy as well as an infringement of copyright laws as spelled out on the first page of the 1997 Register.

The AOG requests that members notify the vice president. Services, immediately of any non-AOG-sanctioned solicitation they receive

AOG MAJOR EVENTS SCHEDULE (As of April 10,1998)

where their mailing address was apparently obtained from the Regis¬ ter. The AOG will contact the mailer to ascertain how they obtained your address. The names of those who inappropriately used the Regis¬ ter wiH be published in future editions of Checkpoints.

Class Ring Information

Graduates who need to replace or have their Academy class rings re¬ paired should go directly through the manufacturer. The manufacturer has the expertise and equipment to repair or replace your ring. Contact them directly for cost estimates, which vary significandy. Below are the manufacturers and how to contact them:

Jostens

c/o Seal Seykora

4890 S. Kitterege St. Aurora, CO 80015 (303) 699-9199

Balfour Company

Classes of 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997,1998

Classes of 1959, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1975, 1994

c/o Jess Crane 3502 S. Marion St. Englewood, CO 80110 (303) 789-0623 (Evenings: (303) 757-0557)

MAY 1995

24 Doolittle Hall Graduation Open House

27 Graduation-Class of 1998

JUNE

3-7 Class of‘68 Reunion (Anders)

30 Inprocessing -Class of 2002 &Pcnents Welcome Lunch

AUGUST

11 Fall Semester Classes Begin 17-19 Service Academy Career Confreence -San Diego

SEPTEMBER

4-7 Parents Weekend

5Wake Forest at USAFA, (1100 Kickoff) AOG Tailgate

6Doolitde Hall Parents Weekend Open House

12 USAFA at UNLV

17 Colorado State at USAFA (1800 Kickoff)

26 USAFA at TCU

OCTOBER

30 Sept -4Oct Class of'78 Reunion (Marriott)

Class of‘88 Reunion (Sheraton)

Homecoming

2-3 Jabara Recognition Weekend

3New Mexico at USAFA, AOG Tailgate

7-llClass of‘63 Reunion (Marriott)

10 Navy at USAFA, AOG Tailgate.

24 USAFA at Tulsa

28 Oct -1Nov -Class of‘73 Reunion (Marriott)

29 Oct -1 Nov -Class of‘65 Mini-Reunion (Embassy Suites)

31 SMU at USAFA, AOG Tailgate

NOVEMBER

7USAFA at Army

14 USAFA at Wyoming

21 Rice at USAFA

AOG Board Announces Membership Dues Increase

The Board of Directors of the Association of Graduates voted to increase membership dues as follows effective 1July 1998:

Annual Membership: from $40 to $45 per year.

Joint Annual Membership: from $45 to $50 per year.

Lifetime Membership: an increase of $50 in base price.

Clasesof 1985,1987,1988,1993, Herff Jones 226 Publis Street, Providence,RI 02905(401)331-1240

Corporate Members

Association of Graduates, USAFA

Air Academy Federal Credit Union

Air Academy National Bank

Air Force Association

Ampex Corporation

Betac Corporation

The Boeing Company

Budget Rent aCar Corporation

CBS Insurance

Colorado Springs Marriott

Continental Electronics

(Divison ofVarian Associates, Inc.)

Electronic Data Systems Corporation

Embassy Suites Hotel of Colorado Springs

General Dynamics Corporation

Jostens, Inc.

The MITRE Corporation

Motorola, Inc.

Government Electronics Group PRC, Inc.

Rockwell International

Sumner Suites of Colorado Springs

TRW, Inc., Electronic &Defense Sector

United Parcel Service

United Services Automobile Association

United Technologies Corporation

USAF Academy Athletic Association

Walsworth Publishing of Colorado

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Defense &Electronic Center

Corporate memberships are being offered for $2,000 for the life of the cor¬ poration. With the exception of voting and holding office, corporate mem¬ bers enjoy all privileges of regular members. For more information write to Col. (Ret.) Jock Schwank, vice president, Services. Association of Graduates, 3116AcademyDr.,U.S. Air Force Academy CO 80840-4475. Phone (719) 4720300.

AOG Assumes Responsibility For Class Ring Procurement

Take alook at your class ring. Have you ever wondered about its de¬ sign? Do you know how policies are established and how the integrity of your ring is protected? We (the AOG) as your association, did, and decided that we needed to become more involved. It was our position that class rings are essentially graduate rings and that policies and tra¬ ditions pertaining to their design, ovmership and wear should more properly be the province of the graduate community, represented by the AOG.

IMembers of the Class ofl999 ordered their class rings in January at the cadet library. Their rings were provided to them prior to the Ring Dance in May.

We discovered that important policy issues were not clearly articu¬ lated in an enduring document. We also found that the old method of procuring class rings placed undue burden of responsibility upon Ring Committee OIC’s, including liability for loss or damage before rings were turned over to their final ovmers. We felt that as acorporate entity, we were better equipped to pursue such legal remedies as might be¬ come necessary from time to time to serve the best interests of both cadets and graduates and that we could provide the necessary stabil-

REUNION CONTACTS (As of April 1998)

'63 (35th) 7-11 Oct 1998

Col (Ret) Jimmie Butler

7635 Delmonico Dr.

Colorado Springs CO 80919

Ph: (719) 528-5978 (H)

E-mail: JimmieHB@aol.com

Hotel: Marriott

‘65 (Mini-Reunion) 29 Oct-1

Nov. 1998

Jim Spittler

655 Big Valley Dr. Colorado Springs CO 80919

E-mail: spittler@hiland commercial. comH)

Hotel: Embassy Suites

‘68 (30th) 3-7 June 1998

Col (Ret) Bob Denny

15210 Churchill PI.

Colorado Springs CO 80921

Ph: (719) 488-8382 (H) (719) 599-9500 (W)

E-mail: travel@rmi.net

Hotel: Antlers Doubletree

‘73 (25th) 28 Oct-1 Nov 1998

Col Sam Grier

4184 Douglass Way

USAF Academy, CO 80840

Ph: (719) 333-3590 (W)

E-mail: sgrier@cs.usafa.af.mil

Hotel: Marriott

‘78 (20th) 30 Sept-4 Oct 1998

Ken Prusak

8410 EdgemontWay

Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Ph: (719) 594-6533 (H)

E-mail: I fi yUAL@aol.com

Lt Col Tim Taylor

3125 San Luis Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80909

Ph: (719) 473-0501 (H)

E-mail: Talon01@juno.com

Hotel: Marriott

'88 (10th) 30 Sept-4 Oct 1998

Capt Dan Uribe

4520 Granby Circle

Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Ph: (719) 532-0962 (H)

(719) 333-3820 (W)

DSN 333-3820

E-mail: URIBED.

DFF@usafa.af.mil

Capt George “Buster” Stamper

4505F WJuniper Dr.

USAF Academy CO 80840

Ph (719) 472-6693 (H)

(719) 333-3622 (W)

DSN: 333-3622

E-mail: STAMPERGL.DFH

@usafa.af.mil

Hotel: Sheraton

ity, continuity and corporate strengths in areas of policy, procurement and servicing.

With that in mind, we set about to create an agreement which in¬ creased our role in the process. In March 1994, amemorandum of un¬ derstanding was signed by the superintendent and the AOG president/ chairman of the board establishing responsibilities for ring design, pro¬ curement, control and servicing.

Starting with the class of ‘97, the AOG has been responsible for ring procurement, servicing, return of rings from disenrolled/resigned ca¬ dets, maintenance of the history, heritage and traditions of class rings; and policies regarding the design, procurement, ovmership and wear of the rings. The Academy approves the final ring design, approves Ca¬ det Ring Committee actions dealing with the design of aclass crest and the class ring, appoints an OIC of the Ring Committee, and continues to plan, coordinate and execute the Ring Dining-out and Ring Dance.

We look forward to working with all future graduates in the design, procurement and servicing of their class rings. We also welcome the opportunity to ensure ring tradition is maintained for the entire gradu¬ ate community. Wear your ring proudly -it is asymbol of the common bond we all share as graduates of the Academy.

Academy Center for Character Development Seeks “War Stories

9f

When Ireflect on the best lessons I’ve learned throughout my life, many have been from personal experience. However, I’ve acquired most by listening or reading about the experience of others. Usually these stories were told in an informal setting, not alecture hall.

Recently, the Center for Character Development hosted an event sponsored by tbe Association of Graduates called the “Falcon Heri¬ tage Forum." TWenty-flve veterans, including former POWs, Women Air Force Service Pilots, Medal of Honor recipients, Tuskegee Air¬ men, one of our first women fighter pilots, and others spent Oct. 17 and 18 telling such stories to 75 cadets in various informal settings. Cadet feedback was extremely positive. As aresult, we hope to spon¬ sor two similar forums next year.

These Falcon Heritage Forum veterans passed the “baton” of good character on to this new generation of warriors by sharing their ex¬ periences. Two years ago, the Center for Character Development made acall for “old war stories” in Checkpoints. The idea was to in¬ clude these in an Academy "Book of Military Virtues.” The response was limited. Now that we have seen the value of these important stories, we would like to make another call for your experiences. Our hope is to compile these military-related stories and eventually pub¬ lish them for the cadets.

Thanks for considering this important call. Please send your sto¬ ries to me: Colonel Mark Hyatt. Our address: 34 TRW/CWC, 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 4A22, USAFA, CO 80840-6260 or e-mail “hyattma.34cwc@usafa.af.mil”. If you have questions please call 719-333-4904.

Cadets Celeste Rodriguez andAllyne Castillo, Class of1999, choose set¬ tings for their class rings.

Academy Fourthclassmen Earn Prop and Wings

By Senior Airman Brad Miiiiman Academy Spirit Staff

On June 26,1997 more than 1,100 members of the Academy’s Class of 2001 arrived at Doolittle Hall to begin the fourthclass cadet year. Eight months later, 990 of them reached one of the final milestones for this year.

On the evening of March 14th the class was welcomed into the Cadet Wing during the wing’s recognition ceremony. Recognition isn’t easy, as most fourthclassmen will attest to. For three days, they endured a number of physical and mental challenges designed to test individual and team strength.

“I think the toughest part of recognition is overcoming fears and weak¬ nesses,” said Cadet 4th Class Stacy Boggs, Cadet Squadron 10. “Physi¬ cally, fourthclass cadets are challenged far beyond our own boundaries and challenging ourselves to go beyond them is the greatest obstacle.”

To begin the weekend’s activities, fourthclass cadets were picked up at Fairchild Hall late in the afternoon March 12, and brought back to the dormitories in Sijan andVandenberg Halls. Upperclass cadre started the physical training immediately.

While running in place, doing push-ups, sit-ups, and leg-lifts, fourthclasssmen recited knowledge from Contrails, ageneral militaryknowledge book all fourthclassmen receive upon arrival.

After acouple hours of training, cadets ate dinner. While eating din¬ ner, the four-degrees recited more knowledge. After dinner, it was more training and reciting until 10 p.m., when fourthclassmen turned in for some sleep. The training was not only tough on the four-degrees. Up¬ perclassmen were given the responsibility of virtually all aspects of rec¬ ognition weekend.

“Recognition is very demanding physically on upperclassmen, too,” said Cadet 3rd Class Nathan Rowan, CS-10. “We’re responsible for the planning, execution and success of recognition. There are alot of late nights before and during recognition; that takes its toll on the upper¬ classmen. We tdso go through most of the physical training, with the exception of the obstacle courses with the four-degrees. This is espe¬ cially true with in-squad training.”

The next morning, cadets were up at 6a.m. and ready to begin the second day of recognition training. After breakfast, some squadron cadre members took the four-degrees on motivational runs around the Academy, followed by field-day activities near the Cadet Field House.

In the afternoon, flights of four-degrees from each cadet squadron competed in wing-wide drill competition on the terrazzo. For many, the light at the end of the tunnel was beginning to show Saturday. Each squadron took its turn at the obstacle course, which also involved some physical training.

Recognition activities concluded with the annual “run to the rock.” Each squadron’s fourthclassmen ran from the cadet area to Cathedral Rock, where rocks painted with each squadron’s colors and number were placed amongst the rock formation by upperclassmen. Cadets worked

USAFA CLASS RING

Lost &Found Service

If you have lost your class ring or found someone else’s, who are you going to call? The AOG has long been the focal point for trying to match lost rings with their owners. We have several sources for maintaining up-to-date addresses and phone num¬ bers on graduates (the primary source, of course, depends on the graduate keeping the AOG informed of changes). When a ring is returned to the AOG we can usually have it back in the owner’s hand within aweek or two (as soon as we can verify a shipping address). If aring needs to be replaced or serviced, we can link you up to the ring company representative who handles your class. So, if you need to report aring lost or found, or need to know who to call for ring repairs/replacement, please caU or write either:

JIM SHAW ‘67 or JACK MUELLER ‘70 at (719) 472-0300, DSN 333-2067

3116 Academy Drive USAF Academy, Colo. 80840-4475

Fourthclass cadets endure physical training duringfleld-day exercises March 13 as part of the Recognition Week. (Photo by Capt. Laurel Scherer) as ateam to reach the top of the formation and retrieve the rocks. That evening fourthclassmen received the prop and wings from upperclass¬ men signifying acceptance into the Cadet Wing.

“When Cadet First Class Lance Rosa-Miranda pinned on my prop and wings, Icould not have felt any more respect and admiration for him or any more for myself,” Boggs said. “It was the most incredible feeling I have experienced in my life, to know that 1had accomplished the first step in beginning my life and capturing my dreams. Knowing Icon¬ quered my first year, Iwas imagining what great things Iwill accomplish in years to come." (The Academy Spirit)

AFA Fund-Supported Engineering Course Provides “Suite” Opportunity

Acadet’s schedule doesn’t often leave much time for community service. But one course. Engineering 410, actually includes com¬ munity service as its primary objective.

Engineering 410, formerly known as engineering system design, is the capstone engineering course for firstclass cadets. Upper-level students apply knowledge from previous courses and are introduced to the Air Force’s systems-acquisitions process. This process is used to complete the design project.

“Learning the acquisitions process was the best part of making this project,” said Cadet 1st Class Cenia Vargas, Cadet Squadron 24. “I realized it’s not as easy as Ithought. There’s alot of paperwork involved.”

One recent project among the many sections of Engineering 410 required the class to design acasing system for an automated sur¬ gical laser prototype. Lt. Col. Steven Barrett of the Department of Electrical Engineering designed the prototype to treat diseases of the retina. Engineering 410 enlists the talents and abilities of stu¬ dents from avariety of majors to design, buUd, test and communi¬ cate adesign for the assigned project.

The laser-casing system, known as a“laser suite,” is atwo-part system designed by the cadets. The system consists of the primary casing, which safely houses the computer central processing unit and all equipment necessary to operate it. The second part of the system allows easy transportation. The lower portion is aplatform for the main casing system, complete with folding legs and wheels. The unique aspect of the design is its self-containment.

“Currently it takes at least aday to disassemble the laser and pack it before it is shipped to Brooks AFB (Texas) every summer for test¬ ing,” Vargas said. “With our suite, all they have to do is secure apanel to the front of the suite to load and go."

Upon arrival at the testing site, testing and experimentation will occur within the suite, allowing efficiency without reassembling the equipment.

Projects undertaken by Engineering 410 are regularly supported with funds from the Association of Graduates’ Air Force Academy fund. [The Academy Spirit)

SACC Service Academy Career Conference

August 17-19, 1998

What is the SACC?

The SACC is the Service Academy Career Conference supported by the Alumni Associations from the US Naval Academy and US Coast Guard Academy and Associations of Graduates from the US Military Academy and the US Air Force Acad^y. The seven previous conferences were attmded by over 190 different OHnpanies and 4000 alumni.

Where wUl the SACC be held?

The second 1998 SACC will be held at the Hyatt Regency on San Diego Bay in San Diego California. You may obtain aroom at the Hyatt by calling 1-800-233-1234 or 619-232-1234 for reservatimis and asking for the SACC rate of $189 per night.

Who will be the candidates?

The candidates are all alumni of the service academies. These individuals have learned the lessons of leadership, integrity and time maiugemait during their undergraduate years. These skills have been honed and tested during active duty military service in afast-paced operational environment. The highest sense of personal honor and commitment to getting the job dc«e are common traits among our alumni.

Alumni of the service academies have astrong background in technical course material, as well as demonstrated leadership and management skills. Over 50% have post¬ graduate degrees. Alumni of the service academies are a true rq>resentation of our multi-cultural society and span the experience levels from entry to senior executive.

What is the SACC schedule?

The toitative schedule for the SACC is as follows:

Monday, August 17, 15198

♦

12:00 pm to 5:00 pm -Recruiter check-in and receipt of resume books and electronic versions of resumes.

Tuesday, August 18, 19518

7:30 am -Set-up of di^lays in Ballroom

10:00 am to 1:00 pm -Open Session I

1:00 pm to 3:00 pm -Recruiter Break

3:00 pm to 6:00 pm -C^>ai Session II

Wednesday, August 19,1998

Interviews as scheduled by company recruiters

What is the company registration fee?

The company registration fee is $1S00/Ist table with additimud tables being obtained for $7S0/2nd table, $S00/3rd table, $2S0/4th table. This fee entitles aconqjany access to the best candidates in corporate America; opoi sessions to meet with candidates; opportunities for on-site interviews. For each table reserved, acompany receives hard copies of all resumes submitted and an electronic version of the resumes with search software.

PLEASE NOTE; This fee does not cover the cost of your room at the hotel. You must make separate room reservations by calling 1-800-233-1234 or 61S1-232-1234 and asking for the SACC rate.

SACC Company Registration Form

w 5ACC Service Academy Career Conference

August 17-19, 1998

What is the SACd

The &4CC is the Service Academy Caren Confidence supported by the Alumni Associations from the USNaval Academy and USCoast Guard Academy and Associatimis of Graduates from die USMilitary Academy and the US Air Force Academy. The seven previous ccnferences were attmded by over 190 companies and 4000 alumni.

Where wiU the SACC be held?

The second 1998 SACC will be held at the Hyatt Regoicy on San Diego Bay in San Diego California. You may obtain aroom at the Hyatt for the SACC rate of $189 a night plus tax. CaU 1-800-233-1234 or 619-232-1234 for reservations and ask for the SACC rate. There are many other hotels available in the area, or think about renewing relationships with classmates in the San Diego area.

How to register for the SACC:

1. Insure your AOG mranbership is current since this service is offered to association members only.

2. Complete the Electmiic Resume AND Attribute Program Disk obtained through the AOG for $25 (see order form in Checkpoints or caU (719) 472-0300). Return the completeddi^totheAOG(3116AcademyDrive,USAF Academy CO 80840-4475) but ke^ acopy. Disks must absolutely be returned NLT July 15, 1998 in order to be provided to recruiters at this conference. Recruiters at previous SACCs found the electnmic database extremely helpful. Be sure your information in the database is accurate and conqrlete.

3. Send the following to the SACC office (address below) no later than July 15, 1998.

a. Completed registration form,

b. A$20 registration fee, payable to SACC.

c. Two hard cc^ies of your resume (strictly limited to one page/one side). This resume should be the version that sells you the best, not necessarily the one generated using the Electronic Resume Service Program.

4. About ten days prior to the conferdice, you will receive acon fi rmation notice with ade fi nitive schedule.

5. The taitative schedule for the SACC is as follows:

Monday, August 17, 1998

♦Interview Prep Semiiuu' at 7:00 pm

Tuesday, August 18,1998

♦R^istration opens at 9:00 am and continues throughout the day

♦Two open sessions from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. In the ballroom, wander from table to table rne^ii^ face to face with recruiters from awide variety of companies.

WedBoday, Ai«iiBt 19,1998

♦Recruiters may schedule individual interviews

When attendii^ the SACC, brii^ sevmil copies of your resume to leave with recruiters since they review resumes collected at the conference and may contact candidates at alatar date. Although employment is not guaranteed, the conference offers aunique chance to explore new career opportunities.

ibership

If you have any questions on this AOG service, please contact Wayne Taylor or Col (Ret) Jock Schwank at (719) 472-0300 or DSN 333-4513.

The Secret Life of Waldo F. Dumbsquat

By Don Hall, ‘76

“All cadets present and accounted for, sir."

“Thank you. Take seats. Put your hooks away and take out apencil.”

“Oh, no! Not apop GR!” groaned Warren Heels to his roommate, Waldo F. Dumbsquat.

“You may begin as soon as you receive acopy of the test,” announced Major Prime. “I hope you are prepared for this exam.”

C/4C Waldo F. Dumbsquat smiled knowingly. In relation to Warren, he had arrived well pre¬ pared for this math GR. The doolie possessed a myriad of techniques for guessing multiple choice answers. First, he could use the quadrant method. Acadet had only to look at his watch. If the second hand pointed between the 12 and 3, the answer would be ‘A”. The second quadrant would be a“B” response and so forth. Should the question have more than four choices, Waldo would label the sides of his number 2yellow wooden pencil and roll it across his desk. The freshman planned to also “Christmas tree” the sec¬ ond column of the answer sheet.

Waldo survived chemistry class by using “X equals eight” on numer¬ ous occasions.

Picking up the graded review, the doolie folded back the cover sheet and looked through the questions. FRESHMAN MATH POP GR

1. If an asteroid travels toward the Earth at 1,000 miles an hour, what

Happy 25th Anniversary Waldo!

1998 marks the 25th year Don Hall has been writing Waldo Dumbsquat. Our thanks to Don for sharing the humorous anecdotes of the Air Force Academy’s eternal Doolie.

is the probability that amajor motion picture will be produced about it prior to impact?

2. Mitchell Hall can feed 4,000 cadets in 30 minutes. Cadets in the glider program can consume 37 box lunches in one hour. Find the square root.

3. You spend six hours preparing for aSaturday triple threat. How long does it take for aclassmate to wipe out your recently-shined shoes?

4. How many freshmen will the athletic officer put on the average in¬ tramural boxing team?

5. Asenior on the Spirit Committee has 50 spirit buttons. How long before he has sold all of them to the freshmen in his squadron?

6. Let “x” equal Christmas leave and “y” represent the number of months since athirdclassman has seen his girl back home. What are the odds he will have a12th period exam?

7. Using differential equations, solve for “x”. Hint: “x” does not equal eight.

8. Three firsties have 13 demerits each. Both squadron pay phones are being used by secondclassmen. What is the combination to the trunkroom?

9. The Cadet Dental Clinic pulls 220 wisdom teeth in one month be¬ fore graduation. Why?

10. Command Post makes three announcements after Taps and the uniform lights are burned out. Does anybody know what time it is? If so, does anybody really care?

11. The Chess Club plans atrip from the East Doors to the West Doors. Let “z” equal the number of new peanut butter jars and “y” equal the butter packets on the ceiling. How many cadets have their elbows on the table? Hint: The smoking lamp is lit.

12. Find the square root of Shepherd’s pie. Solve to the third decimal place.

The doolie looked to his watch for the fi rst answer.

“This test will be harder than Ithought,” groaned Waldo to himself. He was wearing adigital.

Academy Cadet Charts Course for U.S. Coast Guard

By Capt. Doug Kennedy Dean of the Faculty History Department

It’s full speed ahead into the next millennium forthe U.S. Coast Guard with the help of an Air Force Academy cadet.

Cadet 2nd Class Benjamin S. Robins, Cadet Squadron 28, co-published apaper in capstone course, “National Security Policy,” while on ex¬ change at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy last semester. The paper’s purpose was to provide input to astrategic project currently underway in the Coast Guard called “Semper Paratus 2020.”

“Throughout its entire history, the Coast Guard has been areaction¬ ary service,” Robins said. “Now they are taking strides to think ahead 15 to 20 years instead of only two to three years ahead.” The project’s aim is to provide direction and force structure for the Coast Guard by the year 2020.

Robins’ four-person team researched and developed the Coast Guard’s national defense mission in apaper entitled, “Semper Paratus 2020: Protecting Our Nation’s Sovereignty.” The cadets with the top three pa¬ pers briefed the upper-echelon of the Coast Guard.

“The admirals were pleased and surprised at the quality of our work,” Robins said. “I am sure that all of our reports will surface in the final cut of‘Semper Paratus 2020.’”

Robins, ahistory major, traveled to Washington D.C. in February and briefed the group’s finding to Vice Adm. James Loy, chief of staff of the

Transcripts Available

Graduates who need transcripts from the Academy must request them by signed letter or fax from: Hq USAFA/DFRR, 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 6D106, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. 80840-6210, Fax: 719-333-6650. For information call 719-333-3970 (commercial) or DSN: 333-3970.

Coast Guard; Rear Adm. Paul Plutta, chief of strategic planning at the Department of Transportation; and Rear Adm. Paul Busik, the senior director of the National Security Council.

The three separate briefings offered Robins aunique perspective of our national security structure and proved to be amemorable event.

“I have discovered how truly important joint work has become,” Rob¬ ins said. “This kind of exposure needs to be increased, especially at a young point in our careers. What better way to gain that exposure that through the service academy exchange program.” (The Academy Spirit)

The section marcher called the cadets to atten¬ tion as the instructor entered the classroom.

Cadet 2nd Class Benjamin Robins, center, awaits the start of aparade. Robins was an exchange student at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy dur¬ ing the Fall 1997semester. (Courtesy Photo)

1970 Graduate Slated to Head New Reserve Command Group

By Bert Johnson Staff Writer, Randolph AFB VWwgspread Newspaper

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Ryan has approved stand-up of an Air Force Reserve Command associate flying training group at Randolph AFB in 1998, followed by the activation of an also yet-to-bedesignated Reserve Command associate flying training squadron by the year 2000.

The Reserve Command associate group is scheduled to be fully op¬ erational in July. It will be commanded by Col. Pat Collins, 70, currently the Reserve adviser to Gen. Lloyd “Fig” Newton, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) commander.

The new units are part of an expansion of acurrent program at Co¬ lumbus Air Force Base, Miss., and Vance AFB, Okla., which fully inte¬ grates Reserve pilots with active duty instructors in T-38 Talon flying training squadrons there.

Tricare Alternate Available in 11 Geographical Areas

The Uniformed Services Family Health Plan (USFHP), aDepartment of Defense-sponsored health benefits program composed of civilian facilities, is available to eligible beneficiaries as an alternate to Tricare in 11 states. Unlike Tricare, military beneficiaries age 65 and over are eligible for USFHP in addition to eligible family members of active duty personnel and military retirees and their eligible family members.

Serving the military community since 1981, more than 113,000 mem¬ bers currently benefit from the quality, experience and choice offered by the USFHP’s locally-established, not-for-profit health care networks. The plan offers acomprehensive package of health care coverage, pre¬ scription drug coverage, plus the advantages of preventive care, includ¬ ing annutil physicals, mammograms, immunizations, well-baby care, and more.

The USFHP is available in seven areas of the country in the following facilities: Johns Hopkins Medical Services in Maryland, Bayley Seton Hospital in New York and New Jersey, Brighton Marine Health Center in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Martin’s Point Health Care in Maine and New Hampshire, Fairview Health System (a subsidiary of the Cleve¬ land Clinic) in Ohio, Sisters of Charity Health Care System in Texas and Louisiana, and PacMed Clinics in Seattle, Wash.

In the program’s most recent customer satisfaction survey, 91 percent of members rated their overall satisfaction with the program as good to excellent, surpasssing ratings for camparable civilian plans. For those individuals living in the plan’s geographical areas, enrollment informa¬ tion is available by calling 1-888-25-USFHP (1-888-258-7347).

Send us Your New Address Now.

The expansion puts associate pilots inT-38 as well asT-37 Tweet cock¬ pits at Laughlin AFB, Texas, this spring, plus T-1 Jayhawks at Columbus and Vance. In the second half of 1998, Reservists will instruct the T-Is at Laughlin and T-37s at Columbus and Vance.

By 2000, associate instructor pilots will total more than 500 and will perform the training now being accomplished by approximately 255 active duty pilots. Randolph will be one of the final bases to be added, with initial instructor acquisitions beginning in 1999 and ending in 2000.

The success of the program at Columbus and Vance led Newton to recommend using it at all AETC flying training bases. The initiative was accepted by Ryan. At each base, full and part-time associate in¬ structors work dongside active duty pilots in each of the squadrons. Part-time instructors could work up to 100 days ayear.

“They’re doing the same job as their fellow active duty pilots in the units at Columbus and Vance,” said Collins. “From the student’s per¬ spective, there is no difference between them.

“These are pilots who, for whatever reason decided to leave active duty and we’re taking advantage of their significant training and experience by bringing them back as flying training instructors.” Collins said. “It’s atremendous benefit for the Air Force and it can satisfy some needs of the individuals.”

This new program is helping offset pilot losses by using Reserve pilots as instructors and reducing the need to put new officers through costly pilot and instructor training. It also serves to replenish invaluable “been there, done that” knowledge that is gained by years of “hands on” prac¬ tice and is lost when apilot separates.

The program is getting enthusiastic reception from wing leadership. “Ithink General Newton’s initiative is tremendously exciting,” said Col. Chris Shaw, 12th Flying TrainingWing vice commander. It’s a‘win-win’ partnership that will strengthen our mission capability, boost pilot ex¬ perience level in AETC and save the Air Force many training dollars.

The future Reserve Command associate flying training group com¬ mander expressed asimilar view. “We’ve already seen the benefits to both parties of this alliance at Columbus and Vance, and I’m thrilled about implementing it at specialized undergraduate pilot training bases across the command.” Collins said.

“A big part of our success is due to the strong support from Gen. New¬ ton and other AETC senior leaders and commanders, and it shows just how well ‘Total Force’ can work.” Collins added.

For more information, pilots interested in AETC instructor pilot duty with the Air Force Reserve may contact Chief Master Sgt. Pamela White in the AETC Reserve Affairs Office, (210)652-2562. Her e-mail address is (pwhite@mdgatel.aetc.af.mil)

Minnesota Parents’ Club Welcomes Superintendent

Julie and Curtis Evert, presidents oftheAFA Parents’ Club of Minne¬ sota, pose with Superintendent Lt Gen. Tad J. Oelstrom, who was the guest speaker at the club's annual banquet at the Minnesota Air Na¬ tional Guard Base NCO Club on Feb. 21. The parents'club honored their appointees and parents of the Class of2002. Prior to the dinner, the su¬ perintendent spoke to the parents and the liaison officers in separate sessions.

-Mi

Col. Pat Collins, ‘70, Reserve adviser to Gen. Lloyd “Fig" Newton, Air Education and Training Command commander, will lead the new Re¬ serve Command flying training group at Randolph. [Photo by Javi Garcia)

Lest We Forge fPOW/MIA Flag Designer Remembers

By Resia L. Wood Academy Spirit

“Creating the POW/MIA flag was no big deal at the time,” said Newt Heisley, designer of the flag. In 1971, Heisley, aformer World War II pi¬ lot, was working as acreative director for aflag-making company when agroup asked him to design aflag to remember those who were pris¬ oners of war and missing in action.

As Heisley was drafting designs for the flag, his eldest son was return¬ ing home from boot camp. “As Ilooked at my son, Ithought, ‘this is what aPOW must look like,”’ Heisley said. The silhouette of the POW/ MIA flag is that of his son’s.

Through the efforts of Cadet 4th Class Sharon Fitzgerald, Cadet Squad¬ ron 11, Heisley presented aflag to Brig. Gen. Stephen R. Lorenz, com¬ mandant of cadets, Feb. 24th during noon-meal formation.

“Heisley created avisual symbol for all to unite under,” Fitzgerald said. “He has brought us unification, which is power for all of us.” After the Cadet Wing sang the third verse of the Air Force Song, Lorenz accepted the flag.

Fitzgerald became interested in the crusade for POWs and MlAs when she was afreshman in high school. She started wearing aPOW/MIA bracelet with Chief Master Sgt. Charles S. Poole’s name inscribe on it.

“I rarely take off my bracelet,” Fitzgerald said. “I have dressed in for¬ mal attire, and my bracelet is still worn. The ideas of pride, honor and support should not be affected by the clothes you wear.”

World War II POWs and flying aces also attended the ceremony and shared some of their war stories with CS-11 during the next class pe¬ riod.

“One thing that separates us and the gentlemen that were here today, is that they have been tested in their belief and support of our coun¬ try,” Fitzgerald said. “They serve as examples for future generations to admire in times of need and when ‘tough’ becomes akeyword.”

Cadet squadron 11 is framing and hanging the flag next to amural in honor of all those who have fought and defended the country. (The Academy Spirit)

Cadets Resolve Arab League Nation Issues

Academy cadets recently represented Egypt and Syria at the 1998 Rocky Mountain Model Arab League, held here March 5-7. The National Council on United States and Arab Relations, aWashington D.C.-based nonprofit organization established to educate U.S. citizens on the Arab world, sponsored the event.

The confrence, consisting of five simultaneous committee sessions, dealt with issues ranging from politics, economics, security and cul¬ ture, to Palestinian affairs.

Maj. Jim Simon, assistant professor in the Department of History and the local coordinator for the event, emphasized the leadership experi¬ ence the cadets gained by debating the current issues concerning the Middle East. “Everyone engaged with the issues, grappled with the dip¬ lomatic and procedural challenges, and explored new regional ties and friendships,” Simon said.

The cadets who participated in the conference were drawn primarily from an interdisciplinary course called Foreign Area Studies 410 “Con¬ temporary Issues in the Middle East,” taught by Jacob Abadi, Salah Hammoud, Maj. Chris Brooks and Capt. Tony Delgenis.

More than 70 students from regional schools, including Brigham Young University, Metro State University, University of Denver, Ames Community college, Regis University, University of Northern Colorado, and Colorado School of Mines attended the conference.

After two days of debate and compromise, the delegates sat down to atraditional Moroccan maghrebi dish, followed by akeynote address by retired Col. Ronald Boston concerning the United Nations weapons inspection teams in Iraq.

Boston recently retired as the director of operations for U.N. South¬ ern Command and is aclassmate of Col. Raymond “Chip” Franck, ‘67, professor and head of the Academy’s Department of Economics and Geography.

●Cadet 1st Class George Granholm, Cadets Squadron 14, won an out¬ standing delegate award and Cadet 2nd Class Matan Meyer, CS-31, won an honorable mention award. The resolutions each committee passed were voted on in the summit session.

Each of the resolutions was reviewed by Khalid Abdulla, the chief rep¬ resentative to the United States of the League of Arab States in Cairo. Worthy resolutions may be taken to Cairo and reviewed for merit by actual delegates to the Arab League.

The cadets traveled to Washington, D.C. and represented Yemen in April at the National Model Arab League at Georgetown University.

(Information submitted by Dean of the Faculty History Department,

Cadet 1st Class Travis Norton, at left, and Cadet 4th Class Sharon Fitzgerald talk with Newt Heisley, designer of the POW/MIA flag. (Photo by Resia L. Wood.)

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Item «7241

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12 oz. Brandy Snifter 73/4 oz. Wine Glass 10 oz. Goblet 12 oz. Pilsner Glass

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Item #7010

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SABERS and PLAQUES

$5.00 ea7$18.00 set of 4 $5.00 ea7$17.00 set of 4 $5.00 ea7$ 17.00 set of 4 $5.00ea7$18.00setof4

White Ceramic Coffee Mug, 12 oz.

The Cadet Saber is sold to GRADUATE AOG MEMBERS ONLY. The AOG does not sell the mounting case-call for info on where to get the mounting case.

Item #4000

Item #6000

Item #6001

Cadet Saber with Scabbard $185.00

Laser Engraved Walnut Plaque (Cadet Area, 17* x14*) $145.00

Etched Falcon on White Marble (14* x16') $75.00

COASTERS. NOTECARDS. and PENS

Item #7095 Pegasus Coasters -Terra Cotta and Blue $25.00 per set of 4. Water absorbent, nonscratch bottoms.

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Item #7075 Personalized Pen and Presentation Case $20.00 Light Maple or Rosewood. Name on pen. Case engraved with your choice of two crests, *AOG’, "USAFA*, or ‘CLASS* and up to three lines of personalizing.

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

In individual gift boxes. Solid brass with 24kt gold finish. Sizes approximate.

Item #7195

Item #7190

Item #7180

Item #7170

Item #7160

1997 Prop &Wings ornament (3* x3*)

1996 Eagle &Fledglings ornament (2* x4*)

1995 Pegasus ornament (3* x3*)

1994 Falcon ornament (2.5* x2*)

1993 Chapel ornament (3* x3*)

$19.95

SOLD OUT $24.95 $24.95 $24.95

Item #3160 Spirit and Flight $60.00

by Elizabeth Qill Lui

Aphotographic salute to the USAF Academy.

Over 150 color photos.

Book sponsored by AOQ.

EXCEI. I.ENCE

NAL.. L. WE DO

SWEATERS. SHIRTS. HATS. AND JACKETS

Item #1610 AOQ Rugby Shirt; 100% cotton (10% shrinkage, sizes run true) navy blue with AOQ crest embroidered on loft breast

$47.00 (SML, MED. LRG. XLG) $50.00 (XXL)

Item #1620 AOG Crew Neck Sweater: Jersey top pebble bottom navy blue sweater; 100% pre-shrunk cotton, sizes run one size smaller than normal fit; AOG crest embroidered on left breast

$48.00 (SML. MED. LRG. XLG) $51.00 (XXL)

Item #1630 AOG V-Neck Sweater; 85% cotton/15% polyester; oversized to compensate for shrinkage. Color: natural oatmeal (light beige) with navy striped trim. AOG crest embroidered on left breast $46.00 (SML. MED. LRG. XLG) $49.00 (XXL)

Item #1640 AOQ Golf Shirt: 100% combed cotton. Coior: Biue or White AOQ crest embroidered on left breast $38.00 (SML. MED. LRG. XLG) $40.00 (XXL)

Item #1520 Polar Jacket: Gray Fleece-lined Blue Nylon shell w/embroidered AOG crest. $60.00 (SML. MED. LRG, XLG, XXL)

Item #1530 Golf Jacket: White/Teal Poly/Cotton shell, nylon liner, w/embroidered AOG crest. $42.00 (SML, MED, LRG, XLG, XXL)

Item #1541 Suede Leather Jacket: Navy Blue/Tan w/embroidered AOG crest $120.00 (SML, MED, LRG, XLG) $125.00 (XXL)

Item #1700 AFA Hat w/Class Year; Navy Blue w/embroidered AFA crest and class year. Please specify class year. Adjustable leather strap for size. $16.00

Item #1701 AFA Hat (plain): Same as above without class year. $13.00

CADET ISSUE CLOTHING (Available to AOG Members ONLY)

Item #1100 Sweatsuit; 89% Cotton/8% Polyester/3% Rayon; oversize to accommodate shrinkage; light gray with dark gray reflective strips and USAFA (SML, MED, LRG, XLG, XXL)

Sweat Top Sweat Pants $35.00 $22.50 $55.00

Item #1300 USAFA T-Shirt; 100% cotton (will shrink). White with blue Ringer Collar &Sleeves; “USAFA" sllkscreened on left breast $8.00 (SML, MED. LRG. XLG) $9.00 (XXL)

Item #1400 Running Suit Blue/Qray Nylon with reflective strips (sizes run small). (SML, MED, LRG, XLG, XXL)

Running Suit Jacket

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Complete Suit

Complete Set $47.00 $25.00 $67.00

BOOKS AND VIDEOS (not pictured)

Item It 3020-Into the Mouth of the Cat $9.00

The Story of Lance Sljan, '65

Item #3040 -The Iskra Incident $19.95

Autographed by Qrad Author Jimmie Butler, '63

Item It 3050 -Vietnam: Above the Treetops $24.95

Autographed by Qrad Author John Ranagan, '62

Item #3060 -Red Ughtning, Black Thunder $21.95

Autographed by Qrad Author Jimmie Butler, '63

Item #3080 -Separated by War $24.95

Autographed by Qrad Author Ed Herlik, '80

Item It 3090 -Raid on Qaddafi $21.95

Autographed by Qrad Author Bob Venkus, '63

Item #3120 -Modernism at Mid Century $50.00

History of the architecture at USAFA

Item #3130 -Courage and Air Warfare $35.00

Autographed by Qrad Author Mark Wells, 75

Item#3140-TheRavens $25.00

The men who flew the secret war in Laos

Autographed by Author Christopher Robbins

Item #3150- The Secret Life of Waldo FDumbsquat $10.00

Autographed by Qrad Author Don Hall, 76

Item #3170 -ACertain Brotherhood $10.00

Autographed by Qrad Author Jimmie Butler, '63

Item It 7080 -Video; Wild Blue U$10.00

Produced by KUSA -TV Denver; cadet daily life

CLASS NOTEBOOKS Two-tone gray suede cover, Jr. legal size (6‘ x9‘), with class crest embossed on front with class color stripe; inside note pad and pen; available for the following classes $10.00

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LICENSE PLATE FRAMES 'U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY' on the bottom of the Frame and either 'FALCONS' or 'ALUMNUS' on the top. Buy one for $4.00 or two for $7.00 (the same or mixed).

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USAFA NECKTIE Silk tie with USAFA and Prop &Wings design. $23.00 $23.00

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Item #2010 ‘Here’s aToast..."by Keith Ferris $60.00

Item #2020 ‘Qyrfalcon’by Frace $75.00

AOG TIE TACK or CHARM Metal AOQ Crest Approx. 7/8‘

size.

Item #7030 AOQ Charm $26.00

Item #7031 AOQ Tie Tack $26.00

Item #7033 AOQ Upel Pin $26.00

PROP &WINGS Silver-color Prop and Qold-color Wings, same size and shape as worn on the cadet uniform w/two clutch typo pinback.

Item #7032 $10.00

SWEATERS Crew Neck Sweater 'FALCONS' Blue and White 80% Orlon/20% Wool -SML, MED, LRQ, XLQ (sorry no XXL)

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Child's Crew Neck Sweater 'FALCONS' Blue and White 80% Orlon/20% Wool (Child Sizes; SML, MED, LRQ)

Item# 1570 $15.00

V-Neck Sweater 'AIR FORCE' Blue and White 80% Orlon/20% Wool

SML,MED,LRQ,XLQ (sorry no XXL)

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KEYCHAIN Blue keychain with silver AOQ crest

Item #7070 $2.00

MAGNET Refrigerator Magnet (Picture of cadet color guard in Cadet Area)

Item #7071 $0.50

Item It 2030 "Thunderbird" by Rick Broome $50.00

Item It 2040 ‘Footballs'Artist Proofs $190.00 w 4..

Executive Of fi ces

Doolittle HaD Special Functions

Presklent/CEO; LTC (Ret) Richard Coppock Reservations (parties, etc): Jean Bickford

Executive Assistant PatBuland

Secretary: Maureen Homyak

Receptionist Jennifer Bowman

Accountant: Joyce Love

Career Opportunities

Company Contact Wayne Taylor

Resume Service: Wayne Taylor

SACC: Wayne Taylor

Class Rings: Jim Shaw, Jade Mueller

Death Noti fi cation

Notices: PatBuland

Obituaries: TomKrobr^

Development

Vice President: Col(Ret) Janies AShaw

AFAFund: TauniOmdorff

Building Fund; Jack Mueller, Kathy McCann

Class Gifts: JackMudler

Corporate Giving; Jim Shaw

Major Giving: Tun Shaw, Gary Howe

Matching Gifts: Jack Mueller

Paver Project TauniOmdorff

Plaimed Giving: Jim Shaw, Gary Howe

Sabre Society; Jim Shaw, Ka&y McCann

Information Services

Administrator: Col (Ret) Chuck Denham Specialist; Vikki Rhoden

Flibiications

Editor: Thomas Kroboth

Chedfpoints and Register of Graduates:

Advertising: Wayne Taylor

Chapter News: TomKroboth

Class News: TomKroboth

NOTAM

Editors: Jennifer Bowman, Maureen Homyak

Service Academy Business Resource Directory

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Updates: Wayne Taylor, Lani Wing

Services

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Address Updates: Steve Knight, Don McCarthy

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Bio Updates; Steve Knight, Don McCarthy

Chapters/Societies; Wayne Taylor

Clam Reunions: JockSchwank

Grad. Dependent Scholarships: JockSchwank

Services fcontinued)

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ACADEMY

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Service Academies Business Resource Directory

The information reflected in the directory is obtained firom members of the service scadetnies alumni associations who wish to have their civilian positions listed in die publication. Indexed by geographical area, industry, company name, graduate last name and class year, the directory contains entries of approximately 14,000 graduates in business across the country and worldwide. Bom from the belief that the Alumni Associations and Associations of Graduates exist not only to serve their academies but their membership, this directory creates abusiness leadership network. The information also provides those in need of certain services an efficient way to find afellow graduate, ●

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C^nll (iOO) ‘?6Z-6‘??2 Pov lv\^ilvl,Au<Al Res€vv^^Hov\s o\\\A (71'?) Z(>0-\%00 e^f. C(,\0 Por Group Reunions.

Academy Public Affairs Team Claims Top Honors

By 1st Lt. Develyn J. Watson Academy Spirit

Who’d athunk it? Not quite ayear ago, the group of individuals pic¬ tured here were thrown together and told to produce. Produce "what” was the question. With differing agendas aside, the individuals came together to form the best internal information team in the Air Force, as was announced Feb. 18 by the acting secretary of the Air Force.

What did we do that was so special? Well, maybe the judges recog¬ nized the amount of effort it took to completely overhaul the name and design of the paper -aname and product that we truly feel reflects what and who we are -and convince the publisher to provide us with more than $60,000 of computer equipment at no cost to the govern¬ ment.

Or maybe it is the fact that we completely digitized our newspaper so we no longer need to make that 36-mile round trip to the publisher -a completely transparent process to our reader, but this initiative saves government dollars and time.

Yes there were many factors that went into winning this award, and 1 would be remiss if 1didn’t mention the fact that as adirectorate, we have some of the finest NCOs, airmen, officers and civilians who truly care and support each other in all endeavors.

In public affairs, we’re continually touting the accomplishments of others, but sometimes fi nd it dif fi cult to “blow our ovm horn” when we’ve been recognized.

But this time...’’toot-toot”...congratulations to us, it feels good.

Chief of Staff Speaks on Force Shaping Issues

By Gen. Michael E. Ryan, ‘65

Force shaping represents all of the actions the Air Force is taking that will change the number and kind of people (miliary, civilian, contrac¬ tor) in the Air Force.

We are reshaping the force so we can better perform our mission to¬ day and in the next century. The majority of the manpower and per¬ sonnel impacts of our force-shaping effort will result from re-engineer¬ ing and outsourcing and privitization initiatives.

These initiatives all attempt to gain efficiencies by redesigning the way products and services are provided. However, before we implement any of these initiatives, we must assess the impact on daily workloads, deployment rates, overseas rotations and training requirements for the affected career fi elds.

Only after we have done these assessments can we be confident that acquired efficiencies will directly improve our warfighting capability.

What is the overall impact of force shaping initiatives on Air Force people?

Let me put the personnel impacts in perspective. From 1986 to 1997 we reduced the size of the active duty and civilian force by 36 percent (from 871,000 to 558,000).

From 1997 to 2003 we are projecting an additional 12 percent reduc¬ tion in active duty and civilian members (from 558,000 to 491,000) as a result of our force shaping efforts. While the projected reduction is much smaller than those we have already taken, some specific career field impacts are significant.

However, we will not allow our end-strength in any career field to drop below what is required to accomplish our mission.

What is the impact of personnel force shaping initiatives on you?

The O&PJump Start initiative is the must recent and biggest force shap¬ ing effort to identify functions that should be considered for competition. It targets nonmilitary essential functions, generally in support areas.

We began this initiative in December 1996 and will soon finalize the results of this effort. You may recall the messages Gen. Ronald Fogleman, the former chief of staff, sent out in June and August 1997, outlining the active duty and civilian manpower and personnel impacts of the Quadrennial Defense Review.

These messages gave apreliminary look at reductions by career field through 2003 and included very early predictions of Jump Start career field impacts. By design, these predictions had not been through arig¬ orous review process.

are endlessly searching for the meaning of winning the Air Force's 1997best internal information program of the year. An awards ceremony to honor all recipients was held in Leesburg, Va. on March 23.

Now, the major commands will complete their final review of the Jump Start results, and upon completion, we will be able to define precisely the functions and positions that will be competed as part of our overall O&Peffort.

The competition of identified functions will be time-phased over a three-year period. Once started, the average competition takes approxi¬ mately two years to complete. So, we won’t begin to see any major man¬ power reductions as aresult of O&Pbefore 2000. You can expect to see aspreadsheet in May which will reflect the final results of our Jump Start initiative.

1know you are concerned about O&Pand 1will make sure you have timely, accurate information about manpower reductions and career fi eld impacts.

We are embarking on ajourney to reshape the force during the next several years and hope to minimize turbulence along the way. At the same time, however, we must travel this road carefully to ensure we preserve our unique Air Force culture and sustain our world class warfighting capability.

As we progress on our journey, we will not lose focus on our mission or our people. We will provide those individuals directly affected by manpower reductions with proactive cross-training programs, incen¬ tive programs where needed, and ample time to make long-term ca¬ reer decisions.

The force that remains will be well trained and equipped, with solid career and promotion opportunities. We must be successful in our ef¬ fort to reshape our force to ensure that we can fulfill our security obli¬ gations to the nation today and in the 21st century.

Cadets Garner Second Place In Ethics Bowl

By Airman 1st Class Richard Komurek Academy Spirit

In arecent Yale Law Review article, aprofessor argued that because of widespread discrimination in the criminal justice system, individuals serving on juries should acquit any African American males ofany non¬ violent drug-related offense, regardless of the evidence.

The professor contends that defendants, communities and society as a whole would be better off if young African-American males remained in the community instead of going to prison. Is the Professor’s proposal morally justifiable? Why or why not?

Cadets on the Academy Ethics Bowl team faced this issue and other questions requiring moral reasoning at the Fourth Annual Intercolle(Continued on page 79.)

From left are Airman 1st Class Richard Komurek, Tech. Sgt. Ken Carter, 1st Lt. Develyn Watson, StaJfSgt. Tim Freese and Senior Airman Brad Milliman of the Directorate of Public Affairs Internal Information staff who

FALCON SPORTS

Col. Randall W. Spetman, ‘76, Athletic Director

Men’s Basketball Sets Ten Records During Season

At first glance, the 1997-98 men’s basketball season was avery suc¬ cessful one. The team accomplished things they hadn’t been able to do in adecade, but the ultimate goal of aberth in the Western Athletic Con¬ ference Tournament was unattainable. The team finished the year with a10-16 overall record, but managed only a2-14 mark in the very diffi¬ cult WAC Mountain Division. The Falcons played four nationally-ranked teams in the regular season, including two games against national run¬ ner-up Utah. AFA gave the Utes all they could handle, losing by just 11 at home and 14 in Utah.

Air Force’s ten wins are the most since the 1990-91 season, while the team’s three regular season road wins are the most in the 1990s. The biggest of the road victories was a64-63 triumph at service academy rival Navy. AFA also beat Denver and Wofford on the road.

The team set ten school records on the year, most of which came in the season opening 124-57 win over Doane College. The Falcons set records for points in the first half (64), first-half field-goal percentage (78.6), total points (124), victory margin (67), field-goal percentage (75.0), assists (36) and three-pointers made (16). Senior Jarmica Reese opened his senior season in excellent fashion. He scored 37 points and set two school records. His nine three-pointers and 90 percent shoot¬ ing from beyond the arc both set new Academy standards.

Reese would go on to establish himself as one of the finest players in AFA history. He finished his career with 1,385 points to rank fifth alltime at AFA. His 18.8 scoring average was among the best in the WAC and helped him earn all-district honors. The Las Vegas, Nev., native’s finest hour came when he returned to his hometown for his final ap¬ pearance against UNLV. Reese busted out with seven school records against the Rebels to give him nine records set or tied on the year. Among his marks set were most points in aWAC game with 40. Perhaps more impressive than his career-high 40 points, was the record he set for con¬ secutive points scored with 21.

Fellow senior Mike Freeman also proved to be one of the finest big men in school history. The 6-foot-9 center joined avery elite club in 1998 becoming only the seventh player in AFA history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds. Freeman finished his career tvith 1,020 points and 542 rebounds. In 1998, he finished the year ranked second on the team in scoring with a13.5 average and led the team in rebound¬ ing with a6.1 norm.

Freeman and Reese together became the third-highest scoring class

Quarterback Club of Denver Seeking New Graduate Members

The Air Force Academy Quarterback Club of Denver needs your help! Although we are nearly 40 years old and still growing, front range graduates represent only asmall fraction of our member¬ ship. We need graduate participation and leadership to sustain our growth and support of Academy athletic programs.

Benefits of membership include:

*Fall luncheons at Valley Country Club with Coach DeBerry and his staff.

*Priority parking for all home games at Falcon Stadium .

*Golf tournaments at the Academy.

’* Social functions including the Football Awards dinner and other club dinners.

*The Spring Blue and Silver Game barbecue with players and coaches and the “Meet the Team” summer barbecue.

*An opportunity to meet new friends and sports fans with ashared interest in the Academy and its athletic teams.

Make plans now to attend the WAC Kickoff Luncheon on Aug. 27th at the Marriott Denver Tech Center, and the Graduate Luncheon on Sept. 3at the Valley Country Club. For additional information, call Winnetta Mahaffey, executive secretary, at (303) 238-9245.

Denver Broncos Sign Second Graduate, Chris Gizzi, ‘97

2nd Lt. Chris Gizzi, former Falcon linebacker and member of the Class of 1997, joined fellow graduate Steve Russ, ‘95, as amember of the Bronco football team this past April. In addition to Gizzi (signed as a free agent), and Russ, the Broncos have yet another Academy graduate in the organization. Ted Sundquist, ‘84, is the Broncos’ director of col¬ lege scouting.

Gizzi, who graduated from the Academy in December, was passed over in the regular two-day draft, but the next day the Broncos and Gizzi’s agent, Denver-based Peter Schaffer, worked out acontract that both sides eventually hope will make Gizzi part of the Broncos. Gizzi has amilitary obligation to complete as well as rehabilitation from knee surgery.

“We had some interest from other teams, but the Broncos were the team we wanted to sign with," Schaffer said. "Number one, they are a great organization. And number two, they’ve gone through this before with Russ.” Russ was aseventh-round 1995 Broncos draft choice who completed two years of military duty then came back to the team last summer and spent the 1997 season as areserve linebacker.

According to fellow graduate Sundquist, the upside to Gizzi equals that of Russ, despite the knee surgery. “We see Chris as amiddle line¬ backer type,” Sundquist said. “He’s alittle undersized (5’-ll 1/2” and 232 pounds) but he’s fun to watch and we think he’ll do just fine when he gets achance.”

Gizzi suffered aknee injury in apost-season all-star game and had to have the knee reconstructed. He is expected to remain at the Air Force Academy this fall working with the junior varsity team. More than likely he will be able to take aportion of his leave and attend at least apor¬ tion of the Broncos’ training camp this summer.

Sundquist said he feels the Broncos have agood relationship with the Air Force as aresult of the Russ situation. He said he hopes Gizzi will be able to complete his Air Force obligation and be available for the 2000 season.

.JiuBLl.

Senior Jarmica Reese mates in school history, combining for 2,405 points. The pair is only the second in school history to each score 1,000 points. The only other duo was Bob Djokovich and Tom Schneeberger, who had 1,204 and 1,061, respectively during the careers which ended in 1978.

Hockey Team On The Rebound During 1997-98 Season

Entering the 1997-98 season with its first coaching change in 12 years and just the third coaching change in school history, the Falcons were entering into unfamiliar territory. However, that skepticism was erased as soon as first-year coach Frank Serratore crossed the guard post at the entrance to the Air Force Academy.

Serratore’s enthusiastic, full-speed approach to the game was quickly adopted by the team. The Falcons had won just 12 games in the previ¬ ous two seasons. Serratore gained his first win wearing the blue and silver in his first attempt. The Falcons roUed to a4-2 win over NebraskaOmaha, ateam loaded with talent from the junior ranks and from Canada. Despite losing the second game, the message was sent.

This Falcon team would be like none other. Aphysical upbeat attack¬ ing style of play was introduced and began to gain momentum as the season went on. Prior to the season, Serratore said, “We want to be the hardest working, most disciplined team in the country. Our philosophy will be the hockey version of Vince Lombardi football." Coach Lombardi would be proud.

Air Force finished the 1997-98 season with a15-19 record, the best record and most wins in three years. The team nearly doubled the win total from the previous seasons and posted more wins than in the two previous season combined. After one-sided losses to Yale, Merrimack and Mankato State, the Falcons fell to 3-7 overall. Things quickly turned around as the team won six straight and seven of eight to improve to 10-8 overall. It marked the fi rst time the Falcons were above .500 in 83 games.

Astretch of six straight road games followed and led to six straight road losses. The Falcons rebounded by sweeping St. John’s and splitting atwo-game set with Niagara. After four straight losses to Mankato State and Colorado College, Air Force ended a35-game road winless streak in afine fashion. Air Force swept atwo-game series from Army at West Point in the fi nal weekend of the season.

son by scoring agoal in ten of the last 11 games. During that streak he had 19 points on 11 goals and eight assists.

Freshman Scott Bradley also put together an incredible season. The Colorado Springs native had 12 goals and 22 assists for 34 points. He is the first freshman to score more than 30 points in eight years. His 34 points are the most since John Decker scored 36 in 1991-92.

Air Force finished the season by being well-represented in the national rankings. Kieffer ranked 14th in points scored and 18th in goals per game. He was also in the top 25 in assists per game. As ateam, the Fal¬ cons were 11th in power play percentage and 12th in penalty killing percentage. “This team came along way from our opening series in October,” Serratore said. “We suffered acouple tough losses to Mankato State and Colorado College, but we bounced right back against Army. That says alot about the character of this team. Icould not be more proud of our guys and the things they accomplished this season.”

The Falcons have much to look forward to next season. Air Force loses just three seniors and returns 18 of the 22 players who were on the line chart for the final game. With 84 percent of the team’s offense return¬ ing, all six defensemen and all three goalies, the Falcons will look for their first winning season in eight years.

Falcon Wrestlers Team up For Outstanding 1997-98 Year

The 1997-98 Air Force Academy wrestling team, led by 10 seniors, had one of the best season since the Falcons joined the WAC in 1981. The honors included an 8-2 dual record, three WAC Championships, four NCAA Championships qualifiers and two tournament titles. The sec¬ ond of those was at the All-Academy where the Falcons had four cham¬ pions en route to their first tournament title over the likes of Army, Navy, and The Citadel.

Leading the Falcons’ charge was the Class of 1998, led by co-captains Kirk Eknes (126 lbs.) and Mike Kallai (150 lbs.) Other senior starters in¬ cluded Sheroyd Brown (158 lbs.) and the team’s best wrestler, Jake Sherer (190 lbs.) TWo of these seniors ended the Falcons drought at the WAC Championships. Held March 7th in Provo, Utah, the ‘98 championships will not be forgotten anytime soon as Air Force wrestled better than any¬ one expected. In turn, head coach Wayne Baughman was named CoCoach of the Year, the third time he has won the award.

Air Force placed fourth (69 points), only 16 points from six-time cham¬ pion Fresno State. More importandy, the Falcons had their first WAC Champion in four year. As expected, Sherer won but so did Kallai and freshman Shaw Finnicum (177 lbs.). With his unexpected win, Finniucum became only the third Falcon to win atitle in his first year. Both he and Kallai were seeded third and had to pull two upsets in order to win their titles.

Junior forward Justin Kieffer completed one of the greatest season in recent history. He finished the season with 24 goals and 27 assists for 51 points. He is the first player to score more than 50 points in aseason since Mark Manney had 53 in the 1981-82 season. He finished the sea4

1998 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE (As of 30 April 1998)

Sept. 5

Sept. 12

Sept. 17

Sept. 26

Oct. 3

Oct. 10

Oct. 24

Oct. 31

Nov. 7

Nov. 14

Nov. 21

Wake Forest at USAFA &AOG Tailgate (1100 MT Kickoff) USAFAatUNLV

Colorado State at USAFA (1800 MT Kickoff)

USAFA at TCU

New Mexico at USAFA, Homecoming &AOG Tailgate Navy at USAFA &AOG Tailgate USAFA at Tulsa

SMU at USAFA &AOG Tailgate USAFA at Army USAFA at Wyoming Rice at USAFA

VThe Falcons sent one more to the NCAAs when junior Luke Bindreiff (167 lbs.), who placed third, got one of the league’s at-large bids, due mainly to his strong regular season performance. Also placing third in the league were Eknes, and two freshman, Ryan Montanez (134 lbs.) and Justin Bowen (HWT).

At the NCAAs, the Falcons placed 41st with five team points. Bindreiff, Kallai and Sherer all won in the second round with Kallai pinning his opponent. The team’s performance was the second-best showing among WAC schools and the best for aservice academy.

Junior forward Justin Kieffer

Junior Luke Bindreiff was one of our Falcon wrestlers to qualify for the NCAAs.

First Female Academy Swimmer Qualifies for NCAA Championships

To no one’s surprise, the Air Force Academy women’s swimming and diving team continues to find success in Division I, despite being at the level for just two years. The second year in the “major league” ranks brought amilestone, more school records and once again, dominance in dual meets. The 1997-98 Falcons went 12-1-1, the fifth time in the 1990’s the program has won aleast ten duals in aseason. With their 10-1 record in 1996-97, Air Force has won 22 of their past 25 dual meets, including a9-2-1 mark against WAC rivals.

Air Force’s second go-around at the WAC Championships brought a seventh-place finish (196 points), out of 15 teams, as the team swam season-best times in nearly every event. More importantly, the Fal¬ cons saw junior Connie Cann (100 fly) become the first female Acad¬ emy swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Championships. In Minneapo¬ lis, Cann placed 21st out of 40 competitors with atime of 55.23. She just missed breaking her own school record (55.22) and was less than ahalf second from qualifying for the event finals. Cann was the sec¬ ond-best finisher among WAC schools, placing ahead of three league swimmers.

Junior Connie Cann qualified for the NCAA Chamionships.

One of the biggest stories for this group of Falcons was the senior class. The heart and soul of the past four years, the Class of 1998 (the Great Eight) continued to lead Air Force in nearly every event. During their years at the Academy, the class rewrote the record book, brought home two Division II national titles and helped elevate the program to anew level.

The final season for this group began in late October in Las Cruces, N.M., as the Falcons took on New Mexico State. Despite alineup that didn’t feature some of the team’s best swimmers, Air.Force hung on to win, 139-132. The seven-point win was due to the Falcons’ dominance in distance free (seniors lenna and Rachel Tukey) and sprint free events (senior Beth Zeman, sophomore Sarah Freas and freshman Mary Edith Smith).

The Falcons opened their home season on Halloween, ripping the

DOOLITTLE HALL

Tailgate and Other Football Game Activities

Doolittle Hall will be open for each home football game and the AOG is currently scheduled to sponsor tailgates at the building for four of the six home games. The following weekends involve tail¬ gates when Doolittle Hall (including the library/lounge) will open five hours before kickoff and remain open for at least two hours after the game:

Sept 5:

Oct 3: Parents Weekend (vs Wake Forest) 1100 MT Kickoff Homecoming, ‘78 &‘88 Reunions (vs New Mexico)

Oct 10: ‘63 Reunion/Interservlce (vs Navy)

Oct 31: ‘65 and‘73 Reunion (vs SMU)

If you would like more information on participating in the tail¬ gates please give the AOG acall.

The building (including the library/lounge) will also be open from two hours before kickoff until two hours after the end of the games on Sept 17 (vs CSU) and Nov 21 (vs Rice). We welcome everyone to come visit us during the football season and enjoy the various amenities of Doolittle Hall.

Colorado School of Mines, 139-98. Cann (100 breast and 50 free), Zeman (200 free and 200 back) and Smith (100 fly and 500 free) were double winners for the Falcons. At Fort Collins the next weekend, Colorado State got revenge for aloss to the Falcons the year before, winning 21585. In winning the 100 fly in 56.57, Cann not only broke aCSU pool record but also swam better than the NCAA “B” cut time of 56.60. The time was also anew Academy record.

The fall season ended in early December at the Husky Invitational where Air Force, using combined men’s and women’s point totals, placed second (945.50 points). This is where Cann solidified her spot in Acad¬ emy history. She swam a56.21 to place second, breaking her own Acad¬ emy mark set just weeks before. In atime trial, Cann beat the “B” cut time for the third time in 1997, swimming a55.22. That mark remained the second fastest in the WAC until the league meet.

Cann netted 32 points for the Falcons in the Husky as she was also fourth in the 50 free and led the 200 free relay team to afirst-place fin¬ ish. Zeman was the top Falcon point scorer with 38.50, finishing as mnner up in two events (50 free and 100 free) and placing 12th in the 200 free. Five other Falcons placed in the top ten in at least one individual event, while three relay teams were second.

The team traveled to Seattle, Wash, for their second WAC Champion¬ ships. Ayear earlier, the Falcons placed sixth but did not swim near season best times. This time, they did that and then some. Breaking school marks in three events, the Falcons swam well enough to place seventh.

The highlight for the Falcons came in the sprint events. First, Cann placed fifth in the fly (55.94), swimming faster than the NflAA “B” cut time for the fourth time. However, Cann wasn’t done. She joined Zeman, Freas and Smith on the 200 free relay team that placed second, setting anew school record (1:34.09) and achieving the NCAA “B” cut. Air Force was dominant in the 50 free, having four of the top 15 finishers, led by Cann (sixth) and Zeman (eighth). In the 100 free, Zeman (eighth) was the only non-SMU swimmer to make the finals.

TWo more school records would fall during the weekend. The 800 free relay team (J. and R. Tukey, Freas, Zeman) broke aschool record, swim¬ ming atime of7:38.23 to place seventh overall. And finally, Beth Haynes broke the school mark in the 100 back by swimming a57.36 in the pre¬ lims. Considered by the coaches as the most remarkable swim of the year, Haynes progressed from aswimmer who did not make the WAC team in 1997 to aWAC fi nalist and school record holder in 1998. In do¬ ing this, she dropped over three seconds off her personal best.

While Air Force returns Cann and several outstanding sprinters, the Falcons will definitely miss the services of their seniors. But history has shown this program doesn’t rebuild, it just reloads.

Beats Babers’Air Force Record

Sophomore Kevin Griswold put his name ahead of Alonzo Babers in the Air Force record book. Griswold broke Babers’200-meter school record during an indoor meet in February at the Cadet Field House. In the quali¬ fying race, Griswold set the new mark by one-hundredth of asecond with atime 21.13. He came back the next day in the finals to break his oneday-old mark with aclocking of 21.06. The time qualifed Griswold for the NCAA indoor championships.

Men’s Swimming and Diving Team Posts Most Successful Season

The Air Force Academy men’s swimming and diving team entered the 1997-98 season with great anticipation. With astrong junior class and one of the best freshmen classes in recent memory, the Falcons felt this season would be one to remember. They were right.

Air Force posted one of its best years since joining the WAC in 1981. The Falcons 10-1-1 dual mark was the best in adozen years and in¬ cluded wins over WAC rivals Wyoming (twice), New Mexico and Rice. A sixth place finish at the WAC Championships, featuring 10 teams, was an indicator of how far the team had come in one year. In moving up three spots and scoring 125 more points, the Falcons swam at schoolrecord pace in nearly every event. Only the 1991 Falcons, who placed second out of six teams, swam faster at aWAC Championship meet.

The Falcons started the season in late October with atrip to head coach Casey Converse’s old school, New Mexico State. Air Force scored an easy 158-82 win in dominating several events, especitdly the 100 and 200 free and 400 IM. The freshmen proved their clippings were right as Tyler Paige (50 free) and Matt Shipstead (800 free) won their respective events.

Freshman lyier Paige

Women’s Basketball Coach Resigns, Team Readies for Rebound

In the two-decade history of women’s basketball at the Academy, the 1997-98 season may remain forever etched as the most difficult and the most frustrating. Head coach Marti Gasser prepared diligently for the Falcons’ second season in Division I, revamping the offense in or¬ der to utilize her team’s strengths. After apromising preseason in which the Falcons blazed to a5-5 record, the Falcons dropped their final 16 games. Air Force failed to win aconference game, finishing the year 521, and losing the program’s most storied coach in the process. After 15 years at the helm, Gasser chose to resign at the end of the season, cit¬ ing the need for new guidance for the program.

“I feel that it’s time for achange in this program,” said Gasser. “I want this team and this program to go to the next level and be successful. I love the Academy. That’s why Ifeel it is necessary to step aside and let someone else breathe new life into this program.”

The season actualiy kicked off on apromising note. All but one player from the 1996-97 season was back, and that included leading scorer Elycia Hall, four-year starting point guard Kallie Quinn, and rebound¬ ing stars Heather Meyer and Sara Fortna.

Hall jumpstarted one of the best Falcon individual seasons in the ‘90s by scoring 25 points in the season-opening loss to Montana State. Hall boasted asolid inside game to match her long-range skills, and her first game turned out to be one of many double-figure performances. Meyer pitched in adouble-double to start the season, but even those two performances weren’t enough to match the superior MSU skills.

Even in aseason of disappointment, there are always rays of light that shine through. Senior point guard Kallie Quinn notched six assists in her final game to move into third place on the Academy’s all-time as¬ sist list (409 total). She also collected 42 steals, giving her 177 for her career - fi fth on the all-time list.

Hall averaged 13.8 points per game, the best scoring average by aFal¬ con since Jennifer Patrick averaged 16.6 in 1993-94. She scored in double figures in 19 of 26 games and hit 37 treys. Junior Julia Karlstad sank a career-high 39 three-pointers -she now has 98 in her career, second

Air Force’s first home meet came on Halloween and it was ascary one for the Colorado School of Mines (139-93). In this meet, the Falcons dominated the 200 free and 200 fly while senior captain Matt Dunder was victorious in two events (100 and 200 breast). Even at this stage of the season, the Falcons were showing things had changed.

Air Force reached the 10-win plateau for the first time since 1987, win¬ ning at New Mexico in early February by 40 points. In the tune up for the WAC Championships, Air Force was again dominant in sprint free, fly and IM events. At the championships, the Falcons turned in times that hadn’t been seen since the legendary ‘91 team. To no one’s sur¬ prise, the Falcons rise was because of the stellar freshman class. Of the 17 Air Force swimmers who placed in the top 25 in aleast one event, nine were freshman.

However, it was ajunior (Cody Rasmussen) and asophomore (Tim Paschke) who were the fastest Falcons. Each had top 10 finishes in three different events while also swimming on relay teams. The rest of the team combined for five top 10 finishes in individual events. Paschke would place third in the 50 free, fourth in the 100 free and sixth in the 200 free. His third-place finish was the best for any Falcon, man or woman, in aWAC Championship individual event this year. Paschke also swam on the 200 free relay team (third) and the 400 free relay team (fifth). Rasmussen continued his strong swimming at the WAC Cham¬ pionships by leading the Falcons in three events. He placed fifth in the 200 fly, eighth in the 200 IM and ninth in the 400 IM.

Another first Falcon was Matt Ihlenfeld, placing ninth in the 200 breaststroke and 10th in the 100 breaststroke. His 2:03.35 in the 200 broke afive-year school record held by EUis Eaton (2:03.78). Sopho¬ more Jim Marion capped off astellar season by leading the Falcon div¬ ing team in both events. He placed 10th on the one-meter board and 11th on the three-meter board. He was the only male Falcon to be named WAC Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week during the sea¬ son. With nearly everyone returning on both the swimming and diving teams there’s no reason that next year’s Falcons cannot continue their rise in the WAC.

on the all-time list. Meyer rounded out her career with her best season ever, finishing second on the team in scoring (9.6 ppg) and first in re¬ bounding (5.9 per game).

The Falcons will have anew coach for the 1998-99 season, and four of their top five scorers will return. How well Air Force can rebound from the setback of this year remains to be seen, jput never count these Fal¬ con athletes out.

Twenty Seven goals in Eight Games

Senior Chris MacAulay has been aone-man wrecking crew through the first half of the Falcon men's lacrosse season. In just eight games, he collected acareer-high 27 goals, and added five assists for 32 points. MacAulay, atwo-time Great Western Lacrosse League selection, scored five goals against Bucknell, six (including the double-overtime gamewinner) against Colorado College, and four against Villanova. He ranks in the top 20 among all Division Iplayers for goals scored. Air Force was 3-5 in mid-April.

CLASS NEWS r" u

Pete Todd

1250 Big Valley Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80919-1015

Home: (719) 531-5847

FAX: (719) 531-6697

E-mail: petetodd@aol.com

Percent members: 83

Let me share the sad news first for those who haven’t already heard via the email net: Jerry and Judy FINNERAN’s son, Scott, died suddenly last October. Then earlier this year, HT and Linda JOHNSON lost their son after along battle with diabetes. Everyone in the class shares the pain of your loss and sends condolences to all the family members. We simply aren’t programmed to bury our children. The only problem with Chuck FERRARI’s excellent article last quarter was that it squeezed out awhole bunch of timely news that had reached me via e-mail, Christ¬ mas cards, telepathy, etc. Therefore, some of what follows will be even mustier than usual, but worth reporting.

Jim RHODES has taken anew bride, Carrie, who we all look forward to welcom¬ ing at next year’s reunion. She is acommercial real estate broker in San Diego and they are planning aspringtime move from Oceanside to Carlsbad or Solana Beach to shorten her commute.

Bill and Anne TELFORD journeyed to New Jersey late last year for the christen¬ ing of their fifth grandchild and availed themselves of Don and Rowena LIVINGSTON’S hospitality for acouple of days. RL and Eugenia PENN joined the festivities one evening for drinks and story-telling.

Norris OLSON wrote in March from his waterproof bunker in Grand Forks that the Red River was about to crest at 40 feet, about 15 feet beiow iast year’s flood. Says El Nino kept the weather pretty mild in the north country last winter. He also had some really good ideas for the Class of '59 Internet Home Page. We’d like to hear from the rest of the class on that subject, too.

Ed JOSEPHSON called me just before press time to talk about plans for the bien¬ nial Air Force-Army football weekend extravaganza. In brief: The game is on 7 November. Ed has reserved 30 rooms ($99 per room) for ‘59ers at the Hampton inn in Newburgh, NY, less than 15 miles from West Point. Another attraction is the nearby Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum, aWWI flying museum. It’s normally closed by the end of October, but for up to 30 ‘59ers and family /companions, they’ll open for aprivate visit for only $5 per person. If you want to actually fly in the vintage aircraft, it will naturally cost abit more. If there are more than 30 people, they’ll put on an aerial demo for atotal of $6 per person. Ed vrill be sending out more details via e-mail and snail mail, but mark your calendars and try to make it up for the game and aheavy dose of aviation nostalgia.

President-For-Life Joe DESANTIS called to let me know that Randy CUBERO, the USAFA Dean of Faculty, had visited Atlanta at Joe’s invitation to address the local parents club and liaison officers. Mike MURPFTY and Jerry MCDONALD joined Joe for the event.

Don was alittle cranky, having just flown his last sortie as aUnited 767 captain a few weeks before. In fact, Tom CHASE reports that Don, flight attendant Rowena, assorted Livingston family members, friends and hangers-on all descended on San Francisco to mark the final NYC-SF round trip. Tom and Lois joined the gang at their hotel and, after abrief Keystone Cops routine trying to locate Don’s camcorder, all adjourned to the financial district for asumptuous retirement din¬ ner. Tom knew it was aretirement dinner because Don picked up the tab, some¬ thing no active-duty airline captain would ever do. Don plans to retrain as aflight engineer, needing to continue flying at least until Rowe’s Nordstrom bill is paid off.

Finally, the annual Rocky Mountain Super Bowl Party was hosted by Jim and Rose BROWN this year. Helping them cheer on the (finally!) victorious Broncos were Bob and Roxann BROWNING, Jim FLETCHER, Urry FORTNER and Connie Solomon, Jon and Jacquie GALLO, Max MILLER and Trix Scott, Brock STROM, and Pete and Wendy TODD.

Have agreat summer and keep those (electronic) cards and letters coming in. Thought for the quarter: AIhirple Heart just proves that were you smart enough to think of aplan, stupid enough to try it, and lucky enough to survive.

A.J. (Rosie) Cler, Jr. 11181 West 17thAve.

Building TWo, Unit 208 Lakewood, CO 80215-2759 (303) 238-4973, FAX' 237-0772

Percent members: 76

ca-

Someone claiming to be Mike BENDER dropped me an e-mail over the Christ¬ mas holidays with amazing stories about how he spends his time on layovers be¬ tween UPS flights (also age-bumped to second officer). The message came from Cologne, Germany, where he accurately described both the huge, brooding thedral and the pyrotechnic manner in which the Germans celebrate New Years. He then talked about arecent adventure in Anchorage in which he dug out his old mountaineering skis, climbed for31/2 hours into the Chugash mountains (alone) and skied back out. In Hong Kong, he’s working on finishing the 100 km MacLehose Trail (over halfway on that one) and is planning his third assault on Mt. Fuji this summer.

EdLANKENAU writes that he called it quits on 1December after 31.5 years with TWA. He remarked ruefully that, after 14,284 hours, he never got his name on an aircraft, not even graffiti on the overhead. Paul LASEN visited him shordy thereaf¬ ter (and probably mentioned once or twice that he’s still got awindow seat in front) and says Ed has several old Packards awaiting his restoring skills.

Paul also said that he and Barb flew the Bonanza to Decatur in late February to visit Art and Carol SHUMATE. The Oldest Living Grad retired from Boeing last July and is trying to figure out what to do with all his spare time.

Casey KAY is another airline retiree (June), having flown nearly 32 years with Ameri¬ can. After amonth’s motorcycle trip through the Midwest to reorient his gyros, he remrned home and has followed Roz’s lead with volunteer work. He signed on as a pilot with the Fort Worth-based "Mercy Med+Flight,” the only charity air ambu¬ lance service in the country, started by another Zoomie, Ken McALEAR (’67).

Iregret reporting that Bill KORNITZER’s wife, Jane, died from cancer last August (call him at 715-878-4213). In arecent letter, Komy said: "After leaving McDonnellDouglas in ’89 Isettled in Fall Creek, WI. My daughter’s amajor in the Medical Corps at Tinker and my son’s flying C- 141s at McChord. She’s out this June, so I’m looking forward to that. Ihave six grandkids (five girls) and I’m looking for some good men for them. Just got back from visiting some of them and went to McChord in February. My brother-in-law General Mike LOH and Iget together periodically and Idid visit him at King’s Mill in Virginia last fall. A1 JOHNSON and his company are using my brother John to provide financial management for their five-star mutual funds.

of the evening was the sweeping-up of glass resultant from aknocked-down pic¬ ture. (R: at this point, counsel advises me not to state the exact names of those cuipahle -or, “spill-the-heans,” as we say in literary jargon -however, their occu¬ pations are most likely those of Doctor and four-star General.) Deke JOHNSON called from Boise, ID midway through the evening -whining, sniveiing, and beg¬ ging to become a“born-again Serbian.’’ The party would have lasted well into the next day should not George have had to crawl back into his casket before the sun came up. THOSE CRAZY SERBS!

»«ll II

(2) in Phoenix for one game in Peoria, Ariz. and amagnificent Sunday brunch and their local Buttes’ bistro. “Dr. Bill” is well bearded, and someday I’ll give you the FULL story on precisely what he's most famous for.. .trust me!

IBooks on the back wall? (George can't read!)

There were three finalists for this quarter’s What [Am Famous For Award, so I’ve selected that classmate who (quite) understandably gets very little favorable press and respect -Charles Andrew HOLMAN! Ace (formerly of Kannapolis NC) sub¬ mitted awritten statement to Dr, William A. GILLIS (Ed.D.) in September '95 at our 35'*’ reunion: “I am famous for being a‘computer guru.’ I’m faster than either George (?) or Miles (?).. .and. I’m the only ‘60s member still in shape. I’m also fa¬ mous for spending my entire senior year on restriction.” (R: I’ve submitted Ace’s handwriting and blood samples to various specialists, and his award will be with¬ held pending outcome of the final DNA samples.)

1960-model Jeanne, 1938-modelJack, and 1975-model Aerostar.

And now from Jack BRUSH (Hunting Club 3,2,1): “Jeanne and Iare still together going on 38 years; two kids and two grandkids. Never expected to have grandchil¬ dren, but they’re kinda neat. If they do anything right, you can take credit for it; if not -it must have been their genetic freight. After acareer as nursing administra¬ tor, thence manager of asmall aircraft parts wholesaler, Jeanne now devotes her time to playing records and making heavy-duty custom quilts and jackets. Istarted Columbine Capital in 1980 after leaving the AF where Iwas teaching Aero at the Academy, and my company provides quantitative decision-making tools to pro¬ fessional money managers. Requires substantial R&D. We have anumber of money-management ventures running as well as a‘market neutral’ hedge fund and an international fund. Columbine has an Aerostar, which Iget to fly on busi¬ ness all over the country. Since Idon’t get enough time to be truly proficient (100-t hrs/yr), Iget simulator training at Flight Safety International in Wichita.” Jack’s pressurized ship churns at 250 knots, goes 1,000 nautical miles vrithout refueling, two 350HP engines, three attitude indicators, and asilver/black head with purple leather interior. Jack and Jeanne spent last fall on afour-week tour of Austrdia which included Sydney, Alice Springs, Melbourne, Tasmania (Jack showed me a picture of him with the so-called “Tasmanian Devil,” although you’d be hardpressed to determine which-is-which or whom-are-whom), and then on to Bali. And, in some future issue, Ithreaten to tell you about Jack’s overnight adventure with a(quite attractive) white sheep up in Eastern Alaska. Yeah!

Frank (Wimberly) GORHAM just move from Pleasantville, NY to 211D Evans Street, Niceville EL 32578, Phone/FAX (850) 678-7028; "Trying to unload our 26year abode in the burbs of Westchester just north of NYC. Number-two son Curtis (18) and Ihave been down in the Florida Panhandle scouting the area. In the in¬ terim, we've suffered one death (my 84-year-old mother from lung cancer) and another illness (wife, Faye, of malignant lung tumor surgically removed along with one lobe of her right lung back in mid-January). Meanwhile, number-one son Kevin (21) is enjoying his AF enlisted status as an F-15 crew chief at Tyndall and antici¬ pates attending the USAFA prep school this summer to fill in an academic re¬ quirement or two before full-blown doolie status next year -in spite of my cau¬ tions about 'Is that really your idea?”’ (Scribe: Iswear Ididn’t make that up about Frank’s move. ..he actually is moving from PleasantmMe to Mceville.)

Karen and Ivisited the Colorado Rockies’ spring baseball training camp in Ari¬ zona during early March (Karen’s akrazy baseball nut) and met Dr. Bill GILLIS (Ed.D.) and wife, Kathy, son Glenn, and grandchildren Sebastian (5) and Cecelia

Sebastian, Glenn, Rosie, Kath, Karen, Cecelia, and Bill

Going from Phoenix to Tucson, Ivisited Johnnie Floyd TOWNSEND -listed in our yearbook as being from Salome, AZ but his current story is that he’s (really) a native of Tombstone, AZ -who got his MBA from some school called Stanford, and now works for Hughes/Raytheon and has anew address: 1001 East Mitchell Street, Tucson AZ 85719, (520) 628-9358. “Reb” (with aname like Athos, wouldn’t YOU like anickname?) GUILLOT is askeet-shooter who joined John and 1for TVwatching of the Arizona Wildcats’ NCAA basketball playoff match against UCLA on aSaturday afternoon at one of Tucson’s more desultory sports bars. Reb’s son Gregory MITCHELL was adistinguished graduate of the Class of 1989, Reb works for Hughes and is totally involved with something called AMRAAM (that’s an ac¬ ronym for something which goes fast and costs alot of money), and wife Susan’s selling more real estate than Jefferson ever brought thru the Louisiana Purchase.

Potpourri. Are Greg BOYINGTON and Phil MEINHARDT drawing Social Secu¬ rity? (Say it ain’t so, Joe).. .Barb and Roy JOLLY’S cruise included aChristmas Eve navigating thru the Panama Canal... Roy’s utilizing new therapies on his arthritic knees to avoid the necessity of replacements with which he is being threatened.. .Vic THOMAS’ prostate is in remission (R to Vic: our Rockies gwine “smother” your Dodgers this year. Sir)...George Joseph Charles (NMN) FRIESwho continues to be one of your most extremely-alert column readers -wrote me to remind you that our 40'*’ class reunion is amere two years away, and that it’d be awfully nice if we could get those who’ve not attended to come, George’s high school daughter is in Naval Junior ROTC... the dates for next year’s MiniSki Nine (how do you say NINE in Roman, Andi?) will be March 1-7,1999, which is the final practice session for that Millennium MiniSki to be held the first week of March in the year 2000... Frank and Eve MAYBERRY are still traveling, now from Kaneohe to Christchurch to Sydney to Victoria to England and thence to France. Will they EVER stop?

By the time you read this Karen and Iwill be in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and on to Cape Breton, eating lobster, and you won’t. Bye from the Rose.

Edward A. Zompa

121 Scenic Drive Madison, AL 35758 (205) 971-8973

E-Mail: Vtailed@aol.com

Percent members: 84

We were all saddened to learn of the cancer-related death of Don BOX on Febru¬ ary 22, 1998. Don was buried at USAFA on the 27**’with Gray Tag bearers in sup¬ port and afollowing reception at Doolittle Hall. Joyce’s desire for Don’s memorial fund is that donations may be sent to the Don Box Memorial Fund at 10433 North Nicklaus Drive, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268. Gordon CLARKE checked in after learn¬ ing aboutDonBox and says the following, “He was agrand friend at the academy and Isaw him frequently in the Pentagon. We wish his family well.” Ithink Gor¬ don speaks for all of us.

On abrighter, but serious note, Ihad word from Earl AMAN in January that"... of¬ ficials from Social Security and Medicare believe I(Earl) assumed room tempera¬ ture on 12 Nov 97.” It took acall from Lucy to confirm Earl’s temperature at 96.5 degrees and holding. Ad THOMPSON reported an encounter in December with ‘59er Tom JOZWIAK, and claims that Joz looks like he could still play football. (Where was he for the Las Vegas Bowl?) Jack TAYLOR says aplan is in works for a ‘61 Gray Tag get-together in the Puget Sound area in July (recall agathering at Cochrane’s in Bellingham last July).

For those of you east of the Mississippi, PB and Mer O’CONNOR have mailed out an invitation for the weekend April 30-May 4,1998 at Caswell Beach, NC, other¬ wise known as the Spring Fling. It may be history by the time Checkpoints gets to you. It incorporates golf, fishing, touring, bike riding, lies, gourmet dining (Stackhouse fries aturkey), and the inevitable booze. If you want to sign up for next year, the necessary data follows: PB and Mer O’CONNOR, 93 Oceangreens Lane, Caswell Beach, NC 28465, (910) 278-7104. E-mail Pboclogman@aol.com.

Some of you may know that Pat BUCKLEY has relocated to the UK for Lockheed Martin. He was kind enough to provide avery detailed narrative of the annual Drunks and Derelicts Ski Trip to Utah. Constraints of propriety and decency caused

me to do some minimal editing, but here it comes. “Once again the peaceful, snow-covered mountains and meadows of the Wasatch Range were jolted out of midwinter slumber by invaders from the USAFA Class of 1961. The target area was Ogden, Utah. Targets included the Ogden Park Hotel, Ruby Ridge Steakhouse and Brewery, Snow Basin, Powder Mt. and the Hardware Ranch. The TOT was 19 thru 24 Feb 98. Bob BRICKEY and Stu BOYD did pre-strike recce, sorted out tim¬ ing and logistics and prepared the frag order. DickCOPPOCK transmitted the frag through the AOG mail system. Pat Buckley et al transmitted warning through Ed Zompa’s Grey Tag Net.

“Karl ‘Pops’ KELLERMAN (his navel now appears as adimple on his chin) arrived on station 15 Feb thus compromising the element of surprise but softening up the target area with four days of lessons and practice. Others in approximate or¬ der of appearance on 19 Feb were: Bob and Janice BRICKEY, Stu and Mamie BOYD, and Bob and Margy DINGLE who had all infiltrated the local area years ago and provided vital intelligence for daily strike plans; Pat and Meverette BUCKLEY, John and Lydia Boesch, John MOORE, Bob HERIZA, Byron THEURER, George BUCHNER (read your e-mail once in awhile), Brice JONES, Frank and Patsy KISZELY, Jimmy and Susan POOLE, Jerry GILL, and Neal WESTBROOK. Mark and Ginger ANDERSON closed out arrivals on 20 Feb. Also joined later by secondgeneration members of Brickey and Westbrook clans. Pre-strike briefings started Thursday night in Suite 202. Initial recce reports on snow conditions led to strike against Snow Basin Friday morning. Then, fueled by beer, vrine and whiskey, the air grew thick with fighters, bombers, combat airlift, flak, clouds, occasional MIGs and tree parts picked up on low-level sorties and returned to base for analysis.

“20 and 21 Feb. Breakfast at 8and formed up into two waves -Skiers and Shop¬ pers. Snow Basin had lots of well-groomed snow with moderate weather condi¬ tions, mostly VFR. First casualty- Karl K’s vringman failed to protect his 6and Karl was rear-ended by arogue snowboarder causing Karl to spin in and dislocate his right shoulder thus moving Karl to the wounded list for the duration. However, Karl remained fully operational in the war-story and kidney-filtering arenas. No other losses on Friday.

“On Saturday, well-camouflaged snow snakes ripped Jones and Buckley out of the sky to crash and dig long furrows in the snow. Both recovered and were soon airborne with minor injuries to their pride. Later on, after ahastily-briefed threeship led by Buckley, Buchner (I say again, read your e-mail) and Jones executed an unbriefed bomb burst. Buchner lost sight of lead and only because lead was clear¬ ing she and able to acrobatically execute atimely duck-under was afatal midair averted. Buchner got caught in lead’s jetwash, lost control, crashed and skidded about 30 meters down the mountain. (Of course Buchner has asomewhat differ¬ ent and erroneous description of the event.)

“Saturday night we enjoyed aStu Boyd preplanned dinner at the Ruby Ridge Steakhouse and Brewery Following, we rejoined at Suite 202 for asession arranged and MC’ed by Bob Brickey. John Boesch discussed the wealth of talent and expe¬ rience available in our USAFA ’61 members and opportunities to put those tal¬ ents to use to benefit our communities. Byron Theurer discussed his years of mili¬ tary history research and shared some interesting and unique insights on the role and results of WWII airpower application. I, Pat Buckley did my usual treasury function, reported on costs and collected an extravagant fee from all. (Report: Covered all out-of-pocket expenses for Boyd, Brickey, and Buckley and funded a $150 donation to the USAFA AOG Class of’61 Fund and $175 to the Make aWish Foundation in honor of Brice’s continuing supply of Sonoma Gutter Chardonnay)

“On Sunday, most departed but Stu Boyd took Pat Buckley to Powder Mt. (with mucho powder) where they rented powder skis and commenced to glide effort¬ lessly (well almost) through acres of untracked white crystals and trees. Glorious experience again. Thanks, Stu. The rest of you should try it. If Ican ski powder with the fat skis, you can. On Monday, all gone but Pat and Meverette. (Combat airlift pilots always carry reserve fuel!) Went snowmobiling through the Wahsatch Range throughaherdof several hundred mule deer, vie wed an elk herd, and even saw one moose. Lots of fun. By Tuesday all were gone until next year. Agreat party/ ski/shopping/sightseeing time had by all. If you have joined us in the last four years, Iknow you will try to come again. If you haven’t tried it, join us next year and mark your calendar for 18 -22 Feb 1999. Again, major thanks to Bob Brickey and Stu Boyd.’’

Thanks to Pat for saving me some effort. Contact data on Pat follows: Vice presi¬ dent and managing director, U.K. Programs, e-mail patrick.buckley@lmco.com, international dialing 011-44-148-961-2350.

I’m enjoying my third career on the local board of education, most recently com¬ pleting the design and preparation of specs for acentral office facility after devel¬ oping computer architecture for the superintendent’s office complex. Fellow Gray Tags, education isn’t like it used to be when we went to school. The differences are frightening, and Iurge you to become knowledgeable to protect your tax dol¬ lars, the education of your grandchildren, and the future of our country.

My wife, Gayle, just returned from afour-week volunteer TDY, courtesy of the American Red Cross, to Santa Cruz, CA dealing with El Nino flooding. While she could not avail herself, she was grateful to have received offers of hospitality from John and Lydia Boesch and Brice JONES while she was out there. As Itype this, she is being interviewed by the local paper for an article on her ARC volunteer activities.

Lastly, Earl and Lillie SAUNDERS have moved back to Colorado Springs from Decatur, AL. Hector, Joan, Gayle, and Ienjoyed having Earl and Lillie close by and will miss our gatherings with them. Earl, when you read this, get up, go to aPC, and send us an e-mail address. Gray Tag Scribe Out.

Make Your Tax-deductible Donation Now to The Air Force Academy Fund.

John W. “Jack’’ Jamba

4Judy Court Satellite Beach, FL 32937

Home: (407) 777-5520

Office: (407) 861-3519

E-Mail: jwjamba@aol.com

Percent members: 72

Hi Redtags! Got alate Christmas Card from Ted and Marcy DYKES. They had to repaint their entire house to get rid of soot from an auxiliary oven that backed up in the house. Ted quit his state job and returned home to work for an aerospace contractor and start an Internet business with apartner. Marcy did some good things for the governor and the state; the governor declared her birthday as aspe¬ cial day in Virginia. The kids are continuing their travels and new job relocations.

Ted and Marcy Dykes

Got aSeason’s Greetings card from Bob GIBSON. He says it gives him alitde slack to mail the cards out since they don’t mention Christmas or New Years. It was good seeing that Marine at the SS* after all these years. 1corresponded with Carl BOLSTER in January. He moved from Florida to Arcade, NY, He was looking forward to trying out his skimobile but El Nino warmed everything up; he has to wait for next year. Got an e-mail from Don SHEPPERD in February. “Tim and Nancy GILMARTIN and Rose and me are sitting here at Montauk on Long Island looking out on abeautiful sunrise (well, tbe sun is alittle bit higher than the hori¬ zon) drinking coffee, eating muffins, reading the New York Times and talking about old Redtags -tbis retired life ain’t all bad. Regards -Shep.’’

Got an e-mail from George THOMPSON telling us that he was back in Pskov, Russia. He visited his youngest daughter in Poland, where she is teaching English in the small city of Opole (Southern Silesia, not far from the Czech border, NW of Krakow). He had a30-hour train ride to Pskov... And this from EC NEWMAN: “Got the picture yesterday after getting back from three weeks of simulator work in Montreal. Lynn went with me. They were about recovered from the ice storm when we got there so it wasn’t too bad. But Ido have trouble figuring out why people would voluntarily live there in January and February. It’s great to be back in Colorado and Ibet Florida’s even better right now. Take care.”

Troy TOMLIN contacted me to let me know that he is working for the Globalstar Program Office at Loral in Palo Alto. Their first four satellites were sitting on a Delta rocket up the road from me, waiting for good weather to launch. The next set of satellites will be launched from the Cape in April, Then it’s off to Baikanur Cosmodrome in July for 12 more satellites to be launched. Troy may make it out here in April. Maybe we can see aShuttle launch too. Rip BLAISDELL gave me an update on his career. He left Korea and went back to Ft Worth to Lockheed Martin's F-16 program. As soon as he got back be bad atotal knee replacement on the left knee. That adds up to surgery on both knees and both shoulders. He still has a wrist that needs to be straightened out eventually and atotal right knee replace¬ ment. “Football is agreat sport.” They have one daughter who is anurse and one who is aphysical therapist in CSprings. The third daughter is apsychologist in Kansas who is trying to move to CSprings. Sounds like he planned their careers to take care of him in retirement. He plans to retire in ayear or three. Then they will return to their house in Woodland Park, CO. Sounds great.

What abusy month we have had on the Redtag Net. Chuck CHEESEMAN asked me to write a200-word article about how we became the Redtags. Iwrote it and put it out on the Redtag Net and asked for redlines and comments. (The Redtag Net is the group of us who have access to e-mail.) The response was overwhelm¬ ing. Ireceived corrections and suggestions; then Isent it to Chuck who was going to coordinate with the Class of 1998 to arrange some kind of protocol to present it

Memories from the 1962 35th Reunion

to the Class of 1998 on March 19"’, their dining-in. One result of the article was that it started alot of us thinking about “the good old days” and showered the net with some great stories like the kinds of stories we heard at the open-mike ses¬ sions at the 35“' Reunion. Ihave saved them all and will team up with afew class¬ mates to put them into acompiiation for us all.

Also, Owen HAWKINS has registered our domain on the Web: http:// www.redtags.org and Sam DEHNE has alink from it to his Redtag site. Sam has added lots of information to his site. Tune in to them both when you have achance. I’m going to cut the column short this time so Ican have more room for SS'" Re¬ union pictures. Thanks for all the e-mail and regular mail. Go Redtags!

Norman J. Lee III

17532 N.E. 38th Court

Redmond, WA 98052

W: (425)237-6004 H: (425)882-0968

E-mail: swan01@aol.com

Work e-mail: norman.i.lee@boeing.com

Fax: (425) 237-5775

Percent members: 76

What agreat time to be writing the class news column! With the reunion only a short seven months away as Iwrite (four months by the time you read this), there is alot of activity making plans, discussions of events, and making contact. Keith LOCKHART writes: “I just sent Jack MCTASNEY ahistory write-up -better late than never. Since you are collecting e-mail addresses, Ithought Iwould send mine. I’ll communicate more later as Iam getting ready to leave town tomorrow for the

entire week. This is coming to you from Highland Village, TX, asuburb of Dallas.” Speaking of e-mail, Iwas collecting an e-mail address roster and willing to share with anyone who asked. Jimmie BUTLER’s letter to the class last fall about re¬ union pians also asked for e-mail addresses. The result, according to Jimmie, was just short of phenomenal and has augmented my list by ahundred or so. He wrote the following in arecent note to all those on his “class net”: “Bill [GREEN] had another comment that Iwanted to pass on: Talso have to echo John NEHRlNG’s comment that those not on the Internet are missing some wonderful opportunities in communication. Ispent about four hours last night receiving and firing off messages to friends afar. God, what arush!' This is an example of one of the big reasons Skip LEE started building the Golden Boys e-mail roster last year. Over the last couple of days, the list Ihave... has grown to more than 120, and Iexpect it will grow even more over the next couple of weeks.” Jimmie added that e-mail is proving very useful for passing out advanced information and locating lost souls. If you are reading this article and do not have acomputer or if you have acomputer and don’t have aconnection to the Internet or aservice provider like AOL, then you are truly missing out on some fun. To get your name on the class e-mail list, contact Jimmie at JimmieHB@aol.com. By the way, an¬ other benefit of having acomputer is the ability to upload acomputerized ver¬ sion of the 1963 class crest forwarded by Jimmie to many of us. If you are inter¬ ested in getting your own or messed up trying to download the file sent by Jimme, sending ashort e-note to Jimmie might get him to send you the file. Finally, Jimmie sent along some stories from Nail FAC days and Laos. The stories are timeless so I’ll try to get them in soon. For you former Nails (Crickets and Ravens too) try out the following web site: http://vrww.seacoast.com/-jsweet/brotherh/index.html. The latest raging discussion amongst the class (not adebate) has been an effort

From left: Mike and Terry Schieber, Charlie Kirk, Tom Moore.

From left: Rick Perlotto, Tom and Mary Beth Keaney.

From left: Nancy and Willie Gray, Caroiine Jamba, Rosemary and D.K. Vaughan.

From left: Mitch Eckel, Charlie Hale, Susan Eckel, Hal Keck.

CLASS OF 1963 35-YEAR REUNION

7-11 October 1998

USAFA versus Navy

to decide on who we, the Class of 1963, would like to have as aspeaker for the Friday evening banquet, or if we want to have aspeaker. Ithink John NEHRING started it all with an e-mail note on the subject sent out on the "Class Net”. What is important here is the opportunity to jump into the middle and let your voice be heard [read]. Suggestions have ranged from Ron FOGLEMAN, who declined on the grounds he just wants to be one of the grads out there on the floor celebrating the reunion, to Mike “Roach" LOH of ’60 -the first, albeit temporary, USAF Chief of Staff. Some have suggested that we dispense with the serious stuff and just enjoy each other. The other day, John NEHRING wrote and asked me to put the following in the news column so, here goes: “After looking at all the many out¬ standing (not just good!) suggestions for speakers, it’s struck me that aclass re¬ union is truly an inadequate forum in which to gain insights from all these knowl¬ edgeable men. Inow think there needs to be something like an annual ‘Distin¬ guished Graduates Symposium’. I’ve expressed this already to several classmates, and they agree. I’ve also expressed that I’d certainly be happy to contribute to the financial support of this symposium if the AOG shouid decide to take it on.” See, Itold you this was John’s doing.

Jimmie BUTLER finally weighed in earlier this week with the following: “One guideline Iwould throw in is something Ilearned back in 1993. Our local com¬ mittee became the recipient of agreat deal of praise for putting on aheiluva 30year reunion. We were pleased to see everyone so enthusiastic about the program we put together. Some of you already know our secret, but I’ll share it with the rest of you who haven’t heard me say this. One of the big reasons we had avery suc¬ cessful program is that we followed the advice of Jock SCHWANK (AOG/USAFA, ‘60) almost to the letter. Jock never made any claims that it wasn’t our program to rise or fall on, but he was always there to tell us what worked best and what the pitfalls were if we were to choose some of the options available. Ispent some of my last few active-duty years playing Chief of Staff for General Forrest McCartney, and one of his guidelines was, 'If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ So, when Jock said this is what works best in most cases, the secret to our success was that we followed his advice. With all that in mind and having learned to depend heavily on Guru Jock, we’ll probably be more satisfied as agroup with some informal program/ remarks. It would be great if Ron would consent to say afew things. Maybe there’s someone else who could join in to come up with something that’s more like a Class of 1963 pep rally than anything fiiled with erudite pearls of wisdom for us to take back and practice between now and the 40“*.”

Biil GREEN’S (the same) approach to things was to offer amagnum of cham¬ pagne (Korbel or better) for the largest contingent from the graduating cadet squadron. Ivote for better! Dave NUSS is leading the 15* Squadron effort -look for aparty at Dave and Carol’s for you IS* War Eagles. Bill volunteered Ev VAUGHN for 16“’ Squadron.

More Reunion stuff: atentative schedule has been mailed out -hope you got yours. Let me say the reunion really starts on Wednesday so get there early if you can. Rooms have been blocked for the Marriott and you can book your room now. Ihear they will be held until September but don’t wait. Linda booked our room already. Besides the banquet on Friday and apost-game dinner on Saturday, ac¬ tivities include lunch with the Cadet Wing—we can march with our squadrons— agolf tournament (both on Thursday), staff briefings -more on how we can’t qualify for USAFA today -Memorial Service, banquet, tailgate and football—Beat Navy! (.at least to the bar).

Final Reunion input: Lost Souls. The following are officially lost souls and need to find them before October: Jerry K. BOWERS, Richard L. BUNCE, John J. DOUGHERTY, Anthony D. DUNN, Frank J. KARASIENSKi, James A. MANUEL, James A. MCKEAN, Joe F. PETERS, William T. RUDD, Edward L. SMITH, Stephen R. SUTTON, Russell M. TURNER, Allen K. WATT, Joe H. WILSON, and John E. ZIMMERMAN. If you know the whereabouts of the above, let the AOG or Jimmie know right away. Also, pass the word about October

Jerry ADINOLFI was originally on the Lost Souls List; however, Bud GILLIGAN quickly checked in with an address. “Jerry Adinolfi (That’s Reverend Adinolfl to you) is the newly-installed pastor of an Episcopal Church in Coffeyville, KS. His and Marsha’s address is: 105 Pullins Drive, Coffeyville, KS 67337, tele: (316) 2514890.”

More News: Bob ZAMBOLDI was reading through the fall issue of the alumni news and realized that the iast e-mail address he last gave me was from England. Bob reports asuccessful transition back to the U.S. and back in their house in Emmaus, PA. Says he is looking forward to the SS*. Jim MARTIN reports his Scott (AFA ’86) graduated from Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards AFB, in De¬ cember with aproud father in attendance. Jim included aphoto in his e-mail but Imanaged to lose it yesterday -don’t have Acrobat Reader anyway and its too late to ask for ahard copy to meet this deadline -maybe next time Jim? Scott will begin his test pilot career at Eglin AFB within afew days of Jim ending his test flying with NASA. Jim retired from NASA effective 2Jan 98. He has plenty to keep him busy including being the AFRes mobilization assistant to the commander of PACAF. Jim also plans on making the 35th reunion in October. Bob KENNEDY wrote saying he was granted athree-year leave of absence from Georgia Tech to rejoin Uncle Sam’s guys as director of the Georgia C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and lives in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Bob put it like this “.. .Garmisch-Partenkirchen has always been ahardship but someone has to do it.” Also says he linked up with Bob POLLOCK when Bob came to visit just before Bob K. and Vevonna departed Atlanta. Bob P. and big family are doing great. He is still the superb kind of guy he was when he left USAFA. Bob K. also had lunch with Jim

JAMERSON (DCINC EUCOM) in Stuttgart. He says Jim “,.. came this way afew days ago to deliver the convocation address to our new class. 1am told he has done asuper job over here. Nice to see the good guys winning. I’m trying to stir up interest for the 35th.”

Art JOHNSON checked in having just set up on the Internet through America Oniine. Art recently returned from an extended trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. He spent nine weeks traveling around Australia (to include Tasmania) and visiting all the major cities except Canberra. While visiting Sydney’s Mari¬ time Museum in September, Art ran into Jay MILLER and Norma. Said he re¬ members Jay and Norma were on atwo- or three-week vacation in Australia and New Zealand. FollowingAustraliaArtsayshe"... flew into Auckland for several days. Ithen picked up arental car and drove around both the North and South Islands for the next three weeks. In late November, Ijoined with eight other hikers from the Lf.S. and Canada in atwo-week Sierra Club backpacking trip (hiked some 120 miles in 12 days) out of Te Anau; the hiking was very good to great but the El Nino effect resulted in the wettest November in 17 years and we had to hike in wet boots quite abit. If you ever get the opportunity to travel to Australia and New Zealand, jump at it. It was truly awonderful experience but Irealize most people would not be able to spare four months. Spent four days in Fiji before my return to the Dallas area in mid-December.”

To close, John NEHRING added afew examples of Murphy's Laws of Combat: I have included afew of the examples for your enjoyment: If it’s stupid but works, it isn’t stupid. Don’t look conspicuous -it draws fire. (This is why aircraft carriers are called, ‘‘Bomb Magnets.”) If your attack is going really well, it’s an ambush. The easy way is always mined (this is also true at Boeing). Incoming fire has the right of way. If the enemy is in range, ‘‘SO ARE YOU !” There are more but Imay have included too many already. That’s it. My sincere thanks for all the inputs and particulariy to John and Jimmie for all their contributions. Next Time.

Bob Hovde 206Walker Ave. Huntsville, AL35801

Home: (256) 532-3923

E-Mail: therjhs@aol.com

Percent members: 71

Moving Again: In the last article, Isaid that Sandy and Iwould move into our newly-renovated 1901 house at the end of April. Iam writing this in the middle of March, and it looks like we will need amiracle to finish the house by the end of April! The wallboard was delivered today (300 sheets, 12 feet long) and Istill have to finish the insulation before they start installing it. Certainly we will be in the new house by the time you read this, so use the new address and phone number at the top of this article to get ahold of me.

Just to add abit of confusion, Ino longer work for IITRI, so delete all of my old business e-mail addresses, faxes, etc. Anyway, Inow have lots of time to work on the house. In three weeks, I’ve lost two inches off my waist! This construction work is tough.

Are you confused yet? Weil, the telephone company decided to add abit of fun to the move by changing our area code at the same time. We now will be in area 256 vice 205, phone number 532-3923 vice 882-9382, 206 Walker Ave. vice 817 Dellwood Rd., ZIP 35801 vice 35802, and maybe even ajob vice the one vrith IITRI. Itold you to keep my address in pencil!

E-mail: Bob HALEY writes that he ran into Bruce SMITH in New Orleans at the Mardi Gras. They met at the “Sunday Sinner’s Brunch” at the New Orleans Coun¬ try Club. Bob noted that Bruce and Suzanne were wearing “Rex” badges, meaning that they were to be part of the Mardi Gras Rex Parade Krewe, not an easy invite to get. Anyway, as it turns out, Bruce has recently retired from the Air Force (Maj Gen), last assignment was aNATO billet in Turkey, and he’s currently heading up the New Orleans operation for Lockheed Martin.

Bob is still in Reston working for Sprint. His kids are in coilege (Kristin asecond classman [person?] at USAFA, and David at Anne Arundal JC.) Bob says that he is still un-remarried, but always close to it, it seems! (Is “un-remarried” the same "single”, or is it atransitional state?) Also, afriend of Bob’s wrote abook named “Clashes”, an analysis of the air war over North Vietnam, published by the Naval Institute. Bob is mentioned in the foreword -another famous classmate!

Tony COVAIS sent an e-mail out to his ‘64-list saying that he met Pete CALDARELLI at Pensacola and they flew to Tampa together. Pete flies the A-300 for American Airlines. He has on his way to work when Tony met him. He is based in Miami and he flies Latin American for the most part. Tony reports that it must agree with him, because it looks like he is doing great.

Air Force Times: it is still possible to get Information from the papers. It isn’t as easy, of course, as getting it via e-mail, but it still works. Anyway, Inoticed that our man in Langley, Dick HAWLEY, was in the news for saying that the National De¬ fense Panel (a bunch of retired flag officers and defense experts chartered by Con¬ gress to look future military requirements) was wrong in its recommendations. The panel recommended shifting funding to development of future technologies, while Dick says that our present forces have too many shortfalls to divert any fund¬ ing. Sounds like the summer POM cycle should be alot of fun!

Other Stuff: Huntsville is definitely not an Air Force town, but with Hector NEGRONI (’61) and Ed ZOMPA (’61) here, it is definitely interesting! Ed is on the Madison School Board (they just broke away from the Huntsville unified district) and is frequently in the news. Hector hasn’t changed much in 35 years. He still has more energy than any three normal people, and has been agreat help to me in looking for anew job. Ipromise that Itvill beat the bushes for more ’64 news for the article next time. With the house renovation and Sandy telling me that 1need to find ajob, Ihave let some things slip.

Plastic up, rubber down! Keep those e-mails and letters coming!

.RickZurbrugg

Box 22615

Hilton Head Island, SC 29925-2615

(803) 698-5321

FAX: (803) 689-5403

E-mail: 75630.2347@compuserve.com

Percent members: 69

Hello '65!

Just sitting here on aspectacular Spring day in Atlanta contemplating the happy and imminent arrival of my young warrior from the zone of potential hostilities and thinking of all of you who have served so nobly and had asimilar experience either yourself or your offspring. Hey, that’s why we have an Air Force Academy!

HEAVYWEIGHTS! Thanks to TOM OWENS for this great picture of all pictures from the Falcon Foundation/Corona meeting at AFA in November (Army football weekend). Tom says’’...you’U have to admit this is apretty handsome group of "young" men...great weekend dinner, parade, flyby demos, more flybys. Beat Army!... reception at the Supt’s house...lots of fun and memories. Also saw Steve AMDOR (SAIC) at Albuquerque and Joe O’Gorman at the footbaU game.

LEE ALTON, FIGHTING FOURTH! Lee writes," Ihave been threatening to pro¬ vide an update for about two years now, so here goes: Terry and Ihave been living in Scottsdale since Iretired in Jan 1992...am now acaptain with Southwest, still doing what Ilove to do -fly. It’s agreat retirement job! Our son Kelly graduated from USAFA in 1990 and is now flying Falcons at Hill AFB. He is married to a wonderful lady and they have blessed us with two lovely grandchildren. We are having aball with them. (Who says grovring old Is the pits?) Our daughter Holly lives in Phoenix and is working with Campus Crusade for Christ’s Student Venture Program...! saw several classmates at the AF 50th and River Rats Reunion, but haven’t heard of many in the local area. We are enjoying the Phoenix area and certainly invite any ’65ers passing through to give us acall at 602-585-2487. We’re ready for the next reunion, GO ’65!" Thanks Lee, see you in Phoenix.

MIKE MANLEY WRITING FROM COLORADO: “I recall that Bob PENRY was traveling around the countryside, RV style, do you have his e-mail address? (No Mike, but try Lakewood, CO.) For 1999 or later, Iam planning an RV-style trip across the northern and eastern portions of Canada. Expect it to he several months and expect to do some dirt bike, mountain bike, windsurf, hiking activities. Flex¬ ible, easy pace. Am looking to see if any other grads would be interested in joining for all or part of the fun.” mike_manley@hp.com. Sounds great, Mike. By the way, any other classmates have awindsurfing habit? It’s easily as addict¬ ing as skiing. Your humble scribe iives about 100 yards from good wind and flat water. Give us aheads-up and bring your board (midApriito end of October). 65 WEB SITE: At last! Bill ROBERTS sent me an e-mail ashort time ago and said: “Tm tired of seeing other ciasses with ahome page, but not '65. Take alook at this: http:www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/8472." Idid, and it’s great. Iespe¬ cially enjoyed the hotlink to USAFA and the TerrazzoCam. You just have to see this. Great job Bill! He writes, “...in Tucson, work for Computer Sciences Corp since Hughes (now Raytheon) outsourced data processing three years ago. Ellen has been consulting at America West in Phoenix on an inventory system conver¬ sion, but that’s about over (she wants abreak). Bill Jr is aphysician’s assistant in Beatty, NV. Tracy (daughter) is an ATC at Salt Lake Center. Jim is apatrolman with the Fulton County Police Dept (Atianta) and Katie is aCSM with WalMart in Norman, OK. We have three grandchildren, Ashley 8(Bill,Jr), Jessica 7, and Jeffrey 6(Katie). 1read, watch 'Babylon 5’, play Quake on the Internet and this year I started flying lessons (soaring). Ellen watches 'The Young and the Restless’, col¬ lects recipes and keeps trying to make me fat with her cooking." Thanks again BUI. Please let us have comments/suggestions about the ’65 homepage.

SAD NEWS FROM THE AOG: Thomas T. MAXWELL passed away from aliver ailment in Seattie December 30,1997. His wife, Busanan, lives at 14053 Sunrise Dr NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110-4161. Wouldn’t it be nice if many short cards of condolence from us arrived?

Iaiways wondered what happened to JeffVENDETTl. He and Idid the ZI field

trip with the third class before our first class year. Well, Ifound Jeff happily married these last 32 years to Elaine living just south of Boston and the proud father of three: boy 26 in San Fransico out of SUNY, girl 24 In Dallas out of Columbia and a14 -yearold in the eighth grade. Jeff shaves the boss each morning -he is an independent computer consultant for financial houses in Boston. He notes that he talks to Ed FARREIX from time to time and his old roomie Ron BAIIEY. It was great catching up with Jeff again, and Ihave his phone number if you are interested.

KALTENBACH KIDS: The occasion arose for aconsultation with that eminent Cherry Hill, NJ, pediatrician Jim KALTENBACH. Jim is in apractice of five pedia¬ tricians but amember of amuch larger group: “a practice without walls". Jim is on the board of the larger group, which is acommon adaptation to the managedcare scene. Jim must be held in high esteem by his peers because working with more than two physicians has been described as like trying to herd cats. Jim's wife, Karol, teaches developmental psychology at Jefferson Medical College and they have three sons ages 31(attorney), 24 (Wall Street) and 17 (free spirit). Jim remains an avid tennis player and skier. You will find him at the West Point and Navy games when AFA is playing. Jim stays in touch with John GROSS and Doug WEIDNER.

JOE KOENIG COMES THROUGH BIG TIME: Joe sent me amassive missive in January and the highlights are: Joe, who teaches physics at avocational high school, and another teacher took eight students to Khabarovsk, Far East Russia just north of the Chinese border, inland from Vladavostok for the month of March (’97) and also got to spend some time in Moscow. In April and May, theyhostedthe Russian contingent back in the U.SJ\. Joe ran in the inaugural AF marathon at WPAFB in September. Joe's wife, Marlene, retired from teaching in 1997. Together they took four grandkids, age 4-8, for aweek’s vacation in Arkansas (one bedroom) in July. Joe does not recommend this activity to others.

Jerry and Dee KEYSER: easing into retirement by moving firom chief pilot for Boe¬ ing to merely experimental test pilot, and into “an active adult golf community” east of Mesa. Jerry took aLongbow helicopter to the Paris Air Show and Dee worked the customer chalet. In August, they took their most favorite trip to Ireland.

PR and Joan THOMAS: (Shoreview, MN) “General Mills continues to let PR fly their airplanes and have taken delivery of aCitation Xfor their increasing inter¬ national travel. Joan’s company was bought out by Pella and she is now president of their door division. Around the holidays, their son KC finished National Guard electronics school, so they flew in their plane down to get him and tour the South¬ east together.

Dennis and Cindy VALENTINE: (Castle Rock, CO) ’’...are lawyering out of Denver. Both are still active in the Quarter Horse Club." Dennis’ participation was slowed down last summer by abroken wrist. Did you fall off, Dennis?

Vic and Marsha GRAZIER: (Dayton, OH) grandparents of their first grandson (daughter Claire) in Colo Springs. Son Daniel graduates from college this year. Vic and Marsha remain very involved with the Association of Christian Confer¬ ences, Training and Services.

John and Sarah VICKERY: (Montgomery, AL) John spent abusy year at CAP Head¬ quarters organizing and supporting their annual convention in Kansas City and publishing new curricula. Sarah is the chief of Acquisitions for Air University.

Bill and Kay CATHEY: (Harlingen, TX) Bill is an AFJROTC instructor, enrollment is up and so are the chilenges. Kay is head of the middle school English Dept. They had several trips to Mexico in 1997 and recommend avoiding Mexico City’s traffic. They have adaughter in Columbus, OH.

Steve and Sue DAVIS: (Riverside, CA) Steve continues with his mergers and ac¬ quisitions business and is upgrading his level of tax preparation to enrolled agent so that he may represent clients before the IRS. Their son-in-law is an F-16 dem¬ onstration pilot and Steve went to see him perform at El Centro, El Toro, and Travis in March, April and September.

Thanks again, Joe KOENIG, for aU these great updates.

You may not have noticed but Doug REASON (’77) had aletter in the Fall 97 Checkpoints looking for humorous stories, pranks from our era at the Academy. Jeff SILLIMAN copied me aletter he sent to Doug describing the derring-do of that infamous doolie team of SILLIMAN and KENNEDY (BJ). It’s ahilarious story about sneaking around the dates quarters at Parish Memorial on one of those squadron weekends. Doug REASON sounds well connected with amovie and a miniseries based on his writings. So, get your memorabilia in to him now for immortality tomorrow. Contact him: dougbeason@aol.com. 3760 Angus Way, Pleasanton, CA 94588.

That will be it for this time. Let me know if you would like for me to try and find or just get an update on aparticular classmate. Iam working on acouple right now. Take achance! Be well, do good work, and stay in touch. CHEERS, Rick.

Ryan Denny 1210 Applewhite Road

O’Fallon, IL 62269

Home: (618) 624-4255

Work: (314) 232-4180

E-mail: ryanden@aol.com

Percent members: 73

Greetings, Redtags! It’s cold and rainy here, so I’ll start with the sad news. My old friend and one-time roommate, Damon RICKARD, died of cancer in January. Rick’s time at the Academy could have been material for awild novel about the adventures some very energetic, very imaginative smdents at an all-male mUitary school. He knew the tunnels better than the people who buUt them. He could build realistic-looking sets for Bluebards’ productions and he could detonate a “Babo Bomb" without leaving aclue. He seemed to spend as much time on con¬ finements as he did on the Commandant’s List; and, on those weekends that he could get away, we would “rally” at his semi-illegal cabin in the woods for aweek¬ end of parties. After avery short career in the Air Force, Rick lost contact with

From left are Lt Gen Larry Farrell, AF/XP Pentagon; Gen Mike Ryan, CSAF; Bart Holaday, Chicago businessman; Tom Owens, Boeing, Wash. DC; Gen Howie Estes, CMDR, Space Commmand, Colorado Springs; Lt Gen Tad Oelstrom, Supt USAFA.

most of us until our 30"'' Reunion. He had agreat time at the reunion; and, after his death, his wife, Irish, said that renewing his almost-forgotten friendships had been asignificant event in his life and had made him anew man. We’ll miss him. Funerals and weddings. Weddings and funerals. I’ve spent more time in church this last year than Idid as adoolie. It must be our age, but It seems like everybody is marrying off adaughter this year. It’s agood thing they waited until we could almost afford it, had developed the patience to survive it, and grovm the good sensetolet our wives take charge of it. Jack JANECKY’s daughter Caryn was mar¬ ried in Mobile AL, where Jack is practicing law. After the wedding. Jack took a month’s sabbatical and headed north to visit friends in Washington, New York, and any little town that caught his eye. When they got to Freeport, ME and saw the sleet and snow, they remembered why they liked living in the south and headed back home. Jim MURPHY’S daughter Katie is an Air Force lieutenant and married another Lt. who is on his way to pilot training. Jim sang at the wedding and actu¬ ally sounded pretty good! (And you thought he was just arunner.) BillWACKER’s daughter Angie is getting married this Spring in Conway SC. That’s not too far from Myrtle Beach, where Bill lives and plays golf when the fish aren’t biting. My daughter got married just before Christmas. That’s where Ilearned about almost affording it, cultivating patience, and letting my wife be in charge.

Arne WEINMAN and wife, Kathy, traveled to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands over Christmas to visit their dau^ter who is living there for ayear. It sounded like anice break from Arne’s house-building business in Spokane. Actually, Arne was trying to convince the Galapagos sea turtles that he could build them abetter house. In addition to all this running around, Arne is in charge of this year’s Daedalian National Convention in Spokane. So, if any of you are old enough to attend, look him up and say "Hi! ”.

M/G Jerry ALLEN is retiring after agreat career in which heflewtheB-52, OV-10, FB-111. F-lllD, B-IB, and of course the C-130. Jerry commanded three wings and has been the vice commander of 21“ Air Force for the last two years. Con¬ gratulations and Good Luck, Jerry and Joan!

Summer and vacations are coming up. So, visit aclassmate, take apicture, and send it to me. Until next time.. .Happy Landings!

Larry Wilson

13100 Pinehurst Ave. NE

Albuquerque, NM 87111

Home: (505) 291-8949

Work: (505) 846-2510/DSN: 246-2404

E-mail: LwiJsn628@aol.com

Percent members; 65

Greetings and salutations to all.

Sort of aquick turn on this Checkpoints -apparently there was some delay in getting the previous one out, and now an effort to get back onto the normal sched¬ ule. This goes out without the normal opportunity for 2Vz -3 months of info¬ gathering, so it may be abit shorter than other columns. No matter. Just think quality, not quantity...

First of all, an apology for an error in my reunion article, and acorrection: it was pointed out to me that Ihad misidentified the squadron that hosted Sam JAMES’ daughter and widow. Melissa and Lynn were, in fact, guests of 23rd Squadron, where Sam spent his entire four years at the zoo. Again, my apologies to the men and women of CS-23 for mlscrediting their good work. Also, Ilearned that the 23 folks also hosted Elaine and Erik, children of another deceased '67 CS-23 mem¬ ber, Burnley RUDIGER. Erik is ajunior at The Citadel, in their Air Force program. TWenty-Third’s reunion was capped by aformal dining-out at the Cheyenne Moun¬ tain Conference Center on our final reunion night. The grads, spouses, Jameses, Rudigers and Gary Willis’ nephew, CIC Michael Willis, were joined at the diningout by Capt. Tom Anderson, the current AOC of 23rd, plus their current squadron commander, 1st Sergeant, and two other current 23ers who served as color bear¬ ers. From Gary: “The event rekindled and extended the bonds established 30 years ago in the “Crash and Burn” 23rd, bridging for the evening the past, present and future for each of us attending in person or remembered in spirit. It was aspecial honor for us to be able to share our heartfelt memories with the kids of our faUen classmates, to marvel at what fine young people they are and to know how proud their fathers would have been of them.” From Jeff HURT: “Oneof the most memo¬ rable toasts was from Citadel Cadet Rudiger who summed up his weekend at USAFA with the statement 'Never before have Ifelt so much like the son of my fa¬ ther.’ There was not adry eye in the house.” In total, 23rd Squadron graduated 22 cadets in 1967, five of whom are now deceased. In attendance throughout most of the reunion weekend there were 13 of 17 remaining grads, plus Sam’s and Burnley’s survivors.

Another reunion note, from George VAN WAGENEN: when some of us marched to lunch with our old squadrons, Gary REID, our classmate from CS-24, who has MS, drove his electric wheel chair and carried the 24th guidon. We think that someone took his picture while Gary was leading CS-24. He would really like to have acopy of the picture. Can anyone help? If you took such apicture, you can send it to Gary direct, or to George, ortome-wewill ensure that it gets to Gary.

Ashort e-mail note from St Louis Flatlander Roger CARLETON: he and family “...made it to Colorado over the holidays to get in afew days skiing. Made us appreciate the mountains even more. The girls, especially Kindall, are out-skiing their old parents big time. MyrebuiltACL ... performed verywell...’’That “kids out-skiing parents” issue is abit painful for me too... my son seeks out the bumps and blacks now, while Iselect them more selectively... And this year -in one of the all-time great snow years in New Mexico -1 have been sidelined by aknee injury incurred during aJanuary pickup volleyball game. Crap. Ihope to be back on the slats by the time for Spring skiing... but Iwill likely have to take it easy. Double crap.

Missing Man Located: Abner HAYNES is alive and well and resettled in Virginia, after their third (of four) end-of-year moves. Someofyou may know that he com¬ pleted his career as an agent of the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, To¬ bacco &Firearms, and retired from ATE in mid ’97. Thereafter he and Pattie be¬ gan to wander in search of the Perfect Place to SetUe Forever. When they didn’t find it, they went where the retirement job and activity were ripe. So they are back in the D.C. area, where he is “senior consultant and analyst for Law Enforcement Programs, Crisis Management Support Division” for asubsidiary of SAIC. Until about three months ago Ihad never heard of that organization and Inow have two friends employed by them, on opposite coasts. Iguess it is abig operation. Back to Abner: he ended his ATF career based in Houston as the special agent in charge of South Texas, after he moved there from the Pacific Northwest. If you think back to some of the events that hit the news big time involving the ATF in these areas over the past few years -you will have an Idea of what some of his “opportunities” have been. He looks much the same, still frail and willowy (not), stUl hairy as hell but now largely silvered, still wild and crazy after all these years, still playing racquetball, and now an accomplished golfer too,, This doesn’t reily fit in here in terms of class news, but since Iam alitUe short of copy, Ithink it is agreat piece of information for anyone who is considering doing some hiking or camping this summer: “In Alaska, tourists are warned to wear tiny bells on their clothing when hiking in bear country. The bells warn away most bears. Tourists are also cautioned to watch the ground on the trail, paying par¬ ticular attention to bear droppings to be alert for the presence of Grizzly Bears. One can tell Grizzly droppings because they have tiny bells in them.”

Bob MULDROW sent his Christmas communique, summarized as follows: he is no longer aTexan; he is instead delighted to be aCSprings resident again, cour¬ tesy of the company which hired him and caused his departure from Albuquer¬ que, then subsequently underwent some changes which resulted in his and Paul SCHLICTER’s departure from the firm and Texas. Anyhow, after arather convo¬ luted path and alittle help from avariety of old friends, he and Paul have both landed on their feet, Paul with Loomis-Fargo and Bob with GRC International, in CSprings. Bob is elated to be back in familiar and great scenery, among friends and family in Colorado again. He described his family: Michelle and Erik, their California couple, are doing well. “Their demo tape has been sent around to the various recording studios. No real nibbles yet, although two companies have ex¬ pressed some interest,” And “Scott and Tina will be leaving the chill of Michigan for Puerto Rico. Iam sure that by Christmas Tina will be ready for areal vacation. The second year at med school is no picnic. Scott is enjoying his subcontracting work with General Motors. (They) have talked about possibly moving to Colorado once all their schooling is done. That kind of talk warms Momma Dale’s heart.” And “Mike has one semester left for his master’s degree. If all comes to pass, he will find ateaching job somewhere in Colorado next fall. Aimee will be graduat¬ ing this May as well.” Sounds like they may have most of the family reunited in Colorado one day.

Bob included his CS-21 reunion notes -it seems 21 had agreat time, enjoyed by one and all. One all-too-familiar vignette: he described how there were many re¬ union tales which “... related things which supposedly happened in the past. The problem is that in most cases memories only embellish. Idon’t know how many stories Itold that started off with something like, 'Do you remember that time we... ’only to be met by ablank stare.” Bob, Ican empathize.. .I’ve had more than afew of those myself, both at the reunion and other times... Why do you suppose that is?

Atragic note, relayed from anumber of the 20* Trolls: Don and Cherie OWEN died in an auto accident near Fairplay, CO on Highway 285, while returning home from skiing in February. Their family includes four daughters and one son: Erin (married to Patrick Boline), Megan (24), Blythe (20), Caitlin (13) and Benjamin (12). The e-mail information included the following summary statement: “.. .we all share in this loss. Don was aman of quiet strength, integrity and character. Cherie was loving and accepting. What aprivilege it has been for us to know them.” Afitting eulogy. The 20th Cadet Squadron, Class of 1967, arranged for afuneral floral arrangement. The family has requested that contributions be made to a memorial fund set up for the two youngest children’s education. Contributions should be sent to tbe following: Caiden and Benjamin Owen Memorial Fund, Ac¬ count Number 112676S3, Air Academy Federal Credit Union, 1355 Kelly Johnson Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. That’s it for this edition -best wishes to all, keep me on your e-mail and overland mail loops! Vaya con Dios, Amigos.

Tim Davidson

9712 Hidden Valley Road Vienna, VA 22181-6094 (703) 255-5313/Fax: (703) 255-5377

E-mail: timd@erols.com

Percent members: 65

HELLO ‘68! USAFA News Network (UNN) reports: Stock Market Up! In fl ation Down! El Nino Blamed for White House Turmoil! ’68 Scribe Needs Photos From 30* Reunion!

HANGING UP THE FLIGHT SUIT DEPT: After more than 30 years in the Air Force, John LONGENECKER, Bill HOGE, Joe MICHEL, and Vic BONFIGLIO changed uniforms from their Air Force Service Alpha, flight suits, and BDUs to civilian suitandtie.A very sincere congratulations to all of you for an outstanding career in the service of our country.

SETTING THE EXAMPLE DEPT; With amarried daughter and son-in-law (1/Lt Melissa and Capt Fred Cunningham) stationed at Travis AFB, it is comforting to know that they are receiving such quality senior leadership If om our very ovm Lt

Gen Tony ROBERTSON and Maj Gen Mike BOOTS. After serving as “Madame Vice” at aMarch ’98 Dining Out at Travis, Melissa commented on how well our classmates did in quenching their thirst at the “Grog Bowl” for various infractions of the mess. Thanks for upholding the ‘68 standard, guys, and for showing Gen¬ eration Xathing or two about Grog “Bowlmanship."

BUMPED INTO AT 5:45 AM DEPT: There Iwas in the lobby of the Strongsville, Ohio Holiday Inn (near Cleveland). After rising early on aNovember morning the day after Thanksgiving, Iwas just sitting down to read the morning paper when what to my wondering (and somewhat bloodshot) eyes should appear, butasleeklooking airline pilot who looked like he was in his early 40s. Upon closer examina¬ tion, the smile and the face belonged to none other than Jim MADSEN. Jim is a captain for Continental Airlines who flies out of Houston, but lives in Tucson. He said family life Is wonderful and the job keeps him on the move.

CHRISTMAS MAILBAG DEPT: Once again, our class news has been buoyed by the wonderful cards, letters, and e-mails sent during the holidays. Aspecial thanks to all the classmates and spouses who added so greatly to my family's Christmas with your kind words and news of happenings in your lives. Among these. Bill wood’s efforts to gather the classmate newsletters he receives and then forward them to me are greatly appreciated. Thanks, Bill!

The smiles in the photo say it all. Clark and Marla GERHARDT are alive and well in California and parenthood suits them both just fine.

From Albuquerque, Jim TERRY writes that 1997 was ayear of transitions and new beginnings. Jim works with agroup from Science Applications international Corporation (SAIC) that supports the operational flight test planning for the F-22. He is also slipping the surly bonds of earth with the Albuquerque Soaring Club and is wondering whether he will be able to resist the temptation to buy his own glider.

Jim’s vrife, Carolyn, finally received atransfer to an elementary school much closer to home and is now teaching 3"* Grade. Some of her new hobbies include making greeting cards and favors and singing in an 80-member local women’s chorus. Their daughter Jenny graduated from the University of Colorado at the end of the Summer ’97 semester and received aBS degree in chemical engineering vrith dis¬ tinction. While at college, Jenny was on the CU varsity women’s basketball team and made it into the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA championships last year. Jenny now resides in Lakewood, CO near Denver and works for COBE Cardiovascular. She eventually hopes to work on some research and development projects. Their other daughter, Mandy, works for acompany in the Washington, DC area which sup¬ ports the Departments of Energy and Defense in the area of nuclear weapons policy. In addition to aheavy work schedule, Mandy has maintained agood pro¬ ficiency in ballet and performed in several portions of the Nutcracker during the holidays.

Jim also writes that Gary NORDYKE organizes an unofficial group of grads who meet once amonth for breakfast and occasionally get together for sporting events -usually at sports bars! Jim also sees Jim LOZITO at these functions quite often. Finally, Jim mentioned that Dick PERRY retired in 1997 and is now working for Sandia Labs as an aviation safety specialist. For those who want to add Jim to their e-mail roster his address is: james.g.terry@cpmx.saic.com.

Bill and Jody BEGERT were on the move again and found themselves bidding farewell to Scott AFB and saying “Gutentag" to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. After pinning on his third star. Bill assumed duties as vice commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe. Their Christmas letter indicated that Jody has taken the continent by storm and that it would be wise to invest in European mutual funds, because the European economy is sure to rise after Jody gets finished. Son Bill is an art mogul in LA. Daughter Kary and son-in-law Joe are also doing well living just outside Chicago. They celebrated their first anniversary in June. For those who missed Bill and Jody’s address change, you can write to them at: PSC 2Box 6522, APOAE 09012.

And from 879 The Masters Boulevard in Shalimar, FL comes word from the oftunpictured Fred GROSS. Fred and Jackie send warm greetings to one and all. I

CLASS

OF 1968

saw Fred briefly at the AFSOC change-of-command last summer. He looks to be in great shape and the address of his abode should give you some idea of how he spends his spare time.

Another couple on the move in 1997 was Brooke and Cathy BAILEY. Realizing that they eventually wanted to move to Wilmington, NC to be close to the water and family, Brooke and Cathy put their house in Virginia on the market and sold it in about two days. This rapid sale in Virginia caused abit of adilemma, since they had not settled on ahouse in Wilmington yet. This left them. I’m sorry to say, homeless! After about two weeks of searching, they found anice new home and moved in around the New Year.

Brooke is with United Airlines, completed his upgrade training on the Boeing 777, and is flying out of New York. Cathy left NationsBank and is trying to squeeze more golf into her day. Daughter Liz is now at the University of Chicago, where she is seeking an MBA and hopes to go into international investment banking.

Joe, Bryan, Karen, and Chrissy Michel send greetings from San Diego.

Joe and Karen MICHEL moved into anew more spacious home in 1997and are enjoying all the extra amenities -such as athe pool, three-car garage, etc. Joe wiJl retire from the Reserves in the surmner of '98. In the meantime, Karen is working in anew job as the ASB accountant for the Sweetwarter Union High School Dis¬ trict. Son Bryan is now 15 and asophmore at Bonita Vista High School. While grades are good, Bryan’s real intrest is playing bass guitar. His school band recently made avideo and sound tape for atelevision spot, which Bryan hopes will lead to bigger opportunities. Daughter Chrissy is now 13 and in 7th grade. She is an equestrian and has her own quarter horse (Cisco), atrack star with the fastest time in the mile in her class (except for one boy), and an honor roll student. (Scribe Note: Sounds like Chrissy might need to talk to an Air Force Academy liaison officer, Joe.)

Others checking in with seasons greetings included Dave and Alex PREVOST, Bob and Thuy JOHNSTON, Tom and Pam O’BEIRNE, Benny and Jeanne VETETO, Tony and Brenda ROBERTSON, Bob and Cathy DURHAM, Ray and Kathy BROWN, and many others who Ivrill add in the next column -to include the file received from Bill WOOD.

‘68 SPOTLIGHT

The ’68 Spotlight is shining brightly on any of you who are still trying to make up your mind about attending our 30“' Reunion. The committee has done an excel¬ lent job putting together afull range of activities and the total reunion experience will not be the same without you. Your presence is honestly and sincerely re¬ quested. As Isaid in the last column, please do your best to clear your schedule and spend afew days with us in Colorado at the beginning of June. We would love to see you again. In the meantime, mind the flak, keep 'em flying, and keep those cards, letters, and photos coming in. Don’t forget to take plenty of photos during the reunion to be used in future editions of “All My Classmates.”

Lindsey Parris

6037 Ricketts Walk

Alexandria, VA 22312

Home: (703) 914-5608

E-mail: 102177.1033@compuserve.com

Percent members: 62

Greetings to all. The time it does fly, but unfortunately does not harvest truckloads of e-mail and letters from which to glean interesting information to pass along to you. Indeed and unfortunately, there is one bit of bad news this time around -Rick SELTZER died of leukemia on March 6, 1998, in Panama City, FL. Memories of '53 Guliwings and the 31st Street Exit and big smiles cannot, just cannot, be 30 years back. The Class sends its sympathies to Rick’s wife, Cindy, at this difficult time. Her address isPO Box 27431, Panama City, FL 32411 for those who want to write or call personally.

Clark, Maria, Miguel, and Nicolas Gerhardt celebrate the Holidays.

gests to me that Ishould suggest to you that you read it! Class congratulations to Darrel. Not bad for someone who hated English at USAFA and decried technical writing of any kind!

Class Congratulations also go to Mike BEEZLEY and Linda Lea Gouldsmith, who will tie the wedding knot on April 19. Linda was the gorgeous apparition accom¬ panying Mike to the 25th reunion, and is Mike’s constant companion on the links and on Whitewater rafting trips. Godspeed to you both.

Tom McGRAIN called the other week, through town on aNorthwest Airlines stop¬ over, and reports that life is fine in Phoenbc. He’s still smacking the tennis ball (the airline pilots’ annual tennis tournament is counting the days until Tom and Terry BRADY meet head-to-head), and invites all '69ers through Phoenix to stop by for adrink. He said he would be getting together in the near future with Mike WETTERER, aGroup One stalwart from track and cross-country days, and doing 12-ounce curls. Mike customizes executive jets.

Chip WOOD is remodeling his home in Punta Gorda, FL (well, actually, Barbara is doing the remodeling while Chip takes his consulting practice on the road). Their sailboat, the Sweetpea, has now completed its maiden run from Annapolis to the Bahamas and on to its berth in Punta Gorda. Now if Chip can just figure out how to conduct management excellence seminars on board...

Some miscellaneous tidbits: Congrats to Lara COPPINGER, Roy’s daughter, who will be entering USAFA in June, Class of‘02. Better start looking for an “Exit 02’’ sign now -it will be tough to find -to follow in dad’s footsteps! Saw apicture of Dan THOMAS’ T-34 -and it is gorgeous. The mud from the El Nino-triggered flooding crept up inside the hangar only to the T-34’s wheels, much to Dan’s relief. Many of you may have seen Bob BELL on "60 Minutes,” discussing nuclear weap¬ ons. Nice job by Bob. And, nice to know he is where he is. Terry SCHWALIER is settling into retired life up Seattle way, and was most appreciative of your sup¬ portive notes and comments following the past Checkpoints piece. Les DYER was spotted in Toronto, attending aspring ballgame featuring the Rocket on the mound, working out in ahotel gym laced with lycra-clad exercisers, drinking microbrews and playing pool. In that order. All in asingle day. Top that if you can. Perfect, just perfect.

In Janua^, Ispent two weeks in Bolivia for the World Bank, looking at corruption’s crushing impact on economic development, especially in the area of procure¬ ment. My USAFA time prepared me for the 11,800-foot altitude-no problemsbut not for culture of impunity in which corruption fiourishes there. Nonethe¬ less, agorgeous country with some truly wonderful people. If you have need of alpaca sweaters for yourself or for gifting, we now have connections -legal ones! Hope you have all had agrand spring and are looking forward to your best sum¬ mer since graduating. Please write, call, or e-mail. Cheers to all. Lindsey.

Tony Marietta

1070 Knollwood Circle

Monument, CO 80132

Home: (719) 488-3201/FAX:(719) 481-8768

Work: (719) 593-8888

E-mail: usafa70@aol.com

Percent members: 60

Springtime in the Rockies: TWo feet of snow shut down 1-25 yesterday, clear and sunny today, and aforecast for the mid-50’s tomorrow! Ilove Colorado!

Because of Checkpoints’ conversion to amore sophisticated publishing system and the requisite problems and delays, Ihad to submit this column prior to you receiving the Winter issue. So any responses you’ve sent regarding that issue won’t appear until my next column -adefinite time warp. Anyway, thanks much for the avalanche of photographs! After listening to my pathetic pleas, my editor agreed to allow five pictures in this quarter’s column. The catch is: Imust promise to be less verbose, which is, of course, genetically impossible for Italians.

Dick RAUSCHKOLB and wife, Marilyn, are beaming with delight after the news that their daughter Kristen was awarded aFulbright Scholarship to study in Hannover, Germany.

John GUNYOU’s e-mail declares that Mom always knew best, especially when she told him he was awonderful son but couldn’t keep ajob. After establishing a state Office of Technology for the governor of Minnesota over the past two years, John is now president of the largest ISP (internet service provider) in the state (MRNet) and now, get this, even calls himself Mr. Net. Congrats!

Gary BAXTER, my old football roomie, wrote to say life is GOOOOOD. He still flies with Northwest and lives in Florida with wife, Susie. His daughter Amy works in Denver, daughter Lisa (senior) and son Stephen (junior) are both attending the Univ of New Mexico, and son Sean graduates from high school in May. Susie has three children -college, high school, and grade school. When Gary sees Kevin DUFFY periodically, Kevin leads Gary in some good ol’ AFA cheers and insists that Gary do those touchdown pushups that he missed. Thanks for the all the info, Gary, Give me 25 pushups.

Almost threw out some information from Rudy ARAGON because Ithought it was another money-hungry lawyer trying to get my business. His law firm houses 10 lawyers and an additional 18 staff members who keep the attorneys in line. Rudy says life is great: he has afantastic wife, loves his work, and lives in agreat city, Miami. Rudy sent me acopy of his announcement for his firm. Imust admit Iwas impressed. Nice going, Rudy!

Saw Rick BEREIT at aretirement ceremony for one of my AFA Prep students. Rick recendy became the commander of the AF Logistics Management Agency, a group of about 70 officers and senior NCOs who study and analyze methods and procedures for managing AF “stuff.” Thanks for the change-of-command pic¬ ture, Rick, but it was just too dark and wouldn’t reproduce. Sorry! Rick provided another picture featuring his oldest son, Derek, ’98, together with clarification that this is not ascene from “Honey 1Blew Up Myself and the Kid.” Notice the door height as compared to Rick and Derek. Rick says he is 6’8” and his son is

6'6''. Istood next to both of them at the retirement ceremony, and Ireally think Rick is over 7' and his son is closing in. Rick received anote from Steve BLOMQUIST who is in Kenosha, W1 flying helicopters for aprivate company. To ensure that the military bloodline continues, Steve has two sons, one ahelicopter mechanic and the other in the Ohio Reserves. Somehow Rick remembered that Ed EPPING was from Kenosha and wondered where Ed is. Ed, please send me any updates. Rick is writing apoem about our experiences as cadets, but don’t worry, Iwon’t print it here. Be forewarned though: he wants to read it at our 30th.

“What are they feeding those guys?"

Scott SAUNDERS met with some interesting folks in Saudi Arabia when his host, Mr. Al-Mouhawis, invited Scott and afew locals for dinner. During his visit he also met with Billy STAMM, who has been in Saudi for 15 years and serves as the general consul for Saudi Aramco. Scott said Mike KELLEY who is in PRC (don’t ask me) suggested that Scott and Billy get together. Don’t you think this picture looks suspiciously like acard game in Scott’s basement?

“Wait till Marietta gets this photo."

Jay TOBIN’S e-mail said he came down from Steamboat, CO for the Army game and really meant to look up some ’70 grads but the weather got bad. Right. Jay has been in Steamboat for three years and wanted me to download some picture of Steamboat. You guessed it, Idid not download. Jay, Idon’t do windows and I don’t download Internet photos -mail me the picture. Jay wants to compile a’70 e-mail registry and thought this would be agood way for Big Red to stay in touch. If interested, contact Jay. Roger PETERSON muses in his e-mail that it seems the only people he sees are Zoomies. He says Darrel MASSEY is heading to Athens, Greece, to direct flight operations for aGreek shipping tycoon. Roger said many American women were saddened by his departure, while many Greek women now wonder, “Who is this man named Darrel?” The mystery has been solved: Ken WHITE designed our class crest. Ialso discovered that our USAFA ring, which, of course, included Ken’s design, was judged second best in anational contest for 1970 college rings. Nice going Ken. John POMEROY’S e-mail fondly remembers John HASEITON. He was at Udom at the time of John’s death and still mourns his loss.

Greg WOODHEAD provided the photo taken after the AF/Navy game in D.C.

“Male bonding is awonderful thing.”

Greg says he led the group with a“slash-em with abeak” cheer. The guys kneeling and praying they can get up are: Dick OCONNOR, Mike BROWER, Chuck WHITECHURCH, and Andy PATON. Back row from left are: Jerome RICHMAN, Jim REEL, Dave (alias Robert Clifford) HILB, Darryl LUNDGREN, Mark DOBBELS, Joe MCCLELLAND, Jim ANDREWS, Tome WALTERS, Greg WOODHEAD, Dave MACGHEE, George KEYS, Rick SINE, Bill STEALEY, and Jim BECHTEL.

Bob WELBAUM’s e-mail basically says hello and nothing new. Phill KOLBE sent agreat article detailing his receipt of the Excellence In Teaching Award from the Thomas W. Briggs Foundation. Phill is an associate professor in the Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate at the University of Memphis. Phill is also a former winner of the Distinguished Teaching Award. Congratulations! Ken GREENE sent aletter with pictures of himself. Chuck GRAY, George KEYS, and Greg WOODHEAD taken at Ken’s 50th (count 'em) birthday party. Ken teaches AF Junior ROTC in New Jersey to, as he says, “a raging hormone-driven group of stu¬ dents in grades 9thru 12.” Chuck has abusiness in Shreveport, George is an attor¬ ney in D.C., and Greg is an economic consultant to the AFL-CIO in D.C. Ken’s wife, Patti, aprofessor at Rutgers, has promised to support him in the manner that he is accustomed to.

“You

The next picture shows Ken vrith his son Kevin (14) taken the first day of Kevin’s AFJROTC. He does look happy, doesn’t he?

Paul D. Knott

5655 Lantana Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80915

Home:(719) 570-9162

Work (719) 594-0100

E-mail: XPDZ85A@prodigy.com

Percent members: 50

As you may have read in this mag (or the last issue), Checkpoints is going elec¬ tronic. As atribute, most of this column will be direcdy from e-mail. The first contributor is our very own Mike LACKEY: “Ran into Honi GARVIN at Meadowlake Airport afew weeks ago. He built some great hangars out there, had one of his twin boys with him (thought it was agrandson at first!). We both fly little airplanes for fun and big airplanes for aliving, Honi is still with United, and I’m having a great time at Southwest. Guess you already know that Charlie BROVYN, Rod JONES, Sonny CHILDERS, Jim HOGAN, Randy SMITH and A1 BRYANT also fly for SWA? Others you probably haven’t heard from in years: John SCHRAMM lives in Ann Arbor, MI, worked for Ford for afew years in Detroit but now does something in computers associated vrith auto industry -don’t know what. Karl POULSEN was in Army reserves in Missouri, ahelo unit commander (info is acouple of years old). Ikeep in touch with Dick BRIMS’ widow, Chris. She still lives in Ft Walton Beach, works at Eglin on AMRAAM program last Iheard. Iwas with Dick at NKP, Thailand from 1974-75. We had alot of 71s at NKP-lost Bryan RYE and Jim KAYS while Iwas there. Don BACKLAND was killed in an A-10 and Dick Brims in aCH53 after we returned to the states. Iwas really close to all of them. John Schramm and Karl Poulsen were close friends there, too, that’s why Ikeep track of them, I guess. Karl was my roommate and one of the guys Iplucked out of the ocean dur¬ ing the Mayaguez Incident. Ail this is ancient history now! The only question Iget flying with another SWA pilot is, “Were you in the Gulf War?" Guessmostofthem don’t know there was one before that. I’ll keep my eyes open for other 7Is and try to do abetter job of keeping in touch. Saw where Sam CLOVIS finally gotajob-he replaced me as USSPACE/NORADIG here in 1996. Keep the rubber side down"

Next on the e-line is Vince LANDRY: “1 don’t have any info on our class. If there are any in Cajun Country (South Louisiana) have them get in contact. Since Ire¬ tired in ’93,1 have been down here managing afamily business, doing business consulting and generally having fun. As for the family business, my dad purchased adry-cleaning operation about two years before Iretired. We’re absentee owners as far as day-to-day operations. Imanage the financial and marketing aspects of the business. For those guys looking for an investment, dry cleaners are fairly good but as with everything you need to do some homework because EPA is an major player in the equation. I’d be happy to discuss the business with any classmate or spouse who is interested. Until last year, Iwas also running abusiness specializing in small business (less than 50 employees) consulting. It served as areal educa¬ tion in the mindset of various entrepreneurs. Iprimarly helped them convert their business to PCs for accounting and bookkeeping. It was amazing how little the small business owner does not know about cash flow, capital investment, etc. The major impact of my business was to introduce me to community and economic development. Iam currently directing (executive vice president, nice tide, huh!) Acadia Economic Development Corporation, Inc. (I-Acadia) which is the economic developer for Acadia Parish (parish=county in Louisiana). It has been areal edu¬ cation. Ithought Iunderstood politics after eight years in D.C. but Ilearned the truth to the adage ‘all politics is local’. Economic developers and politicians are tied at the hip. My personal life is due for achange soon. I’m engaged and will be getting married in Feb-Mar. Tell Marly to zap me aline. PS. Areal, real big welldone to the guy who put on the 25th reunion. Ihad to leave early and missed the game due to adeath in the family. It was ahoot to see everyone.”

There are many ways to cruise the Internet. Keith BARRETT got his two cents’ worth in -through the AOG bulledn board on the Web: “Not much going on here. StiU aS-80 CA in DFW at American. Iprobably vrill bid up to the 767 soon, but only when Ican get the same number of days off. Family takes too much time and work gets in the way. Ihave been stuck at home for acouple of weeks with double pneumonia. First time Ican remember being down for so long with an illness. I guess my body is telling me something. Finally got rid of one of my earliest AF memories. First day at the Prep School, Igot alittle splinter in my hand polishing my desk. It was about three inches long, and 3/4inwideatthebase and went thru my hand near the base of my right index finger. The good sergeant pulled it out but left three pieces in my hand. Ihad two removed when Ibroke my wrist in ’92, but the last piece came out in December. Started having trouble raising the slats on the S-80 so Idecided that memories or not, it was time to get it out. It was the size of alima bean and agreat conversation piece! Sending my Academy-issue Corvette into the shop next week. Maybe I’U drive up in it this summer. I’ll be up at the Zoo in March for agymnastics meet in C-Springs. My youngest is compet¬ ing there.”

“Ken Greene and his twin Kevin.”

Thanks for all the info. Keep the cards, letters, e-mail, and pictures coming.

Visit our Web site at http://www.aog-usafa.org

or e-mail us at aog@aog-usafa.org

The longest distance message came from Harry BRYSON: “I’ve lived in Knox¬ ville, TN for 18 years, butthoughtineededa change. Itook aone-year assignment (civilian) out here at the Kwajalein Missile Range as army staff support, oversee¬ ing the contractor’s environmental management/regulatory compliance activi¬ ties. U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) is apart of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, which is HQ’d in Huntsville, AL. USAKA is aGOCO, vrith Raytheon Range Systems Engineering the prime contractor. Interesting place; not the end of the earth, but definitely the end of the Log line. Any direction from here is ‘back to the world’. We are about half way between Honolulu, Hawaii and Darvrin, Australia. Believe it or not, Iam an IRR here with the USAFA ALO program. Essentially, Iam aresource for Micronesia; the U.S. has interests in anumber of countries out here. Iam not very heavily utilized. But, last year Kwajalein High School had one prep school appointment and one AFROTC scholarship recipient. Acouple of other ’71 grads in the Knoxville area -Dave BAUMANN and John

RAGAN, both living in Maryville, near the Great Smoky Mtn Nafl Park. Dave’s daughter Melissa is a'96 grad. Not much to tell, but that’s the best Ican do. Enjoy the snow -temp here varies from alow of 76 to ahigh of 87 year-round.”

Laizze le bons temps roulez: Professeur Kolt, McFarland, Morgan, Downie, McClure, Mills and Wacker.

Lastly for this issue, we not only have words but aphoto from Charlie MORGAN: “Good to hear from Colorado. We held the first ‘L’Ecole de I’Air Exchange, '70 re¬ union the weekend of 10 Oct 97 in the Washington, DC area. Mike and Alexa DOWNIE kicked off the festivities with adelicious dinner at their house in Alex¬ andria. The local-area people, Ken and Anne MILLS, Charlie and Claudia MOR¬ GAN, and notre anciente Professeur, George Kolt and his wife, Debbie, enjoyed reliving old times and telling tales of time spent in Le Troue. Dan WACKER arrived just in time, coming directly from the airport after his flight from London, England.

The next day, Ted (soon to be General Ted) MCFARLAND and his wife, Cardi, flew down from Boston, and Dave and Wanda MCLURE flew in from New Hamp¬ shire, as the reunion continued at the Air Force-Navy game at Annapolis. After the game, we celebrated the victory at Charlie Morgan’s house in Laurel, MD. Although the food was fabulous and the wine was wonderful, the best part was renewing old friendships from long ago and far away. We all vowed to not wait another 27 years to have our next reunion.”

Thanks to our most excellent contributors. With help like yours, this column almost writes itself. Until next time.

Bob Bell 13 Paci fi c Ave Sinking Spring, PA 19608 (610) 678-3182/Fax: 678-4513

E-mail: rabell767@mci2000.com

Percent members: 47

Hello everyone out there. Where have you gone since the last time? This is very difficult to put together without input from the field. At least Ido have some few (two) items this go-around but it would sure be nice to have some more next time... Before going any further, Ijust want to let you all know that Ihave now officially changed my e-mail address to the following: rabell767@mci2000.com to be used for all future correspondence. Please disregard the others that were listed in the column heading from both AOL and CompuServe, and use this new one from now on. And now to the mail!

Bob MARSTON (Rosemary) sends ashort piece to report his participation in the Wasatch Front 100-Mile Endurance Run this past September -qualifying for in¬ clusion in the category of “Most Warped By Their Academy Experience”. Bob FIN¬ ISHED the aforementioned race and in so doing, completed the “Grand Slam of Ultrarunning”. An ultra run is considered any distance beyond the marathon (26.2 miles). To earn the “Slam” distinction, arunner has to finish the four major 100mile mountain races in the U.S. in one summer. Bob did this by completing the Western States Endurance Run through the Sierra Nevadas with atime of29:16:49, the Vermont 100-Mile Endurance Run through the Green Mountains in 27:19:15, the Leadville Trail 100 through the Rocky Mountains in 29:40:14, and finally the Wasatch in 34:12:33.

All the runs but Wasatch (36 hours) have time limits of 30 hours. Wasatch was Bob’s 15th 100-mile finish. His wife, Rosemary, an experienced ultrarunner in her own right, acted as crew, pacer and “butt kicker” during the runs. Though it may seem to the rest of us like this letter must have come from Hell, Bob reports that he is still among the living, although, during the last run, his body did manage to finally reject his brain, apparendy now only good for the most basic of bodily func¬ tions. Gee, Bob, it would appear that at least one of us is still in some semblance of good shape even after all these years! Thanks for the report, too. Next to arrive was aletter from the offices of Bishoff Solomon Communications announcing the recently-completed election of our own Dave HENDERSON (Brenda) to the position of partner in the litigation department of the Boston law firm Nutter, McClennen &Fish, LLP Dave joined the firm in 1992 and concen-

trates his corporate practice on employment law, product liability law, toxic torts and general business litigation.

Dave spent over 20 years in the Air Force as pilot and judge advocate during assignments in Georgia, Arizona, New York and Germany. His legal experience covers abroad spectrum of litigation spanning over 17 years and ranging from military court martial to complex civil litigation. He has represented the U.S. in criminal prosecutions. Merit Systems Protection Board hearings, public sector labor arbitrations. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission hearings and military discharge boards. Additionally, his representation included private uni¬ versities and corporations in awide range of civil matters in federal and state courts throughout the country.

Dave received his JD in 1979 and LL.M in 1985fromYaleLawSchoolaswellasan MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1973. While on active duty, he spent enough time in Germany that he is also substantially proficient in the German language. He is amember of the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Boston Bar Association, admitted to the practice of law in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. All in all, it is an impressive record of accomplishments, one which the firm wanted to have us pass on to you. Congratulations, Dave. And on that note, 1must sign off and send this on its way through cyber-space to make avery short suspense for the graduation edition of Checkpoints. Hope you will all give athought to sending more info during the coming months and re¬ member to write, call or use the new e-mail address that is listed above. Thanks and take care. FPA.

Thomas D. Bailey, M.D.

1807 Arbor Way Drive

Shelby, NC 28150-6166

Home: (704)482-3110 1-800-776-1054

E-mail: Rdbtwn@aol.com

Percent members; 41

Greetings once again from beautiful North Carolina. The deadline was alittle shorter than usual but Ithink I’ve got afair amount of stuff to pass on. I’m going to pass on the info in about the order Igot it. Mark FERRIS (Warthog) is living with his wife, Jean, and their two labs in Madison, CT. Mark is with Nationwide Insur¬ ance and is in the fi nancial services business since he left the AF in 1993. The next ‘73er Iheard from was John S. JACZINSKI who returned one of my questionnaires in January. He, his wife, Wendy, and children Jana (18) and Justin (15) are located in Dover, DE at Dover AFB. John is director of Wing Staff for the 436“' AW, He is Galaxy Chapter president of the AFA, and is also involved in Daedalians, the Tanker Airlift Association, the Harley Owners Group, the American Motorcycle Associa¬ tion and the Association of Graduates. Besidesthishehasa few hobbies and other interest including muscle car restorations, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, golf and tennis. Talk about afull plate!

Chris DERRY sent afax in January also. Chris is living in Alvoton, KY with spouse, Nancy. They also have ason Ben (14) who is afreshman at Montgomery Bell Acad¬ emy in Nashville, TN. Chris is aregional vice president with J&WSeligman Inc. He is apast president of Junior Achievement and past president of his Rotary Club. He led an exchange group to Turkey in 1997.

Michael J. (Mike) HEAD and wife, Wanda, are in San Antonio where Mike is still an engineer at Kelly AFB supporting jet engine testing with computer hardware and software knowledge. He is looking for new employment since the base is clos¬ ing. He’s gaining experience as asound engineer for his church and keeps busy rebuilding and upgrading his computer at home. His oldest son, Michael, has a nomination to USAFA for next year.

Iheard from Stalker REED in January. He is still living in Raleigh and we’re still looking for some time to do some flying in the Mooney. The thing that makes it extra difficult is my work schedule during the week and his with Delta that is gen¬ erally busy on the weekends. Stalker reports that A1 NACKE has been hired by Delta, is aflight engineer on the L-1011 and is flying out of Aflanta.

Igot an e-mail from asquadron mate Ihadn’t heard from in over 20 years re¬ cently. Steve WALLER retired in 1996 and took aposition with BDM International of Panama City, FL. He and Debbie are living in Baton Rouge, LA and looking for¬ ward to settling down after 24 years and 13 moves in the AF. As the associate director for Facilities at LSU he is responsible for housing about 5,000 students and families. He is also in the process of building anew apartment complex for 650 students. His oldest son, Brian, is aROTC cadet at the University of Southern Illinois in Carbondale. Steve’s middle son, Jonathon, will be in the Class of 2002 and is looking forward to being apart of the football program in the fall. He’ll be following in his dad’s footsteps and Steve says he is even bigger and stronger.

Steven L. HOIT (CS-25) is living in Colorado Springs with spouse, Cynthia, and has two children, Daniel (22) and Carla (20). He is president of Park Hill Corpora¬ tion (engineering, construction and property management). Cindy is acounse¬ lor, I^^quHsfiBishing his first year in med school and Carla is asenior at Wheaton Cons&vatory of Music and is studying piano. Steve has made me somewhat envi¬ ous in that he’s been skiing at least adozen times this year as of March 13*.

Bruce GOLSON (Maverick) and wife, “Cat”, are in Japan at Kadaena AB, He is a Flight Services Corporations simulator instructor. Bruce also finished 47 semes¬ ter hours in ’97 to complete his teacher’s credentials and progress towards an MA

at Fresno Pacific University. He is avolunteer teacher at aDoDDS elementary school, volunteers as retired affairs officer at Atsugi Naval Air Facility where his wife teaches and flies for fun only. Says he's spent too many years in command of aircraft, flight and squadrons to sit second or third seat. Makes sense.

Michael R. HAY, April and kids Steven (20), Mikie (8) and Mark (6) are living in Mission Viejo, CA. Mike is a757 captain with Northwest and headed for the 747 in late ’98. April is very busy with Mark and Mikie while Steven is an E-5 Nuke awaiting aNROTC scholarship so he can attend Rensellaer Polytechnic Insdtute. Mike also reports on some former CS-18 squadron members. Bob SCHINELLER is a757/767 captain vrith American, Eric VOGEL is a737 captain with Southwest and Dennis “Goose" GEESAMAN has been recently hired by Southwest after his AF career.

William Thomas (Wild Bill) GILLIN contacted me from his new address in Colo¬ rado Springs. He is flying for Federal Express and is based in Memphis. His wife is Gerrie and they have two children, Johnathan (16) and Trisha (14). Bill reports having lunch with 10 other classmates including BG Steve LORENZ and Col Sam GRIER on the staff tower recently. They started planning for our 25* reunion which is now scheduled for 28 Oct to 1Nov. Sam has been “volunteered” to be the re¬ union secretary and is in the Comp Sci Dept at (719) 333-3590 if you have ques¬ tions. Some additional information should be coming out in the near future. Bill also listed some other '73 Fed Ex pilots including Rich FAZIO, Phil CHERRY, Bob MUNSON and Mike HARMON.

James MATEOS, Jr. reported the passing of his father on Christmas Day 1997. He was astrong supporter of the cadets in CS-19 during our tenure at the Academy. Jim recently shared acockpit at American with Chip HOUGH (CS-36).

Ijust got an e-mail from Joe MITCHELL, another 36* squadron mate. Joe is in KnoxviJle now and is 727 FE for United. He has adaughter getting married next month and a2"'* iieutenant son at Luke AFB. Ialso got an e-mail from John FORE¬ MAN with aquick analysis of the most recent BG list. Eighteen of 42 are USAFA grads and nine of those are ’73 grads. Ididn’t get the whole list but those Idid get include Richard L. COMER, commander 16* Special Operationswing, Hurlburt Filed, FL; John D.W. CORLEY, commander 355 wing, Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ; John L. HUDSON, deputy for Aeronautical Systems, Office of Undersecretary of De¬ fense for Acquisition and Technology, Washington; and Quentin L. PETERSON, deputy director of Air Force Operations and Training, Washington. Sorry about those Imissed. Hopefully I’ll have all the names for the next edition.

Finally, on asad note, Ireceived acopy of aletter to Charlie STALLWORTH, who is in Woodbridge, VA, from the AOG, informing him that David W. LUTZ had died from cancer on 4Feb 98 in Georgia.

Ihope to see alot of us at the 25* reunion. With this much advance notice we could have agreat turnout. Remember, I’m always looking for new inputs and I promise to try to stick to the good stuff and leave out the scandalous stuff! Be¬ sides, scandalous news is getting pretty boring!

Joe Brezovic

1209 Bayou Oaks Drive

Friendswood, TX 77546

Phone: (713) 244-8089

Fax: (713) 244-8958

E-mail: jbrezovi@ems.jsc.nasa.gov

Percent members: 40

Hello classmates across the miles! Miles of roads, air, electric wire, electronic bits and computer innards. Don’t you find it agrand day when everything works like you’d expect it to work? Such memorable moments include times when: com¬ puter operates, people cooperate, friends are friendly, and family is what you’d hope them to be. Ihave several of these good days as aresult of receiving mail to pass on to the ’74 guard of our national pride and freedom.

One letter comes from the Rich and Peggy BOWMAN (Dayton, OH area). Anew career point reached -Rich made colonel last year! They described awonderful Alaskan cmise that they took at the end of last summer. Spectacular scenery of glaciers, mountains, whales, eagles, bears and an excursion into the center of an Orca pod. Ah, “Free Willie” in real life! This vacation came after delivering engines for the first flight of F-22s and after his reassignment to be director of the F- 15s. Tasks include development work for the Eagle as well as buying new ones for Is¬ raeli and Saudi allies. Rich also explained some handyman activities regarding hot tub installation’ [On aperson^ note, his dad was recendy diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It will not be easy for the family. I’m sure they’d welcome prayers.] John and Cheryl EPHLAND also sent in aChristmas letter. They are now living in Belton, MO. They write of watching their 91-year-old grandmother ride in apa¬ rade last summer, Missouri State Fair, Lake of the Ozarks, outlet malls, and taking their young’uns to their first drive-in movie. My, can such traditions still be handed down to the next generation? Imean, are drive-ins still around! John works in Lawrence and made time for putting in abackyard fence and installing storm doors, and well, you all can relate! John and Cheryl spent afew linesofthis family letter describing the best achievements of Becca (18) and Matthew (13) this past year. Becca may be older, but the younger brother is taller. That should spark some exciting moments of activity!

My brother passed on to me an article on Ron SEGA in the SNPJ Newsletter. [This newsletter is mailed to us of the Slovene nationality, who pay the member¬ ship dues.] The article proudly wrote about this Slovene-American who had gone to space. Ron advocates education and space whenever he can. This past sum¬ mer, he left astronaut duties to become dean of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Ron is still very active in the Air Force Reserves.

Eli and Doris COLOTTA used aCharlotte, NC address on their letter. Eli started a new job in the tax department of Collins &Aikman, an international company that, among other things, makes carpeting for all the major car manufacturers. [Steady work!] Doris has moved to amagnate school teaching second grade. She’s

not taught that grade for 12 years, but its fun with those students and the parents who remain involved with their young’uns growth. They now relax at home with two lovable four-year-olds of their own -two yellow labs.

The next few write-ins are really electronic-ins from the e-mail system. The paperless way to communicate! Floyd and Gwen GLICK live (still?) in Vermont. Their youngest daughter, Wendi, told them she intends to get married next Sep¬ tember. Her sister Christine vrill graduate from college in May (he writes -pend¬ ing finals!). Floyd spends his spare minutes talking on the radio (Ham radio -call sign WDOCUJ). Gwen, alsohasalicense,NlJBX, and she doesn’t mind if you’d call on her equipment! The New England ice storm gave them some time to stay in¬ side and keep the house warm by transmitting RF energy!

This last e-mail is from Rick “Grover” CLEAVELAND. Rick just finished athreeyear tour in the Pentagon and switched over to DIA in Aug 97. That was the begin¬ ning of atwo-year training course to be ajoint military attache. Perhaps the most interesting part about it is that out of 39 attaches from all services (AF, Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard) with ranks from USN Lt. to Colonel/USN Captain, there were three from ’74: Ed WHALEN (wife, Marianne), Germany; Jim McCLURE (wife, Nancy), U.A.E; and Rick‘“Grover” CLEAVELAND (wife, Gayle), Poland. They com¬ pleted the attache portion of the training in Nov 97 and Ed WHALEN was out the door almost immediately to Germany. Rick and Gayle don’t have to leave for Po¬ land until May 99. Most of the next year is language studies. Jim leaves some¬ where in the early spring 98. Rick writes “The training has already proven very interesting and the first thing you learn is that it is ateam effort for the whole family. Spouses are not required to participate but they are encouraged to do so. We are already excited about heading for Poland and that is aproblem since it is still more than 11 months off. But the language training looks like it will be plenty of challenge until then." Unfortunately for the parents, son Brian hasn’t been there in the household since 1994. He is asenior at Auburn and will graduate in Sep 98 in industrial engineering. Parents and son are hoping for gainful employment about that time.

One of the interesting tasks Ichose to do recently was to fly in the NASA KC-135 and try to operate some of the equipment that is being developed for the space station. The equipment is for the crew members to remain steady in front of the gloveboxes or other lab facilities in the station. As you may remember, the para¬ bolic flight gives about 20 seconds of free-flight and thus provide a“similar to space” test environment for evaluating hardware construction and operation pro¬ cedures. Once into the curve, the feeling is like being in the deep end of the swim¬ ming pool, and floating between the top and the bottom. It’s hard to move in the air because there’s nothing to push on as there is in the water. So you have to find something to start the motion. The feeling in the pit of your stomach is like that at the top of ahill of aroller coaster ride for those who haven’t had the experience of flying in turbulence. Iremember reading that Eddy Rickenbacker got sick his first few flights before he moved on to becoming afamous WWI ace. If they let me, I think I’ll volunteer to go on another test flight. There is apill that is supposed to mitigate that weird sensation. Uh-huh. Iwonder what its like without it? Gotta do it again and again to get better at it!

That’s all the good news I’ve received since December. On arespectfully quiet note, Ireceived aletter that Thomas J. SCHMITT died in an experiment plane crash on December 22,1997 in Wellington, FL. Iwish Ihad more to write on this, but perhaps there’s more in the front of this magazine. Tom was from CS-39. His father, Dallas, is in Belleville, IL.

May you all find moments to spend with your loved ones, as you daily experi¬ ence good health and success. Live long and prosper.

JeffHackett

1866W. Aspen Ave. Gilbert, AZ 85233

Home: (602) 813-9605

Office: (602) 891-2734

E-mail: jeffrey.l.hackett@BOEING.COM

Percent members: 37

IN SPRING AMAN’S FANCY TURNS TO... O.K., we can be honest with one an¬ other -writing the article wasn’t at the top of my list of things I’m anxious to do on this the second day of Spring in the Valley of the Sun. But hey, if I’d tackled this earlier in the week, 1could’ve gone to the ASU-Cal baseball game today. I’ll try not to blame you for my procrastinating ways (besides, Ishouldn’t be out in the sun that much). Really shouldn’t be too daunting atask anyway -not alot of corre¬ spondence came in; probably something else we can blame on El Nino!

SALUTE TO MY OLD ROOMMATE. For those of you still living in that phone booth the upper classmen asked us about in '71 /’72, it’s my pleasure to be the first (in print) to congratulate Dale MEYERROSE on his promotion to brigadier gen¬ eral! Hint to Dale: Ithink there's avery positive correlation between additional stars and getting the Class Scribe apicture or two of the pin-on and some exclu¬ sive insights on how you got there and where you're going now!

AS “TALL” IN CHARACTER AS HE IS IN HEIGHT. For the Nth time Terry YOUN G wrote aletter with words (and pictures) about anumber of classmates... and nary aword about himself! From all of us who have the pleasure to call you classmate, Terry -you da man! I'm thinking we should all get together some Samrday morn¬ ing in the near future at The Bagel Basket in O’Fallon, IL, perhaps we could per¬ suade the owner, Gary VOSBURGH, to give us agroup rate. Gary and Becky’s new “hobby” is doing well and keeping them busy since his retirement from the 932nd Airlift Wing (associate Reserve C-9s) in January. Although there was amore closeup picture of Gary and Becky I’m choosing to include the one with daughter, Torrye. (I’m afather myself!)

ITHOUGHT THIS “CONTEST” WAS OVER! Terry reports that Todd (and Mary Jane) ZEJDLIK have vaulted into the lead on the “Last Classmate to Sire aChild” contest -were awaiting birth of their second child in February! Personally, Ican’t

Taking Care of Business -Gary Vosburgh and Family. decide if my one word on this is “Wow”, “Congratulations”, or “Are You Nuts?” Would tend to lean toward the latter based on the additional insight that Todd is still skating in several intramural hockey leagues with his brothers there in Minne¬ apolis. You’ll recall that he’s flying for Northwest, as is Dave PRATT who also lives in the Twin Cities area. Terry also let us know that Larry FARISS and John GAUGHAN are on the other end of the “father” journey; Larry’s son is a“rookie” at USAFA and John (who is waiting for an 0-6 pin-on date) has ason at Holy Cross.

This past Fall/Winter also marked retirement time for two more classmates at HQ AMC, Wes ROUTH and Chuck DEMOISEY.

E-MAIL VIA PONY EXPRESS! The Internet gods confounded Chris GLAESER’s attempt to contact me enough times that he finally just printed the darn thing and dropped it in the mail. (Believe we traced this down to the fact that it’s asmall case “L” in the middle of my e-mail address, not the number “1”.) Chris is another retiree, he from the Reserves -but he went out with aflourish! Last day in uni¬ form he was the supervisor of flying at Edwards AFB during their 50'*’ Anniversary airshow; ate lunch with Chuck Yeager and Colonel Jimmie Doolittle III. By the way, Chris was the only guy to throw his hat in the ring to take over as Scribe (is there amessage in here?) -have to say it’s pretty tempting but with all the other upheaval currently in my life, I’m inclined to remain anchored to something even if it’s this quarterly pain-in-the-rear! Iwill not forget your gracious offer though Chris (as I’m sure those dying to “impeach” me won’t!).

REAL (LONG) E-MAIL. The first conventional e-mail (think about what Ijust said -these are changing times we live in) came from our faithful correspondent out at McClellan AFB, Bill MURRAY. In fact, Ideviate from my “general rule” to avoid mentioning aclassmate in two successive articles only because Ithought it was worth passing along Bill’s recent "near-miss” with the medical world. You really need to read the whole harrowing five-page e-mail to appreciate the story but suffice it to say that asevere case of pneumonia and astaff infection took Bill literally to the brink back in early January. Some “oops" and “wahoos” from the medical staffs at the several hospitals he visited probably acted against him but he and Judy’s abiding faith appear to have been more than amatch. By the time you read this ahopefully-healthy Bill Murray will have pinned on his eagles!

sporting event!” [Scribe’s note: Roy just might be a“closet Scribe”! ]

QUOTING ANOTHER INFORMED SOURCE. When Jim CARLSON wasn’t tend¬ ing to the Class Homepage he fired in the following, got an e-mail from Col Jim FELLOWS several weeks ago; he’s the U.S. Transportation Command liaison to the U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany and works at USTRANSCOM J3/J4. He came from Charleston AFB where he was deputy commander, 437th Operations Group, Air Mobility Command. He assumed the rank of colonel on 1 Oct 97. He’s married (Mary) and has two kids, Matthew and Lauren.” [Scribe’s note: no wonder Ididn’t give this up! It’s easy when Ilet you guys write it. ]

FROM THE BETTER HALF. Spouses take note of the Scribe’s glowing accolades for Lisa (Clint) WALTMAN’s delightful and touching e-mail. She penned the mes¬ sage on the eve of Clint’s pin-on to one star as they were reflecting on the toorecent (Sep 97) passing of his father, former POW Col Donald Glenn Waltman, who was such a“true hero and mighty warrior and yet atender father and grand¬ father.” Clint, Lisa, and their boys (Rob-9 and Matt-7) are in Montana (“home of Ted-the Unabomber and the Freemen”) where they’re enjoying the Big Sky coun¬ try and settling into command of the 341“ Space Wing.

HOT AND COLD. This would describe the weather adjustment Jed VANDENDRIES and family have endured as they departed Okinawa, Japan for Elmendorf AFB, AK. Jed is there on a“joint job” serving as the director of Opera¬ tions for Alaskan Command. At the time he wrote, their family was still celebrat¬ ing the USAFA appointment for #1 son (Class of 2002!).

DOWN UNDER. Kind of literary eloquence on my part don’t you think, to put news on Kent TRAYLOR, who’s down under in Australia, here at the bottom of the article? O.K., so maybe his letter just wound up at the bottom of the pile! Anyway, Kent’s been doing alot of traveling as they move toward the end of their tour and prepare to come back to the States. He pinned on 0-6 in March and will be taking over as ops group commander at Beale AFB, CA sometime this Summer. Carol and Meagan (8"‘ grade) are doing great.

NOW COMES THE HARD PART. Something tells me that this writing task will prove to have been a“snap” compared to what else must be done tonight -pull¬ ing together inputs for my (USAFR) OPR. Talk about your necessary evils! But as Iclose I’ll tell you once again (see several poignant paragraphs above) -take care of “business” with those you love -it may be later than you think!

Ernie Woollard

Box25534

Scott AFB, IL 62225-0534

E-mail: woollaev@hqamc.scott.af.mil

Percent members: 40

Greetings to all!

Hopefully by now the results of the 0-6 board for the rest of us “on-timers” has been released; my congratulations and or condolences to everyone involvednow, back to business as usual. It never seems to slow down here in the airlift¬ planning business. Somebody must have noticed that Iwas having way too much fun in the “command and control” arena, as Iwas “traded” from XOC to XOP vrith only aday’s notice. Iwasn’t even given enough time to file for arbitration or be¬ come afree agent -from steady shift work to “one big shift.” Pam hasn’t decided whether she likes me home regularly as Iwas while in XQC or regularly once a month as it seemingly is in XOP. In any case, as the new chief of the contingency division, I’m staying il too busy; this is certainly not the recommended course of action for lowering my handicap.

The e-mail gods have certainly been good this past quarter, and Ihave quite abit of new information to share with the world. Mike WALSH continues to send post¬ cards from great locations in Europe, this last time from Pisa, Italy. I’m not sure what kind of work Mike does, but his job must certainly be one of those we all desire. Keep those cards coming Mike. Kurt KAMRAD dropped me an e-mail from Miami. All’s well down in Florida; why, we’re even doing some business with Miami Air these days.

Mike CUNNINGHAM is now an AF retiree; he and Hana are residing comfort¬ ably in Annapolis. Mike is an assistant United States attorney for the District of Maryland. Mike said that Bart HILLYER and Cliff MCKINSTRY were still here at AMC; Ihaven’t run across them yet, but not one to look for trouble, Iusually don’t look for legal assistance much before tax season. Mike went on to say that Jack CATTQN was still the wing commander at Columbus; Mike, Hana, Jack, and Jan had awonderful ski trip to Austria just last winter. Mike SEVIER is the QG at Do¬ ver, continually trying to fill our strategic airlift requirements, doing his best to keep those C-5s in the air. Terry PETRIE has also retired, presently employed by the prestigious law firm of Howrey and Simon in Washington, DC. Ireceived an¬ other update from Dan BEATTY. Dan is currently the chief of the Initial Training Branch at HQ AETC. Dan’s in charge of the programs and policies for all USAF UFT programs -what achallenge that must be today! Dan’s wife, Martha, was also primary on this last 0-6 board.

we

REAL (BUSY) E-MAIL. If Iattempted to paraphrase Roy RICE’s (Jan ’98) e-mail you’d miss the rapid-fire, tell-you-everything-in-25-words-or-less quality (it wore my eyes out reading it... would surely kill my fingers typing it). So here’s the cutand-paste version (with minor edits for ciarity): “...retired in ’95 and work for a company called Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, AL. Ido alot of DoD work and run into lots of ’75ers from D.C. to LA. Isee Rod GUNTHER in D.C. quite abit. He works for acompany called Whitney, Bradley, &Brown out in Tyson’s Corner. Isaw Wayne WILLIS on arecent Delta flight. Also ran into (had abeer or twelve with) Jeff NEWMAN; he’s also flying with Delta. Jeff and John SAXMAN and Iran into each other at Brian DUFFY’s last launch. Talked to Duff the other day; he’s back in the Astronauts’ Office (acting deputy director of the Johnson Space Center working on keeping the Space Station afloat). He and Igot together one night in D.C. last year when we were both on aTDY...what ahoot. I’m having lunch with Dale BUGBEE on Friday. He also lives here in Huntsville and we see each other often. Saw Stan GORENC before he left the Joint Staff and went to be the Wing King at Sheppard. Amonth or so ago, Ibriefed Jerry LEVESQUE on some work we’re doing with ACC; he’s commander of the Studies and Analysis Squad¬ ron at HQ ACC. Called Dale MEYERROSE last week to congratulate him on his promotion to BG; he’s ACC/SC -sounds like he’s doing great but busy as aonearmed paper hanger. Saw Ralph RHYE about ayear ago. He is retired in Prattville, AL. Italked to Jim BURLING out at Space Command acouple of months ago. Sounds like he is really enjoying life back in Colorado Springs. Also talked to Jim HEALD at Eglin (46th Test Wing) afew weeks ago -he also sounds like he’s busy as can be. Last Friday, abunch of us grads went to see the USAFA Hockey Team play the University of Alabama-Huntsville here in town. UAH hosed USAFA but had ablast and the Falcons never gave up. They didn’t score their first (only) goal until 2:00 left in the final period but they were checking the other guys into the glass with afury the whole way. Makes you proud to see teeth and blood fly at a

Langley; there must be some reason Iknow all these lawyers. Joe MARCHING Is now on the HQ ACC DP staff; no Joe, the 0-6 list was not released by the end of February.

The Strells at St. Andrews: Willie just missed the cut-Ah, the life of aFedEx captain. The Steve HEINZ catch-up letter was grand as always. This past year Steve and Kay became "empty-nesters” due to achildless and petless household. Steve, is there really hopeforpeaceand serenity -Pam and Icontinually wonder what that could be like, as we are still trying to keep up with the vastly different schedules of three teenagers.

humble scribe had several radio appearances on National Ihibllc Radio over last several months during the Gene McKinney trial. One of our classmates, who shall remain nameless, sent me an e-mail saying he was badly confused about the whole court martial process, but once he stopped listening to me it all became clear. I’ve had jurors tell me the same thing. Ialso had aletter to the Washington Post Maga¬ zine published in response to an article about the morality of using nuclear weap¬ ons, which Ina BEDKE graciously noted.

ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS: Once again e-mail beats snail-mail hands dovm. I really appreciate all the messages that Ireceive over the quarter from you folks. It certainly makes writing this column alot easier. Another thing that makes writ¬ ing this column easier is that my firm has now purchased voice recognition soft¬ ware that allows me to dictate/type at the same time. Itend not to make typo¬ graphical errors anymore, but Ido get some strange notations on my words be¬ cause of my miserable enunciation.

John VISSER has notified me that his web site is the “official” web site for the class. If you haven’t checked it out you can do so by going into the AOG’s web site and linking directly to it. John deserves abig pat on the back for his efforts in this regard. Dave KISSINGER dropped me aquick line about Bobby WILKES (Cathy). Bobby is now in Saudi as the J-3 for the JTF and Cathy and their new baby have moved to Alexandria and are hoping that Bobby gets amid-tour break. Paul PIROG (Mary) is now the acting commandant of the JAG School at Maxwell. He also teaches at the group commanders course and keeps mnning into familiar faces, most recendy Gino REDMON and Tom QUELLY. Paulalsosees Greg LOCKHART (Kathy), whose daughter goes to school with Paul’s in Niceville. Greg is asenior management guy on the AMRAAM project. Also down at Eglin are Tony BENEVENTO and GregTEMAN (Kathy). Ihad the pleasure of Paul’s company at dinner at my house along with Ben and Donna ALLEN and Kevin and Margie GARRISON.

Ron LADNIER is still the ops group commander at McChord and reports that Mike BILLINGS is the OG commander at Fairchild, Paul SCHUTT is the OG CC at McGuire, and Ray JOHNS heads the group at Travis. Ray is headed for the wing commander slot at McChord this summer. Congratulations Ray. Steve CARY (Charlotte), with whom Ihad adelightful conversation at the reunion, deployed to Bahrain shortly thereafter and finally returned to the United States in mid-Janu¬ ary. Steven goes offto RAND for aone-year fellowship the summer. Ihope he can get used to being out of Nomex, Ihear the withdrawal is real tough. Congratula¬ tions on what promises to be agreat assignment, Steve. I’m sure Miss Charlotte vrill love Santa Monica.

Scott HARROD is hanging it up after 21 years the summer. Scott doesn’t have any particular plans right now, kind of adifferent take on the retirement rush, which usually has everybody lining jobs up well before they leave. Good luck Scott and keep me posted. John MOL (Debbie) is moving to Ramstein from the Far East this summer as the chief ofTheater Battle Management Systems at USAFE. In John’s own words “hope Ifigure out what the job is before Iget there.” John reports that Mark GILZEAN is retiring this summer from his job as the commander of the 82d Recon Squadron at Kadena. Joe and Molly FERRARA are looking to move to the national capital area sometime this summer. I’m keeping my fingers crossed; it’s been 20 years since Joe Iwere assigned in the same area at the same time. Steve BAUMER (Tricia) is now the investment portfolio manager in USAA’s Information Technology Company. Congratulations, it sounds like things are heat¬ ing up in San Antonio. Speaking of Texas, Texans and things Texan, Dave GRAGAN is being prominendy featured in avariety of Texas business publications in his role as controller of purchasing for the Texas state government. And for those of you who did not get arequest for contributions, BiU BRANDT is running for state representative in Texas in addition to his DC-10 first officer job for Federal Express. Rick SOWERS has been trying to recruit Tom JONES (Liz) to talk to his daughter’s kindergarten class about the proper way to open adoor in space. Sorry, Tom, that cheap shot. Tom and Jcarry on aspirited political discussion over the Internet on aweekly basis, so Ihope some gentle kidding is A-okay. Ron ALFORD is working for Lockheed in Boulder developing the mission management soft¬ ware for the Space-Based Infrared System. Ron sees Jon BURGESS, who is his counterpart at Lockheed in Sunnyvale, and Rob SHAW, who works for Advent, a small SETA outfit in Denver. Thanks to the note, Ron, it’s been awhile.

Steve Heinz and son John celebrate at John's graduation. Well, that about wraps it up here from Scott. Our last news headline is the 375* Operations Group change-of-command -Steve FRYE stepped down enroute back to the Pentagon as Matt MARTORANO assumed this key role. Welcome! The Woollard family is hot on the college visitation trail this summer with stops to include destinations in both Alabama and Florida. We can handle those Illinois and Missouri locations come fall. Florida and Alabama sound great to mom and dad too, as we continue the search for that golf course home in aretirement/taxfriendly iocation. Best wishes to all -keep the letters, e-mail, and photos flowing. ERNIE

John J“Lou” Michels, Jr.

5107 Juglan Court

Centreville.VA 22020

H: (703) 802-6611 W: (703) 712-5350

Fax: (703) 712-5050

E-Mail: jjmichel@mwbb.com

Percent members: 40

Greetings from Northern Virginia. We’re about ready to build an ark up here, due to the rain that been falling steadily since Thanksgiving. I’ve been throwing an extra paddle in the back seat of the car just to make sure Ican get to work.

OVER EXPOSED: For those of you who thought you heard afamiliar voice com¬ ing out of your radio in the last few months, Imust plead guilty as charged. Your

After many years, Ifinally heard from John MEYERS (Germaine). John is a727 captain with Delta flying out of Atlanta. John wimped out on the reunion on the flimsy excuse that he was in “training”. Sorry John, all the Chickenhawks missed you, I’m getting to see Newt NEWTON at Hurlburt when Igo down there to teach Russian history (in two hours) at the Special Ops school. He looks good and is talking to another Ft. Walton Beach denizen. Jay FAWCETT (Susan) on aregular basis. Speaking of Jay, Ihad dinner with Susan and him on my last trip. Jay is now working for SAIC and playing the real estate development game in North Florida. Phil RICHMOND dropped aquick line from Denver, where he is celebrating the Broncos’ big victory. Burnie PETERS is working for the SECDEF on foreign mili¬ tary sales issues for the Far East. Given the recent run on Asian economies, Isus¬ pect sales are not exactly booming in that region right now. Thanks for the update Burnie.

The following folks came up on my wing/group command list: Rick PERRAULT, at Eglin; Bob ESKRIDGE, at Osan; Kevin KENKEL, at the Warrior Prep Center, in Germany; the aforementioned Tom QUELLY, at Tyndall; and Paul DETTMER, also at Osan, Congratulations gentlemen, onward and upward.

ANOTHER SIGN THAT WE ARE ALL GETTING OLDER DEPARTMENT: Tom WALES (Debbie) dropped may aline to say that he is now teaching one of our classmate’s children, Mike CROSS’ son Mike, Jr., electrical engineering at Cedarville College in Ohio. Paul PIROG also noted that he is seeing former doolies in his group commanders course who have pinned on colonel. Raz RASMUSSEN’S second son has been accepted for appointment to the Zoo. Raz notes that apparently the Acad¬ emy admissions staff does not consider any aspect of the parent’s previous acad¬ emy performance in making its selection. Congratulations Raz, on number two.

ON THE OTHER HAND: Don and Char BRUBAKER are expecting twins about

4;^

the time you will be reading this. As Don so eloquently put it: “we were planning on starting afamily, but exceeded the stated requirements.” All are very best wishes to you and Char, Don. Steve and Betsy WITTMAN had their eighth child on March 10 -Ellen Marie. Just in case you were wondering, it’s six girls and two boys, and yes, Steve, Iwant agroup picture. Steve’s been recruiting pretty heavily for Proc¬ tor &Gamble recently and will be at the Service Academies Career Conference here in Washington this April.

SAYONARA: That’s it from this all-too-salacious region (note that Isaid salacious and not sagacious). Hope you had agood spring and my best wishes for agreat summer. Be seeing you.

Greg"Kais” Kaiser

7420B Salem Drive

Columbus AFB, MS 39701

Home: (601) 434-0078 is great!

Work: (601) 434-2786 or DSN 742-2786

E-mail: kais@crawdat.com

Percent members: 38

Excuses, excuses, excuses... There’s apilot shortage, and Ihave to fly three times aday!... It’s tax time, we owe ten thousand dollars, and Tm trying to plan abank robbery to pay the bill!... We found ahouse that we want to buy in Mississippi, and I’m looking for asecond bank to knock over!... Tm an ex-fighter pilot assigned to aMed Group, fiyingT-38s for the ops group, and there’s not enough of me to go around!... and the grand daddy of them all, Ipulled my retirement papers, agreed to stay here two more years, and they’ve been evaluating me in mental health for the past two months! OK, those are my excuses for why this article may be rather short; however, Imay surprise myself so here goes.

Reunion Update... Still on for 30 Sep-4 Oct (Wed-Sun). Marriott at Rockrimmon just south of the Academy was almost full last time Ichecked. Now, we have two co-chairmen who are located in the Springs area, Ken PRUSAK and one of my old FAIP (no, that’s not adirty word) buds, Tim TAYLOR. You can reach Ken at (719) 594-6533, and his e-mail is IFLYUAL@aol.com. Tim “the toolman” Taylor is at (719) 473-0501 or DSN 333-2994, and his e-mails are Talon01@jisno.com TaylorTJ.340G@USAFA.af.mU,

Tim gave me this bit of info and relayed that for those who haven’t been back in 20 years, tbe Rockrimmon Marriott was not there when we graduated, so don’t be alarmed when you can’t remember it (you’re not senile yet!). He and Ken are work¬ ing on a"lost souls” list. Iwon’t see it until ya’ll do (that’s how Italk now that I’m buying real estate in this state) so I’ll have to trust them. Actually, Ijust hope they don’t put me on the “get lost” list after my tenure as your scribe. Tim also men¬ tioned the following committee members are really pitching in to make this the greatest reunion of all time: Vinny GALLAGHER, Bob CHMIELEWSKl, Frank YERKES, Lou CHRISTENSEN, David MAHER, Gar FRITH, Dr. Frank GAHREN, Mike COUILLARD, Larry JAMES, and Kevin DAVIS. Also, for those in the C-Springs area who think they have gone undetected... Greg HOLLISTER, Brian LEVY, Ernie ST GELAIS, and Rick DUNHAM... Ken and Tim have your numbers, know where you live, and will be contacting you soon.

Land Mail (good ole U.S. MAIL): Nada, nothing, zilcho, from the class.

E-mail: Rick REASER zapped me just after my last deadline. He, Adrienne, and his four kids made abig move last summer from L.A. to D.C. He’s attending ICAF and will graduate in June. No word on assignment yet. He related that Ken KNAPP and Mike DAVID were also attending ICAF. Rick sent me asecond message right on the heels of the first to tell me about his cadet car. It may be the oldest car in the class. It’s apowder blue 1962 Mercedes 190SL convertible still sporting his original California vanity plate, RICKSL. Now, the sickening part. He paid $2,000 for the car in 1977, and now its worth over $35,000. Ithink my cadet truck is in a junkyard down the street from the base! Rick wants to offer thanks to Sue HELMS ’80 for not wrecking his car when we were firsties, or he would not be getting this notoriety, nor would he have apriceless classic.

Bart “Brick” WOHL sent what has to be the longest e-mail with attachments from Tel Aviv, Israel, where he’s the assistant air attache. After Ifinished down¬ loading his files, Iheard on the news that the IDF went on an increased alert status due to acommunications jam. Bart and Iflew F-4s in Iceland and chased Russian Bear bombers before the fall of “the Curtain.” Bart, Callista, and daugh¬ ter Devon are really enjoying their experience, and if Iwere abettin’ man, I wouldn’t be surprised if they extended their tour for ayear. Try not to keep the IDF on alert, Bart.

Paul MCVINNEY popped into my computer about two months ago. He, his virife and their two teenage drivin’-the-car, chasin’-the-girls, eatin’-all-the-food, just-havin’ -fun boys live in Alexandria, VA, and Paul works in D.C. at (where else) the Pentagon as the deputy chief of the Long Range Plans Division, Directorate of Strategic Planning, HQ USAF. I’ll bet though as Iwrite this the “long range ^y” is pretty short because he’s retiring 23 Mar. He plans to stay there and work in the D.C. area. Paul, may Iask the same question as the Kamikaze pilot after

the formal brief before his mission... “Are you out of your freakin’ mind?’’ Just kidding, and yes, Iknow Ihave no room to talk.

I'm about out of time, space, and energy so the last thing I’ll leave you with is a new way of communicating with me. I’ve got aweb page now, and built into it is achat room. Yep, believe it or not, aguy who ayear ago couldn’t spell computer now has aweb site with achat room. You can connect to the web site by going to: www.crawdat.com/cd/kais/kais.htm.

Once there, click on “Chat Room,” answer acouple of questions and you’re in! I’ll be there, schedule permitting, each Wednesday night from 6p.m. -8 p.m. CSX / CDT. For the military types all over the world, hack your watches, that’s 00010200Z. K-Bob and Ihave already ops checked this, and it works like achamp. So, if you can’t write, e-mail, telephone, maybe you’ll chat. Be there! Aloha! KAIS

J. R. Dallas

11048 Candelight Lane

Dallas, IX 74229

Percent members: 36

Summer greetings once again! Iam sitting in beautiful Sao Paulo, Brazil on an AAL layover having just woken up from anice three-hour nap. Idon’t feel like being roasted on the streets, so here Isit and write. One year to go to the Big 20. Unbelievable. It’s time to get our collective tails in gear, get in touch with our exsqdn mates, and plan on afantastic 20“' reunion. 1998 has been great so far. I’ve heard from quite afew ‘79ers and it sounds as if we’re still taking names in the AF, the airlines, and the business world. Good on all of ya! Here goes.

Before Ibegin, if you had not already heard, bad news hit our class this past December when we learned that Pete ZARATE had been killed in Mexico City. I know Ispeak for the entire class when Isend his family our deepest and most heartfelt condolences. Brian KOECHEL wants inputs and help setting up afoun¬ dation to help the kids of our deceased classmates. Steve KING and Paul SCHUBERT are on board with him. Call or write Brian if you have some input or want to help.

swear

HERE and THERE: Ihad the honor to be part of Greg SVESKA’s (AAL S-80 cap¬ tain) wedding to the beautiful Brenda Larsen (AAL flight attendant) on 31 Jan. Greg held out for along time, and he now says he loves that married life. Ranger ROBERTS (AAL S-80 captain) organized Greg’s bachelor party at alocal pub, and with most in attendance from Greg’s ANG sqdn (C-130s) at NAS Dallas, Iwas amused to hearing about the “Grinch’s” sordid past. Oh, beware of those innocent photos. The lies that can come forth! The group placed odds-on what will be the first to go, other than sexual favors he may have grown accustomed to during courtship. The bachelor house with all those memories or the multiple Harleys. Greg, you can always replace ahouse! Other ‘79ers making the treck to Cowtown USA (Ft Worth) included Marc MILLIGAN (NWA 747 FO), Mike VINSKEY (AAL S80 FO, BOS), Pat DAVIS (AAL 727 +more), BrockESHLEMAN (LtCol USAF), Ranger, and myself. Marc lef^his two floatplanes on the frozen lake in Anchorage and sniveled/jump seated on AAL to attend. Atrue bachelor, he locked on to amaid of honor at the start. Mike is still out of BOS and flying C-5s when he has to. I he has grovm another six inches since we graduated! Brock is basically on athreeyear interview process with aReserve sqdn at Wright-Pat as their active-duty ad¬ visor. Ranger, scuttlebutt has it, will run the show at NAS Dallas (C-130) someday. Tm still inFSM (ARANGF-16s) flying cover over Mena, AR.

ij.

As for Pat DAVIS, look out Tom Clancy! Agreat story made brief: Pat was fur¬ loughed by AAL awhile back. Wife, Helen, told him to get to the cellar and write that book he always wanted to write. Reject, Reject, Reject. Then BINGO! They liked it! Pat’s first novel is at abookstore near you, so go out and purchase “The General”, written by Pat Davis, USAFA '79. Putnam Publishing Co. Signed Pat to a two-book deal with book #3 due in 1999. He has met all the big authors, has the movie and foreign rights, and had some the book-signings. Life is good! AAL even called him back! That’s another story in itself. Congratulations, Pat. Best of luck. If you get the chance to hear all of Pat’s story, do not miss out. Ihad to take my own literary license to keep it short and sweet for this article. Pat, Ihave awonderful book idea about this part-time airline guy/F-16 ANG pilot who.. .Let’s do lunch. On me.

BACK TO REALITY: To all those who wrote, thanks for some great letters. Mike

STEFFAN (NATO AWACs) sends his best from Geilenkirchen, Germany. Fie is the chief of the Software Trng Division and the Base IG. Wife and three kids ioving Europe. Famiiy spent Christmas in Paris. Oidest son (6’4”, 260 ihs.) is achampion wresder competing against an internationai fieid. Eighth grade son is achess cham¬ pion and top student. Great ietter, Mike. Thanks. God does hiess good foiks. I taiked with Ken ORBAN in Feb. Ken is the T-38 sqdn ops officer at Vance AFB, and he reiays that Steve DICKMAN is now ops officer for aB-1 sqdn at Eiisworth. Byron CALHOUN wrote from his cush job in Tacoma, WA (Army Medicai Center) where he is the director of aprogram that deais with high-risk pregnancies. Being agood OB, he knows where his five kids came from. He’s in till 2009. John SHIELDS writes (for his first-ever Checkpoints input) from Columbus AFB where he flies T-38s and is chief of the EET team and lives on base with his wife and two boys. He reports that Jim JIMENEZ is aT-38 sqdn CC while Bruce BUSLER is aT-1 sdqn CC. Other AETC guys at Columbus are Bob CUSANELLI (T-38) and Mark GIGLIO (T37). Thanks for the letter, John.

Astronaut-extraordinare Bill GREGORY called recently. He remarried (Jamie) in Aug 97 and now has two step-girls. For their honeymoon they went to Canada so he could run/swim/bike in an Ironman Comp (lOhr, 46min)! Qualed for the biggee in Hawaii -did it eight weeks later; 30 kt wind and rain; finished but slightly in¬ jured. Was proud that he beat that Baywatch girl -the former “virgin Connnie Swale” from Dragnet. No space shot date yet. Mike GLENN upgraded to DC-9 captain (NWA) in May ’97, John SUSALLA (NWA 757 FO) is hoping for that captain upgrade in ’98. He and Kathy still traveling alot and says come visit! Ken JMPELLIZZERI (DAL MD-80) reports that he and the family have had abusy time with trips to New York, New Jersey and Branson, MO. (Hey, if you haven’t been there, don’t knock it. It’s agreat place.) Ken helped coach his son’s B-ball team and he just had to buy that jet ski to go along with the boat he had brought last year. Paul THURMAN works at Boeing on the systems integration team for the Joint Strike Fighter. He, Katie, and the kids moved into base housing, and they have an awesome view of Puget Sound out their front door. Randy MEYER got the opera¬ tions support sqdn CC job at Cannon AFB in Jun ’97, commanding 300 folks and overseeing base facilities and the large bombing range nearby. The invite is open to all, and he says to say that Lubbock and Amarillo are only 1Vz hrs away.

Steve LEPPER has PCSed back to the States from Incirlik, Turkey. He pinned on 0-6 in Apr ’97 and is now at Nat’l War College. Goes back to the real lawyering world In Jun ’98 and wants to stay in D.C. Hey, there’s always ascandal or two blowing through that area of the country, right? Phil FINCH (NWA 747 FO) writes from Batesville, AR where he is spending alot of time farming with his new tractor when he’s not playing golf. The kids are growing up fast but good, and he says come visit! The best trout fishing is 10 minutes away on the White River (ever hear of the Whitewater failed real estate venture?) and Batesville has aWal-Mart Supercenter. What more is there? Jan-Marc JOUAS has kept in touch from Cam¬ bridge, MA where he attended Senior Service School at Harvard studying interna¬ tional affairs. He’s now at Spangdahlem AF, Germany as ops group CC. Randy HELMS is propping to PCS from Germany where he has been 76 AS/CC. Don COHICK is now the 75 AS/CC at Ramstein. Congrats. Creighton CHIN is an ENT physician with the Army in USAFE. Doug ROBB is the exec for the USAFE surgeon general.

Phil Finch and family

Carl BYERS answered my postcard mailing and reports that he’s left the Iowa ANG and has gone to the AF Reserve permanently to serve solely as an Academy Liaison Officer (ALO). He’s still living in Cedar Rapids, and the consulting engi¬ neering firm he works for (he does all the airport work) is prospering. Post-ANG life allows for seeing Iowa Hawkeye games on Saturdays and enjoying the kids. He daughter Jennifer’s high school band traveled to Pasedena to perform in the Rose Bowl Parade. Proud dad was right there cheering her on. Thanks, Carl. Steve WHEELESS sent agreat letter from Phoenix where he, wife, Vicki, and kids Audrey (4), and Ross (2) are enjoying the desert Southwest. Steve is an attorney, doing commercial litigation and (all you airline union types close your ears for a second) labor and employment-related litigation, attacking all those poor union guys. Steve, we gotta talk! Mike LEGGETT wrote from Langley where he and fam¬ ily are super. Mike spent four months in Turkey Apr ’97 running combat plans, but he knows there really is no place like home. Mike, Ihope your dad is recuper¬ ating nicely from his heart surgery. Hi to Wendy and the kids. Mike BODNER is still flying F-15Es at Seymour Johnson AFB and deploying alot. Daughter Lauren is 12 and growing up fast.

John SALVADOR wrote from Prattville, AL where he’s the director of ops doing the CAP thing. John and his two sons (Matt and Eric) spend their spare time refer¬ eeing soccer games. John refs games from youth leagues to college level, male and female. Thanks for the letter, John. Rick BARTELL writes that he’s doing the Re¬ serve thing as an IMA with the Nat'l Air Intel Center at Wright-Pat and moonlight¬ ing as an ALO in his free time. During his other days off, he’s aresearch engineer with ERIM Internat’l out of Dayton. He, wife, Melissa, and kids Nathan and Kate live in Beavercreek, OH. Jeff MOORE and wife, Patti, have hit the hard courts strong where they team up in mixed doubles competition in Louisville, KY. Between Jammer’s UPS trips and tennis at the club, he and Patti looked at new homes, then gave up and let Patti take her pick. Something about house shopping overload. Brian KOECHEL sent abunch of updates that he has received lately: Bob SWAIN recendy took over as sqdn CC of the A-10 Reserve unit at Barksdale AFB. His other job is with U.S. Airways, as he and his family now live in Tallahassee. Ted NEEDHAM lives in Atlanta where he’s acorporate consultant for Coopers &Lybrand. Dave KING is now at the Pentagon doing logistics stuff. He’s to PCS to Hawaii soon, looking to sail and sail and sail. Looking svelte as ever, Bubby BAUMBGARTNER is working SERE at Fairchild. Steve RACKEL wrote to tell us that he’s commanding the 66TRS Survival Group out of Fairchild AFB. Commands guys from Pensacola to Fairchild to Fairbanks ("Cool School ”). Steve reports that Jeff FRANKLIN is CC of92ARS (KC135s), but he’s now headed to oris at Rated Assignments at Randolph. Who’s your pal? Who’s your friend? Alan JOHNSON (DAL ATL) works as an ALO for Charlie WADDELL, who’s the liaison officer director (LOD) for the greater Atlanta area. Willie BENITEZ has the same LOD job in L.A. Paul SCHUBERT works for BankOne living up in Columbus, OH with his wife and two kids. Jim REGAN (AAL ORD) and wife, Tanya, are surviving nicely just outside Chicago.

That’s all Ican muster for now. Try to help the four of us out and send those inputs to any of us. We’ll make sure it gets to the next writer. If you can, call or write Brian KOECHEL right now with some news. 3714 241“ Court SE; Issaquah, WA 98029-6592, (425)557-1025; E-mail Bkoechel@aol.com. Just Do It. See ya in 1999, The big20.J.R. Dallas.

Don Myers U.S. Embassy, MS-84 P.O. Box 5000 Odgensburg, NY 13669-5000

Home: (902) 765-6087

Work: (902) 765-1494 ext.3408

DSN: 568-3408 FAX: (902) 765-1416 or 568-1416

E-mail: dmyers@glinx.com

Percent members: 40

Administrative Remarks. First, Iwant to say thanks for your continued good cheer that Iget from all over the world. It’s special to share in your lives like this and to pass along to the rest of us apiece of each of you. Keep it up. And if you rarely (or haven’t) sent aquick note or e-mail, then grab asheet of paper, your laptop, or your PC and do It. Second, Ijust want to point out how far we’ve come since we ASAP-ly jogged around the terrazzo where “the air is rare” to earn our first breakfast that sunny June morning of 1976. Oh, and congrats to those of you who stuck it out long enough to have group commands this summer-with all the changes, downsizing, etc., staying in the blue suit seems like abig deal these days. Finally, by the time you read this, the green paint will be miraculously transform¬ ing any brown hear the Hill and Kathy and Ivrill be afew days from leaving Canada and making our way back to Kodiak, Alaska. We will establish our camp there again and Iwill endeavor to help keep the unlucky ships and planes safe while Ifly my beautiful Coast Guard C-130 Herky Bird once again.

This deserves its own paragraph:

[MabryTR.DFR.USAFA@usafa.af.mil; DSN: 333-4237/(719) 333-4237], our 20th re¬ union coordinator, has had the preliminary meetings with the AOG. He’s also "cornered several Class of‘80 folks here and ‘volunteered’ them to help me (no one has protested too loudly yet), so we’ll have enough bodies to help.” He’s asked me to assist in canvassing you, by way of this article, to consider donating some kind of gift to USAFA at our reunion on behalf of the class. USAFAhas a“wish list,” but other classes have also generated their own ideas. Tom stresses we need fi¬ nancial commitment before proceeding very far, so let him know what you think, Tom says, “Maybe someone from our class has made his/her first million (not me), but Isuspect we’ll have to collect lots of smaller contributions to meet some target.” Just imagine the presentation at half time of the football game when ’80 Proof gives abronze casting of the largest Burger King Whopper in the world! (OK, maybe something else would be more appropriate.) Acmally, if some ideas don’t come from the field, Tom will give us some good choices Ican publish next time.

Late Christmas Cards and January Inputs: ludd KELLEY, lavm dart (F-16) pilot at Hill, tested the silk and was recovered by an Army National Guard helo after¬ wards. Judd, you could have at least flagged down acivilian vehicle -rather than let the Army grab the glory. Dave (Cindy plus she) PRAHST continues to fly KC135s for the ANG between stints with U.S. Airways; Cindy is homeschooling kin¬ dergarten through grade she. Chuck (Net plus four) MILLIGAN is likely making reconstruction projects on the Hill the best they can be as Net gets her degree in art. Peggy (Bob) (DENNIS) CARNAHAN moved across town but stUl has the T-37 squadron at Randolph. Between Bob’s world trips with World Airways and Peggy’s sorties to... Wichita Falls; they hit the family circuit. Peggy spent aweek “rough¬ ing it” in an RV with her mother as well as going to the dedication of the Women in Military Service to America Memorial. She sent alist of all you folks going to ser¬ vice schools this year, but I’m going to wait for the photograph you send (hint).

Got ablast from Scott PAPP regarding one Mark Murray (murrayafa@aol.com), of CS-12 fame. Seems Mark was with us until summer of ’79 when he awoke to find it tough going. It was M.S. (which has hit acouple more of us through the years). Anyhow, Mark is confined to awheelchair but his spirits are high. He’d love to hear from old friends.

Reunion.

Tom MABRY

Jim (Shelley plus four) EASLER is still with T1.. .Imean Raytheon with the JAVELIN missile program. Shelley remains aspeech therapist with the young¬ sters. After much searching, they found ahouse to suit their needs -and claim it’s "still just minutes from the airport." Bob (Susan plus three) ALLARDICE sent cheer from Montgomery, where he’s enjoyed the fellowship with other classmates through the course -and especially some great family time. Bob’s mother-in-law insisted he wear the "bib and tucker” for Susan’s parents’ 50th; hence the picture of the guy in uniform next to Susan.

“Bob’s favorite ladies.”

Carrie (Brian ’79 plus two) (BANWELL) KOECHEL is settled in Seattle-ish where Carrie works for Scitor supporting Boeing 757 and 737 contracts. Brian, when not busy distance running, administers contracts for PRIMEX. Both are still involved as LOs. Evidently their H-year-old daughter is also quite the runner -even out¬ doing her dad on occasion. Sue KOfJUT started by apologizing for not putting me on her Christmas card list -like many of you have gratefully done to give me fod¬ der for these articles. Life with son David is busy, along with her work as acivilian for the AF in San Antonio. Her M.S. is under control and she’s been able to get out and play some sports again. To add spice to their lives, they got anew critter, Cuddley-the-ferret.

Sue, David -and Cuddley

Chris SHAVER seemed abit alone at NAS Corpus Christi. He’s tired of flying "jointly” with our brethren and wants ajob in the Springs. When prompted, Rick THIELE gave only his stats: “flying American A300s out of Miami, hired July 87, switching to left seat 727 this year, divorced, two kids, see ya,” Bob EISENBERGER fed me just abit more: Bay area with Lockheed Martin on the TFIAAD program. "THAAD is the ‘bigger and better’ version of Patriot. Been working THAAD for she years and we’re still trying to get our first hit." He’s busy with two young ones; attending games, coaching, and such. Bob’s also an LO, along with Eddie FOLSOM and Joe FERNANDEZ. Tim MORRISON recently hired on with THAAD. An article on Phil RUHLMAN’s squadron at Luke touts the revolutionary pilot briefing pro¬ gram that “made even Armstrong Laboratory sit up and take notice.” Good on you, Phil! Ray (Donna-Lee plus two) LISTA moved from Dover to north Philly to make his commute to NYC with American easier. He’s still with the C-5 Reserves and will quit that when the clock hits 20.

February and March Inputs. Scott (Jan plus two) CARROTHERS, with his Christ¬ mas letter said, “We’re not late -we’re on island time.” He went into adescription only Scott can manage of how Kasey wanted very badly to have some baby chicks (Dr. Doolittle and Cheep-Cheep) and ducks (Buzz and Woody), and what ensued when they got bigger. All is well on the Big Island, however.

Clark (Mary) BURTCH enjoy the good life at Tyndall. “We’re the initial training for F-15s and actually belong to AETC. In my opinion, this is the finest assign¬ ment in the world .. .flying, beaches, warm weather (I haven’t ovmed asnow shovel in 10 years now).’’ Iwonder if he was directing that last part specifically at me.

Michael “Gerz” GERZANICS beamed me down afew sentences from San Fran-

“The Carrothers clan and part of the fim Hanley clan.”

●cisco. He left with apension at 15 from Edwards and continues the test-pilot thing at United, where he’s typed on the 727 through 767 and the DC 10. His group does all the stuff you never see as passengers: flying aircraft to overhaul, diagnos¬ tic flights, ferrying broken aircraft, and acceptance of new aircraft. "We are not associated with the line pilots, but aseparate group. They call us management, but we aren’t." Richard BIEDERSTEDT says it’s been almost 15 years since he’s updated anyone. He left the AF after five years in missiles, joined ayoung upstart cdled MCI, and is now VP of Marketing for Gematria Products, asmall company in Carlsbad, CA. On the side he’s trying to sell acouple of screenplays and abusi¬ ness book. Bill PETERSON is now at CENTAF Security Forces Staff at Shaw. He’s having trouble with his recent promotion to 0-5 because he starts looking around for somebody else whenever he hears someone say “Colonel.”

Reach Out XI. Drum roll, please. If you can tell us about these folks, please do so: Donald C. RALPH, Steven M. RAINEY, David J. QUINN, Jerry R. PUYEAR, Craig J. PRICE, and Robert W. PORTER.

If you’re in acity and feel all alone, make sure you look up old acquaintances. Be good. Don

Carolyn J. Madden

6963 Gayle Lyn Lane

Colorado Springs, CO 80919-2524

Home and FAX: (719) 536-0827

E-mail: CJMadden@compuserve.com

Percent members: 37

If not for the wonders of the Internet, you guys would be looking at asolid col¬ umn of Christmas card pictures, if you catch my drift... Ahuge thanks to every¬ body who responded to my (last minute) plea over the net for information on our classmates. Iwill never reveal where some of this stuff came from! Trust me. Sev¬ eral of you, after professing to being stunned that we are old enough to be Colo¬ nels, Lt. Colonels, commanders, etc., sent some great updates. In totally random order, here’s the latest news:

The command selection list, released January 30*, listed Brooks BASH as the new commander for the 89th Operations Group at Andrews AFB. And Brooks sent ashort e-mail to say hello -sounds busy. Steve MOES is off to Ramstein AFB this summer to be the (LE Ops squadron commander over there, so he, his wife and their three daughters are brushing up on their German... Steve refuses to give up hockey and plays regularly in winter hockey leagues in Alexandria, VA. Marc (Suzanne) LUIKEN is back in sunny England, having done aCOT from Germany where he was working in aNATO Combined Air Ops Center an hour south of Stuttgart. He’s flying with War Dog HENDERSON and Chuck ROBINSON, and looking for ajob. Mark ROLING is the 81st Sq ops officer at Spangdahlem. Craig (and Kathy) HEISE are also at Spang, and Dennis (and Danelle) NORTHCUTT are at the 32 AOS at Ramstein. Mark had arecent visit from Dan BELL, his zoomie roomie. Dan’s working for Lear Siegler out of Detroit selling automobile interiors to alittle company called Ford. Steve MUHS is at the Pentagon on the Air Staff working communications and information systems policy and doctrine. Mike CARTNEY and Brett WILSON are also at the Pentagon working qn the Joint Staff.

Brett is heading off to McClellan this summer to take over command of the Engi¬ neering and Instaiiation Squadron there. Steve ran into Dyke WEATHERINGTON acouple weeks back; he was at the Pentagon working on the SAF/AQ staff. John (Gwen) SEVERANCE is also at the Pentagon. In addition to keeping up with their two sons, they are afoster family for aGuide Dog for the Biind. ScottCOALliisatWright-Patandreallylovinghisjob.He’sworkinginthe“struc¬ tural arena,’’ where he feels like he knows what he’s taiking about for achange. Jeff “Billy" BURROWS sent greetings from the 20 FW at Shaw AFB, SC, where they stay busy rotating through Incirlik, PSAB, and Bahrain. He is an F-16 IP flying with the 78 FS and chief. Wing Inspections for the 20"'. Steve SEARCY is 79FS DO. Billy also mentioned that Jeff HARRELL is asquadron DO at Hill AFB. Chet NOWAK is working full time as aground instructor for the Louisiana Air Guard, ajob that allows him to stay at Langley for another four years. Doug GIER flies the Falcon for the Oregon Guard. Doug, an Atlanta-based Delta pilot, and his wife, Julie, built a house in one of the most beautiful areas of Montana. Larry LUDWIG is in Texas flying for Southwest and has four sons.

Bryan FUNKE is flying AT-38s vrith the SeO'" at Randolph. Chris “Snake-eye” LECRAW is the Guard advisor at Kelly. Steve “Topper” ALLTOP and Terry “Flo” FOLEY are IPs at Randolph. Jan BENHAM has also been hanging around Randolph getting checked out as aT-1 IE Bryan was flying from Anchorage to Seattle on Delta the other night and Ryan ORIAN was flying the aircraft. Ryan is aFO vrith Delta and also flies with the Fresno ANG. And Bryan was TDY at Kingsley Field in lOamath Falls ashort while ago, where Johnny “John Bone” ADKISSON is the com¬ mander of the ANG F-15 squadron. Unfortunately, Bryan didn’t get to talk to him since Johnny was at Tyndall for aTX course. Curt MCINTYRE e-mailed from Se¬ attle, where he and his wife, Janet, had their first child, Ryker Campbell “Cam" McIntyre, on February 1998. He's aDelta Pilot going through training on the MD-11 to be based in Portland, OR. He’s also still flying C- 141s with the McChord Reserves. They went on an interesting mission last Fall, doing shuttles from New Zealand to McMurdo Base in Antarctica, where they landed on the ice pack.

Dave CHAPMAN is aDelta 727 pilot living in Park City, UT, but contemplating a move to Albuquerque. Mike ODERNHEIMER, Mark EMERSON, and Joe AIMO are Delta pilots flying out of Salt Lake City. Brian DOMINGUEZ, aDelta 767 pilot out of Cincinnati, is also flying C-141s for the Reserves at Wright-Patterson. Ed SHJEMBOB is an international 767 pilot out of New York City, living in New Hamp¬ shire. Sean BISHOP will be flying international out of NYC beginning this sum¬ mer. Tom (Sharon) MALOOF is flying international routes, mostly to South America, for Delta, and in his spare time is finishing law school.

Terry SZANTO finished ayear in the Air Staff last summer, where he was as¬ signed to Plans and Programs. He was then selected for ayear-long research fel¬ lowship at DSMC. The assignment is agood deal, because it starts with afourmonth executive education class at the Harvard Business School. He’s becoming aprofessional student, since he’ll be going to ICAF this fall. He occupies alot of his free time as the Cubmaster (with help from his wife, Louise) for his sons Ryan (10) and Nick (8). He also has adaughter Marline (4). Terry saw Kevin SILVA last fall while he was at DSMC. Kevin’s still out at Los Angeles, but is working on an assignment to Colorado Springs. Pat LEE took the early retirement awhile back, and is living in the Springs.

Mike PARKER sent the Reader's Digest version of his life since graduation: After traveling to Honduras and helping Ollie North get guns to the Contras, he went to F-16 training. He flew F- 16s at Hahn, then moved on to flying for American out of Dallas, where he’s an FO in the F-100. While at Hahn, he married the base Ob/ Gyn doc, and they have afive-year-old daughter and a10-month-old son. He gave up golf because he couldn’t get his handicap any lower (were those 10 les¬ sons for nothing?) and took up fishing. Now he owns aboat and scares fish on a regular basis. Sounds like apretty nice life to me.

Marty FRANCE e-mailed that he'll be leaving HQ AFSPC this summer, heading for the Pentagon, where he’ll be on the Air Staff in XORB. He also sent word that Frank CHEESEMAN and his wife, Debbie, are expecting their first child this sum¬ mer. Frank is an IP with United in Denver, and recently had ahouse-warming party at his new palace in Monument. Scott DERING, John MOONEY and Marty attended -he and Scott took their vrives, Becky and Karin, respectively. Cheese’s house is about 5,000 square feet and has ashower in the master bath with 16 showerheads. They didn’t get to see ademo, but did relax in the hot tub. Bill (Danielle) MCLENDON and family have moved to rural Georgia where Bill is pursuing his teacher certification through an alternative program that allows him to teach at alocal high school. He’s teaching various math courses while his wife is trying her hand at writing anovel. By the time you read this, Tom PARKER will have left AF Space Command Headquarters to be the ops support squadron com¬ mander for the 821 Ops Group at Buckley ANGB. Steve (Mary Jo) BRUNHAVERis in TRANSCOM. He’s working on aJot of briefings, spending alot of time TDY, but finds time to work on his golf game.

Scott LAND, the B-2 PEM, came through with word that Tom SHIRCLIEF, also at Buckley, kept him supplied with newspapers from the Broncos’ victorious sea¬ son. Jim DREW is leaving the joint staff and is on his way back to Cannon AFB to fly F- 16s again after requalifying at Luke. Kentic SMITH should be on his way back to Seymour Johnson to be an F-15E pilot again. Jean FLOYD keeps Scott up to date on aU the successful launches of his company’s Pegasus Rockets -Scott claims to be getting lots of great stories from Jean about his company. Orbital Sciences Corp. Maybe Jean could write to me and we could all read them? Just athought...

Janice GUNNOE is in the building briefly doing an IMA tour in SAF/PA, then back to her home in southern California. When Iheard from Karen MANOS, she was stranded in San Diego taking depositions on abig pension case, but enjoying the beautiful weather. On January P' of this year, Karen made partner at the law firm of Howrey &Simon, a300-plus attorney firm, with its main office about two blocks from the White House. Her specialty is government contract law (the same thing she spent most of her time doing in the Air Force).

Jan (WILEY) DOWNS writes that husband Mike DOWNS is back to work at USAirways flying the DC-9 after 11 months on Inactive status, sitting in the right

seat and based out of Pittsburgh (again). They are living in Lake City, FL, where Jan is busy too, gardening and serving as ataxi driver to their three children. Mike (Mo) BEALE sent anote from MacDill AFB, where he works as aplans officer in the War Plans Division and Bob WRIGHT is aide to CINC-CENTCOM. And across the Atlantic, Miles CROWELL is at HQ USAFE/SE, but is on his way to Seymour Johnson as an IP at the training squadron. Tom LAWRENCE is flying C- 130s at Ramstein. And in Saudi Arabia, we have Gary CROWDER working current opera¬ tions on aremote as part of the Joint Task Force-Southwest Asia.

Vi 'm.

The Masiello Family

I’ll close with aphoto of Tom MASIELLO, his new bride, Wendy, and his sons Mike and Bob. Currently at Eglin, Tom and Wendy are on their way to ICAF.

Jim Ratti 5301 Palo Verde Dr.

Edwards, CA 93523-2405

Home: (805) 258-8280/DSN: 527-7782 rattijm@mindspring.com http://www.usafa82.org

Percent members; 35

First off, Iowe all of you an apology for taking so long to update the ’82 Website. I’ve been pretty busy lately, and that task kept falling to the bottom of the list. After awhile, it became overwhelming! You all are so good about sending news and updates, Ikind of got buried! Anyway, it should be up to speed by the time you read this in Checkpoints. I’ll try to be more diligent in the future!

Now, on to the news! Iheard that one Dave ABRAMOWITZ, now an Army Lt Col, took command of abattalion in Katterbach, Germany, in January. Speaking of the Army (and young Lt Cols!), Jran into Dave PISTILLI here at Edwards in March. He was here as part of aJSOC (Joint Special Ops Command) exercise from Ft Bragg. Dave’s been saying “Hooah” ever since graduating from Army Command &Gen¬ eral Staff College and then SAMS (’95), and is acomm-type assigned to the J-6 at JSOC. Steve HILL checked in now that he and Amy are back from his tour as “king” of Ascension. They’re at ACSC, where he’s the oldest USAF student there, thanks to awaiver courtesy of Gen Folgleman so that he could finish out his com¬ mander tour on the rock. Also back in the States is Phil HAMANN, flying C- 130s at Little Rock after acool air attache job in Cairo. Sharon (VAUGHAN) CRONIN sent word that she and Tom are now in Brussels, but I’m not sure what Tom is doing. Iknow Sharon resigned in "89 and Ithink she’s in the Reserves.

One of our retirees. Jack MOHNEY, says hello from Michigan. He promised a long letter one of these days, but he’s probably having too good atime fishing to take time out to write. Rives DUNCAN (whose Juno e-mail name is “AFLifer") sent anice update on his career path. He resigned in ’87 to attend the seminary, where he met his wife, an ordained minister. After ayear in Nigeria, they returned stateside where Rives continued his education and joined the Reserves. He now holds three master’s degrees and aPh.D. (Lawful Disobedience in the Military!) and is now on active duty as achaplain at Hickam. He and Jan have two children. They live close to Pete CANTWELL, and have also seen Marianne (CAFIERO) YOUNG and John CRENNAN around the air patch.

Dave SILVIA cyber-surfed in from Elmendorf (gotta have something to do when it’s dark all day in the winter...) to say that he’s having agreat time in the F-15E and the RO"* Fighter Squadron. Fellow Eagle drivers there include Todd “Magoo” WOLTERS, Jon “Sudbud" SUTTER, Brad “Pony” DODD, Andy "Headly” LAMAR, and Art “No Call Sign mentioned" CRAIN. Chris “Broyler” BROYHILL sent ahello from Luke, where he’s married (wife, Denise, and five-year-old daughter) and serv¬ ing as the chief of Wing Weapons, Tactics and Training. Before that, he spent 19 months flying Vipers at Kunsan.

Chuck BECKWITH popped in vrith aquick update -he’s anew dad, thanks to Miles Garoch, born 15 May 97. Steve M. SMITH is up in St Paul, as VP of Opera¬ tions for Newell Plastics. He’s wondering whatever happened to Angus SIMPSON, “Cowboy” Jeff MULLETT, Rob SANFORD and A1 LOWRY. The Register says Angus is at AFSPACECOM in C-Springs, that Cowboy Jeff resigned in ’96, and that A1 is in the 314“’ Tac Airlift Wing at Little Rock. There’s no news on Rob. Any updates?

Jim DAHLMANN sent anice, long e-mail from Mary Esther, FL, beginning by reminiscing about our Preppie days. Iwas gonna get upset about his memory of

me and my “coke bottle” glasses, but then he redeemed himself by reminding me that my “awesome toolbox” bailed him and his VW out during our junior year, so all’s forgiven! Jim’s been in Special Ops since ’93, and is currently chief of the Exercise Branch at HQ AF Special Ops Command. Prior to that, he’d been an avia¬ tion science instructor and AOC at the Zoo, and aC-130 Tac Airlift guy in Alaska. He and his Oct ’82 bride, Jennifer, have two kids. Jim updated me on JJ JOHNSON and Joe ROMANKO. JJ and his wife, Sandy, have one child and should have their second by the time this gets printed. He’s flying for FedEx. JoeisaC-141 Reserve type, and also flies the 757/767 for American. He and Caroline have three kids, and Joe’s wondering whatever happened to Ed VAUGFIAN. Good question, ‘cause the Register shows Ed as aUPT student at Columbus! That brings back some memories... Jim also heard from Chris REYMANN, who flies for UPS as well as the Louisville, KY Air Guard (C- 130s). Finally, Brendan CLARE is in the J-3 shop at SOCOM (MacDill).

Chris RUSSICK was wondering whatever happened to Rich SCHIANO. Last Chris knew. Rich was headed for astaff job in Japan. Anybody have news? This must be the quarter for reestabiishing connections, 'cause Fred SANDOVAL wrote want¬ ing to know whatever happened to Jeff BASIK and Dave DAVENPORT. There’s no recent info on Jeff, but Dave shows up in the Register as amanager for Flight Safety in West Palm Beach, FL. Fred did tell me that Sam GREGOV is aFedEx mail boy and aB-1 driver in the Kansas Guard at Wichita. Pete BRYANT dropped aline from his brother’s computer to tell me he’s aFedEx DC-10 first officer. He joined them in ’90, after eight years ofKC-135sandKC-10s.Other FedExers include Larry HILL, Gordon GARLOCK, Steve J. SMITH, Ray FRANCISCO, George HIGNEY, Tamara SENZ, Tim TALBOT, Bill MANNING, Frank HERMAN, Kevin HOLMES, Doug REHDER, Art BOUCK, and Steve KIEFFER. Also on the FedEx seniority list were Jeff MULLETT and Tony CUTLER. Pete’s not sure if these are the same Jeff and Tony who graduated with us, but it’s agood bet. I’d say.

Dale SONNENBERG dropped aline from Langley. After astint in the Tomahawk Program Office, he went to law school at Duke. He later married an Army JAG (Kathy, who he met while stationed in Seoul), and they have one daughter and another on the way. Dave “Haggy” FIAGGINBOTHOM gave me aquick hello from Sheppard where he recently completed T-37 PIT, and Jim DINEEN zapped me from Scott where he’s on the J-3 staff for USTRANSCOM. Jim’s been aquiet advo¬ cate for getting C-141 transport for tbe Catholic Cadet Choir, an increasingly dif¬ ficult task in these bleak, downsized days.

Newly-minted Lt Col Mike RYAN (nottobe confused with the CSAF-yet...) sent aSt Patrick’s day update chock full of family news. Still at the Pentagon (Russian desk, OSD), Mike’s apublished author, having done papers for Congress on ops tempo and pilot-retention issues. He and Gloria now have two children, and boy, did they have an exciting time awhile back! Gloria and the kids were carjacked while (get this!) backing the van out of the garage'. The story had ahappy ending, thanks to Gloria’s cool thinking. She asked if she could get the kids out, and the five assailants (I guess that’s why they needed avan!) graciously acquiesced. Once the van was out of sight, they beat feet into the house, and the six-year-old called 911 while Gloria locked the house. Fifteen minutes later the perps were in cus¬ tody and everyone was safe. Yikes.

Lastly, Iheard from Brian CANINO who, strangely enough, is here at Edwards with me. Well, kinda-sorta. Actually he’s acivil servant flight test engineer here, following amedical discharge in ’89, and is currently getting his third master’s degree (this one in EE) at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. While he was on active duty he served as aFAIP at Willy, then C- 130s at Little Rock. So far at Edwards he’s worked the C-17 and F-22 programs. He told me that Bryon HINES (my old Blythevllle compatriot) is living near Minneapolis and is flying for Ameri¬ can, and that Sally (DUGGAN) BAKER is afull-time mom vrith two kids, living in Pleasanton, CA. Brian says Dan FIARGROVE is having agreat time flying the big¬ wigs around with the boys at Andrews. Brian visited Matt and Paula (DOREMUS) ERICHSEN while Matt was at ACSC, (’97) and that they and their kids are doing weil. Ibelieve Matt’s now at Holloman, but I’m not sure what his job is. And so, that about wraps it all up. Again, kudos to those who wrote -e-mail is a truly wonderful thing! And, best of luck to all of us who will be meeting the LtCol board about the time this article hits the streets. 1hope we all get the results we desire! ‘Til next time, surf/fly/back out of your driveway safe. RATMAN

JonA.Duresky

739 Carol Ann Drive

O’Fallon, IL 62269

Home: (618) 624-0412

Office: (618) 256-1748; DSN:576-1748

Percent memhers: 37

Batting leadoff this issue, Dave LEIBBRAND. Borrowing from Top Gun “hearts are breaking wide open” because this mountain of molten malehood progressed from bachelorhood to husbandhood, with aready-made family, to boot. The new¬ lyweds, Dave and Sindy, live in Albuquerque, NM. Drop in unannounced and spill beer on their carpet, so she can see what type of friends she inherited by mar¬ riage! Their family photo appeared in the last magazine on page 67, Batting second, Billy “Scales” WALKER. He never made the Olympic wresding team, so I’m giving him achange to hit behind the mnner. He’s still flying the chop¬ pers in Cheyenne, the “old man” ops officer. No doubt putting the claw on anyone foolish enough to go noncurrent for ground training in his squadron. Speaking of ops officers, Ihear that Mark “Manage” MANNEY fills the bill at the SS* AS at Andrews AFB. Ahigh-profile DV airlift squadron with Mark setting policy. Third to the plate, Jerry VARNER, only because he correcdy predicted the Broncos to win the Super Bowl in his Christmas letter. He also changed domiciles from Chi¬ cago to Dallas. He’s still loving life, three neat kids, great wife, Pam, and no potbelly.

Clean-up hitter, Donnie SMITH. No contest here. Saw him in the gym the other day. His arms have slimmed down to 18 inches, the vrimp. He’s another bud to call Scott AFB home. He has acush job in contract carrier analysis. Ipromised to make him astar in my article, but Ionly said that so he would quit hogging the ah ma¬ chine. Welcome to the HQ AMC front lines, Don, and the “pointy end of the com¬ puter chip!”

Fifth batter. Chip KOZAK, because he wouid be mad at me for using abasebali analogy and not mentioning him, one of USAFA’s all-time best players. And be¬ cause he still sends me aChristmas card. Okay enough of this corny sports stuff, back to the facts.

Do you have time to read about an Internet Love Connection? Yep, it happened to one of our very own. Chuck LEE. Saw him on aTDY to McGuire AFB in lovely New Jersey. Chuck and Igot to talking and he revealed that he met his fiance on the Internet. Ipictured abride-of-Frankenstein. He showed me apicture of one gorgeous woman, instead. Ilove happy endings! Congrats, Chuck.

Bob and Mary ULICH checked in with apicture of their airline-salary financed new house. Wow. They live in Georgia, and extended an invitation for any and all to come visit. Let’s plan on it. We can go en masse, spill beer on his carpet and drag Georgia red clay all through the house.

I’ll stick with the “house” theme for awhile. Eli POWELL comes to mind. El Nino visited him in Albuquerque, NM. Dumped lots of rain through his roof, turning his indoor carpet to indoor/outdoor carpet. Serves him right for rooming with me for asemester and refusing to be corrupted, and pulling a3.95 GPA. Judging from his picture, Eli (yavm) still has the perfect family, and (yawn squared) will be an astronaut someday.

“Indentured servant Eli Powell, with Judy, Elisha and Sarah, still owes the Air Force eight years! The price of being adoctor."

News flash from USAFAl Dave WRIGHT, once the perfect AOC, letting the in¬ mates run the asylum, now thinks that sometimes the cadets are out to ruin his career! Say it ain’t so. Restore my faith in humanity and the Triple Threat! Hang in there; that T-43 flying assignment is just around the corner Dave.

Ray BLUST. What abraggart. He sent me an e-mail, boasting about getting an 88 percent on his first ACSC test. Integtity issue here! He said that the above-men¬ tioned Dave Wright gave him the study notes.

Stu “Manchu” POPE has finally found ahome for his literary talents, other than gracing Checkpoints once ayear. He writes advertisements, and gets paid for it! 1 think in gambling magazines. No kidding. But then, his letters are so cryptic, who knows what he is trying to say.

Mitch DELAROSA has anew address: Robins AFB, GA. Lots of red clay, but he lives on base so his house can’t be worth trashing. If you get to his neck of the woods though, give it atry. He's the program manager for all MC-130H Combat Talons worldwide, so you Special Ops types, keep his name handy.

The ZAZWORSKY chronicles -John is finally leaving the friendly confines of the Pentagon to go fly someplace, setting squadron policy. Pity the fool who lets his helmet go uninspected while under big John’s command.

Jeff FIEBIG e-mailed me the secret of his success! As it tutns out, it never was his cerebral cortex (his GPA made me doubt that all along), but bis good looks. Now I know where Iwent wrong. How does one file suit against nature and genetics? Jeff’s teal success sectet is Ellen (NELSON, Class of ’84) and two good-looking kids.

Let’s take atout of Scott AFB and see who calls the “Heartland” home. Dan BRUNSKOLE is the HQ AMC Stan eval hammer on worldwide DV airlift for his day job, but after work, the work begins. Three kids under 20 months old. Ithink he had more than four hours of sleep in arow before the last Ice Age. Brian MCINTOSH warms achair somewhere in the HQ, but still thinks he can play hoops. Isaw him running the floor at the gym, and laughed when he bricked an easy one. Susan (LUEKEN) SCHWEISS and Chuck SCFTWEISS, Class of’82, are raising two kids in a palace on agolf course green. Doesn’t help her skiing any, according to Chuck.

Their six-year-old son boldly goes on slopes where mom fears to tread. Dave ROSS and Lt Col Sue (NEWHOUSE) ROSS; Ithink she’s about three years below. Now you real strivers, HESTERMAN, RAMPINO, and the All-Stars might be saying “Big deal,” but we here in the Illinois cornfields are pretty impressed. Dave is still with the airlines, slipping in to the base gym now and then using his dependent ID. Geoff WELLS has ajoint job inTRANSCOM, but bleeds AF blue. Iran into him at aspecial screening of afilm honoring the 50* anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. (Yeah, we’re closet strivers...) It was like those AF Heritage films back in BCT. We almost stayed awake, too. We spied Mavis (THORP) COMPAGNO way down in the front row, grabbed her on the way out, and did apublic rendition of Schofield’s” quote. The other half of the COMPAGNO connection, Vince, took the plunge for a second time. Huh? He left active duty several years ago but couldn’t stay away. He heard what an easy life Reservists have -work afew days amonth, make big bucks. So he got himself commissioned again, as aReserve captain, by none other than Mavis! Now for the $64,000 question -who wears the rank in the family? Tm giv¬ ing 5to 3odd on...

Those are all the Scott people 1can recall for now, but if you’re stationed here, and feel slighted for not being mentioned, stop by the TACC east cell and see me; I’ll be chained to adesk there for afew more months, at least.

Robert GREGOR is the new spokesperson for Leggs Pantyhose! Not really, just wanted to get your attention, and aphone call from him. This roomie turned C130 driver turned UPS pilot does have the best legs in the airline industry. It seems he discovered cycling in abig way, even taking his bike on UPS layovers, to keep himself busy. He claims to have logged several 200-mile days, and threatened to make unsuspecting visitors to his house go riding with him.

IIRobert Gregor and Dave Wright: “Slash 'em with abeak! Rip ’em with aclaw!” Ihave one more couple to write about, and I’ve saved them for last for areason. Most of these litde anecdotes are written to entertain, and pass along the adven¬ tures of our classmates in an offbeat manner. Ididn’t think that was appropriate for Tom and Gay (former‘83er) SOLOMON. Last year their 13-year-old daughter, Savannah, was diagnosed with arare form of cancer, and has undergone exten¬ sive chemotherapy treatments and surgery. Obviously, it has been avery stressful year for the whole family. Savannah’s prognosis is excellent, but let’s come together as an Air Force family onthisoneand say aspecial prayer for their whole family: Tom, Gay, Savannah, and Sean.

Ray BLUST missed my deadline. Iabout to put the finishing touches on this article, when the mail lady delivered aletter from Ray with abunch of info about ‘83ers. But Tm ready to go final! Ican’t revise athird time. So Imade acommand decision and will forward the info to Stu POPE, the next scribe, and he’ll have it in plenty of time to be the Boswell for you guys who sent Ray stuff. Time’s up! Ienjoyed chatting with y’all. Keep those computer files humming and the gear in the green.

Mike Jensen

12035 Milam Road

Colorado Springs, CO 80908

1-800-GO-AFA-GO /(719) 481-4646

E-mail: jens@us-afa.com

Home page:www.us-afa.com/84

Percent members: 30

Here’s to Bill’s mom! No not our fearless leader, but Bill NEVEU's mom, who has longed to see areport about Bill in this column. After having flown with Bill at USAFA, he went back to the KC- 10s. Now he is back. Isaw him at an AF basketball game in February. He is up in Denver with the likes of Marty LOUTHAN and John WEIGAND, working as an instructor for United. He let me know that time is flying by, and mentioned to me he will be tuning the big 40 this year! Sounds like agreat reason for aparty!

The e-mail updates are coming in! We are continuing to improve our capabili¬ ties and e-mail roster. We appreciate your help and patience. Brett MAYHEW is a big help and is constantly improving our page, its layout and the overall web stuff. We still need more info coming in! It is very important to get us updates -please, please, please. We can’t make this work without you! So right now, drop us aline, and Iwould like to receive some of those Christmas letters and pictures from you next year! Don’t worry, Iwould never use any material in there for this article. (Unless Iabsolutely needed to!)

On to the updates: John MORAWIEC is stationed at Kingsley Field ANGB, OR. He will be getting out and joining the Guard this summer. Joe LEAVENGOOD also dropped anote. He and his wife, Edie, have two wonderful kids (Jay, 5and 1/2, and Sarah, 10 months), and are living in Denver. He is an attorney licensed in Colorado, New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, but does more work as afinancial advisor with New England Financial. It is preventive law which he prefers. He keeps in touch with Rich OSEDACZ who has three kids, Elisabeth, Lindsey and Matthew. He is also involved with aDenver group called the Academy Biznet. They get together each Tuesday morning to learn, network and socialize. They usually have aspeaker on some business or military topic, and try not to be very formal. When he lined up the speakers this past March, he had avisit from Eric WALLACE and Rick DOORE (’85), now both in Longmont, CO. These guys are the owners of "Left Hand Brewery”, which is afast-growing operation. They recom¬ mend "Sawtooth Ale” and "Blackjack Porter.” (Sounds like ameeting 1should have gone to!) Rob PUCKETT is his ACSC seminar honcho/attendance taker, and he just tore up afinger in afreak accident. We hope he has recovered. Right now he is an AOC who is saluting his cadets like aBoy Scout. Terry FEEHAN vrill be going down to Keesler this summer to take command of the 338* Training Squadron. The squadron performs basic training for all tri-service. Guard, Reserve, civilian and international personnel entering electronics training at Keesler AFB as well as other functions. Last year they put through over 6,500 students.

The OSCAR goes to: Mark "MULLET” GILLOTT. He just fired us aquick note while he wades through e-mail at ACSC. After graduation he’ll be going to Osan AB, Korea to fly the F-16 for (hopefully) two years. He reminds everyone to go see “The Truman Show”, Jim Carrey’s next movie coming to atheater near you June 12th. That should be about now! It is his movie debut -look for the fat stupid cop who “blows it for everyone” at the nuclear roadblock. (Who says we couldn’t act?) Even the folks who don’t like Jim Carrey will enjoy this flick... trust him! The GOLDFEINs found out they have an assignment to Luke AFB. Their daughter Hanna Marie was born 19 May 97 and will be one year old before they depart the fix. Scotty is four now and his favorite pastime is shooting hoops with his old man. They’re looking forward to shopping at Wal-Mart and chowing down some good Mexican food. Jeff KUBI/kK got picked up for ACSC for this summer -where to from there no one knows. His wife, Toni, had their third child in October. Allison Noelle is now almost five months old. Her brother Steven (age 9) and sister Katie (age 6) are great teachers.

Kyle SKALISKY moved to the Pentagon (SAF/AQL which is the Special Projects Directorate for the undersecretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and Technol¬ ogy). He does miss the flying! Dominic STRUG is still having awonderful time in currently sunny North Carolina and enjoying it. His boys (Ryan 9, Justin 6, and Logan 4) are growing like weeds and are really involved with Cub Scouts (the young¬ est is still in the wanna-be stages), Dom is still flying for American on the Fokker 100 and having agreat time. He has anew Reserve job as aCivil Air Patrol Reserve assistance officer. His wife still outranks him though -she’s been amajor for over 18 months longer than Dom. Oh well, as we all know, she outranked him before, now its of fi cial.

Mike BENEVENTO keeps in contact with Doug FULLER. The BENEVENTOs are still living in the Chapel Hill area. He is working commissioned sales in tax-shel¬ tered annuities and helping senior citizens save on prescription medications. His wife, Kris, helps with his job when she is not taking care of her dad (who lives vrith them) or the boys. Her father, Carl, is aWorld War II vet. Their sons Matthew (8th grade) and, Calvin (preschool) are doing fine.

Craig LARSON visited our “unofficial” web page. He is stationed at Tinker flying with AWACS as amission crew commander, rotating between Saudi Arabia and Turkey every couple months. He and his family, wife, Bonnie, Amy (9), and Chad (5) just returned from aski trip to Winter Park. Last summer he stopped at Max¬ well to visit Stephen LATCHFORD and his family. He has completed ACSC now and is down at MacDill AFB, EL. He’s enjoying his waterfront property and ex¬ pected to get aboat to drive to work on the nice days. Sounds rough. Bob SMITH sent me aphoto over the Internet of agroup of ’84 grads who were deployed for DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM. Ihope to have their exploits and “poolside” extravaganza on the home page. Scott RUSSI is looking for Brad WEBB; he dropped me aline. Ithink his address is on our roster. Ijust ran into Jeff HAYS who is back at the Academy with the football staff! Just left Beale AFB.

Put us on your list! Do it now! Put us on your list of things to do -right now drop us aline or apicture, or both. It only takes alittle effort on everyone’s part to make this column and web page ahuge success. The network we have access to can help in both the /M= and non-AF lives. We have some great football games coming up this fall and Ineed some free food and beer. Ican’t mooch if Idon’t know where you are. So drop me aline right away. Yours in Zoomie Land, Jens.

Shelly Grady 3161W. 71st Ave. Anchorage, AK 99502 (907) 245-0089

Percent members: 31

Idon’t usually start vrith my own adventures, but our recent AF exploits have quite an impact on the brevity of my article! We left Scott AFB in December, and as we were packing our household goods for storage, the weather personnel folks called and informed us we weren’t going to Giebelstadt, Germany after all. Alaska needed us more! Being “Miss Organized,” Ihad already sent our aU of our Christ¬ mas cards with the German forwarding address. So the only people Iheard from this year are those who never go by my Christmas card or sent theirs out sooner than Idid! We’ve had four addresses since December so we’re fortunate to get any

mail! Ithought assignment switches at the last hour only happened to other folks! My husband is now happily (and very busily) working as DO of the weather squad¬ ron here at Elmendorf AFB. If any classmates are here or passing through give us acall.

Some folks who did make it to Germany are Gel and Beth CHRISTMAN. Del is flying AWACS for NATO, and they have their three kiddos in the local German school so they can learn to “sprechen Deutch gut!” Another classmate Iactually got to see is the illustrious Jackie CHARSAGUA! Jackie is at the Army Intermediate Service School in Leavenworth, KS. She and daughter Little Jackie looked like they were doing great. She wanted to head to Europe for her next assignment. Let me know if you get there. Bill and Carol CASTILLO are at Ramstein and looking for¬ ward to coming back to the States to be alittle closer to family with the birth of their first son, William Chad. Congratulations!

We heard from the CUMMINGS this year. Bob and Linda and son David are sta¬ tioned in Japan. Their letter was packed full of travel and adventure. We also heard from Ross and Linda DUDLEYbecause our Christmas card to them was returned. Ross in is in Colorado Springs and though passed over for major, he had aDP for the next board. Way to go, Ross. We got to see Sara and Dan (HELLWIG) ELLERTBECK on our mini vacation to the East Coast. Sara is staying home full time with her adorable (and very well trained!) daughter Madeline. Her home is acultural mecca with each room done in adifferent country or theme. Oh, for amom who likes to cross-stitch!

We got to see August HEIN too as he traveled through Belleville in search of a home for his ’68 Mustang. We had quite an adventure trying to start it again, and my first solo drive in the dragster was like it had amind all its own! Carla and August added another to their quiver this year, Elena. August is based in Italy and is now an official flight surgeon after completing the six-week school. Mike and Lisa MURCHLAND are back east again and John and Kim MARCELLUS are at an exchange assignment in Ontario, Canada. Amy MUELLER has taken another fouryear stint of teaching at the Alliance Academy in Quito, Ecuador. Louise MCKNIGHT (Ivan’s widow) and son Joshua are now happily situated in Florida where she had remarried an ’83 grad, Ken TINGMAN.

We ran into Tom and Tracee MAUCHLEY this last spring at church. They had their fifth last Christmas and about lost him two weeks after he was born. They PCSed to New York this last spring doing adity move! Braver souls than I! Ididn’t hear from Tish (DIERLAM) NORMAN, but through Ruthann (LUEKEN) THOMP¬ SON, who Iran into at the playground on Scott AFB, 1heard she’s happily married to Dan NORMAN, out of the service, but still working two to three days aweek in the Reserve at Tinker AFB, OK. Ruthann was out of the service also, full-time mom of two, aboy and agirl, J.T. has his heir!

We also saw Mike and Brenda PIIRTO on our Christmas vacation. Mike has a staff job at Quantico so he’s actually home some. They had ahouse built because Brenda is from the area, and they’d like to stay awhile. Mike and Kelly BITS are down under for atour in Austraiia. Steve and Heidi SUTHERLAND found their dream property at last in the Black Forest of Colorado Springs and are having a house built for along-term residence. Steve is out of the service but has his AF job as head weather guy for the USAFA airfield! What adeal!

Ididn’t hear from Kerri TASHJIAN (BROUSSARD) but she should be back in the states after she years in England. That’s all for now folks. If you have any news to pass on please write or call.

Bob Colella

1304 Cheatham Court

Warrensburg, MO 64093

Home: (816) 747-7964

DSN: 975-3248

E-mail: rcolella@iLand.net

Percent members: 33

Greetings Fellow Classmates! Talk about deja vu, 1got to brief none other than Lt Gen (retired) Marcus Anderson on the B-2, YadaYadaYada. It was the Chicken Cordon Bleu Brief. He was doing well and said to say hello to all of you too. With that said Ido have alot of updating to do. First up is Mike DAVIS with good “My Dear Friend Bob, it’s agirl\ Carol Nadine Davis was born on 1/7/98 at 4:22 p.m. She is beautiful. Janie looked dazed as Carol emerged, but after 10 seconds of staring at her in disbelief, Isaid ‘Janie, it’s agirl.’ Of course my opinion wasn’t good enough for this determination, so she looked to our doctor, Tom Wu, for the only medically-trained eyes. ‘Dr. Wu, is it agirl?’ He sort of laughed and said, yes it is. We are both on cloud nine, and will be for along time. God is so good. Mike, Janie, Cole and Chris.”

Kevin YEOMANS passed along this note next from Ken GOTSKI: “Karen (SMITH, CS-11) and Iare now at Wright-Patterson AFB where Iwork in the Trainer SPO acquiring F-16 trainers. Karen got out years ago and went to work for American Airlines. We have adaughter (Elizabeth) who will turn three in November and who was born at the hospital at USAFA. Karen will probably be upgrading to copi¬ lot next summer. She’s spent alot of time as aflight engineer since she was fur¬ loughed for two years and American has been slow to return to hiring. She loves to travel and spends her time working out or researching her family tree at vari¬ ous archives around the country. Bill HACK is here at Wright-Pat at the Joint Strike Fighter program. Wade WEISMAN is around here, too. Jeff SMITH is also still around Dayton. Can't go anywhere without stumbling into classmates. At my last base. Falcon AFB, Iworked with Reni RENNER (Groom) in the 4SOPS, which is the Milstar squadron. Used to run into Mark VIDMAR there. Ken and Karen.”

Isent Rich BASAK anote asking for an East Coast update and this is what he sent along: “Here are the people Ihave run into being at Seymour Johnson AFB as an F-15E FTU instructor. Maj Steve KWAST is ‘86’s choice for chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff in 2016. He is the military assistant to the vice president of the United

States. He is busy going TDY vrith the VE Maj Kim HAWTHORNE is checking out in the F-15E and headed to Aiaska. Jeff HENRY is an F-15E FTU instructor. Maj Pete YORK should be at Elmendorf after ayear remote teaching Saudis to fly F15Es. Mark CROWDER is also in Alaska flying F- 15Es. As for me, I’m still teaching F- 15E students at Seymour Johnson. Rich Basak. P.S. Hey, do you have any notes on the ACSC correspondence tests? Iam finished with test 1using the new CD. Does anyone have any note guides. Please send them my way.”

Hey did Imention that Ifinished ACSC? 1lost all my notes, but Ido have my diploma. If you are ever in Warrensburg, MO and you’ve already seen the other sights, 1can show you the rolling hill of Knob-Noster (Home of Whiteman AFB). Stop by any time for alook!

And it wouldn’t be aCheckpoints update if we didn’t hear from our remote an¬ chor, our man in Korea, Mister DMZ himself... Gary BURG (who forwards me way too much e-mail)! He writes: “Happy New Year one and all (editors note -the time zone isn’t that far away is it?). Today is the last day of my holiday break and Ijust wanted to wish everyone aHappy New Year. 1997 was agood and busy year for the Burg family and we were able to ring in the New Year all together in Seoul, Korea as Carrie and the kids visited me during the holidays. We decided it was important enough to spend the holidays together plus the dollar is very strong over here so they flew via Korean Airlines to Seoul to get here. 1998 should be another good and busy year for the Burgs as my tour will end here in August and we head to my next assignment at Langley AFB, VA. Iwill be going to Elmendorf in March for my mid-tour leave. Carrie and the kids plan on leaving Alaska as soon as the kids get out of school. Ihope everyone is looking forward to the new year and our paths cross in the near fttture. May 1998 be your best year ever. I hope it is mine. Gary Burg.”

Mike Tyson’s sparing partner, Randy GIBB, also wrote. He says: “Greetings! Thanks for your note asldng for Checkpoints info. The fact that you are soliciting inputs means you must be hurting. Ihave been reading our class column and must admit that alarge portion of'86ers are not mentioned due to people like me being too lazy to write in (scribe note -ditto). Having one ‘scribe’ limits the inputs to the same circle of people. This is good to get some fresh scoop. It’s fim to read about old buds -1 don’t have the scoop on everyone but here it goes? Tim ‘Indy’ HANNUS is getting ready to move to Luke. He left Willy after UPT and flew A-10s in Alaska then joined me at Willy flying ‘38s. He then went to Randolph buying time waiting to get back into afighter. He took an F-16 to Korea for ayear and then went to Shaw. He goes to Luke in March. Tim and his wife, Kathy, are expect¬ ing their first child this Spring. Pat BARANACK is here in Colorado Springs work¬ ing at Falcon as the CE guru. He had spent time at Wright-Pat and then took a remote to Riyadh. His family was there with him but the bombing sent his family home. Pat and Robin have two kids, Mary and Bryn. The legendary Jim ‘Gino’ PASSARO is finishing up aremote tour in Korea. For aman who struggled with the academics at the Zoo he now has two master’s degrees. He also has three beau¬ tiful children (Ryan, Kristian, and Audrey). He is applying for acouple of jobs at Peterson AFB. Yes, he still lifts and flexes in front of mirrors. Cosmo RICH got out and owns his own print shop business in Superior, Wl. He and his brother are in it together.

“I was at Pat STOCKTON’S wedding in Feb of 96 here in the Springs. He married agirl he met out in L.A. who happened to be from here. He spent the majority of his AF life in L.A. doing acquisitions. He now works in D.C. -doing things for the AF that he can’t tell me anything about -top secret-type stuff. Tim EARLY, is outbut not flying for the airlines. He put himself through law school at UC-Davis. He also is flying ‘135s for the Reserves. He had been at Beale flying ‘135s while on active duty. Stu MILLER is at Altus as a‘135 IP. Dave AMDAHL is in LA. working acquisitions. Chris FOREMAN got out. Kyle ‘Bowie’ KUHN is enjoying Nebraska’s third national championship and is living in San Antonio -he is still active but works at Kelly AFB. Tim “Grizzly” EDDINS flew‘38s at Columbus and Randolph (I think). He is now out flying for the airlines and F-16s for the Reserves out of Uicson (last Iheard -but it is hard keeping track of him). Sal SCHAMANTE is loving life -two awesome daughters (Angela and Nicole) and his lovely wife, Carol. They live in Phoenix and he flies for United. Sal just upgraded to an A320. Dwane “Mookie” WILSON seems like he has flown for United ever since we graduated. He is based out of San Francisco and is now acopilot on the 747. He was at Willy in ‘38s, then went to Beale in ‘38s. He and Maria have two boys, Justin and Jaron. Mookie, like all the airline guys, never use their benefits to fly anywhere. He talked smack about coming to Phoenix to see me and Sal and now let agreat Falcon season go by without coming to Colorado.

"TK Smith (I mention just because Isee him daily and he is mentioned in almost every Checkpoints and Iwant to keep his streak going) this summer will be leav¬ ing the Academy and going to some flying job. The good folks at AFPC have in¬ formed him his options are: airlift, airlift, or airlift. Who says we don’t have career choices? My family and Ihave been at the Academy for about ayear now. It has been agreat assignment -teaching in the Behavioral Sciences Department. I started out at Willy being a‘38 FAIR Jill and Iwere married in May of ‘88. We stretched out our assignment there as long as possible because we really loved living in Phoenix. Then we went to Dover to fly C-5s. Iapplied to teach up here at the Academy way back in ‘89 and finally in ‘95 they hired me and with no hesita¬ tion we chose Arizona State for amaster’s program. We spent an awesome year and ahalf back in Phoenix. It was funbecausewe ran into so many ex-Willy guys who are now flying for the airlines. We lived about amile from Sal and Carol SCHAMANTE and then amile the other way were Dave and Jackie KITCHENS (he is flying for Southwest). We have two children, Courtney is eight and Jeff is five. We bought ahouse up in Monument and have awesome views of the entire Front Range and Pikes Peak. Istay plenty busy helping Ed Weichers (he has been here 22 years) coach the boxing team. It is alot of fun working and traveling with the team. Living in Colorado is fun since no matter where Igo, Irun into grads. One day at Home Depot Imeet up with Dino LORENZINI -an ‘85 grad who trained all of us from ‘Guts squad’ in BCT (that was back in 1982). Of course he now flies for

United. (Scribe note: He is married to Annie (Alvarez) CS-32 short tour alumnae!) Dick (now goes by Richard) CLARK is getting married in June. He has been at Navy ISSandthissummeris going to SAS in Montgomery AL for ayear. Randy”

The Colella Family

Once again atouching batch of letters that Ihave humbly chosen to share with you, my fellow classmates. Now I’ll bet you’re asking wbat it takes to get your name in print like some of these other folks. Well, let me tell you it’s not as hard as you may think and here’s the kicker. If you can spell your name or anyone else’s, drop me aline and see your name in this very publication -that’s my promise to you. Ionly get to do this one more time and then it is the big handoff back to Gary -maybe an occasional guest appearance, but let’s sendmeout with abang! What do you say, drop me some e-mail, let me know what is going on in your neck of the Air Force! Till Aen! Your Dear Friend...Bob.

Sharon Giletti

304 North Road Garden City NY 11530 (516) 745-6059

E-mail: giletti@aol.com

Percent members: 35

It must be springtime because babies are popping out all over. Ihaven’t gotten much news since last issue, hut I’ve heard about afew births. Malia (BELL) SPRANGER sent anote and let me know that John and Tammie PEGG had aboy 24 Feb 98 in Okinawa! John is getting out this July and plans to relocate to L.A. and fly for the airlines—another one bites the dust! Terry and Jen BROWN had a baby girl, Madison Alexandra, 24 Jan. Terry Is out of the Air Force and is living in Northern California.

Iheard from Ray and Rachel WRIGHT that Pat WILLIAMS and his wife just had their first -alittle boy named Coen! Pat was able to stop by the Wrights when his flight brought him out this way. Unfortunately, it was either Christmas or New Year’s Eve. The Wrights are doing great out here on Long Island. Ray has been busy pushing drugs for Pfizer and warming up for the second inning of child rear¬ ing! They’ll have their second child by the time you all are reading this. They have adarling three-year-old named Benjamin.

Any of you Delta fliers look out for Marc MUNAFO. He just changed over from TWA and is finishing up his training in Atlanta.

Igot some CS-30 news! Iwas happy to hear from Jim WICKER. He’s been at Wright-Patterson AFB for about two and half years working at the National Air Intelligence Center doing computer modeling and simulation of air-to-air com¬ bat. Neat stuff, but he’s anxious to get back in the cockpit. Jim was married to Tara in Dec 1996 and they have asix-month-old daughter named Katie. As if he’s not busy enough, Jim also just finished his master’s degree in electrical engineer¬ ing at the University of Dayton. He had some scoop on acouple of other “Mighty ICnights”. Mike ZUMWALT is also at Wright-Pat. He’s stationed at AFIT getting his master’s in EE and then he’ll be heading to test pilot school. And Jim had lunch with Dan O’CONNOR who was TDY from Scott AFB. Dan is working on the KC135 glass cockpit upgrade. He and his vrife are also expecting their first child in June -congratulations!

Ialso heard from John and Gail ABBATIELLO. They’ll be PCSing from the Acad¬ emy to Warner-Robbins AFB this summer. John will be getting back into the cock¬ pit—in theJSTARS.

Well, unfortunately that’s all Ihave. Ido have some final good news though. I finally have e-mail at home so you don’t have-to send mail to Greg’s office and I can respond back much easier without having to go through my secretary (Greg). You can reach me at, get this, giletti@aol.com -pretty easy to remember. Ah, yes, another weak excuse to not e-mall obliterated. I’m sure you’ll be disappointed when you breeze through this article in five seconds, but if you want to read more news then send more news. I’m sure something new and exciting has happened to someone in the pastthreemonthsoryou ran into someone you never thought you’d see again or someone that you seem to see too much! Imight just have to start using my sources to drum up some info -you know who you are! Until next time-S.

Make Your Tax-deductible Donation Now to The Air Force Academy Fund.

Mark Peters 1218 Red Oak Court

Vacaville, CA 95687-7601

Home: (707) 452-0900

Work: DSN 837-7250 or (707) 424-7250

E-mail: petersm@6ars.travis.af.mil

Percent members; 36

1\ \

Well, Ifigured it out. Here’s how 1closed the first issue: “Thanks to all who wrote -if you didn’t it’s your turn!” At first 1was thinking negative thoughts about all of you guys and gals who haven’t written, scribbled, or even had your spouse write me. Later Ifigured it out that if Ihaven’t received the latest issue yet, you might not have either! That probably has something to do with my dearth of mail...

Fortunately, while Iwas gone for the past six weeks tryingto scare Saddam, again, 1had achance to give some gas to Paul LOBUE in his trusty RC-135.1 pumped him for some info on himself and others. After pilot training at Laughlin, Paul went to the KC-135 at Minot. His unit closed in ’94 and he went to the RC-135. Like most (all?) of ’88, he’s looking to possibly get out. He’s married, but Heather is on aoneyear remote tour to Kunsan as aJAG.

Paul passed some info on afew other '88ers as well. Martin STRITTMATTER, also in '135s, is married (Susan?) and has one child. Darryl WILSON is married (Angie) and in the T-1 at Laughlin. Nebojsa SOLUNAC is finished with his tour as an Advanced Instrument School instructor and is now aFAA liaison and still in the Air Force. Scott LONG is at Misawa flying F- 16s. Jo Anne PINNEY is at Kunsan with Paul’s wife. Stan CROW is at the Osan OSI detachment, married to Kelly and they have no kids.

Also, Iforgot to use this "blast from the past” e-mail last time. Stephanie PfeiTs great memory of atrip to Phoenix along time ago, as usual, puts my memory to shame. Here are her comments about her current life: “Boy, Iam sure you are wondering who on earth this is! It’s Steph Pfeil-Pepin. Ireally don’t write my name like that Ijust thought it would help you recognize me. We are in England. Pete PEPIN (‘85) is still flying ‘135s, Kristen is in 6* grade, and Iam house frau who lives vicariously through them. Actually this is the first base that Ihave not worked at so 1figured it was O.K. to take this tour off and just shlep around.”

AChristmas letter from Houston WARING came as well. I’m almost at my limit, so I’ll just hit the highlights and save the rest for next time. The Warings (Houston, Tami, Nathalie, Maryjean, Eleanor, George, and Peter) are at Lakenheath, and he’s still instructing in the F-15.

John CLANCY wrote and sent apicture (this is the equivalent of the infamous instructor foot stomp) which I’ve asked to be enlarged by, oh 200 percent so as to fill the column. John writes: “Just wanted to drop you aquick note since I’ve pro¬ crastinated in checking in for about 10 years now! [Note to the rest of you: Your scribe is astrong believer in better late than never.) After arough six-year tour on the beaches of Florida at Eglin, working in systems acquisition and then OSI, I’ve since gotten out and work as the investment officer for abank in Cincinnati, man¬ aging about $100 million of other people’s money. I’m also in the Reserves serving as an IMA for OSI up at Wright-Pat. While Iwas down in Florida Iwas lucky enough to convince this industrial engineer (Traci), who was dating Steve STEIN (CS-8), to marry me! (Steve did areading at our wedding!) We now have been blessed with Kevin, 5, and Patrick, Landl’veencloseda picmre from our vacation to Maine last summer.

"Although I’m out of the active-duty loop, Ido run across afew grads now and then. Here’s what Iknow: Russ REIMER (CS-7) is married with one son and an¬ other child on the way. He’s flying AWACS in Oklahoma and is looking for an air¬ line slot. John PEARSE (CS-7) is married (Susane) with one son. He’s out in Ari¬ zona teaching guys to fly the F-16. Jimmy PATTERSON (CS-7) is married and was flying C-5s in Delaware but now is in San Antonio flying the T-38 (I think). That’s all Ihave right now... looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion this fall. Keep up the good work!”

John mentioned the reunion. For those of you not in the know, it’ll be Wednes¬ day, 30 Sep through Sunday, 4Oct. Headquarters will be the Colorado Springs Sheraton, 2886 S. Circle Drive, right off the interstate, exit 138. As Iwrite this in mid-March, reservations are only available through the hotel directly at 800-9814012, or 719-576-5900. You can also try Sheraton’s worldwide 800 number, but I doubt it will be of much use (800-325-3535).

If the Sheraton is full, the front desk recommended trying the DoubleTree World Arena across the interstate. DoubleTree reservations is at 800-222-8733 (hotel direct: 719-576-8900). Four miles away is the Antlers DoubleTree Hotel Down¬ town (same 800 number; direct: 719-473-5600). The Broadmoor Hotel (have your butler make the reservation) or the Days Inn on 2850 S. Circle Drive (800-3252525; direct: 719-527-0800) are also close. There’s anew La Quinta Inn and Suites off of Geyser Drive (800-687-6667; direct: 719-527-4788) as well; it should he open by the time you read this. Other close hotels include the Fairfield Inn South, and the Hampton Inn South.

You should have already received one mailing from our reunion chair, Dan URIBE, and his able second-in-command, George “Buster” STAMPER. If not, contact Dan (719-333-3820, Uribed.DFF@usafa.af.mil) or Buster (719-333-3622, Stampergl.DFH@usafa.af.mil) at your earliest to get on the mailing list. Ispoke with someone from ’87 who went last year; he had agreat time. Ihope to see you there!

Paul W. Tibhets, IV

1410 Rockford Dive

Warrensburg, MO 64093

Home: (660) 429-1198

DSN: 975-3215

E-mail: patlbb@iland.net

Percent members: 38

r

Hello everyone. Summer is upon us, and we only have one year until our 10-year reunion! Time really does “fly” when you’re having fun -and 1know everyone is having fun out there! Ijust returned from the B-1 crash site in western Kentucky as the investigating officer for the Safety Investigation Board. It was quite an ex¬ perience spending 30 days trying to figure out why we lost the airplane, and then writing it up in 650 pages or less! If there is one thing Ilearned, we have avery thorough safety investigation process. Iwas honored and proud to be apart of the investigation team, and humbled by all the expertise we have assisting the Air Force when aClass Amishap occurs.

In last quarter’s article, Imentioned two web pages created by ‘89ers for our class. While Iwas TDY, “T” TUNG posted another outstanding web page for our class. The address is: http://members.fullnet.net/tmtung/usafa89. “T” did agreat job with the site, incorporating alisting of classmates alphabetically and by squad¬ ron, and links to the web. As areminder, addresses for the other ’89 sites out there are: http://www.on-net.net/-simpson/default.htm and http://members.aol.com/ RondallRR/usafa89.html. Please check out these sites and give some feedback to their desi^ers. In the future we will combine efforts, so let the designers know what you like. (And say thanks -alot of hard work went into these pages!)

Ireceived several letters this quarter -e-mail is awonderful thing. My first letter comes from Joe MILNER, who is stationed at Kunsan AB, Korea as the op¬ erations officer for the 8* Security Forces Squadron. Joe was nonvolunteered for the joh in Korea, but got agood follow-on assignment to Peterson AFB, CO work¬ ing on the Space Command staff as the chief of Security Forces. Joe, his wife, Kim, and two girls, Jessica (2 Vi years old) and Sarah (one year old) recently left Dover AFB, DE where Joe was the operations officer for the 436* Security Forces Squad¬ ron. Other '89ers Joe has heard from include Jim SEWARD, who Joe replaced at Kunsan. Shannon JURRENS is an instructor at Hurlburt Field teaching dynamics of international terrorism, and is leaving soon to be the Security Forces Squadron operations officer at Minot AFB. Jeff SOLIMENA separated from the Air Force last Febmary, graduated from the FBI Academy as afield agent, and is currendy work¬ ing in Arizona. Tom ALLISON moved to Kirtland AFB, NM from L.A. and is work¬ ing in the Research and Development of Security Systems arena after working the acquisition end of them in L.A. Thanks for the letter!

My next letter comes from Zahra (SHEIKHOLESLAM) KARINSHAK, who left the Air Force in '94 to attend law school. In May of last year she graduated from Emory Law School and began ajudicial clerkship with the Honorable J.L. Edmondson, 11* Circuit Court of Appeals, in Adanta. When she finishes her clerk¬ ship in July, Zahra will join afirm in Atlanta. (Any offers?) Thanks for writing!

Next Iheard from Mike STEPHENS, who is working as aflight test engineer at Eglin AFB, FL (hardship tour. I’m sure!). Dave CHELEN also works with Mike at Eglin as aflight test engineer. Mike ran into several classmates at Edwards AFB while he was at Test Pilot School. These include Dave and Kurt VOGEL (both CS26 alumni with Mike), who were in the class ahead of Mike, and Rick PALO, Eric FITZ, Jeff KLINGMAN, and Chris HAMILTON, who were in the class right behind him. Mike also ran into John SHAPIAND, who was on his way to the British Test Pilot School, and Terry VIRTS, who was on his way to the French Test Pilot School. Mike saw Ken PLAKS, who works as aflight test engineer in Las Vegas, at the SETP conference in Beverly Hills. Brian HULL is atest engineer at Edwards AFB, and he and his wife have alovely new daughter. Other CS-26 buddies Mike has heard

from include Jim SEWARD, who is on aremote to Korea; Frank and Maureen BORGIA, who are doing well with their two boys at McGuire AFB; and his old room¬ mate, Jeff MENAPACE, who is doing well in civilian life in North Carolina. Thanks for writing, Mike!

Gil PETRINA dropped me aline from Offutt AFB, where he is the aide to CINCSTRAT. He says the job is great, and they travel alot. He recently spent three days in Moscow, and just returned from Orlando for aCORONA conference. Some '89ers Gil has heard from include Jeff BRIERE, who is waiting for the T-3s to start flying again at the Academy. They’ve resorted to going down to San Antonio to fly T-37S to keep their flight pay and instrument rating. Jeff has anew baby boy (Jef¬ frey) who’s doing very well. Jim BRECK is still flying Special Ops CH-53s over at RAF Mildenhall. He spends alot of time in Bosnia, but really enjoys the flying. Wayne TETLOW is also over in Europe at Ramstein AB flying C-130s. Mark SWENTKOFSKE is over at Bolling AFB in the comm squadron and just had anew haby. Steve HANKINS is flying C-21s at Offutt, has anewborn, and is looking for¬ ward to getting ajob at the Academy. Joe GLEBOCKI is acivilian lawyer and also in the Reserves out of McGuire. He is serving on the AFA Junior Officer Advisory Council, and said Hal CRANMER Is still down at Hurlburt Field flying Special Ops C-130S. John NICHOL recenfly leftT-38s at Vance for anonvol RC-135. Bob BABANI is at STRATCOM after coming from an acquisition job down at Tyndall. Thanks for writing!

1received an e-mail from Jeff RICH, whose daughter Sabrina is doing well and growing like aweed. PJ PUTNAM wrote alittle while ago and said last December he graduated from the University of New Mexico with his MBA, and also married Kathleen Riley in Albuquerque. Dave BANKO received his diploma recently for completing Rhema’s Three-Year Bible Correspondence School, and his new son Daniel is doing well.

Ireally appreciate those of you who took the time to write. This column is for all ‘89ers, and it takes an effort from all of us to make it work. Besides, my life is pretty boring, and you don’t want me to start telling you about it (any more than I already do)! Don’t forget, 1am looking for areunion committee chairman and other volunteers to work on the reunion committee. Also, Iam soliciting ideas for our class gift. 1need your help to make this 10-year reunion one we will all re¬ member! Drop the web page designers anote on their efforts to create the best AFA class web page to date. Take care and God bless.

Joseph C. Richardson 535A 6th St. Circle

Robins AFB, GA31098

Home: (912) 923-7602

Work: (912) 327-3297

E-mail: jrichal212@aol.com

Percent members: 34

Greetings most Glorious and Exalted Class, Itmst that these greetings find you all in the best of health and happiness. Things here in Warner Robins, GA are going well. Ijust finished academics for the E-8C Joint STARS aircraft and will be going into the flying phase soon. When Iget checked out, I’m sure I’ll see alot of you at sundry places throughout the world. Although we miss our friends in Omaha and at Offritt AFB, we sure are enjoying the nice 70-degree winter days (smile). Well, enough about us, now on to the news...

After getting here last December, I’ve run into afew members of the most glo¬ rious class. Mark BROWN is stationed out here as aKG-135 aircraft commander. We had lunch together before he went on his latest deployment. He is doing well and sends greetings to you all. 1also got word that Michael CARTER will soon be leaving McConnell AFB and heading to the East Coast to fly C-17s at Charleston. It will be nice having Mike this close to us here in Georgia.

Additionally, 1received anote from Theodore WILSON. He is currently the Intel¬ ligence Flight commander for the 86th OSS at Ramstein AB, Germany. He leads intelligence support for the only comhat aerial delivery (C-130) and operational support wing in EUCOM. Ted reports that he is still married to the former Cindy R. Kimber of Boulder CO, and that she is the one and only personal fitness trainer at Ramstein. Ted finished his Master of Science Degree at his former assignment at Little Rock AFB, AR and is continuing to reach for the sky in his achievements and accomplishments in Ted Wilson style. It was great to hear from you Ted! Thanks for the update.

Well guys, Ididn’t get very many updates from the Most Awesome Class for this round, and Ihave to think this e-mail deal will help us to remedy this problem. Thanks to James SANCHEZ, and the terrific job he and others have done on the Class of 1990 Web Page, we should all be able to keep in better touch now. Ire¬ ceived some e-mail info from some of you guys and was not able to include your updates due to the fact that I(in my infant loiowledge of the World Wide Web) didn’t think to print them out before my computer dropped them from my e-mail memory. My apologies. My e-mail address appears in the header above. Please send me updates via this medium if you don’t feel inclined to write aletter. Ithink with the ever-evolving communication technology in this world of ours, keeping you all informed about each other should be getting easier and easier. Sorry I didn’t have any more updates than the few here.

Idid want to save this update for last though. Ihave received very sad word that another one of comrades has passed away. Kevin J. STONE Jr. died in a snowmohiling accident on 7Mar 98 near Eielson AFB, AK. Ireceived word from both the AOG as well as from Dave BROOKS. Kevin was aformer member of the 8th FTS at Vance and aformer member of CS-28. Our thoughts and prayers are truly with the family and friends he left behind. We will miss you my friend! Here’s atoast...

Well, that’s all for now gang. Until next time...PEACE and PALS!

Send US your new address Now!

Carson Tavenner

3500 Oakgate Drive #2203

San Antonio, TX 78230

Home: (210)699-1913

Work: DSN 969-2281

E-mail: tavenner@hotmail.com

Percent members: 39

Good morning, warriors! Oh how Imiss hearing that phrase. Heard it before? Why don’t they just give us asmall break! Don’t know about tbe rest of you, but I learned alot at SOS! I’m just not real clear on what it was...it certainly wasn't on how to make good intros. However, Idid manage to completely avoid using any competent transitions between paragraphs in this column.

Things continue to change. To think Iwas excited doing class scribe stuff from Saudi! The past three months (not counting the two that have passed since I’ve written these words) have changed everything about this scribe job. And it is a most wonderful change at that! Now you will get stories, not data, on classmates. And why is that you ask? Because the biggest thing we aU look for in this column (finding out where people are at) is no longer going to be found here! Instead, I’m going to tell stories about all of you! You’ll be famous! But Ihear that inevitable pleading already, “but Tav, where will we get our classmate info?” That is agood question! Where will you get data, data, oh sweet data?

If you don’t know already, you can get in touch with all sorts of classmates, read the latest adventures, enjoy old memories and prepare for boondoggle TDYs by visiting www.usafa91.com. It's avirtual treat, provided solely through the very excellent and astounding efforts of our own Angela CADWELL! She and Ihave been collaborating on ideas for awhile, but she has certainly done all the hard coding work. Thank you, Angela! So, go get your browsers fired up and point 'em our way! Ithink you’ll like what you see. And now what do Ido with this column? Iknew almost as soon as Istarted the job that Icouldn’t manage to write “He’s at Hurlburt, she’s at Kirtland, he’s at McChord,” for the rest of my scribe life. As I read older classes’ columns, Isee there is indeed aworld out there much larger than just the Air Force. The way Isee it, this column should be bring out the best in us, in both our Air Force and our personal lives.

Is that’s why this month’s column is so short? No, there’s plenty of great stuff going on out there! Really! However, the speedy arrival of the web site caught me without any edited material for stories, and regurgitating location/assignment data that can now be found on the web site would be pointless (not to mention out of date!). So for now I’ll tell you who Isaw at SOS, keep it short with some other news, and then start hunting for good stories for the next issue, OK?

Iimagine every SOS class has had several Bold Golders; some of you are prob¬ ably reading this column there! Though I’m sure Idon’t have every '91er’s name from class 98B, Iknow Iran into (or heard of being there): Jay AYRES, Blair CONROY, Hank CORMIER (my flightmate!), Dennis GARRETT, Kevin HARMON, Jeff HENTZ, Mark HOEHN, Chris HOWARD, Todd KINROSS, John “I’m stiU alive” KINSMAN, Casey LEGLER, Ed “Narco-man” MOODY, Brian PETERSON, Pat REED, Vanessa SAVAS, Charley SCHLEGEL, Greg SCOTT, Bartz SYKES (another flightmate!), Di¬ ego “Question Man” WENDT, Mike WILBURN, John "Wolfy” WOLFORD, Donney WOOTEN, Bryan HUBBARD, CoUeen (MCCRARY) LESTER, Mike SAYLOR, and Kurt SCHUSTER! Man, Ihad to take two breaths just to type that! My only regret is that we didn’t have aclass party at my flight commanders’ house...

(Insert your favorite external transition.) Jim CLUFF is an AOG board member, so if there are any issues we want toraisetotheAOG,Jimisour contact man! Plus, one story he mentioned that sounds like good reading comes sponsored by Dan FLYNN, mighty HC- 130-man! One night in Korea (Dan’s now at Kadena), Dan had an EP and later it was written up in an issue of the Special Ops magazine Com¬ mando. Iwill try to find acopy for the web page. And Ski, if you read this before I contact you, Iwant your story on it, too! On the lighter side, Dave DAMRATH sent me astory about achance meeting with Dan MUIR in the Christmas rush at the Cincinnati airport, followed quickly by an e-mail from Dan MUIR telling me he saw Dave DAMRATH in the Cincinnati airport! But what Ithought was alitde odd is how Dan’s story didn’t mention anything about any handcuffs....

Some things are better left unsaid, Iguess.

James S. Mehta

900 N. Stafford St. #2621

Arlington, VA 22203

Home: (703) 525-5495

Work: (703) 907-1317

DSN: 283-1317

Percent members: 35

fWelcome once again to your Class Notes 1992. As Isit down to write tonight, there are several things on my mind. Ijust returned from SOS afew weeks ago and I’m facing anew assignment. Iguess SOS is the time when we all get reBlued. For me, it was especially so -being in OSI and working at DIA for this assignment, Iam de fi nitely far removed from the “Blue” Air Force. The best part of SOS was getting achance to work vrith True Blue Air Force people again. And, Ihave never seen so many captains in one place in my whole life! Captains were adime adozen; maybe cheaper. Actually, it was agood sevenweek break from the dally job and agood chance to take four years of M-5 all over again! There were quite afew USAFA ’92 grads there along with ’94, ’91, and even ’90 grads.

Iam going to give you amachine-gun-style list of whom Iremember seeing. I could never remember where they all are, or what they are all doing, but at least you know they are all still in and will be for the next year since we all signed up for

another year by attending in residence. If you were there, but Imissed you, take this opportunity to write me aletter. Take adeep breath and here goes: Lisa (HORTON) STEVENSON, Paul CAIRNEY, A1 BLOIR, Josh KUTRIEB, Lance MCCUISTON, Francois DESAMOURS, John BOSTWICK, Tom RICE, Brian CESSNA, Jennifer BLOCK, Hastings “Cheese” CHASE, Steve ANDERSON, "Spuds" MACKENZIE, Mike MOTE, Ken HAERTLING, Chuck HOWARD, Scott JONES, and Brandon BAKER.

TWo more guys that Idefinitely remember -John GURRIERI and Chris FREYwere in my flight. We had quite atime together. We didn’t win much in flickerball or volleyball, but we had fun. John and his wife just PCSed to McChord AFB to fly theoTC-141. He was at Vance AFB flying the mighty TWeet as an IP for the last few years. Hey John, “you look like aman.” As for Chris, he is living alife of debauch¬ ery in Sin City (Las Vegas) at Nellis AFB working as acivil engineer in the Red Horse Squadron. He was last seen headed to Mardi Gras in New Orleans follow¬ ing SOS graduation. Chris, did you make it home alive?

Tom RICE lived down the hall at SOS and has been working at McGuire as an intel officer. He told me that Brian CARBAUGH left the Marines. The Marines never let Brian fly and he decided that life would be better on the outside. Ithink he is happy with his decision. It is now the time that many of us can think about getting out of tbe Air Force. For those of us who did not incur along commitment like the one from UPT, we are finished or finishing up our commitment to the Air Force.

Igot an e-mail from Marc SCHALLER who is the web-master for our class web page. He decided to get out and go to graduate school full-time (MIT, Ithink). He proclaimed, “It is extremely intense but Iam enjoying myself.” While Tm thinking about it, Iwant to put in another pitch for the class web page. Marc has done a great job with it. There are various sections for getting information and sharing information and ways to contact people. One thing that it allows us to do, is list our e-mail addresses so others can send you e-mail. We should try to get as com¬ plete alisting as possible. In order to do this, everyone should visit the site and list their address. And, in addition, when you talk to other classmates, remind them that the web page exists and have them list their addresses as well. So you’re probably wondering what the web page address is. Well, here it is: http:// members.tripod.com/ -usafa92/usafa92.HTM. However, if it doesn’t work, you’ll have to navigate there. Go to the USAFA home page, then “click” the link to the AOG, then “click" the link to GRADUATES, and then “click” Class of 1992. It sounds like along sequence, but it’s really not. So check it out and you can even e-mail me directly (hint, hint)! If that’s not incentive, then Idon’t know what is. Speak¬ ing of getting out and joining the rest of the world, Ed BRACE sent an e-mail tell¬ ing me that he’s doing just that. Things have been very busy for him so I’ll let him tell you in his own words. “I’ll officially be acivilian in May and have taken a position in internal audit at Prudential Insurance Corporate Headquarters in New Jersey. It has been an exciting last two-plus years for me. Imarried my lovely bride, Kim, PCSed to Patrick (tough job!), am now separating. Lastly, we are ex¬ pecting our first child in May. Whew! Tm really excited about the change to busi¬ ness suits. The AF was agreat experience, but for me, it was time to move on.” Ed also said that Brad SWEZEY had separated and is quite successful working as a financial planner.

The Tobler family: Rob, Leisa and Andrew, in Switzerland. Igot an e-mail from Rob and Leisa TOBLER and their son Andrew. They are at Ramstein AB where Rob is still flying the C-9. Dave KUMASHIRO tells me that Rob has been asking about Dover and Travis since Rob has aC-5 follow-on. How¬ ever, that won’t happen until the summer of 1999. Rob is supposed to come through D.C. on TDY at the end of the month, so Ihope to meet up with him for dinner, at least. Dave is now working at the Pentagon while continuing to take classes at The George Washington University in the intern program. We get together every once in awhile, but not often enough. Life can get so busy when you’re not paying attention. Dave also told me that Jeff HANDY, who is also in the intern program, got married around the first of the year. And, the other day, Dave and Iboth read that Erik RYDBERG got picked up for Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB. In January, John MILTNER sent me an e-mail from Turkey. He is stationed there

and is working with OSIA (I think). He said he is enjoying the culture and country, and is working on his Turkish as well! Then Igot an e-mail from Donna WARD who is at McClellan AFB. She said she vrill be getting her re-Blueing at SOS in May. Donna, just remember to stay out of the penalty box in Flick, Isure didn’t! Not much other info in her note.

The e-mails certainly outweighed the old-fashioned pen-and-paper type this time. But, Idid get one letter. Suzy STREETER sent me aChristmas card and her annual “my life is very busy” letter from England. Iusually get tired just reading her letters; Idon’t think Icould keep the schedule she does. She is very active in several base organizations and in the past year acquired three new voluntary jobs. She claims to be addicted to volunteering. Boy, if 1learned one thing at the Zoo, it was never to volunteer! Iguess Suzy never picked up on that. Actually, she sounds like she is having ablast. Nearly, everyone and their uncle visited her and she traveled extensively around Europe as usual. She is PCSing this summer to aloca¬ tion yet to be determined. I’m sure Iwill hear from her again as she is one of my most frequent writers.

As usual Iwill update you on my old roommate Don UNWIN. He is stationed at Eimendorf flying the venerabie C-130. He was recently selected to be the Flight Safety officer and attended afive-week course at Kirtland AFB. TWo other ’92 guys were in his class down there: Dan NEFF who is flying KC-135s at Grand Forks AFB, and Scott COURINGTON who is flying BUFFs at Barksdale. Don was enjoy¬ ing the class, hut was ready to get back to Alaska. He beard that A1MATNEY was getting out and becoming aminister. A1 if you’re out there, drop me aline and confirm that and give us the details.

Well, that seems to be all Ihave this edition. Things are getting easier vrith email, so Ihope to hear from more of you. Iwill probably have anew address by tbe time tbe next magazine comes out as Ihave been told that Iam being reas¬ signed to Hickam AFB this summer. As time gets cioser, Iwill know more. If any¬ one is in Hawaii now, e-mail me and give me the scoop. Ihave not been there in six years, and that was just for vacation. Remember you can always get my cur¬ rent e-mail address from either the AOG home page or the 1992 home page. Oh, there was one last thing that Iwanted to remind you of, in case you forgot.

Not only has it been six years since graduation, but also it has been 10 years since that fateful day (30 June 1988) when we arrived at the BOR ready to start this journey. Doesn’t seem like that iong ago -or does it? Until next time, God Bless, and keep in touch. Your Class Scribe, James

Michael D. Sundsted

1430C Galaxy Ave.

Scott, AFB, IL 62225 (618) 744-9604

DSN: 576-5518

E-mail: Sundstem@hqamc.safb.af.mil

Percent members: 86

Hello my good friends. It’s great to be at that time of year again when we can honor another glorious graduating class. Congratulations to the Class of 1998.1 hope this article finds everyone in great spirits. Iwill PCS this summer to McGuire AFB so look for anew address. Iwill try to update everyone as soon as Iget anew address.

We’ll start our summer tour with adip into the cybermecca-web page designed by Barry COGGINS. There is much information to he found and many issues that have been discussed. If you haven’t checked it out, Ihighly recommend it. Please give Barry an e-mail at Barry@BoardwalkMall.com. The web page will bring you down memory lane as live shots on USAFA’s terrazzo-cam show current images of our former existence. There is also a“live chat” page in the making which will be operable shortly.

Next up is anote that Ireceived from Jerry SIEGEL just before Christmas. Sorry about the belated entrance in the article, hut Iguess better late than never, right? Jerry updates us from Del Rio, TX. Jerry was, ahem, betrothed on 27 Sept 97 in San Antonio, TX. Jerry and Nancy (see photo) enjoyed the mild winter in Texas listen¬ ing to country music and playing Jeopardy. In attendance at the wedding were Kevin and Jen BASIC, Scott and Chrissy KOONS, Ryan and Dawn MARSHALL, Jo SMIT, Chuck and Stacy STEVENS, and Doug and Kristin (UCHIMIRA) PIERCE. Jerry has bumped into several of our classmates to include, but not limited to Mike TAMBURO,Frank FLIETAS, Scott POWELL, Eugene STEIN, and Brian HELLINGER. Congratulations on the great news.

Jerry and Nancy -all smiles!

Speaking of news, we have afew new babies on the block and moving in shortly. First, Jeff and Kate VOETBERG are to be congratulated on the birth of their beau-

tiful baby girl. Second, Jo and Kristin SUCICH are expecting ababy girl this sutnO.J. and Janan SANCHEZ are the proud parents of anew baby girl as well. Our congratulations and best wishes go out to all of you.

Next up on our summer extravaganza is Bryan ROGERS. He updates us from Offutt AFB where he works in the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron navigating RC-135S. Bryan came from Dyess AFB where he maintained navigating aircraft. Now he navigates maintained aircraft. (My small attempt at humor should prob¬ ably be left unnoticed.) Bryan and his wife, Jennie, live on base two doors dovm from Sean and Claire RYAN (Academy roommate). Sean specializes as acommu¬ nications officer working vrith STRATCOM.

Also at Offutt AFB is Heath RUSHING who is constantly in pursuit of any biathlon recordhehasn’talreadydemolished.FredPHELANisbiancinghisworkasanavi¬ gator on OPEN SKIES missions with the night life near Offutt. Rumor has it that Fred has quite the pad. It’s within walking distance of the greatest barley holes in Mid-America. Jeff MCMILLEN keeps KG-135s aloft and returning them for safe landings is amajor part of his life as apilot in the 38“'.

Look’s like we are hearing from alot of first-time customers! Jimmy SAYRES vwites from EE. Warren. He updates us on over three years of his life. Jimmy starts out after graduation where he moved to Grand Eorks AFB where he roomed with Layne TAPPER for one year and Mike BORYS for two years. Mike is now known as being a"HUGE” guy and frequently takes the gold in local bodybuilding compe¬ titions. These guys, as well as many others, braved the minus 80-degree tempera¬ tures. Not much to do in the winter except work out and well, you know, work!

The next chapter in Jimmy’s life begins after meeting and marrying his vrife, Danika. She is also afellow officer and graduated from Texas Christian University. They are currently enjoying the joint-spouse venture and are both assigned to the 400th Missile Squadron. Also stationed at EE. Warren are ly HACHTEL, Jerry HUFFMAN, Andrew “Smitty” SMITH, Mike BLAZES, and Russ WOLFE.

What’s that? Do you guys hear wedding bells? Well, several of us did when we joined Kevin KOSEEESKI and his bride, Kelly, in abeautiful ceremony on Valentine’s Day. In attendance were myself, Darrel HUBBARD (’94), Jason “Toon’’ and Jackie (OTIS) BREEDEN, Aaron "Robo’’ KERKMAN, Brendan "Modo’’ HARRIS, Charlie BROWN (’94), Pat SMITH, Paul COPIOLI, Brant VEBRUGGE, and Char MELICK. A great time was had by all as evidenced by the photo. Ithink this was rather late in the evening just before Aaron’s last Cape Cod and just prior to getting accosted by alieutenant colonei for being out of uniform (whoops). The reception was held at the Association of Graduates reception hall, which was absolutely incredible. We all agreed thatourmoney was well worth the new building. Congratulations go to Kevin on graduating from T-37s to helicopters at Fort Rucker, AL.

Kelly Kosefeski in "Top Gun IT’.

Brendan HARRIS took some time to update me on his life. Since Iknow he hates when Imention his name in this publication, Iwill continue to agitate him. It was better meeting with him face to face because Ididn’t need Webster’s to decipher the 20-dollar words Brendan uses. He is currently in Las Vegas enjoying asuper, secret course making him even more intelligent. He will be PCSing to Korea over tbe summer utilizing the plethora (there you go Brendan) of knowledge about all weapons systems known to man. Wait aminute, do Ihear wedding bells again? Maybe... Brendan, why don’t you fiii us in here? We’ll be looking forward to your updates from Korea. It’s asmall world. I’m sure we’ll see each other.

On to our next guest! Steve HORTON (another first-time writer- anyone see the trend here?) writes from Luke AFB where he is finishing up his F-16 training. He and his wife. Heather, are enjoying the warm weather in the Southwest. He keeps in touch with DaleandCheryl HOOVER. Dale, for those of you who don’t know, is one of our resident Squids. He is an EOD officer who is having ablast in Califor¬ nia. Kevin and Heidi SUTTON are stationed at Spangdahiem where Kevin flies F- 16s. Heidi is enjoying her time as an air traffic controller. What Iwant to know is who in that family gives the orders and what kind of trouble does Kevin get into when he requests the tower flyby. Steve keeps in touch with Alex GRYNKEWICH who is flying F- 16s at Eielson. When Steve went through IFF at Sheppard AFB he ran into Mark ARNHOLT and Steve ANDERSON as well as Mike YOUNG. Paul TRUJILLO is also doing well. It’s great to hear from everyone. Congrats to all the graduates!

Irecently received aletter from Lee SPECHLER who is having the time of his life flying the T-38 like Maverick in Top Gun. He had his first T-38 solo in March and w^i be graduating in iate July. The only things Leehas been able todoissmileand yell “Yiiooooo!” Also doing the pilot training thing is Stephen MCILNAY, Lee’s former roommate. Stephen has recently gone through agreat deal of stress when

he lost his electronic organizer with everyone’s name in it. He is alive and well with anew car and anew jet at Columbus AFB, MS. He is admittedly chronically single with no kids, but is currently searching for another kitten. His first lost a bout with the fourth or fifth balcony in Italy. Good luck to both of you! Iguess that about does it for this episode. Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. Ilook forward to hearing how everyone’s Spring went. Remember that my email address will not change, so for those of you who haven’t written yet, write. For those of you who have written, write again. Last, but not least, check our web page out! See you there -Mike.

C. C. and Trevor Smith

4121S.VanBuren#641

Enid, OK 73703-8596

Home: (580) 233-5445

E-Mail: smicm@okstate.edu

Homepage: http://www.usafa.net/ 1994/indexhtm

Percent members: 75

Greetings and congratulations, fellow Captains! It should be agood summer financially vrith anice pay raise and, for most people, paid off car loans! Congrats as well to our fellow Redtags in the Class of ’98 -especially 2Lt Jamie PETERSONwelcome to the ranks, ’98!

Ihaven’t gotten tons of letters from you guys lately, but it’s great to see so many people e-mailing me or updating their info on the homepage. And speaking of the homepage... Chuck Baird just developed an entirely new web site that has all the necessary USAFA links—including ones for all the other classes (with homepages) and to the AOG. The easy-to-remember address of the main page is simply http://www.usafa.net, so check it out!

Although few people are writing these days, we did get alate, but newsy Christ¬ mas letter from Greg WOOD (F-15s, Kadena). He had just gotten orders to Elmendorf, but reported that Rob JACKSON, Chris KIRBY, Mark SNOWDEN, Steve LEWIS, and Dave TOOGOOD were going to carry on the F-15 duties in Kadena. Colette WRIGHT (recently married) had also just shown up in Okinawa, but Greg wasn’t sure of her job or her married name. He also mentioned that he would see Brian BENTER (CE) upon his arrival in Alaska and that feUow Eagle driver Britt HURST had orders to Langley. But enough about everyone else, right Greg? Greg also had some personal news to update... He has met the girl of his dreams, /\rmy Lt. Gina Gentile -the two have been inseparable since they met in January of 1996. They don’t hear wedding bells in their near future, but he says not to be surprised if they pian nuptials in the next few years...

Greg Wood and his girlfriend Gina enjoying the sites of Japan.

Personal e-mails fl ooded in, although Ithink afew were deleted by the system at OSU. Iknow Jeff UNGENS (Trans, Ramstein) wrote in, but Idon’t have his message anymore...if there are any others, I’m really sorry. Please write again -1 can check my school e-mail at home now, so everything is finally getting saved! The first e-mail that Istill have is from my old buddy Nick KOZDRAS who just PCSd to Tinker to install air traffic control and comm equipmentwiththeSS* Engineering Installation Group. He replaced Trish GUERRA (PCSing to Colorado), but admitted he wouldn’t see much of Oklahoma with TDYs expected for 50 per¬ cent of the year. Despite his projected travel schedule, Nick is pursuing amaster’s in computer resources and information management from Webster University.

Oliver LEEDS wrote from NAS Whiting Field (you know, Pensacola, Wings of Gold!), where he, Chris KORNMESSER, and Jack ANTEDOMENICO were finish-

ing T-34 training with the Navy. For those who aren’t as immersed in the training world as we are, T-34s are an alternative trainer to the T-37 as part of the new Joint Specialized UPT (JSUPT)... the Air Force sends afew people there and the Navy and Marines send some of their folks through T-37s. Ollie, Jack, and Chris should be here at Vance right now for their advanced training, but Ihaven’t run into any of them yet...

My next e-mails came from Chris FORD (Security Forces ops officer. Grand Forks), who was trying to find our class homepage (it’s lots easier to remember now, isn’t it, Chris?). Despite the cold Dakota winters, Chris has really enjoyed (and excelled at) his job -he was recently named Support Group CGO of the year and was waiting to hear about the wing level award... I’m pretty sure Courtney MINER won for both the support group and the wing at Grand Forks in 1995, so it’s great to see the tradi¬ tion carried on! When he wrote, Chris had recently returned from a120-day rota¬ tion as the force protection officer for USAF Forces in Kuwait, where he saw my fellow bullpup Tim SUMJA (A-1 Os, Pope) on one of Tim’s many deployments. Chris had also heard from Mark SHIDELER who was getting all over the world for his medical training. Mark mentioned some pretty gruesome experiences with the locals while on aTDY to Haiti, but also added that he was dating C. Everett Koop’s daughter! (Chris’ comment: “That’s one wgy to get your foot in the door for agreat medical assignment!’’). Finally, Chris wrote again to say that he was picked up for AFIT and would be departing Grand Forks in mid-July to pursue amaster’s in crimi¬ nal justice at the University of South Carolina. He also added that Marvin EE had just arrived at Grand Forks after retraining into CE. Thanks for the updates Chris, and good luck at AFIT -believe me, you’ll LOVE it!

I

IFrom the archives...The “Screaming’Demons" get it up for the obstacle course-Air Force!

Rich and Heather (ALDRICH) TARBOX (Langley) sent anewsy e-mail as well. The two of them got out of the /Ur Force with the ‘98 drawdown and have gone off to explore other avenues with their three kids: Michael (12), Emma (2), and Julia (6 mo). Rich finished my master’s in theology and his doctorate in ministry last year (WOW!) and plans to go into full-time ministry this summer, but they’re not sure where. He and Heather have also heard from Jevon ZIRBIEL (SF -for those who don’t pay attention, that’s the new name for SPs) who was on his way to Minot, but promised to provide more updates in the future. It sounds like things are going great for you guys—good luck- and send afamily photo. (I think you forgot to attach it to your e-mail, as promised!)

Dave PLEAS/VNCE (/Umy Infantry, Ft. Lewis, WA) added some follow-up info to his Christmas letter, where he is now the adjutant (SI) for 1st Battalion, 5th Infan¬ try (1“ Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division). Despite his hectic schedule, he’s had enough time to pursue hobbies and catch up with classmates. In February, he, Brian DOUGLAS, Jon MOORE, and Mark O’REILLY got together to celebrate Mark’s impending marriage in /\pril. They skied for two days, which gave Jon plenty of time to get up close and personal with the mountain in an eight-foot jump in the trees. Dave sincerely hopes he learns to land better at fighter transition later on this year! For his part, Dave loves the Army and is trying to change branches from Infantry to Special Forces -he’ll know more in September... In his free time, Dave has been climbing three of Washington’s five volcanoes (including 14,411-ft Mt. Rainier) and hopes to organize aciimb of Denali in Spring/Summer of 1999. He also added the following jab to the other ’94 grads in sister services: “I last saw Pete SMITH and Dave EMORY at Fort Banning and heard Carlton HOSKINS was going through Ranger School when one of my soldiers returned. They must not be proud of their accomplishments or something! The same goes for Marines and Navy. I’ll bet if you say something in the next article about their lack of pride you get aresponse from every one of them. Rangers lead the way!’’ Enough said... Finally, Michelle (COOKE) D/kLE wrote from Edwards where she is an Advanced Range Instrumentation/kircraft (ARIA) mission commander, although she’s ap¬ plying to Test Pilot School in the fall. Her husband, Ben, is teaching Spanish and coaching basketball and tennis. Michelle ran into Kathy CLEVEIAND (Kirtland) and Lt Col (ret) /klma Guzman (from the cadet clinic) at Alicia V/kLLENI’s wedding reception and occasionally sees Brian CRUM around base. She also asked me to

Make Your Tax-deductible Donation Now to The Air Force Academy Fund.

put in another plug for the homepage and to send out an APB for Chris PARRY, whose address in the register isn’t good (so update your addresses, everyone!).

Of course, Michelle wasn’t the only one checking into the ’94 page. The follow¬ ing people also wrote in this quarter alone (sorry Ican’t write il their info here, but check out the homepage for more details)...Jim WORLEY (F-15C, RAF Lakenheath); Kyle SANDERS (missileer, Malmstrom); Stephan and Karla SMITH (formerly AWACS, Tinker, now UPT, Laughlin); Chris SUNSERl (airlift ops, Kadena) ; Galley and Carol POARCH (Section CC, Altus); Les HIMEBROOK (test manager, Kirtland); Brett ANDERSON (med student, UTHSC San Antonio); Ryan KENNY (acquisitions, L.A.); Joseph, Dawn, and Caleb SILVERS (bioenvironmental engi¬ neer, Hurlburt); BUI KOSSICK (maintenance, Robins); Eric STUBBS (Section CC, Thule); Mike and Tracey MANOR (Space Ops, Falcon); Brian and Christy NOE (se¬ nior instructor crew commander, Grand Forks); Doug EDWARDS (F-117 program mgr, McClellan); David HAM (sortie generation flight commander, Elmendorf); John DUNLAP (nav school, Pensacola); and Steve ANDERSON (biotechnology program manager, TVndall). See what you’re missing if you don’t check out the homepage?

From the archives...CQ was always such asolem occasion

Life here in Oklahoma is great -and Ireally enjoyed having spring break again this year (not to mention Fall and Christmas breaks)! Trevor and Istay really busy, but we’d always love to see or hear from you, so please keep in touch! We ran into

Courtney MINER (Services staff, HQ AMC, Scott) at our O’Club afew weeks ago andRob LOPEZ just PCSdinfor UPT. Ihaven’t seen Liz (BARTON) MEYERS around, but Iknow that she should be having that baby any time now.. .I’ll tty to get pic¬ tures for the next issue! Her husband, Joel, just track-selected, but I’m not sure what he chose. That’s about it for us -although we have been in touch with Vince Tur-Rojas, if you remember him. He’s working at the Pentagon with General Ryan now!

As Iclose, Iwant to explain the pictures Iincluded (besides the one of Greg and Gina).. .1 told you I’d start putting pictures in if 1didn’t hear from folks, so Iam. I’ll just call It the ’94 archives and Ithrow in an old class photo whenever 1have the space. If you recognize yourself, try writing in! Have afantastic and safe summer! Take Care and God Bless -C.C. &Trevor

Becky Mason

P. O. Box 782394

Wichita, KA 67278 (316) 682-8751

E-mail: masonr@emh.mcconnell.af.mil

Percent members: 67

Hello everyone! Since Andrea ROLFE is deployed to the desert for 120 days with the 390* Fighter Squadron from Mountain Home (F-15Cs), Iasked her if Icould help out and write the next two Checkpoints articles for her. She gladly agreed! She writes she is really enjoying Mountain Home and even bought asnowboard and goes skiing every weekend. Sounds like Idaho is the place to be!

Chris SANDYS (’93) wrote Andrea and said he’s in L.A. having agreat time and planning to leave the service in April. He’s there with Cary GUNN, Jenna BARASCH, Julie PRICE, Kevin CLARK, and Kelly HEALY (’94). They are all enjoying the Cali¬ fornia lifestyle -albeit alittle rainy due to El Nino!

Mike BOYNTON wrote to say hello and that he is doing well in Oneonta, NY, where he owns his own stereo shop. Autotech Mobile Electronics. He’s enjoying it alot and says he enjoys being an entrepreneur -when you are in the area, stop in to see him and get aride on his motorcycle.

Mike THODE wrote from Korea where he has been keeping in touch with Scott CAIN, Johnny NORTHON, Steve ALEXANDER, Nate GRABER, Chris TUMILOWICZ, and Johnny ELLER. He has also been up to Osan to hang with Rex BALLINGER, Jason RISHEL, and Sang PARK. Sounds like they are really enjoying their time over there! Rob ROSSI (whose great photograph of the rugby game you see here) is also in Kunsan and says Tom SHERMAN is there with him too and also mentioned that Dan BOYD will be replacing him in June. That’s when Rob will be heading to AFIT for his master’s. He also says Tanya SCHNORR just got to Davis-Monthan after a great six months in Panama. What alife!

Joel HIGLEY writes from Japan where he is enjoying the single life as aC-21

pilot, not aHuey pilot as reported before. He said life is great and reports that Todd WEISER ('92) is the helo flight commander there. Joel saw Paul SPAVEN at Kadena where Paul is an F-15 pilot and they told old war stories about Seagram’s Seven. Matt MELOENY is aC-17 pilot assigned at Charleston and saw Joel when he stopped In at Yokota. Joel also mentioned acouple of other grads stationed at Yokota who needed to be mentioned: Kevin WHITTAKER, Jim HACKBARTH (C130 copilots), and Gabe GRIESS (C-130 nav). What agroup! Iknow they’re having ablast!

Ed LOCKE tvrote to share his great news about getting married Dec 21,1996, to Susan Schmidt. They were married in the Columbus AFB chapel. He’s stationed at Columbus in the Environmental Engineering (CE) section. He, like many oth¬ ers, spent the majority of last year in Saudi Arabia. While there, he worked with Tom ROSE, Jim PLATTE, and Kelly HARSHENBARGER ('93). Also, like many of us, he’s looking for anew assignment soon.

A1 ADAMS wrote me from Del Rio, TX, where he is finally in pilot training. He finished his master’s at Harvard and decided to go to some more school! He is finding time to enjoy some of the area.

Tony NISHAMURA wrote from the eternal winter base. Grand Forks, to say hello and keep us posted -his letter was chock full of info! He’s assigned to the 32P' Missile Group with Tanya HURWITZ, Mike LEKICS, Grady DUNHAM, Roy COLLINS, Jason BEERS (SFS), and Eric CAGAN. Also at Grand Forks are G. HAHN C96), BUI DOUGLASS (‘94), Paul HERMANN (‘94), and Scott DUNPHY (‘94). Christy LOW (PORTERFIELD) just gave birth to abeautiful baby girl (Alexis) and is trying to get stationed at Beale AFB to be near her husband. Nish heads for ENJJPT at Sheppard soon, Mike LEKICS is going to Woomera, Australia to play with koalas, Eric CAGAN is going to Falcon AFB, and Jason BEERS is going to San Antonio when he gets back from the desert. He reports Joe DINGMAN is in Liverno, Italy, work¬ ing with the Navy and Army, and is iso aproud father who has been married over ayear. Rich CARRELL just got married this past summer and is also aproud fa¬ ther stationed at Hurlburt as an MC-130 navigator. His brother Scott CARRELL just got engaged to agirl from his hometown and moved to Seymour Johnson. Jim TUOMI is back home in Anchorage, AK, and quit his civil engineering job to focus on becoming apUot. On his world travels, Nish stayed with Rocky NORTHON and Paul MACCREARY while at EE. Warren. Rocky Is still playing alot of hockey! He also sawWlllle GRIFFITHS, Jim CAPIZZI (‘94), and Josh HARTMAN (’93) while in L.A. They road-tripped together to San Jose to watch our football team lose. Other people he’s heard from include Mike STAPLES in CE at Hanscom, Tommy COLVIN, Glenn HARRIS, and Scott TRINIRUD at Why-not-Minot as missileers, and Steve DROLLINGER at Minot in Security Forces. Dan BRINGS (’96) just got A10s and is headed to New Mexico. Kelsey CHRISTOPHER (’96) is in finance at Patrick. Stephan LARESE is at McChord and just got an OSI job. Mark HANSON e-mailed Nish from Fairchild and is on his way to grad school in Minnesota, a remote to Korea, and then ateaching job at USAFA.

Jon TINSLEY wrote with an update from Spangdahlem where he is flying F-16s and loving life. He is stationed there with Deedra FOGLE, Tony MULHARE, Paul WILSON, and Stu MARTIN (A-lOs). Scott ARBOGAST and Adam MEYERS (both F-16 drivers) just reported to Spang. Jon was in Turkey last November and ran into DJ WALSH who is currently an E-3 nav but has apilot slot coming up soon. He also ran into Sherri ARRUDA and Nate COZZENS (both at McConnell In KC135s), Mike WAITE, Jon RHONE, and Mike JOHNSTON. John NEMECEK, Erik BROWN, and Miles MATHIEU were also spotted over there.

Kim DEVEREUX wrote to let us know she will beheadlngtoKunsanABtobethe chief of Public Affairs. Iguess that sounded better to her than another stint in Bosnia! Igot the chance to see Kim hard at work at Wright-Pat last fall when Iran the marathon -she was pretty busy! She reports that Patrick POHLE received an AFIT Cl slot for his master’s degree so Tammy POHLE (RIVERS) is trying to get an assignment there too. Dennis RAND is attending AFIT in-house, as is Brian SMITH. Brian got married last summer and he and his wife, Diana, are expecting their first child this summer. Eric and Jen (SMITH) HERBEK are stationed at WrightPat and Jen has finished her physical therapy school. Isaw an article by Jim FUCHS from the desert but he is stationed in Public Affairs at Scott AFB.

Elizabeth MAY e-mailed me from Falcon AFB where she is assigned to the 2d Space Operations Squadron. She had great news of her engagement to Dave MEGGETT (’94). They will be getting married this summer in Colorado Springs. She is assigned with Reeves BOWER (’94), Eric GODELFER, Ian SMITH (flying C-

Rugby at Camp Humphreys: From left are Johnny Northon, Matt Lowe, Rob Rossi, Chris Claus, and Jason Rishel.

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21s), ZachZEINER (’94), Eric KNIGHT (’94), TJ MCDONALD (’93), Scott FRISIUS (’93), Eric MORITZ (’92), Tom ST MARIE (’96), and Eric SANDS (’96). She is work¬ ing on her master’s degree in space operations. Good luck Liz!

Jason BEERS wrote from Bahrain and iet me know that Derek EMMONS (’94) was there as well as Adam STONE, Shawn SLAUGHTER, Chris KIBBLE, and others he recognized but couldn’t remember. Brian BRADFORD is still at Nellis as acop, as well as Hall SEBREN (’96) in maintenance.

Dwight JUNIO wrote from Mountain Home and let me know he is going to Ko¬ rea and will be getting married soon. His fiance is also in the AF and is trying to get an assignment to Korea as well. Good luck Dwight!

Don JONES writes from WSO school. He’s finally done at Pensacola. Others with him are Chad MEYERING, Shane STEINKE, Craig LUCEY, Ainsley O’REILLY, Eric DAS, and Rex AYERS (both pilots). They’re all in training to be F-15E WSOs and pilots -keep up the great work guys! He also says Chris EDERLE, Jeremy DURTSCHI, Chris ZULKE, and Drew MORRISON are aclass ahead of him. Chris EDERLE is headed to Mildenhall so be on the lookout to welcome him!

Elizabeth TEMPLETON wrote me ashort note with afantastic picture. She is traveling the world with the AMOG at McGuire and is having agreat time.

Here at McConnell AFB in Wichita, KA, it is pretty quiet except for numerous rotational deployments. There are alot of grads here as well! Rob (’93) and Amber (WIMBERLY, ’94) YOUNG gave birth to abeautiful baby this winter. Amber is doing great as the chief of Public Affairs, and Rob is apilot on the KC-135. Other grads here are Sherry ARRUDA, Nate COZZENS, Jim HUSCROET, Eric PAXTON (’96), Todd COOK (’96), James SHIGEKANE (’93), Janelle JONES, Jenny (MAYER) BAUTISTA (’95 at heart!), Mike BAUTISTA (’94), Chris WILSON (’93), and many more that Ican’t think of off the top of my head! I’m still in maintenance and am currendy completing astint as an executive officer. Ijust finished my master’s degree in human resource management and like most of you am looldng for an assignment.

Finally, Ineed to put aplug in from Kevin WELLS -he’s the '95 web-page guru. If you haven’t gone to it yet, it’s agreat way to get in touch with along-lost classmate and it also has links to other classes. The address is: http://wnvw.geocities.com/ pentagon/1973. If you want to get your address added to the web page, just con¬ tact Kevin through that web site.

I’ll be writing the next article too so please send me your updates, pictures, and hints for writing abetter article so Ican send it into the AOG. Ihope everyone is doing great and enjoying life to the fullest! Write soon! Take care! Becky.

Melissa S. Cunningham

1308 Hembre Court

Suisun City, CA 94585

Phone: (707) 422-7975

DSN: 837-2088

Percent members: 58

f

Greetings from Cairo, Egypt! I’m working on an exercise and I’m hoping to bump into some of you while I’m out here.

Bill Lowe and Melissa Cunningham at Yongsan Army Post in Seoul, Korea. in San Antonio. Now he’s back in Japan working in logistics. Robbie KILROY is still at Kelly in the bioenvironmental engineering office. She spent several weeks in Australia on vacation and had ablast. Finally, Yiotula CHILIGIRIS got stationed at Minot after completing missile school.

Shawn ANGER graduated from UPT in October, finished up Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals at Sheppard AFB, TX, and is now at Luke AFB, AZ learning to fly the F-16. He should find out his follow-on assignment sometime in late March or April. He also said that his long-distance relationship with Micki would be coming to an end. He hinted that he would be popping the question soon and we should be finding out soon if she says yes.

Nicole ELLINGWOOD sent agreat Christmas Card full of information about the folks down at Columbus AFB, MS. Steve LUCAS, Jeff HOGAN, Alan McCRACKEN, Matt McGARRY, and Kevin BEEKER selected A-lOs to Davis Monthan AFB, AZ. Cameron CAROOM, Chris SPINELLI, Chris HUTCHINS, Joe PESTANA, Brian GRASKY, and Matt SIMMONS are going to Luke AFB, AZ to fly F- 16s. Joe BOEHM and Alex HADDAD will be enjoying the summer sun at Tyndall AFB, FL flying F15Cs. Jed HUTCHINSON and Jon KALBERER selected F-16s. Nicole ELLINGWOOD, Dan BADIA, Geoff LOHMILLER, Steve D’AMICO, and Jim HART are at Seymour Johnson AFB, NC flying the F-15E. Adam FLOOD will soon join Big“Al” HORSENS atTravis AFB flying the KC-10. Jill BIVENS was selected to fly KC- 135s at Grand Forks AFB. Joel SAFRANEK took aKC-135 to Kadena AB, Japan, Congrats to all of you!

Neal NEWELL, Dave LERCHER, T-MAC and Doc CREAL are all in the T-38 fighter track at Columbus and will graduate soon. We look forward to hearing what they select in their drop. Jon "Wheels” WHEELER is at Vance AFB, OK now after com¬ pleting his MBA at the University of Florida.

Brian McDONALD checked in from the Mojave Desert at Edwards AFB, CA. He’s working with the 418th Flight Test Squadron as a“C- 17A flight dynamics test en¬ gineer”. Even though he’s not flying the aircraft, he’s gotten 50 hours so far in the C-17. He’s also wearing abag to work and drawing flight pay. He’s looking forward to his wedding on 21 June 98 to Nicole Thuotte. Their ceremony will be held in Massachusetts where they both grew up.

Keith JONES and his wife are also at Edwards. Keith is also with the 418th work¬ ing on ahigh-level-interest program and will be TDY to the Pentagon to present his results. He’s also applied for an AFIT scholarship for his next assignment. Jorge CHEN is working with the Civil Engineering Squadron at Edwards. Starting in March, he will be going for a120-day tour to Saudi Arabia.

Chris JOHANNSSEN’s navigation class graduated on 20 March 98. He is headed to Pope AFB, NC to fly C- 130s. Libbie BEEGAN is currently stationed at WarnerRobbins AFB, GA in the developmental aeronautical engineer career field spe¬ cializing in the C-130.

The Fightin’ Fourth had asmall reunion on 10 Jan 98 for Kevin PATRICK’S wed¬ ding to Jodie Schmid held in the Community Center Chapel at the Academy. The group gathered again for Mike CERVANTEZ’s wedding in April.

Melissa Cunningham at the Giza pyramids in Egypt.

I’ve been surprised by who I’ve run into while I’ve been on the road. Last Febru¬ ary, Jsaw Bill LOUX in Seoul, Korea. He had just finished aday of snowboarding in the mountains when Isaw him in the hotel lobby. We had achance to grab lunch and catch up. Currently, he’s working in the Intel office at Kadena Air Base, Japan. He’s been sharpening his language skills and spending most of his free time en¬ joying the outdoors. He’s also published some freelance tvriting about rock climb¬ ing on the Internet in his spare time.

On asomber note, Ijust received aletter from the AOG concerning our class¬ mate Amie GRABANSKI. She was killed while walking home on March 14,1998, in ahit-and-run accident. Ihave received no further details, but they did send her parents’ address. If you would like to send condolences, you can send them to 721 Clark, Saint Charles, MO 63301. I’m sure her parents would appreciate hear¬ ing from you.

Gwen Rutherford DEFILIPPI checked in with some news about folks in the San Antonio area. She and Burt celebrated their first anniversary over the Christmas holidays. She’s had an opportunity to hang out with some of our classmates in Del Rio, Meg MARTIN has finished her master’s and just track-selected with her UPT class this past February. Sean RASSAS and Chris MCCARTHY graduated from UPT. Sean will be flying an F-16 and C.J. selected an F-15. A.J. MIMS was recently TDY

Merna HSU wrote in with tales about El Nino’s effect on the winter weather in ^oming. They were hit with unusually harsh weather and she had to stand alerts in the field for 48 hours. All the road exits were closed and eventually she was evacuated out via helicopter. Other than the weather, she is enjoying her tour and career fi eld.

Michael THOMAS dropped aline from “Cornhusker Country” bringing us up to date on folks stationed at Offutt AFB. Michael and Jim BRUSSELL are in the same squadron, the 343rd Reconnaissance Squadron, as electronic warfare officers. They each expect to head out to the “big sandbox” sometime before Lori EDINGER and Chad CHAFFEE show up to fly RC-135s there. Casey CORNISH is working there at the Global Weather Service Center, and Mo CALABRESE is providing Intel for the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron.

John FRAZY isalsodoing well at Offutt AFB. He was recently in charge of prepar¬ ing for an environmental assessment inspection. He is currently working on his MBA from the University of Nebraska. He says the hardest part so far in his stud¬ ies was having to listen to the instructors run their mouths about Nebraska foot¬ ball.

Chris CULLENBINE is still living it up in the city that never sleeps “Viva Las Ve¬ gas!” He just celebrated his first anniversary with his wife and is busy keeping up with the two new additions in his family. No, not kids yet -just two cats. He is working in the comm career field at Nellis AFB, NV. Dave CIESIELSKI is at Nellis AFB as well working with personnel.

,I..

News from the navs: Brett RAYWALD, Daron OLMSTED, Scott LOGAN, and Pat FERRELL are all going to the backseat in the F- 15Es. Andrew McWHORTER, Mark YETMAN and Mike RIDER are going to B-52s at Barksdale AFB. Other bomber types include Ken BOILLOT and Jim ROY, headed to Dyess to fly B- IBs as OSO/ DSOs. Brian GWINNUP finished up at San Antonio and has chosen KC-135s to Grand Forks AFB. Finally, Mike THOMAS will fly the RC-135.

More news from CS-31, Jake ZOCHERT is happily enforcing the speed limit and guarding the C- 130s out at Ramstein AB, Germany. Tom STE MARIE is engaged to a'97 grad and is flying GPS satellites at Falcon. BJ and April FRY have moved to Eglin AFB. BJ has been doing many briefings for the two-star in charge of the AF Development Center and is starting to transition into test programs for the F-22 and AMRAAM. Noel LJPANA has been doing great at Malmstrom AFB earning an outstanding-performer award during his last inspection. Finally, John and Crissy LODMELL continue to do well in L.A. He was the AF lead for arocket engine altitude test simulation at the NASA White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, NM.

From First Group: Ralph "Loose” CANNON is at Malmstrom AFB guarding the free world from nuclear annihilation with his Minuteman III Missiles. Rob LEE has vanished into cyberspace as an information warrior in the 609th Info Warfare Squadron at Shaw AFB. Jen KORNACKER, environmental engineering, is stationed at Charleston AFB with her husband. Dale RIEDEL, Intel. News of engagements, weddings, and other things Ican’t confirm... Clay FREE¬ MAN got engaged to agorgeous girl from his home state of Florida. Matt McGARRY and Tisha RENFROE were married on the 27th of Dec. Jeff HOGAN and Nicole ELLINGWOOD, members of wedding party, are still an item themselves. Three years and still going.

Squadron 16 sent alist of married folks including: Brian GRASKY, Dale RIEDEL, Keyan RILEY, Brett O'HALLORAN, Dan ST CLAIR, Dave CIESIELSKI, Gigi ANGE¬ LES, and soon to be Paul DZUBNAR. Keyan is in med school at Utah. Brett is at Hill AFB working in maintenance. Dan, Doug EATON, and Blair KAISER are at Corpus Christi in the C-130 track.

Paul BIRCH and Mandy MYERS were married on Jan 10, 1998 in Advance, IN. Rusty and Kim YERKES were married last summer. There was awild party after the rehearsal dinner in which Rusty proved his skills with akeg stand. This almost sent his grandmother into acardiac arrest. Eric SANDS and Marry Renna were married Sept 7,97 at the Academy Chapel and are expecting their first child soon. John FRAZY and Kristen were engaged and are planning awedding for 7Nov 98. Chris SPINELLI and Amy Baker were engaged last July.

Finally, Tom LIVINGSTON Is stationed at Ramstein AB, Germany working in fi¬ nance. He just won company grade officer of the quarter. Who would have thought it? That’s all for now, please keep the letters and photos coming! Mel.

Melvin T. Maxwell, Jr.

15050 N. 59thAve.,Apt213

Glendale, AZ 85306

Phone: (602) 588-4540/DSN: 896-6576

E-mail: melvln.maxwell@luke.af.mil

Percent members: 66

mm i

Hello beloved classmates. Ihope everything is going well in your part of the country. Things are quiet here in Arizona. Looks like this article is gonna be a short one.

Iwas down in Tucson to watch my beloved Broncos finally win the big one. There was abunch of‘96ers in addition to Matt BERG and myself adding alittle class to the party. Matt’s wife was pregnant and by the time you read this there vrill probably be alittle one in the Berg household.

Chuck LANEY came down to Phoenix on arecruiting visit back in February and stayed with me for aweek. He met more girls in the week he was here then Ihave

(Ethics Bowl; From Page 45.)

giate Ethics Bowl held Feb. 26 in Dallas Texas. The Academy’s team earned second place in the competition, just behind service Academy rival West Point.

Team members Cadet 3rd Class Joel Brown, Cadet 2nd Class Mat¬ thew Van Hook, Cadets 1st Class Sarah McCoy and Chris Baird com¬ peted with students from nearly 20 universities; including the service academies. University of Colorado, Loyola University, Manhattan Col¬ lege and the University of Montana.

“The team did exceptionally well and their strength was the way they responded to the judges’ questions,” said co-coach Capt. Jessica Hilldahl, Academy philosophy instructor. “They worked hard in re¬ searching the questions.”

The team, with help from HOldahl and coach Capt. William Casebeer, had nearly five weeks to study 25 ethical and moral questions and come up with justifiable answers. At the competition, judges picked any four of the questions for the team to answer. Participants had 60 seconds to confer before answering initial questions and 30 seconds to answer follow-up questions.

The panel of judges ranged from scholars and lawyers to engineers and clergy. Answers were judged according to intelligibility, judgement, ethi¬ cal relevance and avoidance of ethical irrelevance. Students faced issues ranging from academics, personal relationships and the workplace to professional conduct, social issues and war. “{The Academy Spirit)

■ 1

Mel, DeWayne Creamer C96), and Matt Berg celebrate the Bronco victory. for the 10 months I’ve been in Phoenix. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Nate SCOPAC dropped an e-mail on me alittle while back. He spent six months after graduation doing the foreign language immersion program along vrith Mark TAKAMIYA. In January he moved down to Pensacola for nav school. Trini MEZA, Kleth NELSON, and Dan RONNEBERG are down in Pensacola as well.

Italked with Felix JOHNFINN the other day and he filled me in on life in the mecca known to the rest of the world as San Antonio, TX. Apparently abunch of people have been running through for their various tech schools. Felixtoldmehe has seen Mark CLIFFORD, Pete SANDNESS, Tim MURPHY, Kelly McCAULEY, and Johnny HARRIS. Ithink Johnny has about five more years and then he will be eligible for retirement pay. Iheard through the grapevine that Gregg KRAUS com¬ pleted the first stages of Navy Seal training. Gregg is truly more man than I.

The number of single ‘97 grads shrank abit more in the past few months. Ire¬ ceived invitations to acouple weddings from atwo past squadron mates. Chris KAY will be marrying Kimberly Rose of Colorado Springs on April T"' at the Cadet Chapel. Ian YOUNG got married to the former Alecia Marie Driver on March 28 in Fair fi eld, CA.

Well, unfortunately that is all Ihave to report this trip around. Iknow that is pretty pathetic and if you are disappointed in me, Iunderstand. You can help me out by dropping me aline and letting me know how things are going with you. I’m eager to hear from you rated types and see what kind of planes you’ll be driving and when some of you will be flowing through Luke for F-16 training. Until next time...Mel.

Congratulations Class of 1998

The AOG extends its congratulations and best wishes to the members of the class of 1998 on their graduation. The class scribe for ‘98 will be Karin L. Klein. She can be reached by writing her at 1180 Garlock Lane, Colorado Sprinp, CO 80918. Her e-mail is: Klein-ds@worldynet.

.SKHUR

Squadron Thanks Guest of Honor Gen. RichardE. Hawley, ‘64, commander of Air Combat Command, was the guest of honor at asquadron luncheon hosted by the CS-13 Fighting Bulldogs earlier this year. He was presented abulldog mascot by the squadron commander, CIC Kirby Ensser. In the right foreground is Brig. Gen. Stephen Lorenz, '73, commandant of cadets.

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