REUNION ADDENDUM: Tiger Ten Tom Butler provided a photo of their reunion attendees; Tom resides in Potomac, MD, and flies as a Check Airman in the B-747-400 for Atlas Air based out of JFK in New York. Ivan Karnezis is living in the Sacramento, area and works for the California state aviation authority. Charlie Felton is flying the Cessna Citation X for NetJets, and recently moved to the C-Springs area. Bill Rothwell (Claudette) worked on CS-34 for the months leading up to the reunion and was rewarded when 16 of the notoriously reunion-shy showed up. The Loose Hawgs were pleased that the squadron nickname, purged in another politically correct time, had been re-instated. Photographic evidence shows that the Hawgs could still be loose after 30 years…well, maybe it was their belts that were being loosened. The wives, on the other hand, were too trim, lithe, and young-looking to be pictured with their hubbies. Some personal notes: Mike and Sandra Mosier packed son Drew off to Marine Corps training and will attend his graduation by presstime. Randy Fotinakes (Sherry) returned to USAFA still amazed that the government once entrusted him with nukes; yep, and the trust continues as he designs all the fuel cells we have in our Air Force aircraft. Carl Foerster (Mary), who never met an electrical gadget he couldn’t improve, impressed MITRE Corporation enough that they made him “Lead Scientist”. Ron and Mary Scott will move to Colorado after he defends his PhD thesis out of Arizona State University; heck, after defending the country for 30 years, defending a thesis can’t be too hard. John Rabins (Nancy) is now a doctor of optometry and absolutely loves it. Mike Farrell came in from southern France, happy that Ramadan coincided with the reunion, which allowed him time off from flying his wealthy Middle Eastern employer around the world. Ron Taylor made a side trip to his Aspen boyhood home and ruefully noted it was up for sale at about 100 times the price his folks sold it for. Skip (Joanne) Sanders came a week early to ski (uh, in October?) and help prepare for the get-together. He’ll be giving away his daughter Melissa in San Francisco as this goes to press. Jerry Cook, Carl Dofelmier (Diane), and Norty Schwartz (Suzi) can only be described as lean from too much exercise; in Nort’s case it’s probably from the daily 12+ hour treadmill on the Joint Staff. Bob Frohlich (Margie) provided most of the music, all Cadet Store vintage. Kirk and Betty Samelson hosted CS-35 to lasagna until almost 2 am. Judge Kirk is still amazed that the voters kept him in office in the last election. Betty continues to work her twin strengths of caring and empathy as a hospice nurse. Guests included Steve and Sherry Hansel (Continental pilot out of NJ), Steve and Nancy Dretar (FedEx pilot out of Memphis), MGen Jim and Candace Soligan (Chief of Staff, Joint Forces Command, Norfolk), Vance Lineberger (Deputy for Safety and Occupational Health, Office of Secretary of the Air Force), Chuck Smith (Northrop Grumman in VA), and Larry Stone (US Air pilot out of PA). Doug Richter (Ruth) is an engineer out of Fredericksburg TX set amongst groves of Hill Country peach and pecan trees north of San Antonio. Kirk noted that Mike Patton now worked for wife Cynthia in the publishing field; I thought we all did, but maybe Kirk thought it remarkable that he got paid for it. Phil Olson came despite being in a wheelchair and ill from cancer; sadly he sadly died the next month. The squadron will place a paver with Phil’s name on it in front of the Pegasus statue in view of the Academy and Front Range in April. Tom Hamilton passed away 25 Mar and has been placed to rest in the USAFA cemetery; I can provide contact information for those that wish to send condolences to his wife Laurie.
CLASS STARTERS or ABGs: There were a number of ‘All But Graduated’ classmates at the 30th reunion, friends who traded the Summer of Love for BCT and Jack’s Valley. Most of our bonding occurred in that first year so it’s not surprising that the bonds still bind. I know of Rolfe Tessem (of Military 15) who flew in from New York City where he produces shows with partner Linda Ellerbee. Bob Pineiro couldn’t accept his squadron’s invitation as he was in Iraq with Special Ops; he had come back from Afghanistan with a Bronze Star. Rex Miller, who fell out of the USAF Dean’s good graces and left “just after prop and wings”, none the less found an academic dean somewhere to bless him and went on to fly for the Marines. He’s in email contact with grunt Rowe Stayton and last heard from him in Kuwait en-route to unknown final destination.
SQUADRON NOTES: I had great chats with John & Debby Regni and Mike & Renee Harmon of 28th Squadron. John and Debby are loving life at Biloxi MS where he’s stretching out his time as 2nd Air Force Commander. Mike and Renee missed the reunion as daughter Jessica was taking her vows as a nun; other son Michael (USAFA ’99) flies F-16s out of Shaw and takes his sims from uncle Greg Renko. What’s impressive about their squadron mates from CS-28 is their obvious love for aviation: Mike and ‘Smilin Jack’ Hower commute to the FedEx hub at Memphis from their Nevada homes; Mike Tillman and Joe Peluso fly for Southwest, Duncan Keirnes and Dan Handlin are Capts for Northwest, Tony Derosa is with Delta, Mike Dendinger commutes up to DCA for US Air as does Pete Underwood to his American Airlines gig, and Doug Anderson flies for United.
PENTAGON PATRIOTS: It seems fitting to give mention to our classmates who have left the profession of arms and positions at the ‘tip of the spear’, but who continue to serve in supporting roles (perhaps as the ‘the shaft of the spear’?). So I called Paul Freund and Fred Knowles to get the scoop. Paul was just back from a Founders Day luncheon sponsored by the Air Force Academy Society of Washington (http://www.afasw.org/); he works for SCITOR in support of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Installations and Environment. Steve Lorenz (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget) reports that SCITOR’s John Pretz and Sam Torrey were in his office looking for support for the Global Hawk/Predator programs. Idea for class gift: a Hellfire with the name “Osama” stenciled on the nose as a program add. George Tota and Spencer Way work ‘other’ programs which will be better explained in the classified Checkpoints issue to follow. Fred Knowles works for Booz Allen Hamilton in Air Force Plans and Programs where he sorts out who gets what in the Air Force budget request. Also with Booz Allen are Dennis Rensel, Dean Haylett, with Installations and Logistics, and Erik Anderson who runs space systems programs from their McLean campus. Both Fred and Dean won Team Appreciation awards for the excellence of their support work Jim Allgood took a government service position to become a deputy division chief working Air Force combat forces policy. I know there are other classmates who have cracked the code on how to make ‘the Building’ work (Steve Cristiani, Drew Smith, Bob Stratton, etc) but will give further details later.
CLASS COUNCIL NOTE: For all of you that have already donated to the class gift: Bravo! You’ve already marched us forward to meeting and exceeding the $250,000 that one of our classmates has pledged as a challenge to the rest of us. The Class of 1973 established a permanent Class Council and a network of 40 squadron representatives to control and execute your endowment, so all of you will continue to have a voice (through your reps) in the administration of your gift. If you haven’t given, or if you just didn’t want to respond to the AOG’s phone solicitor, then call Chery Flores at the AOG, 719 472-0300 ext 115.
Tiger Ten at 30: Ivan and Terry Karnezis, Tom and Leslie Butler, Donna and Charlie Felton.
Loose Hawgs (L-R) Bottom: Jerry Cook, Ron Taylor. Middle: Randy Fotinakes, Mike Mosier, Norty Schwartz, John Rabins, Skip Sanders. Top: Bob Munson, Dick Halfast, Bill Rothwell, Carl Foerster, Jim Western, Bob Frohlich, Ron Scott, Mike Farrell.
Playboy done good: with LtGen Don Wetekam are Steve McCauley, Chris Black, Dave Hanson, Bob Glitz