September 21, 1999

Input for 1991 Checkpoints Column

Hi! Not much news came in these past three months, so to keep it honest and simple, I’ll mostly quote directly from the source. Sean BLACK wrote way back at the beginning of the summer, “[I] separated July '96 after serving almost 3 years as CCAS, FL processing and launching classified satellites. Currently [I’m] a Pyro Engr (such as External tank separation from shuttle) for United Space Alliance (joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing) at Kennedy Space Center, FL. Engaged, getting married to Kimberly Blandino on May 6, 2000. Look forward to hearing from folks and staying in touch with classmates.” You can find Sean’s phone and email (along with many others) at www.usafa91.com. A second input from before the summer was from Rob RAMOS. He’s “been here at Riyadh Airbase with the US military training mission to Saudi Arabia. I've been training Saudi navigators to navigate the E-3 AWACS and KE-3 tankers. I bumped into Andy SASSEVILLE here, also on a 1-year tour as the DO for security forces at Eskan Village. Phil HARDIN (‘90) was my roommate until he PCS'd on his way to Japan. I haven't seen too many other classmates or grads around, but there were a bunch at Tinker (my last base) including Andy BRUCE, Bill HAAG, Paul GRIMM and several others that I can't think of right now. Anyway, my year here is up in July and I'll be moving on to Geilenkirchen NATO Airbase in Germany to join the fun in Kosovo with the NATO AWACS unit up there.”

From Rick GRIFFIN: “Hi all, We're finally getting off the rock. We've endured a three year, two month, and thirteen day sentence at RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom and are looking forward to starting our new assignment at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina… Please keep us in your prayers as we complete this move. God Bless.” So, Rick, it sounds like you’re willing to trade kidney pie for hurricanes!

Brian GRUBER’s July news: “I've been out of the Air Force for just over a year now, and I'm loving my new job. After graduation from the Academy, I spent 2 years in Boston getting a degree in public policy. My next assignment was to DC, where I was assigned to the Pentagon, but worked at Bolling AFB. I spent five years (hard to believe anyone can stay somewhere for that long) working for the DCS Personnel and modeling the enlisted force. I separated last summer, moved to a farm outside of Richmond, VA and began work at Capital One, a financial company. I am currently an analyst in the Human Resources department.”

From Geoff MAKI, “I've had a busy summer - been gone for 3 of the last 4 months. Two of them were for that little school down in Montgomery that I avoided so well for so long, but they finally caught me! The last month I was in Iceland sitting the Icelandic Air Defense Alert (a mission formerly done strictly by Eagles). I'm currently in the 523FS flying F-16s here at Cannon. Even though its Clovis(!), I'm loving the great flying and we both enjoy the great people. Like nearly all of our classmates, I did not go directly into fighters. I first flew C-21s at Offutt (for almost 4 years), then C-130s at Dyess (only for about a year) and then got the chance to crossflow to the F-16 in '97. We've been here at Cannon now for a year. Incidentally, Doyle Turner has followed a similar path and is now in the same squadron with me (he last flew AC-130s at Hurlburt). Jen (MILLER) and I were married in 1995 while at Offutt and we've been lucky enough to be assigned to the same location ever since (with the exception of a little over a year while I was in training for the C-130 and later for the F-16). Jen is doing awesome as a Physical Therapist. Immediately following the zoo, she attended the Army-Baylor Masters program for physical therapy in San Antonio. She has been a PT ever since and has been the Commander of both clinics at Dyess and here at Cannon. As we both had aspirations of "seeing the world" when we started these careers, we only hope that our next assignment will get us out of the Central Time Zone!! (actually Clovis is 10 miles into the Mountain Time Zone). Our biggest news is of course our now 13 month-old son, Gage. As many of us have learned or are learning, things change just a little bit - especially with both parents in the military! We've got a great day-care provider though, so that eases our minds quite a bit. Finally, I'll mention that we only just recently got rid of those "powerhouse" Z-248s and got this computer so we could jump on the superhighway with everyone else -- so any of our friends who see this message that we haven't already gotten in touch with, please Email us @ clovisrocks@yucca.net.”

Those were all inputs from our website. Here’s some news from folks I’ve personally stayed (barely!) in touch with. Back in August, Sue RANK flew down to Antarctica again and sent out her alias – oops, I mean – new email name (fledermaus_shr) for us to keep in touch with her. The explanation is too good not to share with the class. “my parents (especially mom) always called me Maus (German for...yup you guessed it...mouse). Well, once I started flying, the nickname evolved into the "flying maus," a.k.a. a bat. Thus "fledermaus" (which sounds a lot nicer than "bat"). Besides, "Die Fledermaus" is also a very famous (and funny) opera.” Now you know… the rest of the story.

Rob ERICKSON PCS’d to Japan during the summer. He says, “No real problems. The flying is good and I get to go to Australia in October for three weeks. Should be a good time. Megan and I are thinking about spending the Millenium in Bali. What do you think? Bill PERIS is in my squadron flying Eagles as well.” What do I think? I think you should take us with you, Rob. I doubt Y2K will be impacting daily Bali-life very much.

Ryan FARMER wrote about how his daughter has now ushered in a new era for the family. “I feel I entered a new stage of life last week, as I watched Grace go off to Kindergarten. I have a kid in school now! She is really enjoying it, and reading over paperwork from her school, I have a feeling I won't be a quiet parent. Third graders have to buy calculators? For what???” Ryan, this is probably applicable for many of us! Personally, I have two years to go, still. I enjoy thinking about how our lives are changing together. Even though we all have such unique jobs and situations, many of us are still going through the same stages in life. Look at the class columns for those 10 and 20 years ahead of us, and you’ll see what we’re in for. Anyway, Ryan goes on to say that he’s probably going to be entering the Reserves early next year via the Palace Chase program, and that Bret HEEREMA is in Indianapolis now, becoming an M.D. Finally, just yesterday I got word from Shannon CURRY that he’ll be moving from Ft. Huachuca next month, but since he didn’t say where (huh?!) and since my personal memory is still about 16K, I can’t tell you! What I can tell you, though, is this column needs to be sent right to the AOG right away, so I’ll talk to you again in 3 months! Merry Christmas!