Checkpoints
A newsletter from our Class Scribe,
Carson Tavenner  

CONTACT

 
Email: Angie Cadwell

Checkpoints

Checkpoints is the alumni association's magazine. It is published in March, June, September and December and is filled with pages of information about graduates, cadets and the Academy.
 

This is a Monthly/Quarterly newsletter that our class scribe, Carson Tavenner, writes.  The inputs for these articles come from you, so email them in so we can all keep up with what everyone is doing.

Photo

Spring 2004 '91 Article

Fall 2003 '91 Article - Pending

Winter 2003 '91 Article

Summer 2003 - Pending

Spring 2003 '91 Article

Winter 2002 '91 Article

Fall 2002

Heather PRINGLE and Carlene PERRY (CS-06), getting ready to ask “Tav, this isn’t going to be in Checkpoints, is it?”

June 2002

      Well, if there’s one thing I can confidently say about writing this column, it would be that over the years I have ended up writing several of them in the strangest of circumstances.  I can remember one was made on the road leaving Washington after my Masters degree work, and another was done during my deployment out to Riyadh.  Many of you will get a chuckle out of this new one; since I’m the Associate AOC for the new Global Engagement program here at USAFA, I’m currently sitting in Jack’s Valley with a laptop on some rickety old wooden table, the time is 11:05 at night and there isn’t anyone else awake around here, as all the cadets and NCOs have gone to sleep and I’m doing the night shift.  I hadn’t planned on being able to sleep (you see, I assumed that when they described this program as being a realistic exercise of a deployment mission, that would mean 24-hr security patrols and command & control ops at least, but not in this case I guess).  So after sleeping all day in preparation for the shift work, I find myself wide awake and with nothing to do except catch up on all this work, to include this latest installment.  Hey, this is actually pretty nice, come to think of it!  The weather has been hot; too hot, considering that huge wildfire in the news I’m sure you heard about.  It was a few miles west of the Academy, just beyond the ridges behind Eagle’s Peak.  Threatened Colorado Springs and burned, in some places, beyond Rampart Range Road.  That was just last week.  Needless to say, the fire danger out here is tremendous, and so training in Jack’s Valley has not only clamped down on fire safety for Global Engagement and BCT, but the CST (new SERE) program also has to be held here since the Pike National Forest we trained in has been closed.  Yes, they closed the forest, ladies and gentlemen.  Can you imagine having spent SERE in Jack’s Valley?  Man, that’s gotta be just the worst.

Getting back to the program, let me open up this time with an apology about my lame absence in the last issue.  Seeing as how this publication only comes out every quarter, you’d think that getting at least something on the table wouldn’t be too hard.  Well, it isn’t.  The hard part is deciding to dedicate the time to get it done.  Isn’t that always the case?  So, I have the reason of having been far too busy in March due to plenty of office work, but we all know the right response, don’t we?  “No excuse, sir!”

This brings me to today, the first day of BCT for the Class of 2006.  This class is the first class, since the days of Vietnam, to enter USAFA on Day One with the nation at war knowing with a good degree of assurance that when they graduate in four years they’ll be entering that war.  And I’m not even sure that the guys during the Vietnam era necessarily knew that would be the case with them, anyway.  Why am I bringing this up?  Because I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what they’re like in class.  Sure, for the most part they won’t be different from any other group of freshmen that come into my core World History course, but in another sense I imagine they could be more willing and able to take on a serious attempt to challenge their high school worldviews.  The Class of 2005 arrived with no reason to expect, of course, what our military has gone through this past year.  They are still a great class, don’t get me wrong.  I am simply looking forward to talking with this newest set of freshmen, hoping to discover whether they have a different outlook on the world at all.  Regardless, we’ll be giving them one of the most challenging courses on world history you can imagine.  What fun!

So, how are you doing today?  I hope the past few weeks have held opportunities for you to do great things wherever you work, to meet people you’ve never met before, to dedicate time to those you love, and to spend at least a little time sitting back chillin’ and watching the world around you go by.  I know that’s been the case with me.  As you can see from the photo, I’ve been out on the water recently (my dad has a small sailboat).  That’s in Puget Sound, in WA, and in honor of you all I’d been holding out on wearing my Class of 1991 10-yr reunion jacket until the first day I had a chance to go chill out on the boat.  So, here’s to you, Bold Gold!  As Angie CADWELL phrased it to me the other day, “we rock!” 

Oldest news first:  Last I heard from him, Paul BAUMAN was spending a great deal of his time flying C-17 missions for Enduring Freedom.  Haven’t heard beyond that, but I can pretty much figure out why he might have continued to be a little busy with that sort of stuff.

Don’t believe I ever told you that Al WANSKY got married last year, to Allie.  Yeah, that’s right!  Oct 21^st was the date I heard, but that was before the reunion took place and I can’t remember what might’ve been said during that weekend.  So, Al and Allie Wansky are living in Atlanta; Al works for a company called Sapient.  He’s an IT consultant.  Al, you still got a job, man? 

Joyce (ELMORE) MERL PCSed from Lackland to Crystal City in January, and her daughter, Kira, is now over a year old.

Angie WALLACE, continuing to live an incredibly blessed life, sent me (back in January) the most wonderful narrative about her winter travels in Northeastern Europe.  See, I could’ve at least printed this bit in the last issue…  Anyway, here it is in true AngieSound ™.  “After finals ended on the 23rd of Jan, I went to Portugal with my old roommate Eli from Monterey.  He had just finished finals in St Petersburg Russia and we went together to see another Olmsted Scholar in Coimbra, Portugal.  We also loved the capitol of Lisbon, where they have a beautiful red steel bridge that was made by the same American company who made the Golden Gate in San Fran and it looks just like it, only smaller.  The weather was great, warm and sunny, but ironically, that's where I got sick.  The best part for me, though, was going to Fatima where the Virgin Mary appeared in 1920.  It is a beautiful and peaceful place.  [I am currently] in an internet cafe in Riga, Latvia!  After recuperating from the flu for a few days at my place in Lyon, Eli and I flew here safe and sound today on Lufthansa.  Eli has a USMC Major buddy here who is a FAO.  His job is to live here, and travel around Eastern Europe and Russia for a year while practicing his Russian.  He loves it.  He doesn't speak Latvian, but all the Latvians speak Russian even if they don't like the Russians!  The capital of Riga has about 800,000 people and the population of the whole country is about 2.4 million.  There is snow everywhere, lots of young people, and everyone is nice.  Things are super cheap and the food is good - kinda like hearty German cuisine.  We had chicken, sauerkraut and potatoes for dinner.   On Sunday we plan on taking the bus (the buses are faster than trains here in the Baltics if you can believe that!) to Tallinn, Estonia, and then to Tartu, the college town in Estonia where our fellow Olmsted scholar is studying.  I'll keep you updated as I move along.  I got over the flu a few days ago, but now I have laryngitis and a nasty smoker's sounding cough.  So, now that I have time to breath, I can't!  :-)  Eli is quite happy as he can enjoy a few days of peace and quiet since I don't have a voice!  After going to Estonia, we will head to Helsinki, Finland to see another Olmsteder on Wednesday, and then we'll make it to Eli's place in St Pete by Friday or Saturday.  It's great being here with Eli because he is being an awesome tour guide with his Russian language skills while I just stand there and smile.  Actually, everybody speaks pretty good English here too.  Wish you all could see this amazing part of the world with me.  You are all in my thoughts and prayers.”

Dave DAMRATH, who continues to function as a wonderful source of classmate news for me, has moved on from his job with Tropicana and now works as some sort of program coordinator, I think, for the RDV Sports Complex and the Orlando Magic team.  See Dave for free tickets when in Orlando!  Actually, he said you could check out the facility at www.rdvsportsplex.com.

Chris “Chill” HILL spent the past year as the Exec to the Commandant of Cadets.  Whew!  He just left USAFA for a new assignment in Georgia, with a new baby girl, Olivia, by the way.  That makes three little girls for the big guy.  Anyway, while he was out in Georgia on a house-hunting PTDY, during the April/May timeframe, he hit his pin-on date and went ahead and held a ceremony of undetermined solemnity right smack in Mark “Cake” BURNETTE’s kitchen.  Not recognizing Chill for being such an incredibly forward-leaning guy, the Commandant of Cadets still held a pin-on ceremony for him in the office when got back the next week!  One month later they kicked him out of the office and sent him on the road to Georgia.  Now there’s gratitude for ya!  : )

Tony and Siri MITCHELL became proud parents this past spring.  Tony is still teaching Aeronautics here.  Other ‘91ers hanging out in the Fairchild halls include Heather PRINGLE, Eric BOWMAN, Carlene PERRY, and Rob KRAUS.  Glen MAYES is still an AOC, and Brian BANKS moved into a different job within the Comm shop while waiting for the Stop Loss program to be lifted.

Here’s an interesting bit of news from a classmate some of you may remember, Sean MCKENNA.  Though he left USAFA early, he’s in the Air Force working at Peterson AFB, in Public Affairs.  Here’s some of what he emailed me a month and a half ago.  “…right now I'm typing inside a temper tent as I near the end of my three-month deployment to Al Udeid AB, Qatar, for Operation Enduring Freedom.  It's been interesting sleeping, working and eating in tents in the desert battling sandstorms and 120-degree temps.  Saudi Arabia was cushy compared to here, but it's still better than what the folks deployed to Afghanistan have.  I'll be PCSing to AF Personnel Center at Randolph soon to be the PA assignments guy down there.  Anyone in the San Antonio area should stop by.  It'll be nice going down there since both my wife, Leola, and I are from the area.  Our 2-year-old daughter, Devin Rose, will get lots of attention from the grandparents.  One classmate you might be interested in hearing about is Kim (Lane) McLEAN.  I got to see her a few times while TDY to Vandenberg late last year.  She's out of the Air Force working for a contractor close to Vandenberg.  Kim's got two children and she's still as fit as ever, with a great sense of humor.  We seem to keep running in to each other after going through SOS together, then meeting up by chance at Vandenberg.  My AFA roommate Tim WALLS is also out of the Air Force, married, two kids and working in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Unfortunately we haven't been able to see each other in years.  That's about it from here.  I've got to go run to use the field latrine, so please excuse me.”

Also, I recently found out that General (Ret.) Joe REDDEN is now the Superintendent for Public Schools in Atlanta, Georgia.  He is working in a very urban environment, trying to improve the conditions of education there.  Isn’t that cool?  He’s such a dude.

Before we close this down, let me pass on some information regarding www.usafa91.com.  First, you may as well know (if you didn’t know already) that after two independent and thoroughly scientific reviews (performed by two Bold Golders) of all the other class websites out there, the clear conclusion is that ours blows away all others.  Not to sit comfortably on her volunteer laurels, Angie CADWELL has now provided individual squadron pages, to include the provision for doolie squads.  But most important, and exciting, is that the directory data for our locations (as well as entries for Checkpoints, hint hint) is now automated from a data entry page you can access yourself, so we don’t have to have Angie doing all that work to input the data we send her.  In order to access the page, you need the class ID & password, so email cadwella@usafa91.com for that info.  I don’t desire to publish it here.  Remember, there is also a photo album on the website, so send in what you have and wish to share.  Please spare us the shots of you engaged in questionable activities, though.

It’s 12:50.  Man, it’s getting cold out here.  I think I’ll start a fire.

Within a year of your reading this issue, our reunion plans should be underway. Be thinking about them, and please post any ideas in the Bold Gold Forum the next time you visit our webpage. And start saving money for tickets. I don’t have any information on this event except to say I haven’t uncovered any. So, who’s interested in working with me on this?

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