Greetings 78ers…

Sitting here thankful for the brief respite in the very hot CA high desert summer…been quite the hot one so far. 

 I’m leading off this quarter with some serious unashamed cheerleading! We now are the ONLY graduating class to have two buildings named after classmates on the grounds. To say that is an incredible fact seems to be a bit understated given the true significance of it. Earlier this month (July) it was announced that the new east side building of Falcon Stadium will be named the Kucera Legacy Center in honor of Jack and Vianne. Not only were they the lead donors in the project but both have contributed significant leadership to the effort as well. Jack was a 2019 USAFA Distinguished Graduate, is a director of the AFA Foundation and spends considerable time working with the Institute for Future Conflict (IFC). If you guys missed it, the June issue of Checkpoints (can see it on the AOG website) ran a tremendous article with the shot below along with a description of work the IFC does and it’s on the Foundation’s web site: (https://www.afacademyfoundation.org/s/1885/21/interior.aspx?sid=1885&gid=2&pgid=898&cid=2337&ecid=2337&crid=0&calpgid=61&calcid=1831). He does all of this in addition to running a highly successful large organization. The ribbon cutting for the building is scheduled for 6 Sep. 

The shot above is of key Foundation and IFC influencers in Taiwan last summer. In accordance with my cheerleading, there are three ‘78ers in the select group. Dave “Limo” Scott first on the left (AFA Foundation Liaison) with Jack 3^rd from left and Paul Madera 5^th from the left. Which leads me to the second building as most of you probably know especially those who made it to the 45^th last year. The Madera Cyber Innovation Center is being built adjacent to Fairchild Hall and overlooks the Parade Ground (good compilation here: https://afcyberworx.org/impact/madera-cyber-innovation-center/). Paul and Joan were also the lead donors and provided substantial leadership on the project. Paul was a 2015 USAFA Distinguished Graduate and is also on the Foundation Board (are we seeing a pattern here?). The GREAT class of ’78 continues to provide substantial leadership to USAFA!

Speaking of USAFA leadership, we have solid participation as the Legacy Class to 2028 who finished up BCT last week with the Jacks Valley March Back. We had a respectable contingent at USAFA for key events this summer. Class Prez Steve “Dalbs” Dalbey sent a great shot below of several guys at the AOG Ice Cream social on 26 Jun (day before Inprocessing Day) when very soon to be basics and their families meet at Doolittle for free Ice Cream and lots of info. Leading the way for the Legacy Class were (L to R below): John Albert, Bill Hoferer, Gar Frith, Jack Anthony, Brad Denton and Dalbs. Kip “Bonemass” Warton was also present but not in the picture…he’s organizing classmates in the COS area to participate in future Legacy events. He sent out e-mails to all of you in the area but if you didn’t receive one please contact him at kip.warton@gmail.com.

Bonemass also organized a good presence for the 26 July March Back from Jacks as well. Hero Punch Moultonsent in the outstanding shot below of the guys who made it out. From left to right are: Barry Butler, Blake “Buddah” Linder, Joe Reynes, Bo Marlin, Punch Moulton and Bonemass. Will leave it up to you to notice any of Punch’s outstanding edits on the shot bringing back the good ol’ days.

In the mailbag received a nice message from Larry James on his latest wanderings. He was the deputy director of JPL for many years until recently retiring this past March. He and Susan moved “down under” to Sydney Australia supporting Monash University in Melbourne as professor of space innovation as well as a strategic adviser to the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre in Adelaide. He gets to work from home quite a bit but there is plenty of travel to Melbourne and Adelaide. They have plenty of room for visitors if you make it out there. 

Joe Reynes is still in Norfolk VA, and until recently was a VP at USAA. He is staying most busy as a director on a couple of boards (Epirus and the General Douglass Macarthur Foundation) as well running his own consulting and property management businesses. He will continue to make as many Legacy events as possible.

Finally Mark Richardson sent in a great pic of himself in the Checking In With Checkpoints feature in the June Checkpoints edition on page 13 (can’t run it in this article since I can only have three of them) standing next to a T-1A on the Randolph air patch flightline back in April when the jet was sadly retired. He noted that he was on the initial cadre when the airplane was brought into the inventory at Reese back in Jan of ‘92

Have run out of space for this month and my sincere thanks to those who sent info in. I’ll try to find as many legacy event shots in WebGuy as I can but always appreciate you guys sending stuff in. Hope you had a blessed summer. 

God Bless

78 is Great!