February Update
Posted on February 17th, 2006 by AlexFirst Things First
The PLAN is to post an update every month, and more frequently if I get a backlog of input from the class. I apologize for missing January, but it wasn’t a wasted month. I worked for hours and hours on the underlying code for the site, standardized a few things and making it easier to maintain and archive the content. We’ll see how that works in the near future.
I got a lot of notes from people over the last two months; some with extensive updates and pictures, some with quick greetings, and a few to thank me for the effort. That being said, I’ll quit blabbing and get right to it.
Classmate Updates
Aaron Polsgrove is doing great, living in Charlotte, NC with his wife, son, and son-to-be (due in April). He writes:
After participating in the initial invasion of Iraq with the 3rd ID in March 2003, I went to the Infantry Captains’ Career Course and afterward spent a year with the 10st at Ft. Campbell. I’m married to my 100th Night date, Wendy, for 6 1/2 years now. We have a son, Daniel, born at Fort Campbell in 2004. Having a son changed what was important to me, and I decided to leave active duty. I left the Army in May 2005 and took a job with Coca-Cola. We now live in Charlotte, NC and are expecting another baby boy in April 2006.
Incidentally, there is an excellent book about the initial invasion of Iraq that features several of our classmates called “Thunder Run” by David Zuchinno, and a foreword by Mark Bowden. It mentions the likes of Eric Nye, Stefan McFarland, and myself.
Paul LaVigna is deployed out of Fort Wainwright. He writes:
I’m the S4 for 4-14 CAV in the 3rd Stryker Brigade, the 172d out of Ft. Wainwright. We’ve been deployed for about 5 months now and are getting close to the midway point. I’m planning on leaving the Army when I get back so if any of you who have the proverbial corner office in New York City are hiring and can hold a job open until 1 Nov, keep me in mind.
I’ve been married for five years. My wife Tammie and I have a four year old daughter, Nicole and a two year old son, Anthony.
Attached is a picture from Thanksgiving with most of the staff captains from my squadron. I’m on the far right and John Hawbaker (’98) is on the far left, with Ryan Shaw (’99) next to him. The three goons in the middle didn’t go to West Point, but they’re ok guys anyway…
For those of you who don’t know, Rob Shaw had a harrowing experience while deployed last year. I can’t dig up the details, but here’s the executive summary: his unit was hit by an IED, wounding him, his First Sergeant, and several of his soldiers. His First Sergeant received severe burns, and was having a very difficult recovery the last time I heard from Rob. I’ve been pestering him for a short piece on what happened, and he’s agreed to provide that. Maybe this public admonishment will serve as a reminder (I’m kidding — take all the time you want).
On to Auggie Scicchitano! Auggie is out of the Army. He’s in graduate school, his wife is a registered nurse, and they have twin boys. Auggie writes:
I married Holly on 2 Sept. 01 (we had been dating since firstie year, she’s a Registered Nurse from Liverpool, NY near Syracuse) - I was an intel guy at Drum. After Sept. 11th hit, I reported in early from honeymoon leave to deploy with the 10th Mountain Division three weeks later.
I was the Asst. S2 for 1-87 Infantry and a Ground Surveillance Radar Platoon Leader (I was dual-hatted while deployed to Uzbekistan and then, in Dec 01 in Bagram, Afghanistan). I was also on the ground with the 10th Mountain in Operation Anaconda before we re-deployed back to Drum.
On August 30, 2004 Holly gave birth to our twin boys Vincenzo (Enzo) and Giovanni (Gianni) while we were at Fort Huachuca, AZ. They are awesome little guys, and were the main reason why I decided to leave the Army. I took terminal leave on 22 April 05 with an official ETS of 28 June 05.
We moved back to my hometown area in Southern Connecticut where I became a full-time grad student at the University of Connecticut. I will graduate in May 2006 with a Masters in Education and certification to teach secondary science in CT. My wife is currently working full-time as a Registered Nurse in the local hospital.
Aaron Byrd sent me an inflammatory email that I’ll post as punishment:
Stop cluttering up my inbox with your class wide distros. Aren’t you supposed to be working instead of making pretty websites? I am glad I’m not paying your salary.
Just kidding, website looks awesome.
He’s out of the Army and currently attending law school. He and his wife, Amanda, have a little boy named Aiden who’s in the 18-24 month range right now (that’s my best guess). She’s a teacher, and just finished up a graduate degree in education. I recently had to send a character-reference letter for Aaron to the Ohio State Bar Association. It didn’t hold up to the three rules of thumb:
- Does this action attempt to deceive anyone or allow anyone to be deceived?
- Does this action gain or allow the gain of a privilege or advantage to which I or someone else would not otherwise be entitled?
- Would I be satisfied by the outcome if I were on the receiving end of this action?
…but it’s just a big group of lawyers, though, so I’m not too worried.
Terrence O’Connor, aka TJ, is doing great. He and his wife are expecting their first child in March. He’s with the 7th SFG right now, but is heading to graduate school soon and then back to UMSA to teach in the EECS department. As an EECS alumnus I can testify that he’s joining the wildest, hardest-partying department at the place. For those of you who doubt me, I challenge you find ONE thing on their website that’s not on the cutting edge of fun. Seriously though, congratulations to TJ on the appointment.
Matt Hammons dropped me a note. He’s in 1-14 FA at Fort Sill. When I got his first email he was the BN XO. Just a few days ago I got a change of command invitation, apparently from Matt’s brand new Battery Operations Officer, 1LT Nathan Moore. Matt is taking command of Charlie Battery, 1-14 FA on March 14. Congratulations!
I ran into Nayda Concina last year (2004, actually) at Fort Jackson. She had just recently gotten back from Iraq and was attending the AG Captain’s Career Course. She sent me an email the other day to let me know that she’s getting married on April 15, 2006 in Hawaii. I’m 99% confident that I know who her husband-to-be is, but I’ll refrain from posting names until she sends me confirmation.
Valencia DeLaVega, Chris Landry, and John Luttwak sent notes of appreciation, but no details. John Pandich has some pictures of Scott Corwin he’s going to send, so I’m looking forward to getting those. Phil Rutkowski told me I rock. I’ve always known that Phil was extremely smart and ahead of his time.
Gabe Marriott didn’t send me anything interesting, but that’s because he’s a generally boring person. That, and I talk to him on a regular basis. I do have a picture of his little girl that you’ll see to the right. Hopefully the fact that I care enough to post it will shame him into sending a family photo.
Gabe has spent quite a bit of time deployed in the past few years, both in Afghanistan and Iraq. He flew in Operation Anaconda, and got an Air Medal with “V” Device for his efforts (if I recall correctly). He now works in Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, KY. He married the girl he met on Spring Break 1998, Rebecca, and they have a little girl named Auburn. If you remember Gabe at all, you’ll see that Auburn was blessed with her mother’s good looks. Sorry, Gabe, but it’s true.
Bob Mahowald just got back from Iraq. He’s stationed at Fort Stewart with his wife, Marissa, his son Tyler, and his brand-new daughter Megan. She was born in September while Bob was home for one week of leave. Nice how that worked out, isn’t it?
As of recently, Bob feels that he’s too far away from my family and me so he’s currently contemplating leaving the Army and moving to Minnesota. No action taken or decision made yet, though.
Finally, Gavin Woody has recently gotten back in contact with me, which was nice since I put up with him for a semester. I think it would be a safe estimate to say he sleeps about two hours a night. He spent some time in Iraq as both a solider and contractor, then bummed around Europe for a while. Now he’s enrolled at Stanford in their MBA program.
Site Stuff
So that’s everyone! Maggie Smith sent me pictures of Ben to put up on his page, but I’ve been delinquent in setting up that part of the site. It’s getting there, though.
I’ve set up a comment system on the site. You can click on it and leave comments for each article/update that I post. We’ll see how that goes.
Please let me know if you find any problems with the site (content or code) — I can only do so much testing before I hang it on the live server.
Thanks,
Alex Cammenga