Greetings once again from Chicago! Hope all is well at your end. The BIG news for USMA '65 is that we have our first O-10! Rick Shinseki was promoted from DCS-OPS in July to USAREUR CG and was immediately dispatched to Sarajevo. Our congratulations to Rick on this greatly deserved promotion to the senior rank of our Army.

While at the Longhouser retirement ceremony (last article), we heard that the erstwhile Wal-Mart guru Ron Floto has moved again and is now the CEO of Dairy Farms, a "small" $4 billion Hong Kong-based food concern. Hope his Chinese is up to speed! Let's hear from ye, Ronnie m'boy! The Pollard's will celebrate their 27th year at Aberdeen this year. And what a neat way to celebrate that milestone by organizing the Retirement Ceremony for John & Karen. Our congratulations to Ray & Peggy! We also had previously thought that only one Beast Squad made it all the way through WooPoo, but we now know differently. That inimitable group consisted of Dean Loftin, Jerry Ledzinski, Ed Simpson, Fred Timmerman, Bob Lee, Jim Mims, Hubbert (Cookie) Leverett, Frank Prokop and Paul Kantrowich. Anyone have a photo of that group? Also, if any of you guys are still kicking, how about an update. Speaking of those early cadet days, G-2 reports that the 1st Sgt. of the Buckner company in which Ed & Gail Lee Simpson and John & Mary Kay Salomone's sons reside is none other than Jim Halbert's son! It is indeed a small world. Dick Tragemann retired as a MG after four years at TECOM at Aberdeen to spend more time with his family. They now live in St. Augustine Beach, FL where he is doing some consulting.

Tom Henneberry e-mailed me from MIT where he must work. He was looking for Tom Carll's e-mail address, which I didn't have, so that he could visit with Tom during a university attorney's conference in Tacoma. Earl Wiley also e-mailed with his new address but no update. It would really help guys if you could add a paragraph or two as to what you are up to when you e-mail me. It only takes another 5 minutes or so and saves me the hassle of having to go back to each e-mail sender and ask for some poop.

You have probably heard the one about how do you eat a "100 pound marshmallow?" Very slowly, the saying goes, with each person in the group taking a small piece. That is exactly what Fred Laughlin and his Class Memorial group is doing, slowly getting ideas and input from lots and lots of classmates who seem to be willing to take the time and make the effort to look at the designs, etc. and offer constructive input to Fred's group. The end result, I am sure, will be a memorial that will belong to all of us and make us all very proud.

Wayne & Susie Scholl will be on the north shore of lovely Oahu in October for daughter Jenny's wedding. Wayne loves his new job but unfortunately has to travel often. Hopefully, lots of photos in the next issue! We were well represented at the July AOG Leaders' Conference at WP. In attendance were Harry Dermody (see photo with scribe), my ole buddy Woody Epperson and wife Carol, Roger Griffith, Mike & Joanie Huston, Sonny Ray and your scribe. A great Dermody story was told over cocktails. The Old Man apparently almost did not make it to USMA. He had previously enlisted two years before and he took out a corporal and a sergeant with single punches and thought he was headed to Leavenworth. Fortunately, the powers to be decided he was too old for the clinker. The rest, as they say, is history! Woody, who left after Yearling year, is a lawyer in Houston, TX where he will assume the reign of the local WPS next year. He and Carol have three children and promised to send a photo! Roger is into computers in Virginia

after 20 some years in the Army. Mike & Joanie Huston live in Indianapolis with their 3 children, the youngest of whom is an All State swimmer and is considering USMA. Mike has volunteered to help me and the WPS of Chicago orchestrate the two day festivities in October 1998 when the Army team travels to South Bend. They see Mike Gnau, who lives in Detroit, often. And Sonny is the president of the WPS of Nashville and is still the same classy guy he always was!

I unfortunately could not make the change of command ceremony in which Clair Gill moved on from the Engineer Center at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. Hopefully, a photo will surface. Clair and Cheryl are back at the Pentagon. Skip & Marilyn O'Donnell completed their annual summer trip in late July, during which they visited son Chip ('92) and wife Danni in Austin, where Chip is with Motorola at a plant just north of San Antonio. Also at the same plant is Paul Barber, Jr. During the trip, they visited with former Chicago residents Jerry & Maritta Lipsit, who have retired to Sun City/Georgetown, TX and lots of golf! As previously reported, Skip is taking the lead on Rick Wetherill's obit. If you have any input, let him know.

Unfortunately, no new photos were received this time, so have to go back into the reserve file. One shows John Longhouser with his grandson at the retirement ceremony. The other is a photo of Tom & Marilyn Kovach at the Democratic Convention here in Chicago, which I unfortunately forgot to include in the last article. And finally, a great photo of Jack Cooley trying the old moves on a female cadet in Central Area. Some things never change!

That's it for this time guys. Keep those letters and photos coming and send/fax/e-mail me your Christmas missives. They are our best source of news. By the way, your Executive Committee at the October 1997 meeting may consider updating the Class Roster, which was last published in 1992. It would probably cost about $20/person. Let Joe Anderson and the other members know if you think it is a good idea