Archive for February 22, 2007

| February 22, 2007
Comments Off on Tom Deierlein – Feb 2007

Tom Deierlein – Feb 2007

All,

Sorry for the long delay.

I stood up for the first time Dec 22nd.  I walked that same day using parallel bars.  I rapidly moved from walker to crutches to a cane over the next month. 

Over the holidays I had the chance to meet President Bush, Secretary Rice, and Secretary Gates.

I am now at the VA Spinal Cord Injury Rehab Center in Tampa FL. I am participating in an 8 week intensive rehab program to begin to address my remaining medical limitations.  Walter Reed was nice for recovery and now that I am in rehabilitation phase I am here at the poly-trauma center here to finish off until I return to NYC and Dynamic Logic in late Spring/early Summer.

I am now walking with a cane and my goal is to give up my wheelchair altogether by this Friday.  It has been a long road and the road continues but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Even though I am technically an inpatient, so far they are being pretty good about letting me leave the hospital overnight and return in the morning for my therapy.  But, Hiwot has headed home to Atlanta to finally go back to work at Delta so when they find that out they will not be as apt to let me out alone.  Basically, I am trying to avail myself of all the medical assets and rehab facilities without having to stay in my room night after night.  After 6 months of hospitalization, I have had enough.   Please send any mail to:

MAJ Thomas J Deierlein
James A Haley VA Hospital  – Spinal Cord D
13000 Bruce B. Downs Blvd
Tampa FL 33612

My cell is 917-287-5961

It is kind of strange to be proud of the fact that I can now bathe, feed, and clothes myself – but I am!!  After months of relying on others to do it – it feels GOOD.  Slowly but surely I am getting my physical strength, endurance, and flexibility back. More slowly than surely but I make progress each day.

Short note.  More in a month…talk to you soon.

TD

Category: Classmate Updates |
| February 11, 2007
Comments Off on Announcing the “Taps List”

Announcing the “Taps List”

The Taps list is a collaborative effort between AOG and WP-Org. The intent is to give list members timely notification of a graduate’s death so that members can attend the funeral or send condolences in a timely fashion. We ask that any graduate forward all notifications of the death of a graduate to: taps-owner@west-point.org. The list will receive information from AOG, WP-Org, Class Leaders, etc. but the emphasis of the list is to get information out quickly, therefore we will accept notifications from all sources.

Last week we got into a discussion on the Forum about how the graduates of West Point are notified of a graduate’s death. Currently, there are several sources of information.

  • The first is AOG through the Assembly. Notices of graduates’ deaths are published with each issue of the Assembly which means that one might learn of the death of a friend too late to attend the funeral or send condolences in a timely manner.
  • The second is through the graduate’s class leaders list. AOG sends a message to the class leaders who then notify members of the deceased’s class. This is done in a timely manner, usually in time to attend funerals or send condolences. However, this only notifies graduates in the deceased’s class, not others who might have known the deceased and would like to have been notified of their death.
  • A third, lesser notification system is when WP-ORG sends an announcement to WP-ORG members of a graduate who is KIA. But this only applies to KIA and is only sent to WP-ORG members.

This new list was established to fill the void. I personally have learned too late that a friend in a class ahead of me passed away two years after it happened. This should not happen in today’s communication age.

The Taps List will be an all inclusive death notification system. All who subscribe to the list will receive notification of a death as soon as AOG or the Taps List moderators learn of it. This will include all deaths, regardless of class or cause.

This list will be run in a ‘listen-only’ mode. The list owners will push the death notifications to the list membership. The list membership will not be able to post to the general list. While one member might wish to say wonderful things about the deceased, there are other Forums to do this (WP-ORG eulogy site, class lists, WP-Forum, etc.).

We will post only initial death notification and follow up on funeral arrangements once known. Included will be where to go for further information (many times it will be simply the POC at AOG). AOG has agreed to feed this list all death notifications. We are also in the process of asking all WP-ORG moderators and Class Leaders to notify the Taps List owners upon the death of a graduate. WP-ORG will reciprocate with AOG by notifying AOG of any death notification the Taps List receives from sources other than AOG.

Currently, we project that the list volume will be approximately two messages per day. This may change as the system matures.

If you wish to subscribe please go to http://www.west-point.org/service/taps/ or send an email directly to taps-owner@west-point.org and include your full name, class, Cullum #, and cadet company.

I wish to thank Demps, Di, Megan, Bill MacLean, Warren Hearnes & John Grieman for their assistance in setting up and then working out some bugs with the list. I would also like to thank Paul Varner ’89 and Fred Holmes ’56 for stepping up to the plate and being my co-moderators.

Steven S. Klement
’85

Category: Uncategorized |