August, 2002; Page 3

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

Membership forms have been distributed at Club functions and in the Newsletter as well as on our website. Renewals are due each June. Anyone who has not renewed his or her membership this will be the last newsletter you will receive. Please continue the valuable benefits of club membership by renewing right away.

Additionally we would appreciate it if everyone would take a few minutes to check your information as it is listed on the roster, drop a quick email with any corrections. Anyone that is not renewing or joining is asked to please let us know why, there is a survey included in this newsletter please take a few moments to fill it out and return to Larry & Jan Brown, Club Pres. Please remember this is your club, suggestions and ideas are always encouraged.

The web site is at www.west-point.org/parent/wppc-gulf-coast/

ALUMNI NEWS

CLASS OF 2002

“PRIDE IN ALL WE DO”

Rob Decker: Following graduation, all of the Decker family took a trip to Bonaire, N.A., for snorkeling and boardsailing. Two days later, Rob joined two classmates for a 10-day vacation in Italy. Several days later, he was off to Cincinnati, Ohio, for the wedding of another classmate. Lieutenant Decker is presently at Airborne School in Fort Benning, Ga. He will have three weeks leave remaining after Airborne, one of which will be spent hiking and backpacking in Idaho where his sister lives. Rob returns to Fort Benning on August 18 for Infantry Officer Basic School and then Ranger School. He is scheduled to report to Fort Lewis, WA. in April.

Misty Cantwell LaPlante: Misty Cantwell (oops!) Misty LaPlante has settled quite nicely into married life with plenty of free time. Unfortunately, the free-time part comes to an end this week when she leaves for OBC at Ft. Leonard Wood. She should be there until the end of October; just about the time Jeff will be arriving there. Misty and Jeff were in Florida the beginning of July. They spent several days with us before going on their honeymoon and returned to Florida for a few more days before going back to Ft. Drum. They are looking forward to being together at Ft. Stewart sometime down the road!

MY IMPRESSIONS OF R-DAY

By Donna Green- Micah 04 & Matthew 06

I feel completely blessed and honored to have been able to take part in R-day for a second time. We don’t know how, but God worked an incredible miracle for our second son, Matt to be appointed to USMA at the last minute. R-day the second time around was much more relaxed. The thing I most wanted to tell all of the first and usually, only time, parents was to just chill out, although it will be tough, everything will be all right. To emphasize how relaxed I was this time, I will tell you that this time, as my friend Susan Fisher sat on the edge of her seat at the Supe’s talk, I actually dozed off. The first R-day, we spent the day trying to learn everything we could about West Point as a place, as a part of our country’s history and as the college our first son, Micah, would be attending. This time, we spent most of the day on relationships with other parents. That is definitely the thing that made the most impression on me on my second R-day. This truly is a place where relationships are formed that will last a lifetime, not only for the cadets but also for the parents. Most of the parents seem to genuinely care about each other. I know you have experienced that though this parent’s club. We experienced it on R-day even more this time. One would think that we would be prepared a little more the second time for the emotion of that 90-second goodbye. We weren’t. As we walked out the door, Ron and I just broke down sobbing. We sat down on a bench and Dian Wells’ husband was handing out info for the parent forum. He started talking to us and distracted us with conversation so that we were able to compose ourselves and enjoy the rest of our day. After that we did the usual, buy the printer, buy even more souvenirs and t-shirts and go to the supe’s talk. Then off to the parade and the swearing in ceremony. We had no idea what company Matt would be in so we waited with the Fishers where we thought their son, Carl might be. In contrast to Micah’s year, when it rained out the outdoor ceremony, it was very hot but very impressive to see. We did not spot Matt but we were almost as excited to see Carl march by. Again, the relationships are what are important. We had met the Fishers when Matt and Carl had one of their Senator interviews and have become like family since then. We spent most of our time together on R-day and before. They have another son or two who want to go to USMA so we hope to go to their R-Days, too. Also, on R-day we were excited to get to talk to Jennifer Barrows as if she were family. I am not sure our cadets will ever understand what these bonds mean to us as parents but that’s ok; they don’t understand a lot of what we do as parents anyway.

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