Eureka! '99's over. Fin de siécle. And not a moment too soon. For those who had a rough 20th century here on the Blue Marble, the millennium just cranked in a NEW one. A pox on those millenarian doom-mongers who said we'd slide back into primordial sludge after a millennial deluge of biblical proportions. Or be swal­lowed-up in a black hole, followed by some gigantic cosmic belch. Karen and I Y2Kocooned our millennopause in a krypton-lined bomb-shelter with somewhat cramped quarters-- four feet high, and about the size of a Tokyo "capsule hotel". I can now almost stand erect, and regained most motor skills--only regretting that we didn't bring more Beano. Big MM rolled in without a major hitch, Russian nukes didn't launch, the dollar didn't droop, EgyptAir's 767s flying into La Guardia didn't smash into Central Park joggers, and the idyllic isle of Vanuatu still stands after a torrent of seawater--so why does my VCR keep blinking 1200?

FALCON FOOTBALL. For AFA at Washington Sept. l8th, Jim and Bev O'ROURKE chartered a 54' Hatteras-class yacht "The Entertainer" for a cruise on Lakes Wash­ington and Union in the Seattle Harbor. They boated and boozed three hours be­fore game time and then 'ti1 9 p.m. afterwards (doyen of all tailgaters--Jim GLAZA--made a very wet bar), celebrating that huge win over the Huskies on a beautiful sunshiny day with calm and balmy waters. Including "significant others," there were 49 at the bash, including classmates Dennis and Sandra O'KEEFE, Jim GLAZA and Jeannette Howes (her brother Mike captained the vessel), Chuck and Edie DIVER, George and Carolyn LUCK, Greg BOYINGTON and June Colgan, Tom and Carole SEEBODE, Nels and SueAnn DELISANTI, Deke and Sally JOHNSON, Andi BIANCUR and Carole Kramer. From '61: Gene and Annette HOPP, Jack and Linda TAYLOR; '62: Chuck and Charlotte LARSON and their two daughters; '63: Charles and Susan GEBHARDT.

Enjoying the cruise to the Washington game, in the back row are Jim, Dennis,
Chuck, George, Greg, and Tom. In front are Nels, Deke, Andi, and Jim

Navy Oct. 9th. Ralph and Darlene LALIME gathered a few elderly guys around their mini-motor home--the FleaMobile--at Yankee Stadium: Jerry and Betty DE LA CRUZ, Tom and Mary Ellen BURKE, Tony and Karen BURSHNICK, George and Becky FRIES and daughters Jennifer and Stephanie, Mike and Nancy CLARKE, Bob and Lillian BADGER, Lorna Aldrich and John MACARTNEY, George PUPICH, RG HEAD and Carole Hoover, Jim GLAZA and Jeannette Howes.

FleaMobile and Friends: Mac, Mike, Jerry, Tony, RG, Ralph, Bob, and Tom

Army at AFA Nov 6th. Thirty-six of us gathered for dinner and mostly cocktails at the Springs' Radisson after the 28-zip shellacking of those very Black Knights: Jim and Bev O'ROURKE, George and Carolyn LUCK, Bruce and Caryl MOSIER, Jack and Jeanne BRUSH, Wayne and Barb KENDALL, George and Diana PUPICH, Jock and Hope SCHWANK, Ann and Gordy FLYGARE, Rosie and Karen CLER, Andi BIANCUR and Carole Kramer, Jim GLAZA and Jeannette Howes, Tony and Carol BILELLO, Fred and MaryLou PORTER, Dick and Sharon SCHEHR, Pete ROE, Jim and Mary WADDLE, Ron and Connie YATES, Roy JOLLY, Denis and Liz WALSH. Music was (almost) provided by the Mutant Cretins, and Dr. W Francis KENDALL from the U. of Arkansas lectured on "Early Signs of Alzheimer's" (he even gave us a test)! "Killer"--what a name for a doctor--also warned us about abusing Metha­nol, Estrogen, and Cantharis, while those pungent odors from Prozac, SAM-e, Viagra, and Preparation H wafted lazily above our collective wines. Lowlight of the evening was presentation of T-shirts to Rosie and Karen (my roommate-for ­life thru thick, and in this case--really thin) by PUPICH and YATES--simply because we failed to attend that nighttime sub-zero (well below absolute zero in Celsius) football game held in a lashing blizzard (winds well over 200 knots) when AFA lost to Utah. (R: we missed one stupid little game. Now I know how Pierre the Bridge Builder felt!) So, a good time was had by most.

At New Mexico Nov 27th: For "extra credit" (and in an attempt to placate the Football Gods), Karen and I made the three thousand mile trek on foot from Den­ver to Albuquerque for this game which we lost, and for which we forfeited our entire Thanksgiving weekend with family. (R: are you guys listening--YATES and PUPICH?) Jim GLAZA and Jeannette and the SWEIGARTs attended. What a GREAT tailgate those New Mexico AOG guys throw!

UNLV Game Nov. 13th. In addition to all the "usual suspects" from the Springs' area, Dave and Camille SWEIGART were there. Dave's got a broken shoulder, and may need a shoulder replacement. He's been a substitute teacher for a private elementary school in Albuquerque the last six years teaching Pre-K to 5th grade, sung with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Chorus the last eight years, and after 16 years in New Mexico, he and Camille are moving to Marble Falls, TX this June. (No state income tax, and Lone Star beer's cheap!)

Top photo: The Outcasts--"Fair-Weather Falcon" and "Fearful Falcon."
Bottom photo in front: Jack, Tony, Pete and Rosie. Middle: Denis Gordy, Dick, Jim, Wayne, Jim, Ron, and Roy. Back: Jim, Fred, Andi, Jock, Bruce, George, and George

What I Am Famous For Award. Turn to page 117 in General Schwartzkopf's hard­back edition of It Doesn't Take a Hero: "We were surrounded ... more than forty paratroopers had died and twice that number were seriously wounded. We radi­oed Pleiku and asked for medevac ... 'We can't fly there. Too risky.' But an Air Force pilot, Lt. Earl S. VAN INWEGEN, heard about us that night in a Pleiku bar and vol­unteered for the job. We carried our wounded to the airstrip and waited. The in­stant his C-130 turboprop appeared, the enemy opened fire. I didn't think VAN INWEGEN and his three-man crew would make it. By the time the airplane touched down, it had been shot full of holes and was leaking hydraulic fluid ... VAN INWEGEN kept the props turning while we loaded the men on stretch­ers. Meanwhile the airstrip came under mortar attack. More people were hurt, and we threw them on the plane. VAN INWEGEN sat in the cockpit, waiting pa­tiently until I gave the signal. Then he turned the airplane around and took off over the same ridge, getting shot up some more. Even though the plane was seri­ously damaged, he bypassed Pleiku and took the wounded straight to Saigon, where he knew they'd receive more sophisticated care. His flight was the most heroic act I'd ever seen." (R: Van told me that he was a captain, not a lieutenant; in Saigon that night, not Pleiku; C-123, not a C-130; his crew received the DFC and a nice letter from the Defense Minister of South Vietnam; the plane had over 23 holes, radios were out, the VC mortared him on the runway and they couldn't lower the cargo ramp. Schwartzkopf's troops and Van's crew unloaded 10,000 pounds of ammo and on loaded over 50 stretchers. That very morning, Van had gotten a check ride, and the flight examiner wrote him up for: "Exhibiting Dangerous Tendencies".)

Richard Raymond (Dick) SEXTON (Judo Club 3) moved from Ft. Washington, MD with wife, Sally, in April '99. "When I retired (the first time), I was XO at DIA. Went into real estate sales, back to school and got a paralegal certificate, working for lawyers as a free-lance independent contractor, then opened a paralegal ser­vice. Also served as a tenant advocate for the Public Justice Center which repre­sented indigents in court. After the girls went off to college--Helen to Averett College, and Ann to Cabrini-Sally went back to work. Our oldest daughter, Helen, got married and moved to New York State, where husband, Rick, is a prison guard in Auburn. We now have a grandson, Richard (2). Our youngest daughter, Ann, got married in Oct. '98, and her husband, Phil, is a computer programmer. Upon re­tiring (the second time), Chris WARACK found us a lot in Gleneagle with an unob­structed view of the Academy and Pike's Peak. New address will be 14980 Pristine Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80921, starting April 2000. Sally now works at the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden, and I'm at the El Paso County D.A.'s Office as a domestic violence advocate for victims of abuse and neglected children."

Bill, Irma Jeanne, Megan and Marta next to the Carolina Bell

Bill CURRIER's living on both ends of the eastern seaboard: "I remarried in 1984 and now have two children with my second wife, Irma Jeanne. Marta is 17 and Megan 14. We started off in Syracuse and then lived in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia from 1986-90. My son Miles followed us there and ended up staying. Irma and I moved to Columbia, SC, in 1990, where I teach math at Midlands Technical College, and she teaches Early Childhood Education at the U. of South Carolina. We go north to stay at Burr Pond, VT every summer. My youngest daughter, Au­burn, is living in the Northeast Kingdom with her husband and my new grandson, Gabriel. Oldest daughter, Tonya, lives here in Columbia and teaches at the USC School of Music--she sings opera (R: listen up, ODENWELLER), and we've had the opportunity to hear her often. The photo shows our spot on the airpark, so I fly out of my own backyard in my 1959 Champion Taildragger."(They'll be at the 40th)

Potpourri. Re: p.55, CheckPoints, Feb '99--Who's the ATO? Who's The Cadet? Pete KING e-mailed that "it's Ken HAZEN, who lived just down the hall from me at the Academy" ... Jim WADDLE's unhinged himself from the clutches of nepotism, having formerly been G.M. of Johnson Plumbing Company in the Springs (owned by his son-in-law), and is now state new membership coordinator for the Gideon Ministry--next time you check into a Holiday or Ramada (registering as Mr. Smith or Mr. Jones), that bible on your nightstand just might have been placed there by a Duck ... Dean BRISTOW wrote that he "now has matching shoulder joints--and, I'll soon get a third joint somewhere."(R: I'm absolutely NOT going there) ... Norm and Liz HALLER will soon be grandparents again, bringing their total to 14 ... Phil MEINHARDT and Grace Cervin had a housewarming party for their new home in Vegas the first week of November ... Bob and Jane ODENWELLER spent 18 days in China last Aug/Sep, then a week in Vancouver (Bob's chairman of the ATA), on to Rome to hear daughter Liesl sing her debut as the lead in La Traviata, then Jane was 10 days in Venice ... Thomas Edward BURKE (Geography Club 4, 3 ,2) not only con­tinues in his consulting business at TEB Associates in Springfield, VA but has added editor to his accomplishments--he performs that role for Aviation Economist, a London magazine which publishes future values of all existing commercial jets ...

Last issue's Trivia-60 question: "Which classmate won the Tennessee state champi­onship for the half-mile in 1956?" A: Ronald Wilburn YATES, who's still running ... Does anyone have an address for our good friend and classmate Bernie LEVINE?

Presidential Race 2000. Both being of almost sound mind, Ron YATES for Prez ('Hey there's no heavy lifting involved") and Tony BURSHNICK for Veep ("I'm not just another vote-grabbing pol") are off and running under the Cocktail Party banner. Both are surrounded by a virtual asteroid belt of orbiting pollsters, and initial surveys from their focus groups reveal an early lead in North Dakota. Their platform will be announced "real soon," and attendance at party rallies has been buoyed by Ron's movieland-like megawatt smile, and the rise of Tony's new rap album. Campaign Chairman Gerry GAMMILL states that "we're now using 'viral marketing' on the Internet--talk to us at dubya.dubya.dubya.vote4us @ronnie.tonEE.com)."Fasten your seatbelts, cause these guys are gonna "kick the tires and light the fires." (R: pony-up your "soft money" checks to ME.) Bye.