On April 28th and 29th 2003, former Commandant of Cadets Tony Burshnick (Jun 82- Jul 84) represented our class as one of the Distinguished Graduates from the Academy's 44 classes showing support for the Wing in the aftermath of the sexual assault issue. Set in Arnold Hall, the gathering spoke before first and second classmen, and AF COS General Jumper and SecAF Roche chaired the meeting (for Tony's full story--ABURSH@aol.com. Tony even got a roundtrip from DC in an almost-new C-40!).

Friendly Fire: Most of us have our own yawn-inducing manner of relat­ing to lesser mortals just how "put-upon" we were in the "old days" at school, but try Jim Alexander's: We had to run 14 miles to class six times a day and remember the names of all of General George Washington's horsies: Dancer, Prancer, and ? ... The U of Nebraska sells caskets embla­zoned with the Cornhuskers' logo to members of its alumni. Drats, we don't (have caskets, that is). But, we will soon have our very own license plates with "USAF Academy" displayed (available only in certain states). Call Marty Marcolongo ('88) on the AOG staff at (719) 472-0300 ... I heard from Ron Giblin (he's on doolie summer roommate Don Thurman's right in our 1956 class photo, and was in 7th squadron). Ron left our second semester at Lowry. He's at N85FOX@hotmail.com... And, speaking of "doolies," General Albert P Clark said the term never came from USMA. It is of Greek origin and means "one without status," and comes from the word "doulos," which means "slave" ... The AFA graveside ceremony for George Hines is 09/11/03 at 11 a.m ...

REMINDER: Our 45th Class Reunion is 15-19 June, 2005 at the Radisson Inn-Colorado Springs.

This Is Your Life, Michael Jerome Clarke, who gave us his career high­lights: "While we were cadets, Colonel Polvi, Deputy Chair of Aeronautics, and former Deputy Commander of the USAF TPS (Test Pilot School), helped me map out a career path to enter TPS and realize my goal of becoming a test pilot. It was a nine-year path, and I made it on my first try, just as he predicted, after several operational assignments including two tours in Vietnam, the first as an Agent Or­ange pilot, the second as the Ops Advisor to Premier Ky's personal fighter squadron in Saigon flying single seat A­1H/Js. Following a tour in the Netherlands flying F-102s and F-4Es, I was selected to attend the ARPS (Aerospace Research Pilot School, renamed from TPS when the space program geared-up), where Ron Yates, Dean Vikan and Don Thurman were on the staff.

"My class was the last ARPS class, and the last to get the Astronautics/ Orbital Mechanics/Space Vehicle Simulator Training curriculum, before the school reverted to the TPS. I used to bait Ron Yates in the classroom by drawing the fickle finger of fate on the obverse side of his overhead projector glass so he could not erase it, which showed through his slides, and I engineered a few other tricks on him. He would smile when he real­ized he had been 'had', but I'm not sure ever he figured out which of us Academy grads was baiting him. He was an excellent instructor, as was Don. In addition, Dean ran a lean and mean Ops Department. This was in 1970/71, during which Don and I flew a T-Bird to Colorado for our 10th class reunion (unfortunately, the last either of us attended).

"Three in my ARPS class were eventually considered for the potential shuttle astronauts list, along with three other test pilots at Edwards. Gen­eral Stafford, the Flight Test Center Commander, encouraged us to re­consider, and I remained in place as the Deputy Director of the YF-16/17 Test Force.

"During my six years as an experimental test pilot at Edwards, I was for­tunate to flight test both the YF-17 and the YF-16. I was the principle USAF Project Test Pilot for the YF-17. Additionally, I flew high altitude research projects in the U-2 for three years. I was exposed to technologies that led to my eventual involvement in the 'black world,' and with this experience and advanced clearances, I was brought straight into the `black world' by Northrop when I retired as an LC in 1982, as director on a program which eventually became known as the YF-23. At Northrop I was also in charge of an advanced design team pursuing new stealth fighter concepts while still involved in the embryonic YF-23; unfortunately, I unknowingly stumbled onto the B-2 design, the upshot being I had to be briefed on the B-2 so they could swear me to secrecy. My wife, Emma, was also accessed to the B-2 program as the Program Manager's Executive Secretary.

"Between us, we have six children, two sons and four daughters. Mark and Matt distinguished themselves by achieving 20+ year careers in the Coast Guard, Cindy (Summa Cum Laude) and Caren graduated from Regis Uni­versity and are respectively a CPA for the City of Denver and Senior Librarian at Regis; Kim is a dental hygienist in Panama City, and Cheryl a homemaker in Denver. We have nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

"In retirement, I'm building a Van's RV-8. After more than two years ef­fort, with support from the FAA, I successfully secured the registration number: `N60NS'--Class of 1960, Nulli Secundus! I will use our school colors when painting the aircraft." Mike and Emma live in Southbury, CT. (FlyMike55@aol.com)

Class of 1960 AFA-Army Weekend. The Colorado Classmates will once again host a three-day weekend for classmates, wives, families and guests around that inter-service football game at the Academy, and this year that's Nov 7-9, 2003 for the AFA-Army game. (Visit with those living in Colorado: Bilello, Bishop, Brush, Cler, Glaza, Kendall, Mosier, Porter, Pupich, Reed, Savage, Schehr, Schwank, Sexton, Waddle, Walsh, Yates). Hotel Headquarters is the Radisson Inn (North), and we've reserved rooms at $74/night. Party starts Friday afternoon at Bruce and Caryl Mosier's house, Friday evening's your get together with local classmates, Satur­day morning's GlazaGate precedes the football game (Al Fresco menu: French wines, Possum steaks, cheesecake, Courvoisier), victory dinner at the Radisson, and Sunday brunch as the "get-away" event. (E-mail ME at RCtherose@aol.com, or Jock Schwank at JCHSchwank@aol.com to reg­ister for the weekend.

Some smarmy informant sent photos of a legendary "Shock and Awe" event taken during one of our previous lives. "Hah," you say, but return with me now for a brief glimpse into our sometimes-sordid past and study the photos. If anyone can name the people, date and location, Karen will (definitely) pay (maybe) their hotel bill (Not!) for the AFA-Army week­end ... Bye from the Rose.

Sad Note: Norman Buck Congdon died of cancer on Aug. 5, 2003 in Albuquerque, NM. Walt Futch's wife, Marti, died 30 March 2003.