"Here's a picture of Tom Dwelle and me at the 2009 River Rat Reunion in San Diego," wrote RG Head, Coronado Island, CA. "Tom flew 300 missions and I flew 325. He still flies, racing planes, and married a gal who flies better than he does!"

Gary Van Singel of Grant, MI had arthroscopic knee procedure March 26th. Gary had planned going to Cuzco, Peru on a mission trip, but, that'll have to wait until he's healed: "I had stitches removed April 6^th, and I'm walking without a limp and back to workouts. My new hearing aids work pretty good, working off a touch zone which works like a touch screen computer. My next mission will be a return to Honduras next January."

Bits and Pieces. On 13-14 March 2010, Howie Whitfield flew to Tampa, FL (from Jamul, CA), for "my first-ever high school reunion, 55 years after my class graduated from Garden City High School, Long Island, NY. We met in Tampa, since many classmates have winter homes in Florida." One lady Howie didn't recognize said: "You gave me your first kiss in 6^th grade!" . . . "CTIV is now a 2/LT in Minnesota's National Guard going through artillery training at Fort Still, OK and hoping to deploy to Afghanistan ASAP," wrote CT Douglass III. ... "I'm working the agenda to attend our 50^th Reunion, as well as my reunion of the Marine Basic School in Quantico. First up is a 'Love Boat Cruise' to Alaska and western Canada in early April for three weeks, as the boys take on more responsibility at my Red Roo business in Australia," wrote James Alexander Kerr, Jr. ... Dotty Westby, wife of Jerry Farquhar, just received her copies of daughter Kristen Moeller's new book: Waiting for Jack: Confessions of a Self-Help Junkie. Meanwhile--even as we speak--Jerry is writing his own book: Three Years in the Sky." ... Bill Hales and wife Barbara of Greer, SC, were in Lakewood Ranch (FL) to visit Bill's son Jeff and his family in March, and we met them for a long seafood lunch at Barnacle Bill's bodacious bistro near Sarasota's International Airport.

Leon Goodson wrote: "My 95-year old mother died peacefully this morning (3/31/10); so, Maryn and I will be heading for Oklahoma tomorrow. It is nice that our new twin grandchildren (boy Isaac and girl Pippa--our son Tony's 3rd and 4th children) arrived in Seattle three weeks ago to emphasize the continuity of life."

"The Surrogate Predator program with Civil Air Patrol is exciting and I feel we are doing great things," wrote Vic Thomas, Boulder City, NV. "I had the good fortune to have a young National Guardsman sitting next to me when I flew home out of Alexandria, LA on February 21^st who had been a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Coordinator) during the Green Flag East at Fort Polk and had worked directly with our Surrogate Predator crews. I pumped him on the effectiveness of our service, and it was all positive! The January-March 2010 issue of CAP Volunteer Magazine does a good job of explaining the program: www.gocivilairpatrol.com (Home Page, click 'News' and go to Predator article). I'm one who is now qualified to do the mission. We will soon be training more crew members, starting additional Green Flag West exercises at Fort Irwin this summer. I feel I have the opportunity to provide a more important service to my country than did many of my active duty assignments! Contractors had been doing this at considerably more expense and less authenticity. We are all volunteers; they pick up hotel costs, rental cars and $46/day per diem. I spent a week at Alexandria, LA in January and another in February, and had a 16-hour ground school last December in North Las Vegas. After we start Green Flag West exercises, the cadre will be doing one per month in each location (Ft. Polk and Ft. Irwin). The AF has modified two Cessna 182Qs for the Surrogate Predator (SP) mission, and we will have more aircraft taken from the CAP fleet and modified as SPs, most likely, they won't be 182s."

Chuck Diver describes his prostate operation of February 19th: "I've been going over this operation thing, formulating my Christmas (2010) letter, and it goes something like this: "Chuck had a Prostate by C-Section in February. He said he wanted to have it naturally, but there were complications, seems it was wrapped around the urethra, hence the C-Section and surgical removal. Apparently, he never got to hold it, since it was shipped off to a Pathologist in Seattle, who said: 'My, how you've grown!'." Chuck says "I got the photograph developed from a multitude of things, one of which was the available guys at the hospital the day after my surgery. So, attached is a fair picture of Denny O'Keefe and Nels Delisanti, with me in the middle--you can see both of my hands--for identification purposes! The caption might read: 'Looking fair the day after a radical prostatectomy'."

"Deanne and I acquired a small farm place in central South Dakota last spring ('09). It was not to move there (Deanne: "Praise the Lord!"), but for a recreation spot for fall hunting and spring walleye fishing," wrote big-game hunter John (Jungle Jim) McCullough. "Our first guests were George and Diana Pupich and Ron and Connie Yates. The ladies supplemented the local shop owners' income, while Ron, George and I terrorized the pheasant population. Actually, I spent more time trying to train a new Labrador pup while trying to teach Ron the difference between roosters and hens (pheasant variety). Pheasant and deer abound; so, if there are classmate 'nimrods' who don't mind remote, they're welcome." (April 2010 Web Column has more on this story).

George Luck has been taking extensive training with the local U.S. Coast Guard, so that he might work in their Seattle Operations Center. His training has been extensive and strenuous, but he still has more to be 'ready to act' to situations arising in Puget Sound and Seattle Port--he's boarded a Chinese container ship, opened a container (with safety precautions), observed Seattle's Emergency 911 Center, and inspected a ferry. George Luck: Fighting Terrorists on Land, Sea, in the Air (submitted by Chuck Diver).

"Although most of us have changed physically since our cadet days, after speaking only a few words, the 'cadet image' begins to shine through, and I am again in the presence of my classmate and not a stranger I haven't seen in many years. With each opportunity to connect, I have had the impression that the interval between our very last conversations and this reunion--in some cases, more than 40 years ago (R: comments at 40^th Reunion)--is compressed into a momentary pause, and that we seemed to begin our conversation just where we had left off. I feel as if I truly have a 'brotherhood' bond with my classmates, which is much greater than I had ever realized. The quality of this event is absolutely outstanding!" William Donald Hales hails from Steubenville , OH--home of 'Deano' Crosetti, a.k.a. Dean Martin--, and that was Bill opining on the merits of attending a Class Reunion.

Our 50^th Reunion: 29 September-3 October, 2010.