By now, all classmates should know that Brig Gen Ben Cassiday took his final flight on 21 September from his home in Hawaii, yet his spirit remains with us forever. Deep down, he was a father figure to us all--he represented the best the Air Force had to offer. Speaking for the Class, Andi Biancur said: "Ben was -- and remains -- a role model for most of the early graduates of the Academy. Throughout our cadetship, active careers, and present life we found in him the personal goals we strove to achieve. He will be missed, but always remembered, as the man we most wished to emulate."

This grainy picture from our sophomore European trip captures Ben's relationship with our class.
You may recognize many of the faces. The class web site has our best guess as to who they might be.

In late September, Ben Furuta sent an open letter to our class and the Academy applauding the vigorous response of Superintendent Lt. Gen. Silveria to the racial slurs on dormitory message boards at the prep school. Ben was most likely the first member of a minority group in the cadet wing, and he tells us that "I never personally experienced any sort of racism either at the Academy or while on active duty, and it severely disappoints me that such events are happening today at USAFA...There is no question in my mind that the Academy needs to actively foster a climate and belief system that ensures that all graduates of the Academy experience the same kind of acceptance that I and other members of my class had." (see web site: Racism at USAFA)

It appears that our class collectively dodged a bullet when the late summer spate of water, wind and fire disasters failed to cause any significant harm to our classmates across the country. In Florida, most of our classmates decided to ride out Hurricane Irma where they lived. Rosie Cler and Karen had no damage or power outages at their home in Sarasota and were quickly able to continue their work with Meals on Wheels. Bob Weinaug's home near Daytona was above the water level and suffered no serious problems. Jerry Daley rode the storm out in Wisconsin and luckily sustained relatively minor damage to his place in Bonita Springs. Dale Mayo takes hurricanes seriously, so he and Idee decamped to New York while their home easily rode out the storm. They were not so lucky the last time they fled to New York where they ran head-on into Hurricane Sandy. The Gurleys also sheltered in place, secure in their knowledge that their Vero Beach condo has its own built in hurricane defenses and sanctuary. Clark Walker and Shirley got out early and steadily made their way to Tennessee and North Carolina and suffered minimum damages to their home in The Villages. Jerry Farquhar's address is Okeechobee, FL, and one would expect him to have been in a heap of trouble, but Jerry lives on a hummock 65' above the lake and sustained no significant damage. Jerry also tells us that his boat, Matecumber, is now ready to take on passengers, especially classmates, either from its mooring in Pompano, FL or in conjunction with Jerry's next trip to Nassau. Just call him.

At the farthest extreme, Jerry and Hildburg Stack rode out the storm in a beer hall in Munich, Germany! This trip followed a previous 36-day South American cruise during which they spent the final week cruising the Antarctica Sound, which gave them a strong, lasting memory of Antarctica's topography and wildlife.

In Texas, as far as can be determined, Harvey did not impact any of our classmates living there. George Elsea and Evelyn live in Lampasas , just north of San Antonio. George's problem, along with other classmates north and west of the Houston delta is lack of water. The storms that stalled over Houston sucked up all the moisture that normally would have moved on into the state, and everything is various shades of brown. Les Hobgood, living in San Antonio, had no issues with Hugo--but earlier in the year his house got clobbered by a tornado, causing $40K in damages. Fortunately, his two Corvettes survived.

In Kansas City, Bill Kornitzer dodged the weather, but collectively he and Linda encountered a storm of medical issues last fall and winter: Linda, rotary cuff repair; Bill, back surgery; Linda, retina repair; Bill, aneurysm and blocked artery. They are now out of the woods and looking forward to a Rhine cruise this October.

Bill's brother-in-law, Mike Loh wrote a commentary article in the July 31, 2017 issue of Defense News entitled "Defense acquisition: Focus on the requirement document, not the process" in which he argued for restoration of the operational requirements document (ORD) to its previous primacy in the defense acquisition process, "making the ORD the foundation document and driving force in acquisition programs." Mike's suggestion is well in line with AF Secretary James' concept of the future of acquisitions: "fast, competitive, and affordable." The one bullet we cannot dodge is the obvious fact that we are all pushing 80; so, I asked two of our medical docs in the class for advice from here on out.

Dave Reed:  "Be grateful for our USAFA and USAF experiences, and look forward to the next 20 years in a health-preserving mellow frame of mind." Wayne Kendall: "I have no medical advice other than to avoid falls (leave ladders to others and get night lights for the bedroom and bath), and to not convince yourself that your chest symptoms are only severe indigestion. Since we are tying up the bows on our life stories, share them with family, friends, and classmates. Finally, each day recognize the miracle of life."

One of the major events that affected almost all of us this fall was the Ken Burns series on the Vietnam War. Watching the infantry struggle through rice paddies and thick jungles to initiate fire fights with North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong guerrillas reminded me how different the war was for those of us who flew combat missions from the comfort of usually secure bases, with clean sheets, hooch bars and "carrier landings"--except, perhaps, for the FACs and ALOs and others working hand and glove with the ground forces. We encountered danger, of course, and lost many mates to accident, enemy fire or capture, yet we enjoyed a rather unique, albeit fatalistic, life style. However, I did not really grasp how much our families suffered, every day, waiting in fear that a blue AF sedan might pull up in front of their door. Conversations with the Class of '60 wives at Les Querry's Roosting convinced me that the greater courage may have been found in the brave women and children who watched with bated breath for the mailman and that letter from Dad. Sadly, one of those wives was Hope Schwank, who passed away 16 September 2017. Hope was a gifted artist who will be remembered by the COS crowd for her welcoming personality and famous "elf "parties.

Votes are in: See you at the 60-year reunion.