Classmates,
Lots to share in this newsletter concerning USNA Distinguished Graduates, Another-Link-in-the-Chain (ALITC), progress on developing our 50th Class Gift, our Class bylaws review, and a new topic Medical Facilitation.
Distinguished Graduate Award (DGA): USNA and the Alumni Association will be honoring John Young (4th CO) and three others at the 2024 Distinguished Graduate Awards Ceremony on March 22, 2024, in Alumni Hall starting at 1630. Hope to see lots of you there to congratulate John on receiving this award.
Immediately following the ceremony the Alumni Association and Foundation will host a reception in honor of the Distinguished Graduates at Fleugel Alumni Center on King’s George Street. Please see the attached flyer for details. Note that the DGAs will not be present as they will be attending a dinner in Dahlgren Hall. If you plan to attend, please try to RSVP by tomorrow, Friday, 15 March, by clicking the link in the attachment.
Matt Elias will be standing up our 2025 DGA Committee later this Spring to begn work on 2025 nominations.
ALITC – Class History:We have reached our first ALITC milestone, thanks to the hard work of Luke Ridenhour and Vince Balderrama, by submitting our class history for inclusion in the Class of 2028’s Reef Points. Our next event will be supporting the ‘28 Induction Day Parents’ Picnic and attending the ‘28 Oath of Office Ceremony in T-Court. In the mean time, Vince is seeking your support across the country at Chapter and Parents’ Club meetings to welcome aboard Class of ‘28 candidates. If you are interested please reach out to Vince or Bob Novak.
Vince and Bob will soon send out a detailed report on the many activities involved during Another-Link-in-the-Chain and how you can get involved.
We will soon post the Reef Point version of our class history on our website.
NAPS Dining In: In January, ‘78 was well represented at this year’s NAPS Dining In. As a former NAPS CO, Charlie Hautau (15th CO) gave remarks which were brief and spoke to our passing the helm to the next generation, Class of 2028, and of our commitment to guiding them. Also attending were: Brett Ayotte (29th CO), Vince Balderrama (11th CO), Ken Colby (4th CO), Tom Crowley (11th CO), Ken Law (34th CO), Kevin Lynch (26th CO), Steve Maloney (16th CO), Tony Quatroche (31st CO), Carlos Sotomayor (16th CO), and John Young (4th CO). On a couple of interesting notes, the NAPS CO, CAPT Tom Clarity, is a former CO of the VAQ-131 “Lancers” the same squadron Carlos once commanded. The other connection with our class is the fact that the current NAPS XO, Major Mike Magyar (’11), was a Midshipman Candidate at NAPS when Charlie Hautau was CO. (Mike is also a “Mustang”, former Navy Corpsman, and classmate to seven of our ’78 sons and a daughter USNA Grads). A great time was had by all.
50th Class Gift: Our 50th Reunion Gift Committee has been hard at work looking for opportunities for a legacy Class of 1978 gift. They are looking to fund initiatives that will make us all proud, and they will seek your input for what ultimately will be decided for our gift. In a recent email to the class from the Committee Chair, John Semcken, they pledged to create a process that is transparent and they plan to communicate via surveys and comments for your feedback. Stay tune for additional communications from the Committee in the near future.
Class Bylaws Review: The review is progressing well and on schedule. We anticipate we will post the bylaws on our class website for your review and comments from March 27 through April 24. Our goal is to complete the review with proposed amendments, receive comments, incorporate any additional changes, and have our Class Board review before having a final vote to make amendments on June 2.
Medical Facilitation: Finally, here is something that might be of interest to many of us. The AA&F is working to build the ultimate “gouge” handbook for our alumni when it comes to navigating the Veterans Administration, understanding Tricare benefits, or connecting you to a Veterans Service Organization (VSO). On this web-page you will also find a medical discussion board that supports alumni helping alumni in time of need. Check out this site and the resources it offers at https://www.usna.com/alumni-support-services-medical-facilitation.
That’s the gouge for now. We always welcome your comments and feedback.
Fair winds…
Glen
Glen Woods
President, USNA Class of 1978