Nashville Chapter
CDR John F. Ohlinger ’69, USN (Ret.)
880 Lakemont Dr., Nashville,TN 37220-2124
H: 615-370-1441; w: 615-594-7628
E: [email protected]
Texas
Alamo Chapter
President: CAPT Ron A. Sandoval ’81 USN
18010 Keystone Blf, San Antonio,TX 78258-3436Ï
Please send Shipmate Submissions and all
correspondences to:
Secretary: Dave Driskell ’63
P.O. Box 461564, San Antonio,TX 78246-1564
E: [email protected]
Dave Church ’67, Director of Alumni
Services, visited our fair city November 8
and lunched with several members of our
chapter.There was much reminiscing
about the 60’s at the academy but Dave
also shared some of the ’best practices’
utilized by other chapters in support of
the extended Brigade. In addition to
Dave, those in attendance were Richard
Boggs ’83, Blue and Gold Area
Coordinator Bruce Davis ’85, Chapter
Area Coordinator Maj Bruce Davis ’85 and
Affiliate Sarah Kovel ’82
Secretary Dave Driskell ’63, Michael
Goodwin ’65, Butch Moldenhauer ’67,
Chapter Vice President Phil Meurer ’58;
Ron Shaw ’52, and Chapter
Representative Lawrence Stovall ’84.
Our November meeting was highlighted by the election of our 2007
Chapter Board of Directors.The newly
elected board is as follows: President: Ron
Sandoval ’81,Vice President: Ron Shaw
’52 Secretary: Dave Driskell ’63,Treasurer:
Wendy Rivers ’52, Board Members:
Richard Boggs ’83, Don Peacock ’93, Joe
Pope ’56. President Ron Sandoval
addressed those assembled by reviewing
the chapter’s accomplishments over the
past year including the Summer Seminar
scholarships, joint meetings with the Navy
League, and outreach meetings in the Hill
Country to mention a few. Chapter attendees were Richard Boggs ’83, Stan Booth
’56,Tom Cahill ’76, Ruth and Art
Carpenter ’53, Jim Droste ’62, Bill Due
’64, Mike Goodwin ’65, Leroy Haenze
’58, Chapter Treasurer Jim Kiehle ’62,
John McKeown ’52 and his daughter
BGOs Richard Villarreal &
Bob Wiedower at
Carolyn Castillon, Ruth and J.K. Minton
’66, Elaine and Joe Pope,Wendy Rivers
’52 and Gerry and Bill Simpson ’56.
L to R: Mike Goodwin ’65, Butch Moldenhauer ’67,
Ron Shaw ’52, Phil Meurer ’58, Dave Church ’67,
Lawrence Stovall ’84, Dave Driskell ’63
Our annual get together with the
WooPoos was once again a joyous affair
for us. Ron Sandoval ’81 arranged to have
Indigo Joe’s Sports Bar reserve some spots
for our group. Jim Montgomery ’93,
Bruce Davis ’85,Tom Cahill ’76,
Dave Driskell ’63, LeRoy Haenze ’58, Jim
Kiehle ’62, Phil Meurer ’58, Joe Pope ’56,
Trinora and Roger Sassman ’79 and Mara
and Tim Traan ’76 all joined Ron to
cheer on Navy to yet another victory.
BGOs Ruth and J.K. Minton ’66
Affiliates Janie & Tom Cahill ’76
prepare for the next event.
Alamo,Texas Chapter
Blue and Gold
Officers attend
College Nights
South Texas Blue and Gold Officers and
Affiliates recently completed an all fronts
assault on local college nights at our School
Districts.Area 318 covers an area from north
of Austin to Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast
to Brownsville in the South to Del Rio on
the Rio Grande River at the western border.
Coordinating these events among BGOs falls
to Area Coordinator Maj Bruce Davis.
A total of 32 events were attended
by more than 40 area BGOs and
Affiliates (some more than one a
day). Needless to say, several
thousand high school students were
exposed to USNA and all that it
offers.The logistic support from the
Candidate Guidance Office was
tremendous, providing us with up
to date handouts, as well as, specialty
items that were used for door
prizes.The following pictures
provide a collage of the effort.
BGO J.K. Minton ’66 talks to i
nterested student
BGO Richard Boggs ’83 talks to an
interested studemt
January-February 2007
145
CHAPTER NEWS
They are calling the F-35 the
Lightning II. It’s more common name
right now is the Joint Strike Fighter. In
October, the Austin Chapter got a thorough briefing on the plane, which is
designed to replace fighter and attack
aircraft in the Air Force, Navy and Marine
Corps, from a man who is involved in the
process of building it.
L to R: Wendy Rivers ’52, Dave Driskell ’63, Ron
Sandoval ’81, Joe Pope ’56, Richard Boggs ’83, not
shown Ron Shaw ’52, Don Peacock ’93
Tom Cahill ’76, Tim and Mara Traan ’76 enjoy Navy’s
victory over Army.
Blue and Gold Area Coordinator, Maj
Bruce Davis ’85 reported the following
BGO information : 142 Candidates with
66 interviews held as of December 2.
Other scheduled events as of this
submission are:
January 20 – Regular Meeting
February 16 –Valentine’s Day Party
March 4 – Service Academy Day at
USAA
Please visit our website Alamogoats.org
for the latest information on our Chapter.
J. D. (Dave) Driskell ’63
Chapter Secretary
Austin Chapter
RADM William A. Heine ’62, USNR (Ret.)
8704 Blue Creek Cv., Austin,TX 78735-1431
H: 512-327-5619; E: [email protected]
Corresponding Secretary: Don McAlister ’63
H: 512-365-7068; E: [email protected]
Austin chapter meetings are held at
11:30 am on the fourth Tuesday of each
month at Marie Callender’s, 9503
Research Blvd. #400 in Austin.All
USNA graduates and their spouses in the
Austin area are invited to participate.
Reservations are not required.
We had 23 people plus our guest
speaker at the October meeting.Attending
were: Bruce Cunningham ’45, Don
McCoy ’57, John Tyler ’57, Pete Baker
’57, Chip Buerger ’58, George Denny
’58, Mike Neely ’58, Tony Breard ’63,
Don McAlister ’63, Bob Jones ’64, John
Thompson ’65, Neil Duarte 65, John
Rogers ’70, Carl Inskeep ’71, Chuck
Trahan ’73, John Peskuric ’74, Vern
Williams ’74,Al Steel ’79, Mark
Middleton ’81, Ron Hollenbeck ’84,
Jim Guy ’86, and Jeff Block ’94.
146
SHIPMATE
Participating in the trip to the National Museum of
the Pacific War were from left to right Bob Jones,
’64; Pete Baker, ’57; John Peskuric, ’74; John
Rogers, ’70; Ed Walker, ’60; Frank Simpson, ’60; and
Rob McLaughlin, ’88.
Steve O’Brian gives members of the Austin Chapter
an update on the Joint Strike Fighter which is
supposed to replace existing aircraft in use by
Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps
Steve O’Brian is a graduate of Colgate
and flew FA-18s on active duty. He
brought a Power Point presentation that
described the aircraft’s capabilities and
showed some of the new technology
which makes it work.
The F-35 is being built in three
versions.The Air Force version will be a
standard fighter designed to operate from
land-based air fields. Its Navy companion
will have strengthened landing gear to
accommodate the impact of a carrier
landing. It will include folding wing tips
and, of course, a tailhook.
In the Marine variant, the capabilities
of the Harrier in the improved technology will allow the aircraft to do short and
vertical takeoff and landing so it can
operate on the more limited fields used by
the Corps.
The economics of the project get
away from the process by which the
builders make money from repair and
rehab, O’Brian said.
“There are incentives to build a plane
that will stay up.”
The F-35 will rely less on conventional
radars and more on Forward Looking
InfraRed (FLIR) and new electronic
detection systems.
Anyone wanting more information on
the F-35 can find it at http://www.jsf.mil/.
The November meeting was actually
a road trip. Several members of the
Chapter traveled to Fredricksburg,Texas,
on Veterans Day. Fredricksburg is the
home of the Chester Nimitz Museum as
well as the National Museum of the
Pacific War. Many ships, military organizations,Academy classes and others have
also picked the location to display
memorial plaques from World War II.
After spending several hours touring
the modern museum focused on the war
in the Pacific, the group had lunch, then
visited one of the many fine vineyards and
wineries in the area.
Participating in the trip were:
Bob Jones, ’64; Pete Baker, ’57;
John Peskuric, ’74; John Rogers, ’70;
Ed Walker, ’60; Frank Simpson, ’60; and
Rob McLaughlin, ’88.
After having watched Navy win the
first rung of the President’s Cup at a party
with the Austin Air Force Academy
Chapter, we will get together Dec. 2 with
the West Point Alumni Association
members to cheer the Midshipmen on to
another uncontested Cup victory. In
January, the Chapter will return to its
regular schedule of meetings.
North Texas Chapter
LCDR James M. Bethmann ’77, USNR
3825 Marquette St., Dallas,TX 75225
W: 214-754-0019 ext. 222
E: [email protected]
LCDR Kurt Metcalf ’91, USNR
9718 Enmore Ln., Frisco,TX 75035
e: [email protected]
http://www.usnaaa-ntx.com
November 7, 2006
The USNAAA North Texas Chapter held
its monthly luncheon at the Park City
Club.There was no guest speaker but
President Jim Bethmann discussed a pretty
full slate of upcoming events.Jim Carrington
’53 made a trip recently to the Academy
and brought back a selection of car stickers
and license plate frame for members.The
effort was greatly appreciated and members
purchased most of them.
One item of business, elections were
held for the coming year as required by
the Chapter by-laws.The existing slate of
officers was reelected by acclamation
based on the fact that no one else could
be coerced into running.