Reporting on the passing of another of our classmates is getting to be a regular thing. Again, I regret to have to report the passing of Jake Jacobcik. Two memorial services were held for Jake: one if Florida and one at the Gethsemane Lutheran Church in St Louis MO. Dick Slowik attended the memorial service in St. Louis on June 7^th and sent me some of the material from the service. He said Jake’s daughter, Michelle Jacobcik, organized the ceremony. Most of those in attendance were folks who had worked with Jake during his second career at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing. Michelle has been invited to the Class Reunion in November and Dick wants to encourage some of Jake’s Cadet Squadron mates and others who served with Jake in the Air Force to include her in on the festivities—she would enjoy hearing about her dad.

Jim Diffendorfer, our Class President, asked me to include the following note to the Class: "By now you have received a letter and a call about the AFA Fund. If not, you will. I debated long and hard before I agreed to "sponsor" this drive. I receive one/two calls nightly either selling stuff or soliciting money for some cause - fortunately, most are worthwhile. As I write this piece, it is ‘open season’ to register on ‘donotcall’, the national effort to reduce home calls. I have done that. Now, I feel the AFA Fund IS a different ‘breed of cat’. We have the opportunity to do for ourselves, in effect! This program goes a long way in providing ‘practical’ experience and wisdom we did not have. I, along with the band of players who are planning the 40th, decided not to organize a class fund; rather, we'll actively support the AFA Fund. Please do so. I was asked to provide ‘nicknames’ or informal ‘tags’ for every one of you in the literature I received from the AOG. I found it a memorable experience to read thru every one of your names, put a face with it, and remember the ‘tag’ you went by. If I have messed up your name/nickname, please no offense, the years go by!! And now, the 40th. Your boys at the zoo, Butch Verdier and Bob Hayes, AND many others have done ‘stellar’ work in putting together what will be the greatest. Yes, the cost has risen, but not by much. Hotels do these things to make money, football tickets are expensive, and the AOG has fees, too. I questioned the costs and was given a complete outline of all items. My hope and desire is that everyone of you (if you desire to come) will be able to make the 40th. There are fun events planned; yet time for ‘bragging and telling lies’, and showing off pictures of the grandchildren. Be there or... BEAT ARMY!" Thanks go to Jim for the words.

Because of all the extensive national press coverage you could not help but notice the latest scandal to hit the Academy. The AOG was really good about keeping us updated through the e-mail. The news also launched a spate of e-mails from grads and classmates full of opinions, speculations and gnashing of teeth. In early June Tom Fryer forwarded a particularly interesting press writing. The article reported a new position on the scandal being taken by the SecAF, Roche and the AF C of S, General Jumper who "Both say a long line of Academy problems likely signals a failure of command, and they won't be surprised to see more problems surface." Their conclusions seem to be that the scandal of 2003 and a previous scandal in 2001 were the result of problems with command. I remember several conversations many years ago when the Air Officers Commanding (AOC) role became that of an advisor to the Cadet Chain of Command rather than that of a commander. That philosophical shift taken by the Academy leadership way back then, had the affect of taking away the essential elements of command from officers assigned as commanders at the lowest level of the Cadet Wing organizational structure. How it affected today’s issues is probably hard to evaluate. However, my personal opinion is the pattern of events and behavior leading up to the current situation might well be traced back to those early events.

On a much lighter note, John Nehring: sent us an adventure story he and Jack McTasney experienced in mid-May. John writes, "This past weekend, my two sons, my son-in-law, several friends, and I rushed the season a bit on a 4-day, 59-mile canoe trip down central Montana's Smith River. Jack McTasney drove up here from Sacramento to join us, and we had a great time together, despite the wintry weather. The attached photo was taken at our halfway camp on Monday, May 19th. The snow you see directly behind us fell the day before as we paddled our way down the river! We knew the storm was coming when we set out. However, the popular Smith River can be floated only by those holding permits that are awarded during a drawing held in February. I was a lucky permit winner this year, and we weren't about to give up our opportunity. Fortunately, there's a hot springs pool a half mile from my home, so we were able to soak our chilled bones after completing the trip!"

Cut line: Lewis and Clark?

Got a super photograph you will all enjoy. Pat Caruana, Ron Fogleman and their lovely wives, Lauraine and Miss Jane, attended a gala Air Force event at the March AFB Officer’s Club. During the event they posed for a picture for us to see and enjoy. What do you think? I see two super good looking couples!

Cut line: none

A group of our ABQ classmates got together for lunch on the occasion of a visit to their fair city by Bob Hall. They had so much fun they have decided to have lunch together again in about 3 months. They also say all of them will be in Colorado for the 40^th.

Cut line: Left to right (front): Howie Kraye and Bill Browining

L-R (back): Ike Payne, John Hockemeier, Don Washburn, Don Carey, Bob Hall, Gary Bender, and Ted Sahd

Here’s hoping everyone is geared up for the Reunion. By the time you read this it will be late September there won’t be much time left before we head for the hills. We can’t start soon enough to get our Reunion plans in place. To help out here is a short checklist: a.) find your registration package, b.) sign up and have your form into the AOG by 23 October, c.) make your hotel reservations now, and e.) complete your travel plans. Butch and Bob say that you should get in touch with them pronto if you need a scholarship!

That’s it for this time. See you in November!