CLASS 1994 NEWS

Below is an email from one of our fellow classmates, Patrick McCabe to Ted Williams, USMA 1994 Class President.  Patrick is running for State Representative and here is his message...

I'm Patrick McCabe, and I am a 1994 West Point grad living in Massachusetts. I am running for State Representative because it's time to replace politicians with leaders.

A few months ago, I attended the Founder's Day celebration in Newton, MA. The Dean, BG Finnegan, spoke to us about the great accomplishments of cadets and new grads. He shared a story about a new grad who wrote his Electrical Engineering P to request teaching materials when the new Lieutenant was deployed in Iraq, to troubleshoot a local power station. This story reminded me of my deployment as a company commander in Kosovo, where we had to provide much more than security to the locals. Both situations highlight the results of inept political leadership. Both stories also demonstrate that soldiers are willing to be real leaders and get the job done. Politicians too often compromise and settle for 51%. Real leaders make difficult decisions, build consensus, and make things happen.

I am running for office to be a different kind of leader. In order to do this, I need your help. Running a winning campaign requires volunteer commitments and extensive financial resources. If you share my values and would like to see more USMA grads serving our country in elected office, I would appreciate your support. I would also be honored and grateful if you could forward this message to any family members, friends or neighbors who share your values.

Checks can be sent to the Committee to Elect Patrick McCabe, 62 Walsh Street, Medford, MA 02155. You can contribute via our campaign website at http://www.mccabeforrep.org/contribute.htm, or volunteer at http://www.mccabeforrep.org/volunteer.htm. Thank you for your help.

                Sincerely,

                Patrick McCabe

https://www.westpointaog.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=2735&srcid=10022&srctid=1&erid=532429

Fellow members of the Long Gray Line,

I’m writing to let you know that I have in fact decided to update the lyrics to our Alma Mater and  The Corps. The realization that these songs explicitly exclude our women graduates–two of whom have given their lives in battle–was the driving force behind the changes, and it's simply the right thing to do. I have received unanimous support for this decision from the Board of Visitors and the Executive Steering Group, whose members are the Secretary of the Army, the Army Chief of Staff, and the Army Vice Chief of Staff.

Although this is America’s Academy, you, as its graduates, are critical to our continued success.  Over the past five months you gave me lots of input on this issue, and I recognize that more than half of it was against this change.  However, other considerations besides majority opinion--and the heartfelt support this change did receive from a good number of graduates from every era--made my decision possible.

I seriously considered, as many of you suggested, adding a verse rather than changing the current words, but that would likely underscore our differences, rather than celebrate our similarities. Many also suggested alternate word changes. Again, I considered those, but in discussions with the musicians on the staff here, particularly our Glee Club director, keeping the lyrical and metrical integrity was paramount.

The responsibility for the U.S. Corps of Cadets is mine. The decision is effective for the Corps immediately and, as Bugle Notes has already been printed, we will post an errata sheet before issuing Bugle Notes to the cadet candidates on R-Day.

Clearly the Long Gray Line has no individual leader, and as I’ve already mentioned, many of you obviously do not agree with this decision.  Indeed, I expect that some of you will continue to sing these songs as you learned them years ago.  In any case, I am asking for your continued support of West Point, no matter what lyrics you choose to sing. Let us shift our focus to the continuing task of producing leaders of character over a rigorous 47-month experience who will win our nation’s wars.

BEAT NAVY!

LTG F. L. Hagenbeck
Superintendent

Hi Classmates, I hope this Assembly Update finds you doing well, and ready to celebrate Founder’s Day and the accompanying 206^th birthday of our Academy! Not much new news to share in this issue, unfortunately!

Rich and Kelly Swift just celebrated their 8th anniversary and have 4 kids to show for it. They are the proud parents of Madeleine (6), Charlie (5), Maryjane (3) and Margaret (8 mos) now.  The family lives in New Vernon, NJ, which is close to Rich’s hometown. Rich is in the hedge fund industry in New York and says he doesn’t consider it "going to work" because he enjoys it so much.  He travels internationally for work to some incredible places. Despite what sounds like a very cosmopolitan and interesting lifestyle, he says his favorite things to do now include playing "Go Fish," wiffle ball, and air hockey with the kids! Pretty much my wavelength too! Rich also says he wants to strongly encourage each of you reading this update to visit the wonderful class website engineered by Jenny Kim at www.usma1994.com.  I think you will agree that Jenny’s done an amazing job. He also says you should click on the donations tab and please give what you can to our class gift fund, and I second that motion!  You may recall that at the time of our 10-year reunion, our class gave the largest ever donation by a class at their 10-year mark. That is due in large measure to the forward thinking of our former class officers including Spencer Dodge, who dreamed up the idea of automatic payroll deductions being directed toward our Class Fund. If you haven’t contributed, I encourage you to give it some thought.

I also heard from Tom Clark. He said that Steve Adams and he are serving in the same Battalion at Fort Hood (1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th ID). They are deploying in March with Mike Birmingham (the Brigade's planner) to Iraq.  Tom also sent a beautiful family picture of he and Richelle with their daughter.

That’s it for now, thanks for reading, and I will thank you even more if you send in an update for next time! Take care! Rita

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve all had an enjoyable and safe holiday season with your families and loved ones. For our classmates deployed overseas, thank you again for your continued service to our nation. I can honestly say you are in my thoughts frequently and in my prayers as often as I remember my own family. I am sorry to begin this class update with sad news. Shannon Carter, the wife of our classmate Mike Carter passed away on 21 OCT 07 after a several year long battle with brain cancer. She leaves behind Mike as well as two beautiful daughters, Quinn and Emma, who live near Sacramento, CA. If you wish to share your condolences, they may be reached at home:  1664 Baroness Way, Roseville, CA 95747 or at michael.carter@stryker.com. Shannon and Mike, and of course the girls have been on my thoughts and I am so very sorry for their loss, as I am sure you all are too. You may also read Shannon’s obituary at: http://www.legacy.com/SacBee/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=96643434

Loren Long emailed me that he and his family are recent transplants to Mexico City, and will be there for about the next 3 years. He says they have plenty of room for guests and would welcome anyone traveling through on business or vacation. Kaye (Warzynski) Dunham emailed a great update and beautiful photos. She and Landy moved back to Northern VA over the summer with their daughters Kaylan and Luci. Kaye is also back to work as a pharmacist, and everyone’s settling right in. They are happy to be reunited with other West Pointers like our classmate Bill Ryan (who I spent some time with at the Annual AUSA Conference in DC this past October). Bill is the senior aide de camp to the Secretary of the Army,  and he and Lorry live with their sons Liam and Campbell (a possible Ft. Campbell association?) with all the other muckety-mucks at Ft. Myers. Kaye also said she and Landy were honored to be asked to be the godparents of Kyle and Troy Remick’s newest son, Carsten. Carsten joins older brothers Keegan and Bergan, and Kyle is a surgeon and CDR of the FST at Ft. Campbell, where the Dunham’s were most recently stationed. While at Campbell, Landy worked with our classmate Randy Johnson and the Dunham’s got to know Randy and his wife Coretta, as well as their children Bella and Roman. Lastly, Kaye said that Sophia Kim came for a visit over the summer, but that she lives in Chicago, travels a lot, and is having a great time.

Lastly, John Horning wrote in – from Iraq, where he’s the CDR of C/1-15 IN. Yes, Company Command – John got out in ’99, reactivated with his Guard unit, stayed on as AGR, but then ultimately went back to Active Duty. He’s a YG 99er, and despite the IN designator, John is actually commanding a tank company. So go figure. He and Michelle have two kids, Kyle and Brooke, who are staying near home in Cincinnati, OH while John is deployed. Since being in Iraq, John has bumped into Joe Pierce, Rick Black, and emailed back and forth with John Hixson.  That’s it for now, thanks for all the updates, and please remember to email me a note with a family photo for our next issue! We all love hearing how you’re doing. I may be forced to bore you with Flaherty family photos! Thanks again. Rita