Mine Detection Dog Partnership Program Update for USMA Class of 1970

 

Mine Detection Dog Partnership Program Update for USMA Class of 1970 September 2022

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! The Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) would like to extend our appreciation to the United States Military Academy Class of 1970 for your support of our humanitarian work. Thanks to your sponsorship of Mine Detection Dog Nam in 2016, communities in Sri Lanka are able to live without the fear of landmines and other dangerous explosives. Sri Lanka MDD Nam continues to work with the Sri Lankan Army’s Humanitarian Demining Unit (HDU). Thus far in 2022, MDD Nam has assisted the HDU in searching 17,074 square meters of land in the Muhamalai and Palaly demining sites. During this period, Nam, together with the HDU’s three other MDD teams, identified 17 anti- MDD Nam personnel mines and 3 pieces of UXO (unexploded ordnance).    All of the land searched by Nam will be returned to the people and used in agriculture and housing development. The HDU estimates that the work of Nam has directly benefitted 500 families since she started working with the HDU. The HDU continues its long-standing work in Muhamalai, northern Sri Lanka. An area three times the size of Central Park in Muhamalai was heavily contaminated by landmines after the civil war between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers ended in 2009. Massive efforts to clear the area have allowed people to resume normal lives and to finally leave the war behind. Palaly hosts a military base and is located in the northern Jaffna region of Sri Lanka. Palaly, a town caught in the middle of the warring sides during the civil war, was left littered with landmines and many of its inhabitants were displaced. Clearance efforts have contributed greatly to the return of land – and people – in this region. On behalf of the HDU and the people of Sri Lanka, MLI thanks the USMA Class of ’70 for your support in making Sri Lankan land safe again for communities to live, work, and play in. MDD Nam with handler

20210829 Class Leadership Meeting

Jim Sullivan SENDS:  

29 August 2021
Brothers,

We just had a meeting of the class leadership committee. It was a good meeting, no drama, lots of discussion. The eight class officers were there: John Connors, TJ Young, Bill Cater, Frank Monaco, Charlie McGee, Steve Strom, Barney Forsythe and myself. The five class committee chairmen were there: John Van Vliet, Kurt Reineke, Steve Wilson, Bill Taylor, and Gil Harper. Two of their deputies were there: Billy Malkemes and Billy Joe Alexander.
Each of these men gave a report. None of the things we handle are going to shake the ground, but they are part of the life and operation of our class, so they have meaning for us.

No big problems. Slow but steady progress is happening on their initiatives, all aimed at consensus, cohesion and inclusion. The committee unanimously approved the charter for Gil Harper’s Special Ops Committee, and Billy Malkemes, chairing its Awards subcommittee, laid out some plans in the works--- more later on that. Bill has some interesting things lined up. 

John Van Vliet and his large committee are working to determine what the best way is to meet the needs of our widows, widowers and children and grandchildren, in a way that is sensible and sensitive. He will get to the right answers. Important.

Our finances continue to be in order, in the black with a healthy prognosis. Bill Cater’s report is concise and clear. It is appended below.

Barney has the NCEA situation well in hand, and the Honor Code seems to be rising up as the premier topic, coming up in October. He has established tight and effective relationships with all the pertinent parties. We have a good chance to serve here.

Our next Activities event is Bill Roedy’s Distinguished Graduate Award ceremony, 10-12 Sep. We have a head count of 52 classmates and many of their spouses. Mess hall operations are all cancelled except for cadets, so we will have festivities in the WP Club and at the Hilton Woodcliff Lake. It promises to be a good time. We will also stand on the reviewing line and review the Corps.

I signed and sent forward the MacArthur Cup agreement—athletic award. It is now funded and delivered to AOG.
Bill Cater’s report mentions our five gifts and over 8 million dollars of endowments. He also reminds us of the fine efforts of Lynn Moore and Ted Shadid to get the MacArthur Cup done, and of the support Dave Brown kept up for this project when interest was waning. He kept it alive. All four served the class and the Academy with Integrity, as usual.

Kurt Reineke’s committee has some coordinating to do and then there will be a query, looking for the class’s consensus, coming out. You will hear from him fairly soon.

Bill Taylor has done his usual yeoman’s work taking care of the DGA festivities. Thank you from all of us, BT. Frank Monaco continues to keep info flowing smoothly. Thank you, Ranger Buddy.

TJ Young is steady as a reference datum, as you would expect, Charlie McGee is connecting with all the other officers and committee chairs, and is innovative and has lots of ideas. He and Crash Werner are working together very strongly on the memorial effort for our fallen Brothers. Also important.

John Connors has reviewed everything we do for legality and sense, and his discernment is flawless. Thanks for that, John. Steve Strom is a calm influence, cool and deliberate. It’s very good to have him there.

The class officers and the class committee chairs have spontaneously formed partnerships and alliances to work for the collective wishes of the class. Steve Wilson continues to think outside the box and solve problems. He and Charlie McGee got these partnerships started.

It is a pleasure to work with such good men, good soldiers and good Brothers, in the service of this class of ours.

Best to everyone and all of yours,

Serve With Integrity
Beat Navy
Sully

Bill Cater SENDS:

***CFO REPORT 29 AUGUST 2021***

Dear Executive Committee and Committee Chairs,
This is the CFO report for our meeting scheduled on Sunday, August 29, 2021. My last report was emailed on July 16, 2021(for our meeting on July 18, 2021). This report is based on information received from AOG on August 24th for the month ending July 31, 2021.

The Class of 1970 financial accounts as of July 31, 2021 are as follows:

1. Admin Fund has $25,399 (last report at June 30,2021 was $25,376).

2. Class of 1970 Gift Fund has a total balance of $100,482 (last report was $350,934). For the first time in many years there are no pledges receivable. On July 23rd, $256,500 was transferred from the Gift Fund into the newly established Class of 1970 MacArthur Cup Award for Athletics Endowment.

3. Class of 1970 NCEA Endowment Fund has a total balance of $4,792,820 (last report was $4,726,196) consisting of $2,563,278 principal (no change from previous); $1,512,116 Temp Rest (unrealized gain on the principal-last report was $1,445,491) and $717,428 DDF (actual earnings not distributed-no change from last report).

4. Class of 1970 West Point Cyber Leaders Conference Endowment Fund has a total balance of $3,021,001 (last report was $2,972,970) consisting of $2,200,000 principal (no change from previous); $737,967 Temp Rest (last report was $689,937) and $83,033 DDF (no change from previous). We fully funded the principal in January 2020.

5. Class of 1970 MacArthur Cup Award for Athletics Endowment fund has a total balance of $257,738 consisting of $256,500 principal and $1,238 Temp Rest.
This endowment was funded on July 23, 2021. For those of you not familiar with the history of this endeavor, I would like to thank Lynn Moore for his efforts over the past several years for initiating the ideas for this endowment. Also, Dave Brown kept the idea going forward when interest was waning.

Congratulations to our great Class of 1970 for establishing a great legacy for the three endowments totaling $8,071,559 that will continue to support West Point’s mission to developing leaders of character.

Please call or email me to ask questions, discuss any items or make corrections before our meeting . Let me know if I missed anyone.

SWI
Bill
William P. Cater, CPA

Class Notes August 2021

Class Notes: August 2021.
I look forward to serving the class as the next Class of 1970 Scribe/Historian.

Thanks to Earl Albright for all his years. Earl faced interesting times as Assembly ceased publishing and other forms of media and communications began. As one of our classmates recently told me, he got comfortable with receiving a magazine every few months in the mail. And then it stopped.

All the current media venues will continue with Facebook, “USMA 1970” page as the de-facto principal and fastest way to share and inform. With about half the class on Facebook, others deserve to read about and see class activities. I hope the Class Notes helps fill a void. I will work closely with Frank Monaco (the glue that holds us together) on this process. Frank and I (and Marty Knorr) started working together on 1 July 1966 as Beast Barracks roommates – so the circle of life continues. Together with Frank we will determine the medium for widespread distribution.

I also welcome any ideas and recommendations to aid in the communication amongst all of us. I encourage and welcome information that classmates would like to share – children and grandchildren accomplishments, gatherings, awards, and happenings.

A most poignant comment came from another Scribe who said he can only publish we what he receives. I encourage and welcome your information to enhance our class communications and engagement.

Looking forward to the ride.

Transitions:
Jim “Sully” Sullivan and Dave Brown smoothly transitioned class presidency. Sully has the commitment and dedication from Dave who now serves as class president emeritus to draw upon his years of experience and connections. Continuing in key roles are John Connors, Barney Forsythe, Bill Carter, Terry Young, Frank Monaco, Steve Strom.

Start-Up

Sully has commissioned several committees that are going through their initial start-up growing pains. The intent to continue and foster communications, inclusion, and engagement. Of note is Steve Wilson’s committee will focus on completing classmate memorials. Memorials defined as formal obituaries published through AOG in the TAPS magazine. Of the 95 deceased graduated classmates, about half remain for memorialization. Bob Werner is the front man for the process. Together with Steve and four regimental representatives (Bill Knowlton, Rich Rutledge, Bill Addy, and Dale Reagor) they will work the process. More on this will follow in the future.

Distinguished Graduate Award
On September 11, Bill Roedy will formally receive the DGA award. Scheduling formal presentation of the award which was announced nearly two years ago has been affected by the pandemic. Bill’s leadership and business acumen are success stories for the growth of MTV during his years as CEO of MTV International. Yet, more outstanding is his work started years ago to eradiate HIV/AIDs. A work that grew to attack other infectious disease worldwide. Throughout that journey he was always the humble, stoic, and focused individual we knew.
For a closer, personal view of Bill, the West Point Center for Oral History has an interview at:https://www.westpointcoh.org/interviews/from-air-defense-officer-to-entertainment-pioneer.

Sightings:
Dick Beahm is gearing up for his annual Multiple Sclerosis bike ride. He will participate in the Washington DC ride on August 29, 2021, in Reston Virginia with his “Weeda Beahm Team”. Dick has been riding in the MS Bike Ride since 1994 and personally raised over $371K. The “Weeda Beahm Team” raised $707K. Over the years his co-riders included many classmates and other service academics bikers. He even had his first detail Beast Squad leader on one of the training rides. Consider donating to this worth cause.

The URL for Dick’s personal page is:

https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/DickBeahm2021. The URL for the Team Page
is: https://mssociety.donordrive.com/team/WeedaBeahm2021

Les Sumner gave the OK to reprint his Facebook picture from atop the Sacks Fifth Avenue building by Rockefeller Center in New York City. With the NYC mayoral race underway, Les looks primed to throw his hat into the fray – but not that hat. It fits you too well.

 

Paul and Pat Franke recently journeyed down the New Jersey Turnpike and I-95 for an afternoon lunch with Jim and JoAnn Crawford at the Army-Navy club in Arlington, Virginia. Also locally, several dinners were also held during the pandemic with Jim and Pat Murray, Jim and Kathy Kee Jim and JoAnne Crawford, and Charlie and Patty McGee.

Steve and Vicky Wilson are “on the road again”. This summer he and Vicki traveled from Arizona to California to Nevada with a few weeks respite in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. Continuing prospecting in Montana, prior to returning to Arizona before another sojourn and then to Oregon for the class golf tournament. Along the way he continued to work as a committee head for Sully.

Frank and Paulette Monaco broke away from the Hudson Valley and attended a granddaughter’s high school graduation in upstate New York. The Monaco’s continued their summer visits to Missouri and Illinois visiting children and grandchildren.

John Stidd is about to complete the first half of his Appalachian Trail journey in mid-August. After reaching the northern terminus in Maine, he will return to his starting point in Pennsylvania and head southbound. The journey began in mid-April and anticipated to end in October.

Bob Richardson on one of his trips to a local Virginia restaurant ran into the Supe at the ice cream counter.

During the planning for the original 50th Reunion the class officers approved Bricks from the AOG Brick/Paver program for our deceased classmates from Beirut and Vietnam. Shown here

are the memorials to those individuals: Randy Carlson, Bob Brown, Marshall Steinfeld, Dick Green and Mike Minor. Almost in parallel, classmates from C4 dedicated a Paver to Marshall Steinfeld.

Hope to hear from you,

 

 

 

 

Take care,

Charlie McGee

cbmA470@gmail.com

Army Scholarship Foundation

 

Release date: 1 August 2021

For more information contact: Jeff Gault 703-587-5181

or Jeff.Gault@ArmyScholarshipFoundation.org

 

Army Scholarship Foundation Announces Scholarship Awards for 2021-2022 Academic Year

 

The Army Scholarship Foundation announced today the award of two hundred and ninety two scholarships to children of US Army soldiers and veterans and spouses of active duty enlisted soldiers.  Scholarships for the 2021-2022academic year were awarded to deserving Army family members as follows:

 

The Colonel Urey Woodson Alexander Memorial Scholarship to Brian Webb of Erie, PA. 

The Lieutenant Colonel Walter Russell Bowie Memorial Scholarship to Emily Woodall of Portland, TN.  

The Lieutenant Keirn C. Brown Memorial Scholarship toTamia Brefo of Staten Island, NY.

The Lieutenant General Jack Costello Memorial Scholarship to Gwenyth Metz of Clarksville, TN.  

The Alan Robert and Veronica Lenox Cotariu Memorial Scholarship to Jordan Shostek of Johnstown, PA.

The Captain James and Ruby Eheman Memorial Scholarship to Saniyha Atchison of Upper Marlboro, MD.

The Lieutenant Colonel J. Allan Green Memorial Scholarship to Kai Esquerra of Ft Hood, TX.  

The Staff Sergeant John F. Kusior Memorial Scholarshipto Claire O’Keefe of Cedar Park, TX.

The Lieutenant Scott Love Memorial Scholarship to Isabella Hipp of Fort Gordon, GA. 

The Captain Jennifer Schafer-Odom Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Lerick Gordon of Fort Lewis, WA. 

The Perot Family Scholarship to Dayron Wade of Lakeland, FL.

The Sergeant Andrew Topham Memorial Scholarship toAnna Mathena of San Antonio, TX.

The Lieutenant Harold Moore Honorary Scholarship to Cheyenne Williams of Ennis, TX

The Colonel Robert Winston Stephens MemorialScholarship to Cameron Gibson of Cameron, NC. 

 

  

Sully Sends 18 July 2021

 

Brothers,

     We just had a meeting of the class officers and the committee chairs. 

     Things are routine---no drama. 

     We did get the sad news today of the death of John Decker, a combat infantryman who led a rifle platoon for a year in the 196th, with John Vermillion and Larry White, and I am sure others of our class. John was and is a great guy-- may God rest his valiant soul. He is our 96th fallen member. He was in H-1, and was born in North Carolina.

     On  another note, we are getting sign-ups at the hotel and for the football game-- about 80 so far-- for Bill Roedy's festivities for the Distinguished Graduate Award, 10-12 September. Bill Taylor--the hardest working man in show biz, with his newly revascularized leg, his fresh-from-the-hospital duty status, and his four jobs-- has sent out a poop sheet, and will continue to refine the info. AOG also will publish a registration site. We are all invited-- the entire class-- to dinner in the mess hall that weekend, 10-12 September. We will be doing a bit of partying down at the hotel also.

     AOG is shy some email addresses for us. If you want to be known and reachable, you can contact AOG at address@wpaog.org  and get them straight. This would help us achieve inclusion and consensus also.

     Betsey Blakeslee, Doc's wife, is running the preservation project for the fortifications on Fortress West Point. We can probably play a role in publicizing and lending moral support. That's about it for now, since we have just made a sizeable contribution to the effort. But this is a 12 million dollar effort, so our role will now be other than financial. John Connors is on the board of the project, as is Joe Reeder, and they will see what we can do, if anything is needed. Meantime, Pat Sculley's son Sean, a full bull and permanent professor, is involved with the tour of the redoubts-- he may fix us up with a tour during the 10-12 Sep weekend. That's up in the air for now.

     I hope everyone got a chance to see Vic Madeja's poop sheet on helping veterans with claims. Vic is a source of encyclopedic info on this topic.

     All the committees are making progress. Getting organized and started has its bumps in the road, but we are plowing along and hoping for results to start coming. Steve Wilson has got a feel for a work result even before Christmas, when I thought it would be coming. He will be making appointments from among volunteers to get his network together.

     Kurt Reineke and his IC3 crew had a commo exercise this week that revealed a bunch of things to iron out--- good, glad we tried it. Our consensus machine will get built an inch at a time. Kurt reports that all members of the network are fully committed and working at it with a will.

     John Van Vliet and his committee heads, Donna Jackson (Billy's widow), Rick Thibodeau, Tom Rozman and Nick Sebastion are going to be looking for volunteers to man the "expertise pods" for advising and mentoring our thousands of children and grandchildren. Be on the lookout for their request for help.

     Gil Harper is standing by, waiting for something to happen. So far, everything is cool.

     Our finances are sound--we have five funds and they are all in the black and well propped up for the long haul. Bill Cater has them in hand.All are fully funded with some excess.

     I have signed the MacArthur Cup Award endowment, with advice from our legal watchdog and VP, John Connors. AOG will take receipt of our check soon.

     The golf event is coming up from 29 Aug--4 Sep, and the NCEA is 18-19 October. Those and the Distinguished Graduate Award round out the fall calendar, and then we beat the hell out of Navy.

     Bill Taylor and I will get a class-wide zoom together as soon as we can, hopefully with a theme and a speaker, or at least an agenda. In the meantime, we have a 4th Regimental zoom which I have been hosting for about 15 months. The guest list keeps getting bigger. There is no agenda, it is free-form and somewhat unpredictable, but all opinions are respected and welcome, and no disrespect or discourtesy is tolerated.

     If you would like to get on it (usually Tuesday and Friday at 2pm central) please send me an email with your address and I will add you to the invite roster. My email is papasully7023@gmail.com

     God bless everybody.

Serve With Integrity

Beat Navy

Sully

PS: In addition to keeping AOG (and our class) informed of your updated contact information (send updates to address@wpaog.org), please stay tuned to our class web page (http://usma1970.com),  our class Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/usma1970), and our class blog at http://usma1970.blogspot.com 

Vic Madeja on the Veterans Administration

 Brothers,

 Vic Madeja has been working on veterans' issues for decades now. He has done much good and much work, and he is tenacious and consistent. 

He can help anyone who wants it. He stresses that one should establish a relationship with a VSO who handles the VA for you with your power of attorney, if you wish to make a claim.

This attached info is good, especially that Vietnam service makes a veteran presumptively eligible for a disability claim.

You can reach Vic at victormadeja@yahoo.com.

Thanks, Vic.

Serve With Integrity.

Beat Navy.

Sully

Please download a copy of the Veterans Welcome Kit >www.va.gov/welcome-kit/< (Nov.2020, 42p in b&w 

or color PDF). Share it with unaware comrades. 

The page also links to 15 other “Quick start” PDF guides to VA benefits and services (2 pages 

each, ~Oct.2020): Access Urgent Care; 

Apply for Burials & Memorials; Apply for Caregiver Benefits; Apply for Disability Rating; 

Apply for Education Benefits; Apply for Mental-Health Care; 

Apply for Survivor Benefits; Apply for VA Healthcare; Understand Services for 65+ veterans; 

Understand Appeals Modernization Act; 

Understand Community Care; Understand Food &Nutrition Services; Understand 

Vet-Center-Services; Veteran State-benefits; Women-Veterans-Health Services. 

The two highlighted items are for mainly for veteran family members. The two highlighted items 

are mainly for veteran family members.

Notes:  

(1) A veteran over age 64, is presumed disabled and may be entitled to a Veterans Pension, 

but must apply (it's means tested) and it is not retroactive. 

(2) Consider getting Planning Your Legacy: VA Survivors and Burial Benefits Kit  

>www.benefits.va.gov/BENEFITS/docs/VASurvivorsKit.pdf< (2020, 68p). 

(3) Claims for service connected disability are best handled with help of a Veterans Service 

Organization (VSO) as claimant's representative.

      See Attachment (2p) for  my overview of this process with a list of 71 forms that can 

be used with help of civilian doctors. 

(4) For frequently asked questions about Veterans Service Organizations see:  

>https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46412<. 

(5) During a medical or mental health emergency, the VA encourages Veterans to seek immediate 

medical attention. See VA FS 20-43 (Apr.2021) 1p.

They don’t need to check with VA before calling ambulance. 

VA will often authorize emergency care payment if notified within 72 hours. 

Again, You can reach Vic at victormadeja@yahoo.com

Jim Sullivan SENDS

 14 Jun 2021

Brothers,

     I make this first address to you as our class president on the 246^th birthday of our flag, and of our beloved Army. They have never let us down.

     Thank you for the honor you have granted to me and to Charlie McGee, our Historian, with this election. I know that you have put trust in us to serve with integrity. We will give you our best.

     Congratulations to those members of the class who were re-elected as class officers: John Connors, Vice-President; Bill Cater, Chief Financial Officer; T J Young, Secretary; Frank Monaco, Chief Information Officer; Barney Forsythe, NCEA Officer; Steve Strom, Chief Giving Officer.

      Please allow me to tip my hat to Dave Brown for his many years of service. We were lucky to have him. He has kindly and graciously offered me his complete support. He is a class act all the way.

     I am directing that our four original class officers be awarded in perpetuity the title “Emeritus.” They are: Dave Brown, President Emeritus; Barney Forsythe, Vice-President Emeritus; Tom Schmidt, Secretary Emeritus; John Stetor, Treasurer Emeritus. Each of these men is invited to sit in on any executive committee meeting, and I ask Frank Monaco to keep them on the distribution list unless they decline being on the list. I also ask Frank to place their names and titles on our website.

     In our constitution it states that the job of the class executive committee is to pursue “the collective wishes of the class.” To me this means achieving class consensus. To this end, I have formed five committees: Class Family Committee; Intra-Class Communications Committee; Class Biography Committee; Class Activities Committee and Class Special Ops Committee. 

     The Class Family Committee is chaired by John Van Vliet. He has three sub-committees (Widows, Widowers and SCORE—business operations involving our children and grandchildren). He will need at least 120 volunteers, and we are asking for men to come forward.

     The Intra-Class Communications Committee will be chaired by Kurt Reineke and is the heart of the reach for consensus. This committee/network is the commo channel between and among class members and class officers. If as a class we can’t reach consensus, we’ll have a referendum where everyone gets an opportunity to weigh in.  I’m committed to everyone having an opportunity to have a say. Kurt will need volunteers.

     Steve Wilson will chair the Class Biography Committee. His objective is to foster cohesion, communication and close contact, giving each man his day in the sun with a biographical greeting, on his birthday, before all his brothers, alive or dead, until our last day. This is complicated, and Steve is the guy who can get this done.  Steve will need volunteers too. If anyone does not want their information published, please contact Frank Monaco and let him know.

     Bill Taylor will chair the Class Activities Committee. He will handle all future reunions and will serve as co-chair with Frank Monaco for whatever we can get going for a reunion before the 55^th reunion. Bill will run the Distinguished Graduate Award (DGA) festivities now for Billy Roedy. God willing, we will have other DGA’s in the future. Bill may need volunteers as well.

     Now is the time to mention that Pat Thornton has retired from reunion management. He has done yeoman’s duty and we all owe Pat a debt of gratitude. Thank you, Brother, for all that work on our behalf.

     The last committee is the Special Ops Committee. There are things that will come up, highs and lows, pleasurable or challenging, that we will have to handle as a class. It is good for a unit to have a contingency setup, a Reaction Force, if you will. That’s Gil Harper. He saved us when the NCEA was under assault and we had a logistical nightmare. Most of the unforeseen contingencies have that in common—they are log nightmares. Gil has been there, in the Transportation Corps, in Panama, in Somalia, in other spots around the world—he’s our Log Boss. He might be in need of volunteers also.

     The Class Officers have unanimously approved these appointments. These five men will sit on the class executive committee, attend all executive committee meetings and have authority in their areas of responsibility, while reporting to the executive committee. 

     Please allow me to offer this prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us sinners.

Shema Yisroel, Adonai elohenu, Adonai echod.

Please, Lord, shed Your Grace on our Army, our Flag, our beloved country

And on the members and families of our beloved West Point Class of 1970.

Let us continue to serve our country with integrity and love,

Let us hang together as Brothers, as we have for 55 years now, from our first day falling in and “dropping our bags” to our last day.

Amen.

     Thank you my Brothers.

Love,

Sully