SUBJECT: Class of 1970 50 Year Affiliation Program. YEAR 1
Classmates. Brothers,
The first year of our 50 Year Affiliation with USMA ’20 is now history!
On Saturday, 14 May, the USMAPS Class of 2016, the “Vanguards” of the USMA Class of 2020, graduated. Out of 240 Cadet Candidates who reported to the Prep School last July, approximately 190 graduated and received appointments to join the USMA Class of 2020.
Five days earlier, on 09 May, the Prep School held an “Offer of Admission Ceremony.” Each Cadet Candidate received a formal appointment to the Academy, along with a letter from Class of ’70 President, Dave Brown, welcoming them into the Long Gray Line. John Veenstra, Frank Monaco and Don Blakeslee graciously agreed to be present for this important event and help hand out the certificates.
Then, on Friday, May 13th, there was the obligatory Graduation Review, followed by an Awards Ceremony, both with ’70 Classmates in attendance. That evening there was a Graduation Hop for Cadet Candidates and their guests held at Ike Hall, and then, on Saturday, May 14th, there was a graduation ceremony with our own Gummy Steele as commencement speaker. I will say that Gummy did a great job, and we can all be (even more) proud of him. (Speech is here)
In attendance for USMAPS Graduation from the Class of ‘70 were:
Frank Monaco
John Veenstra
Les Sumner
TJ Young
Jim Price
Craig Rutler
Bob Richardson
Bruce Nolte
and, of course, Gary Steele
With Graduation, our first year of Affiliation with USMA ’20 comes to an end, but I want to assure you that USMA ’70 has been with these young men and women every step of the way, building a bond with this great new West Point Class.
· Last July, 10 classmates gathered to watch a cadre from the USMA Classes of ’16 and ’17 provide a “mini R-day experience for the incoming Cadet Candidates. Participating Class of ’70 members got to observe closely, but our principal effort was directed to meeting with and reassuring parents of the new cadet candidates. There were lots of tears as we told them that sending their children to the Prep School and West Point was a good decision. At the end of the day, as with the “real” R-day at West Point, there was a P-rade, with the Class of ’70 attendees in the reviewing party.
Being a part of this, our first 50 Year Affiliation event, were:
Bob Brand
PC Casto
Rolf Knoll
Jim Price
Gary Thomas
Phil Doleac
TJ Young
Dave Porreca
Gary Cornelison, Commander, USN
and yours truly, Bruce Nolte
· Less than a month later, the Class of ’70 was back at the Prep School for the Carlson Crucible Challenge, named in honor of our fallen Classmate, Randy Carlson, who was killed in Lebanon in 1982. In preparation for this event, Mike Jones did truly yeoman work with Randy’s brother, Don Carlson, to put together a memorial display of Randy’s life, which, along with our Class Flag, remained up at the Prep School in a place of honor all year. All of us owe Snoopy Jones a big debt of gratitude for putting this together.
The Crucible Challenge was an all-day effort, with such standard events as a confidence course, land navigation, rifle marksmanship, first aid, and finishing with a climb up the ski slope. Members of the Class of ’70 got to closely observe each event, with a lot of one-on-one interaction with the new Cadet Candidates, who, at this juncture, had only been at the Prep School for some 3 weeks. All of us were impressed at how quickly the Cadet Candidates had developed, and what a great job had been done by the Cadet Cadre.
Participating in the Crucible Challenge were:
Bill Arcuri
John Veenstra
Bill Richardson
Bill Trivette
TJ Young
Craig Rutler
Bruce Nolte
In early March, 16 members of the Class were back up at the Prep school to celebrate Founder Day. Jimmy Lovelace gave the principal address, and PC Casto was kind enough to do duty as the Oldest Grad. We also had a discussion panel with the Cadet Candidates, led by John Cogbill, on the subject of “Leadership in a Hollow Army,” a subject that certainly seems appropriate for current cadets. Following this was dinner with the Cadet Candidates in their mess hall, with lots of one-on-one time with the CC’s. Because it was Yours Truly’s wedding anniversary, I was not able to attend, but John Veenstra did yeoman work as my last minute stand in. Thank you, John!
Participating in Founder’s Day were:
Jimmy Lovelace
Frank Monaco
Toby Quirk
John Cogbill
Craig Rutler
John Veenstra
Gary Thomas
Kerry Lawrence
Paul Fardink
Don Blakeslee
Ed Hirsch
John Wells
Rusty ray
John Greenwalt
Perry Casto
Bill Arcuri
So now, with Prep School Graduation behind us, the first year of our 50 Year Affiliation with the Vanguard of USMA ’20 comes to a close. I think it noteworthy that of the 240 Cadet Candidates who reported to the Prep School back last July, some 212 were still present for Founders Day in March, and, of those, approximately 190 graduated and received appointments. Said differently, the program at the Prep School is no pushover. You may recall that last July, I reported to you that 60% of the incoming Prepsters were recruited athletes, while 40% came out of the Regular Army. Those differences did not seem apparent to me watching the Graduation Review or seeing these Cadet Candidates graduate. It does seem clear to me that the Staff and faculty of the Prep School worked hard to adhere to challenging academic standards, and there is no doubt in my mind that Army Values and the notion of Duty, Honor Country have been well instilled in this, the Vanguard of USMA ’20.
I want to thank every Classmate who participated in any of these Affiliation events throughout the last year. And if I’ve inadvertently left your name off of any of the above lists, of attendees, I sincerely apologize. Leading the Class effort over the past year has been a great experience for me, personally, especially getting to work with and get to know members of the Prep School Staff-a selected group of officers and NCO’s from today’s Army, as well as members of the USMAPS Class of ’16, who will surely be leaders of the Army of tomorrow.
And finally, thanks also to the Class Committee for letting somebody from the 4th Regiment be responsible for ANYTHING!
SWI, and
BEAT NAVY!
Bruce Nolte, F-4
PS: Some pictures here (more to come)
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