Ring Melt USMA 1970 - USMA 2020

‘70 contingent with 2020 class leaders. John Norton and Bill Arcuri with gold bar made from the donated rings. Names:  Skip and Fran Ryder, Luke Brennecke, Craig Rutler, Tre Carter, Terry Young, Ginny Brenner, John Norton. 

On January 25th, our affiliated class of 2020 held their Ring Melt Program. The West Point Association of Graduates’ Class Ring Memorial Program was established in 2001.  Since then, the gold from rings, which have been worn by graduates who served our nation in times of war and peace since before World War I, has been melted and mixed with new gold, becoming part of the rings for the Classes of 2002 through 2020.  This year’s ring melt honored 55 Academy graduates.  A small amount of gold is preserved after each melt so that the future class rings will have gold from all rings donated since the program began.  10 classmate rings were donated this year, the highest number in one donation, and they were added to the other 45 donated rings from classes from 1916 to 1985.  Bill Arcuri, Craig Rutler and Jeff Troxell were living member donations.  Of particular note, Craig’s grandson is a member of 2020.  Families of our deceased classmates donated the rings of John Brenner, Randy Carlson, Roland Carter, John Forbes, Jr, John Reitz, Brian Smith and Lawrence Wilkins. John Norton donated his father’s ring (1941) and Skip Ryder donated his grandfather’s (1918) and father’s (1942) ring.  In his closing remarks, 2020 Class President, Joshua Phillips, thanked the Class of 1970 for all their efforts in the Affiliation Program, acknowledged the great example our class has set, and promised the Class of 2020 would live up to our expectations.  Be on the lookout for AOG’s video of this event.

There are additional affiliation programs in the future.  Notifications will be publicized.  The next major event, Branch Night, will be held in November.  Our goal will be to have 2 class reps from each branch in attendance.  Additional information will be forthcoming.

Real American Solutions - A Blog by Classmate USMA 1970 Jim Jeray, D4

Real American Solutions

A Blog by Classmate USMA 1970 Jim Jeray, D4

http://realamericansolutions.blogspot.com

Ancient philosophers and modern psychologists agree: behavior has consequences. Those who ignore this or don’t see the connection are doomed to repeat past errors. 

This failure to see connections is the only real crisis in America today. Other problems stem from an accumulation of undesirable individual consequences as they build into societal issues, issues the news media love to brand as the crises and epidemics of the day. But the root cause usually comes back to errant behavior in just five key areas.

The model is based on sound business principles used in structured interviews and behavioral assessment – unwanted behavior brings poor performance; improve behavior yields better outcomes. By broadening the model to all of society, most problems can be solved without government intervention.

This is the solution I have defended with clear examples from the news and advertising twice a week since 2011 at http://realamericansolutions.blogspot.com.

I invite everyone to take a look, become a follower, send suggestions, agree or disagree, keep me honest and help spread the word.

Thanks, Jim Jeray, USMA 1970, D4