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