As we emerge from the Dark Ages...
After the (October) Deadline, Jeff Hackett checked in from the Valley of the Sun: You’d think as a former Scribe I would have noted what you were sending was your deadline to Tom as opposed to our deadline to you (but if you're undermining my nearly unblemished record of NEVER getting a column submitted on time...well, that just wouldn't be right.) Time flies: Chris and I celebrate our 11th Anniversary next week (beginning of Nov). It's good to be a 60 Year-old USAFR retiree–first check showed up on June 1st! Still loving life at Boeing (but consciously on glideslope for retirement Memorial Day 2015) Was happy to see several Ninth Squadron classmates on this year's college football trip (cycle through alma maters with two other crazy-for-college-football fans, an Ohio State and an Arizona State grad). This year we caught USAFA–SDSU. Very cold (for a boy from the desert) and the outcome not at all what we had hoped for, but tons of fun.
GBNF: AOG announced the death of Maj (Ret) David K. “Doc” Livingston, CS-19, on 14 Dec 2013 in Florida. Scott Arnott noted that Buck Rogers’ daughter represented the class and squadron, since the timing was difficult for others to attend. See you on The Other Side, Doc!
Jack Van Ryn is enjoying his new assignment as Missouri State Air Surgeon (MoANG) and still enjoy flying. He is based in Jeff City, lives in St Louis, and has units in St Louis, Knob Noster, and St Joe. He gets to fly the T-38 at Whiteman, C-130s at St Joe, and 135s out of Scott. Looks like all that work getting through medical school and beyond is paying off!
From several alert readers: The November issue of Air Force magazine featured the “other” AFA’s presentation of the Gen. H. H. Arnold Award for most significant contribution by a military member to national defense to our own Doug Fraser, once again showing that 75 truly is Best Alive!
Ralph Paul sent this photo of Don Lewis (Thirsty Third), who bagged a feral pig on his Texas ranch while checking his mail. The title of his e-mail was “Why We Carry a Rifle to Check Mail.”
From the Murray B&B in the DFW area: Mark Stickney and Jayne stopped by Dallas to see us after spending Thanksgiving with Jayne's parents (90 and 91) in Kansas City. I didn't realize it, but it had been two years since we had seen them. Stick is a check airman on the A-319/321 Airbus for Delta. That's the same airplane that I'm teaching on for American right now, so we had some fun talks.
Chris Glaeser: I just returned from the International Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) annual safety summit and was quite surprised to be awarded one of their top awards for lifetime achievement, especially since I retired from IATA in Montreal in July. Amazing journey: President and safety officer of USAFA flying club 1974-75, safety officer USAF Test Pilot School 1984-86, NWA airlines director flight safety 2000-2006, VP safety Alaska Airlines 2006-8, director global safety IATA 2009-13. I was lucky to lead a very talented global team at IATA, and I find it very interesting to note that I continued to leverage the expertise of our classmates such as Scott Hammond (NWA and now DAL) during these 30+ years. Definitely a lot of progress in the industry (zero fatalities by major US operators for more than ten years). While I was at IATA, I created, launched and implemented the biggest safety data sharing program in industry history called the Global Safety Information Center (GSIC) which had 7 active databases and data input from more than 600 different companies in operation when I left in July. Those of us still flying around the world salute you, Chris!
In case you’re reading this before 4 April, Harry Mathis retirement ceremony is now at 0900 on 4 April–see Dec 13 Checkpoints for details.
Still serving after all these years. Gernot Pomrenke posed the logical follow-up question to Last Man Standing: How many 75ers are left as civilian employees in the Air Force? There are bound to be several, so send in your (self) nominations and we’ll have some more friendly competition and recognition for this category. I’m pretty sure my doolie roomo Bruce Linster is teaching at our beloved alma mater, and I bet there are a bunch of guys at the Puzzle Palace in federal service Maybe we should have a competition for Beltway Bandits, airline weenies, and some other categories. The floor is open!
Keep smiling and see you around the campus!
