Shipmate: July/August 2015

by Mark Hubbard

Getting ready to enter the hot days of summer. My wife, Barb, and I decided to acclimate ourselves to the hot and humid weather typical of Maryland in the summer by spending a week in the Bahamas in April, and a long weekend in Cancun, Mexico. Well, it sounds like a good excuse to spend the money on travel, but we did enjoy ourselves! The mailbox is a bit light this time so let’s move on to the latest from the Class of ’76:

I received another update from Greg Vaughn:

In late February, I flew out to San Diego on Business and had a chance to spend a wonderful evening with 36th Company Classmates and their wives – Kris and Randy Large and Janet and Brad Speer. We gathered together at Kris and Randy’s beautiful home in Scripp’s Ranch and had a great time – mostly talking about the next reunion and what exciting trips we’d like to plan for ourselves before we get too old to travel with abandon. Left to right in the photo taken in the Large’s home is: Janet, Brad, Kris, and Randy. All are enjoying life in San Diego. Randy is retired and committed to physical fitness using some pretty cool toys and Brad is still employed and now working for General Atomics in Torrey Pines. (I also ran into Brad on Monday, 18 May at a conference at the Office of Naval Research in Arlington, VA.)

More recently in April, I had a chance to play hooky from work and join classmate Jim McKee on Worden Field to watch and photograph one of the Spring Parades. A beautiful but windy day, I’ve never seen so many Mids marching without a cover. I took a photo of Jim McKee with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s photographer while we were waiting for the parade to start. Hogan was the reviewing official for the parade. His ‘orders’ were “Beat Army.”

Even more recently and during this year’s Graduation Week, Jim and I met again at USNA to photograph the Blue Angels. We used their practice day on Tuesday, 19 May, to practice our own photography techniques and then returned again on Wednesday, 20 May, for the formal performance. I’ve included a couple shots taken from that event. Both days were great, despite predictions of bad weather on Tuesday. The Blue Angels have a great show and very glad that they are back for the second year at USNA since their recent hiatus.

In the future, hope to run into more classmates at this year’s bike ride across Iowa (RAGBRAI). It’s the last full week of July and I will definitely get photos if two or more of our classmates are gathered somewhere along the route. I would expect Craig McDonald to be there and perhaps Mark Benson.

All the best you and our classmates for a safe and wonderful summer!

Janet & Brad Speer meet up with Kris and Randy Large in San Diego

Jim McKee hanging out with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s photographer

One of many tremendous Blue Angels pictures taken by Greg Vaughn

Bruce Hinkley writes:

Attached is a photo of myself with my nephew LT Dan Hinkley who was selected for the all Navy Soccer team. I was able to watch them defeat the USMC team at Miramar in May. Dan’s Dad is the oldest son of my brother, CAPT Brian Hinkley ’83.

Bruce Hinkley joins his nephew, Dan Hinkley, after an All Navy Soccer Team victory over USMC

I had the opportunity to meet Medal of Honor recipient, Kyle White, at the Memorial Day Event held at NASA/GSFC in Greenbelt, MD, on Thursday, May 21st. Kyle was the keynote speaker and recounted the fateful day in Afghanistan in November 9, 2007, when he faced the enemy in an almost insurmountable ambush and was able to save several of his fellow soldiers by “just doing what I was trained to do”! A very humble man but a true leader and hero, Kyle’s medal was well deserved!

Kyle White and Mark Hubbard at the Goddard Space Flight Center

Mike Seifert has some 40th Reunion information for the Class:

Classmates, hard as it is to believe we are approaching our 40th reunion. Planning is underway and we have locked in Sep 2-4, 2016 for the big event. For those that haven’t heard, Navy has joined the American Athletic Conference, formerly known as the Big East. The 2016 football schedule is not set yet but we have confirmed we will be playing a home game that weekend against Fordham. We will be using the Westin hotel as our base of operations and have reserved the N* room for the tailgate (same as we did for the 35th which went over so well). I am looking for people who would like to be on the planning committee as there are still a number of issues to decide. Please contact me directly at vmlseifert@hotmail.com if you are interested in assisting. Be watching for the fall Shipmate for additional details.

Kevin Stone also has information regarding the 40th:

OK classmates … it is time to start planning on attending our 5th, no 10th, no, I can’t bear to say it, 40th Reunion. It will be held on Labor Day Weekend and will largely follow the schedule of our very successful 35th: Thursday evening reception at a location TBD, dinner Friday night at the hotel (Westin), and tailgate on Saturday before/during the game in the N* room inside the stadium. Along with these “major” events we’ll have a Class meeting and election of officers, a brief from the Supe, a memorial service and a chance to relive your fondest memories of USNA: the P-Rade on Friday. More will follow so watch this space as well as your email. If you don’t get
Kevin’s regular emails you will miss the boat, so to speak. Go to http://www.usna.com and update your profile now! We cannot make the change for you.

On a final note, our heartfelt condolences go out to Pat Tracy, who suffered the loss of his Dad, on May 28th. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Pat.

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