Mike Jensen
@USAFA84
Classmate of the quarter: Congrats to MajGen Paul McGuillicuddy on being the first to attain this honor. Pickle and Mary Jo were unbelievably gracious hosts when Bob Perryand I went out to the USAFA game vs Hawaii. It was a fantastic weekend with USAFA trouncing the Rainbow Warriors 58-7. Because of him, I survived surfing and we able to return relatively unscathed.
Updates: Steve Flach was the first to write in and won 2 free tickets to his next USAFA event (airfare not included) Hereports that they are enjoying being in Cincinnati living on TPC Rivers Bend and he is back to playing golf with his new hip. Erik and Lily Ann are keeping him busy. Spending time with John and Maria Walsh Sheedy. Planning Thanksgiving with JayEsmay and Roger Sit in MSP. He is also building avionics for EELV at L3 Cincinnati Electronics.
Tom Wilson traverses the globe both with work and without. He saw Tim and Monica (Schweitz) Smith at the Navy game. It was cold, windy and rainy, but a great time was had by all. Healso saw the great mind of Carl Farquhar there too.
John Flint is a DFW 737 FO with American Airlines, living in Irving, Texas. Also LOSA Observer. Enjoying time with his ten year old daughter, Margo.
Scott “Kaiser” Wilhelm is knocking off some big items from his (or anyone’s) bucket list. He recently went down to Orlando to fly a P-51 with the folks at Stallion 51. In his third year of checking off stuff (did Great White shark diving this summer, ran the bulls in Pamplona last summer and hiked the Inca Trail the year before), but really enjoyed this one.
Jeff Burum is doing well. Although he is finally rated 100% totally and permanently disabled with VA from Gulf War Illness; chem and biowarfare from when he was in Saudi 93-94 during UN disarmament operations and USAF Operation Southern Watch. He is in three national medical studies on GWI and actively participates in the the VA Accountability Act and VA Choice VA reform programs, which I began 5 years ago. I'm also going to leading edge therapy of uv/ozone iv blood therapy and using Medsonics. Great to hear from you, Jeff.
Scott Welker is now a general surgeon in Clearlake, CA. Married 29 years, two adult kids through college, one's an engineer and the other is headed to med school next fall.
Eric Wallace and his Left Hand Brewing took 3 medals for the third Great American Beer Fest in a row. Gold for the third time for Fade to Black Export Stout (entered only three times as well), bronze for Sawtooth ale and Black Jack Porter (both medaled as far back as 1994). We were second place for medium sized brewery of the year for the third year in a row! Fantastic!
Joe Sherman scratched his paragliding itch in Santa Barbara. He needed something new after trashing his knee doing the ultramarathon/ironman thing over the last few years. If any of you have that need, feel free to give him a call.
Jeff and Gina Hays are grandparents. Avery Margaret Roberts was born 15 Oct. Which reminds me, on little Avery’s birthday next year, the Falcons take on New Mexico in the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair of Texas. I know, this is probably not enough notice to get on Der Kaisers bucket list schedule, but I hope that for the rest of us, you can make the trip down to Dallas.
Jeff and Brenda Follansbee reported that son, Clark, had his T-38 dollar ride and is moving right along in UPT. Satellite business is still exciting, but they are looking forward to ski season, too.
Paul Suarez sent a photo of his wife, Anne, with Jamie Hillsand his wife, Lynn, taking in a Arkansas Razorbacks game in Fayetteville earlier this season. They also ran into Coach Ken Hatfield. Having moved to NW Arkansas from DC recently as a result of taking a job with Walmart's IT Dept, he searched the AOG directory to find other grads and located a classmate! Jamie moved down here about 7 years ago after retiring from flying C-141s, and also works for "the world's largest retailer". Anne and he were pleased to reconnect and also learned there's an active AOG chapter here--great to be in their company and other 84ers should look them up if you're traveling through the area!
Chris Troiano sent a photo of Victor Haynes and himself when Captain Haynes was on a layover at Hyatt Coconut Point (in background) in Ft Myers recently. Chris rescued him from his suffering with a 3 hour tour of SWFL backwaters. Really, “a 3 tour? A 3 hour tour?” Well played!
So there you have it. Make sure you check out www.usafa84.com for more info. Also, I would like to hear from any and all small business owners as there is a directory coming out in the near future. Have a great 2016 and KEEP IN TOUCH. Jens
