News/Events

Bruce McCandless has been selected as one of the five Distinguished Graduates for 2012. The award ceremony will be on Friday 23 March. More details to follow.

The Class Luncheons are held at the Army Navy Country Club on the last Thursday of every month unless otherwise advised. They start at 1130 and arrangements are made for a speaker to present talks on subjects of interest to the Class. Your class caller should contact you about a week before each event to get a head count. If you do not hear from your caller, contact in the following order:

If you plan to attend, accurate head counts are important to preclude unnecessary cost. In addition to charging us the full rate for "no-shows", the club also charge us a surcharge for each unannounced attendee. We have no choice but to pass these costs on to the classmates concerned. Please make your reservations as early as possible but no later than the Tuesday before the luncheon. The cost of the luncheon is $25. Honor bar prices will be posted at the event.

Frank Gamboa's Memoir, "El Capitán! The Making of an American Naval Officer,"

See the the review of Frank's book by Joe McCain. The book is available at amazon.com and bookstores as of 4 June 2011.. Other reviews are on www.FrankGamboa.com.

Frank Gamboa has written a memoir. El Capitán! The Making of an American Naval Officer, which describes his career as a line officer in the naval surface warfare profession. Senator John McCain has provided a foreword. The book was launched on 4 June 2011. The initial book signing event was at the regular Class of ’58 monthly luncheon on 30 June at the Army/Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia. A celebration and national book tour kick-off event was held at 6 p.m. on 13 July 2011 at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The publisher has set up a web site for Frank's book at http://www.FrankGamboa.com The website shows the book's cover, and brief descriptions about the book and the author. More info will be added to this site closer to be publication date.

VADM Hal Koenig (Class of '62) Speech on Tricare,Medicare and Obamacare (PPACA), March 17, 2011 (4/20/11/)

Excerpt of VADM Hal Koenig (Class of '62) speaking to a USNA Alumni group in San Diego . Some of you may have listened to a live CD of the presentation. This transcript took no small amount of effort to translate from the verbal to the written and at least one of my USNA ’62 classmates (Greg C.) did a lot of the work. It was further ‘smoothed up’ by VADM Hal himself who also gave his permission to share his talk.

I found it to be enlightening in the face of all the discussion about Obamacare and healthcare in general these days. Lots of interesting facts regarding care in other countries and comparisons to our care here in the US . Also brings in facts regarding the ‘free’ healthcare for life myth that many of us were promised or thought that we were (we were but…). Shows the role another classmate (Judge Roger Vinson ‘62) played in that determination and more recently regarding healthcare…….

Thanks for this interesting article. Our general age group is certainly “in the zone” for prostate cancer, so it’s important to learn as much as we can about the disease and how to prevent it. And as both a survivor and prostate cancer mentor with the American Cancer Society and Massachusetts General Hospital, I’ve been fortunate to be able to stay pretty close to the issue.

Back in 2005 I was diagnosed with a very high-risk, aggressive prostate cancer. My Gleason is 9 (5+4 and 4+5, with all cores up to 100% involved with cancer). When we discussed treatments, I asked my team (urologist, radiation oncologist, and medical oncologist) at Mass General about the proton beam option, since MGH/Harvard, like Loma Linda, is one of the few sites in the U.S. offering it. They agreed that proton therapy, with its reduced “collateral damage”, was very good for medium and low grade cancers (Gleason 7 and below)where the cancer is well defined and in a “good” position. But it’s not necessarily superior to other treatments. And for especially aggressive, poorly defined cancers like mine, a more aggressive combination treatment was warranted. So I had 9 weeks of daily IMRT external radiation and 2 years of Androgen Deprivation Therapy, i.e. so-called hormones. Ever since then my PSA (checked quarterly) has been undetectable, and I’m now 6 years out and in “permanent” remission. Statistically, given the very high-risk nature of my case, I should have had a recurrence/relapse in 1 ½ to 2 years. I’m very fortunate.

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the proton beam option, and why not - - it worked great for you! However, I must take issue with your statement in your e-mail “…if you get Prostate Cancer, Please do not use any procedure other than the Proton Therapy”. Instead I’d suggest that anyone getting prostate cancer carefully examine all the options available, and talk them over with your doctors. Find out which therapies are best suited for a cancer of your severity, and go with what offers the best chances of success. It may or may not be proton beam.

Tomorrow I’ll be attending the Massachusetts Prostate Cancer Coalition’s annual day-long seminar. It’s a great place to get caught up with many oncologists and urologists (and we have lots here in Boston) and of course get some of the latest dope on the subject. I’ll pass on any updated info.

This information is important to all who may have prostate, breast, brain, eye cancer, or most solid tumors that have not metastasized. It gives the reason where Proton Radiation is better than any other radiation used to cure these cancers. I had Proton done at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, CA for my prostate cancer back in 2006 and have had no side effects what so ever.

At the time of his untimely death last November 11^th at Virginia Beach, Jack was the Assistant Dean and Professor of Economics in The Mason School of Business at The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. Jack was very popular and much admired by the Mason faculty, staff and students and warmly known as “Prof. D.” Like us, they were very saddened by his passing and feel the loss deeply.

The Mason School of Business has honored the memory of Jack through their establishment of the Professor John J. Dittrick, Jr., Fixed Income Market Fund. This bond fund will serve as a vehicle for students to apply their knowledge to the real world of fixed income investing and, eventually, to provide scholarships for full-time M.B.A. students through a portion of the annual interest income. The entire Mason School of Business Full-time M.B.A. Class of 2010 has dedicated their collective class gifts to this fund in Jack’s memory.

On 16 April, Linda and I joined Carolyn and Jill Dittrick at the Mason School of Business Miller Hall Dedication Ceremony in honor of Jack. The event was hosted by the Dean Larry Pulley and the officers and members of the Full-time M.B.A. students Class of 2010. The Dean announced the establishment of the gift together with the dedication of a plaque for Jack’s former office, which has been designated as the Professor John J. Dittrick, Jr. Room. It was a memorable event and my honor to represent the 17^th Company and Class of ’58.

In my brief remarks I thanked the Dean and the students for honoring our distinguished classmate and dear friend. And I said that I would “put the arm” on the 17^th Company and request they join with the Class of 2010 in contributing to the fund.

I would greatly appreciate your teaming with me and John McCain in honoring our great company mate, the Deacon.

Below are links to the documents that establish the fund, a description of the fund operation, and a contribution form. Your gift is tax deductible.

This is a little known/used benefit for vets under the auspices of the veterans' administration. One does not have to be retired from the service to qualify, only to have served on active duty in designated war periods (either stateside or in theater). Other eligibility requirements also apply.

The Aid and Attendance (A&A) Pension provides benefits for veterans and surviving spouses who require the regular attendance of another person to assist in eating, bathing, dressing and undressing or taking care of the needs of nature. It also includes individuals who are blind or a patient in a nursing home because of mental or physical incapacity. Assisted care in an assisting living facility also qualifies.

Some of you may have parents/grandparents/spouses who are currently paying these expenses out-of-pocket and may rate such compensation. More on this program at the following link:

"Just wanted to let you know that, the same as many of you, I recently received my Military Retiree Account Statement. Please review the back of your statement and verify who you have designated as the beneficiary in case you die. Mine has changed to someone I don't even know (Cathy J. McMillin ,"wife") as getting 100%. Based upon the fact that recently the VA had military retiree personnel information compromised it is interesting that somehow my beneficiaries have changed. If you look at the broader picture of what this means that many veterans probably wouldn't catch this and that as we lose more of our fellow servicemen and women each day this would leave their dependents without the benefit hey deserve. I will be calling DOD first day they are open as well as the DOD IG and local congressman. Please send this out to the retirees you know and alert them to check whether current beneficiary is. Ask them to pass it along."

Traditionally, members of the nation's veterans service organizations render the hand-salute during the national anthem and at events involving the national flag while wearing their organization's official head-gear. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 contained an amendment to allow un-uniformed service members, military retirees, and veterans to render a hand salute during the hoisting, lowering, or passing of the U.S. flag. A later amendment further authorized hand-salutes during the national anthem by veterans and out-of-uniform military personnel. This was included in the Defense Authorization Act of 2009, which Former President Bush signed on Oct. 14, 2008.

San Francisco Bay Area Gatherings

'58 gathers quarterly on the 4th Saturday every 3rd month for a "--whenever two or three shall gather--" brouhaha. We have been known to change the date so call/email to confirm if you happen to be in the area and can attend. Kurtz Gilligan (24th) coordinates it and John Potter (19th) does
the secretarial stuff.

Kurtz 707/422-7500 Only a phone, no fax, no email, maybe an answering
machine.
John 707/745-4914 Calls are screened. Email:
John.Potter@1958.usna.com

SHIPMATE DEADLINES

SHIPMATE will accept digital photos for publication in class columns. The only requirements are that the electronic file must be sent as either a JPEG or TIFF file, the original photo (if scanned) must be larger than 2.5" wide, and the resolution of the photo must be at least 300 dpi. Hard copy photos are still perfectly acceptable. Digital photos that don't get used for the class column will probably be displayed for all to enjoy on the Class of 1958 web site.

Have you written your classmates lately??? Submit your items as they occur to relieve George Jenkins of the monthly crunch. Adventures, life events, meetings with classmates, travels, weddings, grandchildren, retirements, Olympic medals, hospitalizations, and all that are grist for the column. Pictures are appreciated, particularly with the class flag in them.

The class column length has been cut by SHIPMATE from 4,000 words per column to 2,000 words per column. A photo of three or less persons equals 100 words, said words to be subtracted from the column length. And this after the survey showed the class columns to be the most popular feature! Go figure!

The address for e-mail to George at george.jenkins@1958.usna.com, and send the photos to him at 713 S Overlook Dr, Alexandria, VA 22305, Tel: 703 683 4357

USNA Vehicle Pass

There is now a USNA Alumni Assoc. form that alumni, who are not eligible to obtain DoD stickers for their cars, can submit to get a pass which enables them to drive in the Yard. Knowledge of this may be useful to some classmates, especially for those who want to participate in the "Link In The Chain" program with the entering class of 2008. To download the form, click on the following hyperlink.

Friends of the Naval Academy (FONA) Program