AFIT RETIREES NEWSLETTER: FALL 2005

                
The fall luncheon is scheduled for October 22, 2005 at the
Tuscany Grill, 189 West Franklin Street, Bellbrook, Ohio. Social
time to start at 11:30 with everyone seated to order from the menu
by 12:15. We have the private room to the left of the entrance.
We have been promised that there are no parades or other events
scheduled which would affect our ability to arrive at the
restaurant. If you plan to attend please let Wally Breuer (434-
3691) or Peter Torvik (374-0521) know by 19 October so the
restaurant can plan for us.

Our Social Courtesy Fund balance is getting low. This fund is
used for mailing and paper expenses for the newsletter as well as
for bereavement donations on the death of a retired faculty or an
immediate member of his/her family. Your contribution of five
dollars or more to Harold Kepler, Peter Torvik or Wally Breuer
will be appreciated.

As of 5 July 2005, Brig. Gen. Mark T. Matthews is the new AFIT
Commandant. BGen. Matthews graduated in 1977 from the Air Force
Academy with honors and a degree in engineering sciences. In 1987
he earned an M. S. in Operations Research from Princeton
University. He is a distinguished graduate of the F-15 Fighter
Weapons School. He completed Squadron Officer School, Air Command
and Staff College and Air War College, all from Air University.
Prior to this assignment he was Commander, 48th Fighter Wing,
Royal Air Force, Lakenheath, England. Shortly after his taking
over as AFIT Commandant, the BRAC Commission decided to add AFIT
to their base closure study. As pointed out in the following
article by Jim Bridgman, B.G. Matthews played a key role in
securing the unanimous vote of the commission to keep AFIT at W-
PAFB, Ohio. Welcome B.G. Matthews, and may you have many more
successes as AFIT Commandant.

AFIT and BRAC by Jim Bridgman
The Base Realignment and Closing Commission (BRAC) recently
scrutinized AFIT. Once again the numbers saved us. BRAC happens
every 4 or 5 years (but the last BRAC was in 1992!) when the
Pentagon draws up a proposed list of bases and organizations that
should be considered for closing or realignment. In addition to
the Pentagon list, BRAC itself can add organizations to the "hit
list". AFIT was not nominated by the Pentagon but was added by
BRAC itself with the proposition that the AFIT mission be merged
with the Naval Postgraduate School and the Defense Language School
at Monterey and moved to Monterey. One of the commissioners, GEN
(ret) "Fig" Newton (former AETC CC and therefore AFIT commander
twice removed) publicly objected and proposed that the Commission
should look at the cost savings of moving NPS to Dayton as well as
the cost savings of moving AFIT to NPS. The Chair of the
commission added or "both student bodies sent to civilian
schools".

As was the case for all bases and organizations under the gun,
active AFIT personnel were not permitted to comment to the press
or lobby BRAC. Instead the case for AFIT was handled by the
Dayton Development Coalition headed by J.P. Nauseef. J.P. is a
former Air Force Officer who, some years ago, was assigned to AFIT
as an SC staff member. He is also the son of current AFIT
Foundation Board Member BGEN (ret) John Nauseef. The Dayton
Development Coalition did an outstanding job in presenting a solid
and number-based case for AFIT remaining at W-PAFB.

A key member of the Dayton Development Coalition is Vice
President Mike Gessel, who some of you may remember was a staff
member for Congressman Tony Hall. Mike Gessel, when he was still
working for Tony Hall, was the central point of contact for the
Ohio delegation in the response to Secretary Widnall's initiative
to close AFIT. Mike arranged to have Pete Torvik work with him to
develop the number-based argument. One of the significant things
that Peter did was get the COBRA computer code running locally.
This is the actual code that BRAC uses to calculate cost savings
on every base closing or realignment question. The original BRAC
calculations had some really crazy input concerning AFIT and local
indirect costs. When Peter corrected the inputs for COBRA, it
showed (1) that privatizing AFIT graduate programs and at the
same time moving continuing education to Maxwell would require
over 100 years to pay back the initial investment; (2) that
sending AFIT to Monterey to be aligned with NPS would lead to a
net recurring cost to DoD and (3) that moving NPS to Dayton to be
aligned with AFIT would save over $40 million per year enabling a
pay back of the initial investment in several years.

As a part of the BRAC process, two of the nine BRAC
commissioners visited AFIT and W-PAFB, while two others visited
NPS and Monterey. Our new Commandant, BGEN Mark Mathews, although
only a week on the job, did a great job in setting up the agenda
for the two commissioners (with the help of Dean/Academic Director
Bob Calico). The AFIT visit agenda included all the right things:
Air Force relevant research, our strong research ties to the base,
specialized curricula and gung-ho students. The Commissioners
were accompanied by Senators Dewine and Voinovitch, Congressmen
Boehner, Hobson and Turner and Governor Taft. All six Ohio
politicians were present at the faculty meeting in the afternoon.
I don't think I have every seen a faculty council meeting quite
like that. Finally the day ended for the two visiting
commissioners with a public rally at Stebbins High School.
Perhaps some of you were present. It was well covered by TV and
must have made an impression.

While the commissioners were being hosted at AFIT, Gessel,
Torvik and two members of the Dayton Development Coalition met
with the BRAC staff member, Syd Carol, and presented an analysis
and re-scoring of the Military Values of AFIT and the NPs, and
relevant facts concerning costs Pete Torvik described Mr. Carol as
very open and seeking the right answer. This may have been the
most important meeting of the day.

The final BRAC decision was conducted in a public meeting on
Thursday Aug. 25th, in Arlington, VA. Several of us watched it on
CSPAN. The AFIT case was again presented by Senator DeWine,
Congressman Hobson, and Turner as well as John Nowak, LTGEN (ret)
and CEO of LOGITEC and a member of the Board of Dayton Development
Coalition. The final witness was Dr, Daniel Curran, President of
UD. Dr. Curran emphasized the Dayton Area Graduate Studies
Institute (DAGSI) and the close interaction of AFIT, UD and WSU,
including cross registration, joint research and state of Ohio
student grants.

The vote was almost anticlimactic, BRAC voted (without
dissent) to leave each school in place but demanded a
strengthening of the existing over-sight Board to oversee program
sharing between the two schools. (For two years now, all aero-
engineering students (AF and Navy) attend AFIT and all acquisition
and meteorology students attend NPS). The current joint board
overseeing this program sharing is advisory only. BRAC dictated
that the strengthened board will report to the Secretary of
Defense and have regulatory authority. The strengthened board
will have members appointed by each service (drawn from the
existing Boards of Visitors of both schools) and a member
appointed by the Secretary of Education.

Many AFIT people look at the decision as a win-win. If the
Advisory Board is populated with knowledgeable people, to include
some educators, the result could be a strong future for both
schools.
More about the BRAC-AFIT experience can be found on the AFIT-AOG
web site (www.afitaog.org) including a copy of a very powerful
letter sent to the BRAC chairman by the AFIT Foundation listing
ten reasons why AFIT should not be moved. Your dues to the AFIT-
AOG support the Foundation and this website.
Postscript: As you can see a great many people came to the
defense of AFIT. If you get a chance to interact with any of them
please extend thanks.

UPDATE ON AFIT from Dr. Calico
Finally after two years, first of destruction and then
construction, Bldg 640 is complete. From the outside the only
changes are the addition of a three-story entrance on the
northwest corner of the building, complete with elevator, and
double doors and a new canopy at the southwest entry. Once you
step inside however the building has been totally redone and, in
my opinion, looks quite nice. The ribbon cutting is slated for
the 7th of October but most of the Graduate School has moved back
into the building already. Due to the growth in the student
population and the subsequent growth in faculty, it was not
possible to move the entire faculty back into Bldg 640 and the
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, the Department of
Operational Sciences, and a significant number of staff will
continue to be located in Bldg 641. We have funded a design
study to rehab 641 and expect to accomplish the rehab over the
next two years, one floor at a time.

Student numbers at AFIT continue to grow. Total enrollment
for the fall will exceed 1000 with over 100 PhD students. To
accommodate the growth in students we have been aggressively
hiring faculty, with over 30 civilian faculty hired in the past
two years alone. The total faculty is now approximately 150.
While AFIT has grown significantly over the past few years, it has
retained its focus on the needs of the Air Force and the DoD and
continues to be responsive to those needs. While a lot has
changed I think AFIT has retained those attributes that have made
all of us proud of its accomplishments and our association with
AFIT.

Let me close on a personal note. After more than 16 years I
will soon be turning the school over to a new Dean. The
selection process is close to complete but still requires approval
by the Secretary of the Air Force. However, it is anticipated
that that will occur soon and an announcement will follow shortly
with a new Dean being in place in January. For the past year I
have been in the Academic Director’s position while doing the
Dean’s job. Once a new Dean is in place I will continue to serve
as the Academic Director. While I am looking forward to a new
Dean coming on board I also will miss what for me has been a dream
job. I also want to let all of you know what a positive influence
you, the people who are part of the retirees group, have been on
both AFIT and on me personally. Over the years your support,
confidence, correction, and friendship have been more important to
me than you know.

NEWS ON AFIT FOUNDATION from Peter Torvik
The AFIT Foundation and AFIT Association of graduates are the
support and alumni associations for AFIT. Recent activities of
the group have included a reinstitution of the program of
recognizing distinguished alumni. These are now honored as
distinguished alumni, rather than as distinguished graduates as
was formerly done, so as to avoid confusion with the annual
designation of the outstanding new graduates. Another recognition
banquet will be held later this fall, but the date (currently
November 18) appears to be somewhat up in the air.

The Foundation has also undertaken some new activities. For
the past three years the Foundation has awarded a $1000 savings
bond to the student selected by the faculty as having written the
outstanding MS thesis of the year. The Foundation encouraged AFIT
to honor Congressman Hobson with an honorary doctorate, as was
accomplished at the graduation last March. The Foundation also
provides support to the annual Wright Brothers Lecture series, in
which the heritage and tradition of the USAF is recognized by two
days of talks given by distinguished aviation pioneers. Finally,
the Foundation sent a strong letter in support of AFIT to the BRAC
commission.

Thanks to Wally Breuer for serving two terms on the Board of
the Foundation. Jim Bridgman, Lynn Wolaver and Peter Torvik
continue as members.

Be thinking about Delores Lamont. We are sorry to learn
from Gary Lamont that his Delores had cancer surgery in late
September. She will be receiving radiation/ chemo treatments. We
wish her a complete and speedy recovery.

I’m sorry to report that our colleague C. D. Bailey passed
away on 27 August at the age of 83. Our sympathy goes to Myrtis
and their daughter Beverly. C. D. had two duty assignments on the
faculty of the AFIT Mechanics Department, 1953-58 and 1965-67.
Upon retirement from the AF in 1967, he immediately accepted a
faculty position in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
at The Ohio State University.

Since WW-II Vets are now in their late 70s, their 80s or 90s
I thought this would be a good opportunity to let retires tell a
bit about their WW-II service and other news. The following were
received.

Cecil D. Bailey joined the Army Air Corps on 9 September 1942 –
the day after he got married – and entered the Aviation Cadets in
January 1943, graduating in 1944. After serving as a flight
instructor, he was sent to Okinawa. He was released to the
Reserves as a First Lieutenant in 1948 and recalled to active duty
in 1951 after receiving his BS degree.

Harold E. Wright enlisted in the Army Air Corp at Wright Field and
entered service on May 13 1942. Following basic training his
first assignment was in Liverpool, England organizing the incoming
and outgoing supplies for the Army Air Corps. Following D-Day he
was assigned to Le Havre, France, via Utah Beach. Again he
organized and managed supplies. He was stationed overseas for 39
months and received the Bronze Star at the time of his discharge
on 10 November, 1945. Harold died on 25 September, 2005. Our
sympathy is extended to Ruthie and the family.

Andrew J. Shine enlisted on 8 December 1942, with a promise he
would be allowed to graduate from RPI and would have a choice of
service. It didn’t happen; he was inducted on 2 June 1943 and
sent to Camp Walters, Texas to a Replacement Infantry Unit.
Fortunately, those troops were not needed and he was reassigned to
Oak Ridge, thence to the Houdaille-Hershey in Decatur, Il, where
his duty title was Chemical Test Engineer. The plant manufactured
porous walled tubes for isotope separation, but Andy didn't know
that then. He was discharged in Feb. 1946 and graduated from RPI
that June.

Lynn Wolaver served from April 1944 as a US Army Air Corp Radio
Operator in C-47 Aircraft in the Ninth Troop Carrier Command
Pathfinder Group, Ninth Air Force; ETO. He participated in the
Bastogne, Rhine drop, and minor fly- overs. He writes that he
never surrendered, but was wounded in the heart by many young
French girls, and was discharged in May, 1946. He received the
Air Medal, Battle ribbons, campaign ribbons, etc., a presidential
citation and some more, along with the Good Conduct Medal, which
he denies deserving. He adds that their granddaughter turned 16
and is now driving in the vicinity of Beavercreek Ohio, Let all
beware. Son Rick moved from Northrop Grumman to BAE Systems in the
DC area and son Stephen loves being a County Judge. Both of us are
well, as well as one can be after losing to Notre Dame. (Editor's
note--And then Wisconsin, tsk, tsk, tsk.)

Harold B. Kepler writes: I was a sergeant in the Army Air Corps
from Oct. 1942 to Dec. 1946. I attended Bombsight-Autopilot school
in Denver and was stationed at Grenier field, N.H., supporting B-
24's flying anti-submarine missions. I spent the last two years
in a Bombsight-Autopilot depot in Alamagordo, N.M., supporting B-
24 and B-29 training squadrons. I suppose I should mention that I
was not considered for the Medal of Honor.

John Przemieniecki was born in Poland. He joined the Polish
underground army in Warsaw in 1942 at the age of 15 and took part
in Warsaw Uprising in August to September 1944. He even tried
unsuccessfully) to shoot down a low flying German bomber. He
watched the US B17 bombers dropping supplies over Warsaw. (While
at AFIT, many years later, he arranged for a memorial monument
honoring the brave American flyers. You can see it in an area next
to the US Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Base). Having
received no help from the Soviet troops just across the river in
Warsaw the uprising was doomed to failure. Subsequently John spent
eight months in POW camps in Germany and Austria. After the end of
war in Europe, he joined the 2nd Polish Corps of the British 8th
Army in Italy.

Dino Houpis enlisted on November 8, 1942 in the Army of the U.S.
and was called to duty in July, 1943. After infantry basic
training he was sent to the Univ. of Illinois for 6 months and
then to V.M.I. for 3 months. After D – Day in June 1944, he was
assigned to the Plant Engineering Agency, U. S. Signal Corp, which
eventually became, after the war, the Air Force Communication
Group. He went overseas in November 1944 where was involved in
installing ground-to-air communications in Iran, India, and China.
He was discharged in March of 1946.

Bill Lehmann graduated 3 days before D-Day with BS in Physics. He
went to both Signal Corps and Navy in Philadelphia, but couldn't
get a commission because of his eyes -- so he got contact lenses
and went in through the draft. Was offered ASTP in Electrical
Engineering or Japanese, but at 19 said: "I want the Infantry."
So he went to Infantry Basic at Camp Wheeler GA and got pulled a
month before "graduation" because of his eyes. The whole class
went to the 106th ID which is where Guderian came through on Dec
16, 1944 and took 50% casualties in 2 days. He writes that he
always felt he should have been there, but now realizes “I could
have been killed.!!” He wound up as an MP guard in a German POW
camp, got a 0% medical discharge for the eyes, started grad school
at Syracuse U in 1946 and joined AFIT in 1951. He claims to have
had very few days in 32+ years that he didn't want to go to work.
Great people, students and faculty, with a couple exceptions (he
says) like the Head of the Mechanics Dept and Frank Smith, and a
couple others, Bill’s wife of 58 years Barbara was diagnosed with
Stage 4 Lung Cancer at her annual physical in May 2005 and went on
new drug TARCEVA in May. Her oncologist reports that the last
said CT Scan showed the tumors had shrunk a little. They are
encouraged!!

John Blakelock writes that he was a Lieutenant in the US Army Air
Corps during WWII, serving as an aircraft maintenance officer in
the South Pacific for two and a half years, in charge of
maintenance for C-54s while serving on Johnson Island, Guam, and
Okinawa (went in a week after the invasion). It was an active
spot - with regular shelling, strafing and bombing by the Japanese
Air Force. By coincidence, his father Brig. Gen. David Blakelock
was serving on Okinawa with the 10th Army at the time, and it was
he who pinned on the Bronze Star John received for his service
there.

George John entered service in May of 1943 and served in the 438
Anti-Aircraft Battalion, U S Army, with principal duty as a
clerk/interpreter (Deutch). He participated in combat in the ETO
and survived without being wounded or taken prisoner. He was
discharged on Dec 6, 1945.

Albert Moore Al’s daughter Carolyn Moore reports that as of
Sunday, 24 September, Al was in Good Samaritan Hospital with
congestive heart failure. He graduated from Pratt University with
a B.S. in M.E. in 1942 and joined the Navy in April 1942 as an
Ensign. He was called to active duty in August of 1942 and given
training as a radar specialist before being assigned duty on the
light cruiser USS St. Louis. The St. Louis participated in the
battles of Guam, Leyte Gulf (where it was struck by a kamikaze),
Okinawa, and mine sweeping in the East China Sea. Al was
discharged in December 1945 as a Lt. S.G.

Raymond S. Potter. Ray volunteered for the U. S. Army in December
1942 and was called to Infantry Basic Training in June of 1943.
He was then assigned to Rutgers University for education in
engineering, but that program was cancelled in January of 1944 and
Ray was assigned to the 104th Infantry Division for more training.
He arrived in Europe in September 1944 as a member of Company B,
415th Infantry Regiment, 104th Inf. Div. He was wounded by a
rifle bullet between this right ankle and knee and passed out. He
was captured by German soldiers in December 1944 and a POW in
Stalag XI B until June 1945. He returned to the U. S, for medical
treatment in Army Hospitals in New Jersey, Colorado, and Ohio, and
was honorably discharged in December, 1945.

John J. (Jack) D'azzo joined the Army Air Corp as a 2nd Lt. on 4
January 1942. He was assigned duty as an Electrical Engineer in
the Engineering Division of the Wright Field Laboratories. In
this assignment Jack lived in the Wright Field BOQ, then located
on the present of building 640. Prior to his discharge on 24
March 1946, Jack was hired by Ezra Kotcher to join the AFIT
faculty. So on 24 March 1946 Jack joined Laverne Lewis and Marlin
Thurston to form the combined E.E. and Physics Department.

Robert E. Fontana was commissioned in April 1942 as a 2nd Lt. in
the U. S. Army Signal Corps and entered a new program, the
Electronic Training Group (ETG). In July of 1942 He was assigned
to the Royal Air Force to learn RAF Radar systems. In March of
1943 he returned to the U. S., detailed to the Air Corps and
assigned duties at the Technical Training Center in Boca Raton Fl.
In August 1943 he was assigned to the 40th Bomb Group, which would
receive the first B-29 Bombers, and sent to MIT to learn B-29
Radar capabilities. In Feb, 1944 the 40th Group was deployed to
India where he served as Group Radar Officer. The 40th Group then
moved to Tinian Island in the Marianas. An intensive bombing
campaign over Japan involving the entire 58th Wing was conducted
from these islands. After the dropping of the two atom bombs and
Japan's surrender, the 40th was surprised to hear that the B-29s
carrying the A-bombs came from the other side of their island.
Captain Robert Fontana returned to the USA in Nov 1945 and entered
graduate education under AFIT sponsorship at the University of
Illinois, from which he received his M.S. and Ph. D in E.E. Bob
remained in the A.F. until his retirement from the AF in 1969,
while serving as Professor and Head of Electrical Engineering,
AFIT, since 1966.

D. W. (Wally) Breuer was sworn into the Navy in May of 1943. He
was called to active duty on 1 July 1943 and assigned to the Navy
V-12 program at Iowa State College. With four older brothers in
uniform he saw his patriotic duty to remain in the V-12 program
and relieve the loneliness of as many Iowa State coeds as
possible. After completing the program in March of 1946, he was
commissioned an Ensign and assigned to process travel claims of
discharged officers. He was discharged 1 Aug 1946, with no
medals!!

In the process of assembling this newsletter, to keep the
length down, I have edited the inputs of some of the WW-II
Veterans. I tried to include what I considered the most
significant information. For you whose input I edited, I ask your
forgiveness for leaving out some of the information you submitted.
I thank all of you for being so responsive to my request. I trust
readers will appreciate knowing these details of your WW-II
service, and Peter Torvik will make a historical record by putting
it on the AFIT Foundation web site. Enjoy the humor of Kepler,
Wolaver, Lehmann, and John.

Exciting news, it is college football season, GO BUCKS!!!
(This edition of the newsletter was assembled by Wally Breuer.)