Event Planners Needed

We’re also looking for a few good former midshipmen help us plan and create other events (in addition to the planned Saturday dinner) to bring UR NROTC alumni together. Some options might include a happy hour at a local establishment, a Sunday breakfast, golf tournament or even an early morning PT session (kidding!). If you are interested in joining the Events Committee and brainstorming programming ideas, crafting descriptions of activities, and organizing events, please contact Cristin Monahan at cmonahan@admin.rochester.edu.

Reunion Video

One of the highlights of the previous smaller UR NROTC Reunions has been the video that Valerie (Pilner) Denney ('80) has been enthusiastically producing.  She has graciously volunteered to continue this project.

All she needs are pictures!  Whether you plan to attend the reunion or not, you may have some photos you would like to share with your fellow former midshipmen.  The most fun photos are those of groups of midshipmen during some NROTC event.  In the past, individuals have submitted a picture of an important career event or a funny situation.

If you have any pictures that you would like to share please post them on the UR NROTC Alumni Facebook page.  (If you are not currently a member of Facebook or the UR NROTC group please sign up.) Valerie will download and incorporate them into the video.

Friday Panel Discussion

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During the 2015 Meliora Weekend, the NROTC Unit will be hosting a “NROTC Alumni Leadership Panel” with a broad spectrum of professional expertise and experience.  The panel discussion will feature former Midshipmen alums, each having served in the Navy or Marine Corps during a different era of conflict in the past half-century. 

As in previous leadership panels, the upcoming panel’s objectives will be four-fold:

First, as part of the Meliora Weekend, the panel is a great venue for alumni of different graduating classes to interact with successful classmates.  It opens up greater opportunity for dialogue and networking between those with a key common experience.  In this case, NROTC and military service in the Navy or Marine Corps.

Second, the panel affords the opportunity for current NROTC Midshipmen to gain insight into the importance of the alumni body, to begin interaction and networking with those in various fields, and to broaden their perspective of career opportunities.

Third, it unequivocally emphasizes that success can be reached by pursuing many paths.  Again, for the current Midshipmen this can lead to an active duty military career, to an active/reserve combination or to using their military experience as a springboard into an entirely different field, nationally or internationally.  In order to capitalize on the diversity of NROTC graduates, we are inviting panelists from a variety of career choices and backgrounds.

Finally, I am certain that interaction with today’s Midshipmen--tomorrow’s junior officers--will be reassuring to those of you who have already served especially any lessons learned from your experiences that you can impart to Midshipmen.  We have an outstanding group of leaders preparing to take the reins of leadership of our Navy and Marine Corps.

We truly hope you can join us for Meliora Weekend and our NROTC Unit events.

Pass the Word!

The Inaugural UR NROTC All Hands Reunion will be held on the UR campus October 8 - 11, 2015!  This reunion is open to anyone who ever participated in the UR NROTC program (not just for those celebrating a Class Reunion) and their guests.

If you have lost touch with your own classmates or those in a different class, this is your opportunity to re-connect.  If you ever wondered what your Battalion Commanding Officer did in the military, this may be the way to find out.  Former Battalion Company Officers who may be curious about the paths taken by their Platoon Leaders, might be able to re-discover them.

Over the past 10 years, I have had wonderful success bringing former midshipmen together.  In 2005, about half of the Commissioning Class of 1980, gathered for Meliora Weekend in Rochester.  It was a great event!  It was the first time back on campus for some.  It was the first time to see former classmates for many.  As good as it was, however, it was lacking.  We missed the friends we had made in our squads, platoons, companies and throughout the Battalion . . . friends in other classes.

In 2010, I organized a Cross Class Reunion of UR NROTCs that was held in Washington, D.C.  The main focus was on the Class of 1980 plus and minus three years but the span grew.  In the end, 75 former UR midshipmen gathered in DC.  There were representatives from the Classes of 1974 to 1983.  Although most lived within a 400 miles radius, several flew in from the west coast.  It was a fantastic reunion.  Many regretted their absence.

This year I am collaborating with the University of Rochester Alumni Office and the Commanding Officer of the NROTC Unit to present the first-ever UR NROTC All Hands Reunion.   Events will include:

Friday Events
Panel discussion featuring several former midshipmen
Informal Reception

Saturday Events
All Hands Reunion Dinner

Other events under consideration include Saturday Breakfast and a Saturday afternoon activity.

The University will be arranging for a block of rooms.  More details will be provided as they become available.

Volunteers are needed to:
              Identify, locate and contact all UR former midshipmen
              Plan events for Saturday
              Sit on the Panel Discussion

Contact me at urnrotc@gmail.com

I'm looking forward to seeing you there!
Sara

Save The Date

Save the dates of October 9 - 11, 2015 and plan to attend Meliora Weekend at the University of Rochester.  The annual combined celebration of Reunions, Homecoming and Parent's Weekend will be welcoming any and all former UR NROTC alums.

Thank You

Dear Shipmates,

I really appreciate all the positive feedback I have been getting about the recent Cross Class Reunion in DC. It really was a fun project to work on and the support I got along the way made it easy. But it wasn't until Friday afternoon, September 24, as people were starting to arrive at the hotel, when I started to actually feel the enthusiasm, that I actually GOT IT!

I hope everyone had a good time, especially the spouses. (I know that reunions can be a little tough on spouses.) What I hope most is that, whether you attended the reunion or not, each person was able to re-connect with someone that had gotten 'lost' in all the moves. Middle age gives us the flexibility to rekindle old friendships, the cyber age makes it easier.

I have realized that as successful as this reunion was, its true measure will not be known until the next one. I hope that the exuberance for this reunion will have a lasting ripple affect. I hope each person will reach out to find some of the people with whom contact has been lost. And I hope that you will all encourage attendance at "The Next One."

Sara

Reunion Dinner

The Reunion Dinner was attended by 75 people covering the years 1976 to 1983. See the following posts for demographics and pictures.

The cocktail hour started at 6 p.m. everyone gathered and mingled. Some people that had driven in that afternoon were seeing classmates for the first time, so energy was high. The ladies were presented with a rose tied with blue/gold or red/gold ribbon to represent their own or their husband's military affiliation.

At 7 p.m. we hear the sound of the boatswain's pipe calling us to dinner. Though there was no parading of the beef the evening did have some resemblance to a Mess Night. Chris Paddock was Master of Ceremonies and did a fantastic job. I can't thank him enough for orchestrating such a fun evening.

Though I would have loved to have the Color Guard from the UR NROTC Unit, that was not feasible. Instead, five Midshipmen from George Washington University presented the Colors. I'm sure the men brought back memories from our drill days at UR. I hope that those young men were able to get a sense of the possible depth of the relationships they are building today. They could be us in another 30 years.

Chris Paddock had come up with the idea of a 50/50 raffle to add a little excitement to the evening. We discovered that the UR NROTC unit was in need of basketball jerseys to wear when they play against other ROTC units . . . a purchase that could not be covered by OPTAR funds. So that became the charity of the evening. Janny Cunningham did a great job of selling tickets during the cocktail hour, bringing in about $400 dollars. That meant at the end of the night one lucky winner would go home with nearly $200. Additionally, throughout dinner, numbers were picked and prizes were distributed. Anne Shields, UR Alumni Relations, had brought about 12 items that were given as door prizes: travel mugs, t-shirts, banners, books, travel blankets.

And, of course, it would not have been a reunion without the customary acknowledgement to the class mate that traveled the longest distance. In this case, that distinction went to 3 people, all of whom came from the west coast, southern CA, northern CA and Pac Northwest. And, although, it would have been possible to calculate the absolute farthest distance we went with order of magnitude, figuring they they all came more then 3000 miles. Paul Stryker '81 came from Solana Beach, CA (near San Diego), Ken Campbell '77 came from Mountain View (south of San Francisco) and Charlie Cunningham '79 from Bellingham, WA . . . about as northwest as you can get! Chris Conlin '81, is stationed a MCAS Miramar, in San Diego, but he only attended the Friday reception and Saturday Breakfast, else he would have gotten a prize, too.

So, at the end of dinner, the lucky number was drawn and Anne Erickson, held the winning ticket. Anne is a member of the Class of '83 but she was not in the NROTC program. Anne was friends with several midshipmen that sort of adopted her and included her in many activities. I'll bet each class has at least one of these honorary midshipmen. Anyway, Anne demonstrated her support of the midshipmen by donating her winnings back into the pot! Captain Jeff Bartkosky was able to return to Rochester with enough money to buy the basketball jerseys.

Speaking of Captain Bartkosky . . . I was glad he was able to join us for this reunion. I hope many of you were able to speak with him. Several people commented that they would have liked to have heard from him, possible with a "State of the Unit " address. He was interested in meeting many of us since he is constantly on the look out for former UR NROTCs to participate in a panel discussion that is now being held each Meliora Weekend. For the past couple of years, NROTC midshipmen and their parents are invited to attend a discussion about possible career paths that may be taken upon graduation. The Unit CO looks for people who made the Navy/USMC a career, others who retired via a path that included the Reserves, those who did their payback and got out, etc. Maybe you would like to be on the panel next time you go for Meliora Weekend?

As part of the evening, we also heard from the senior active duty officer present. That was RADM (Sel) Dave Duryea, Class of '83. He gave a very enlightening perspective of the Navy "then" and now. Since most of us were commissioned during the build up to the 600 ship Navy it was interesting to remember how many ships there were in the 80's and how many Sailors there were. Now, after winning the Cold War and the subsequent downsizing, the smaller numbers are quite astonishing. Thanks, Dave, for your comments.

And then there were the Class Pictures! Thanks to Chris Kyrios for taking on the job of herding cats. Everyone was enjoying the post meal socializing when sudden Chris went to the podium and started requesting members of individual classes. Thank goodness for his efforts. The result are contained in other postings on this site. There are also photos posted at www.flickr.com/groups/ur_nrotc.

I think that pretty much covers it. I have probably forgotten something or someone . . . but when I remember, I'll add a new post. It was a great reunion. I loved planning it . . . so much so, I'm already starting to think about the next one.