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March 2000 Hey there Great '98! I hope all is well in the fleet and elsewhere! I'll go right to the letters from this month. From Kevin Sproge: Happy News! It's my pleasure to let you know that Steve Beede married Kristy Newsham on 25 September 1999 in Trenton, NJ. Simon Latcovich was the best man and Mike Bartram, Brendan Bosch, and Chris Savage were groomsmen. Kevin Sproge and John Augenblich '00 served as swordbearers. The Newlyweds: Ensign and Mrs. Stephen Beede. Looking Good... Old 16th Co. L to R: Chris Savage, Steve Beede, Kevin Sproge, Simon Latcovich and Mike Bartram all gather for a Kodak moment at Steve's wedding. Let's see, Simon Latcovich is currently enjoying life as a civilian at Oxford University. Simon was recently honored by the Naval Academy for being "The Smartest Man Alive," for finishing first in his class at Oxford during his first year there. Simon plans to spend the rest of this year working on becoming true Eurotrash and finding sheep to bring home. Mike Bartram is the COMM-O on MAHAN out of Norfolk and is working up to deploy in February. He recently got engaged to Heather Niedt of Trenton, NJ, and the wedding is planned for the end of September 2000. The date for the wedding is only a few weeks after Mike's scheduled return so pray for no hurricanes or any other disaster that might delay his ship. For everyone who knows Mike well, you will be terrified to know that he is in charge of every computer on his ship, and no, he still hasn't taken his own computer out of the box yet. Brendan Bosch is SWOing it up in San Diego where he lives with his wife, Kayla (formerly Kayla Lee '97). Chris Savage just started Intel school in Virginia Beach. Chris also got engaged recently. Chris plans to get married in mid-September of 2000 (firstie parents weekend as a matter of fact.) Adan Covarrubias and I just reported to NAS Meridan to fly the T2C in September. We still have anywhere from six months to a year before we see a boat or a pair of wings. Finally, I just heard from Adam Wieder. He just left recently for a six-month Med cruise. Adam is the DCA on CARNEY out of Jacksonville. Our prayers go out to Adam and to his wife, Erin, who is facing his first deployment. Thanks Kevin. Believe it or not, that is the only letter I got for this month, so all of you must be pretty busy. Once again, I encourage parents to send in emails when their sons and daughters are otherwise preoccupied defending our nation (or at least training to). '98ers at Jeff Sowa's wedding in Victoria, British Columbia. L to R: Justin Anderson, Gaby Bolton, Jeff Sowa, Jonas Zikas, and Blake Dorr. L to R: Patrick Lessard, Jonas Zikas, Grant Flynn, and Gidget Forrest gather for a nice pose at Jeff Sowa's wedding. Even though I don't have any letters, I went to the 100th Army-Navy game, and besides watching Navy sail to victory, I got to see lots of our Classmates. I flew the USNA '98 hot air balloon, and we had a pretty decent tailgater. You can see from the pictures who showed up, but I'll tell you a little bit about what everyone is doing. Steve Le is now in Panama City, FL, at BDO school for Spec Ops. Dave Danelo is a platoon commander at 29 Palms; he is loving every minute of it. Dave came out with us on Saturday night after the game, and he was out in the field by Sunday night. Yut! Jim Day is doing well at SWOS, and I think he is going to be stationed in Florida. Brian Taylor and Shannon Callahan took a training flight up to the game, so they must be having a good time. I think Kevin Sproge did the same thing, but all I know is that they all showed up, and we were happy to see them. Micah Smith is at grad school in Boston. Dave Durkin is alive and well, but I didn't get a chance to find out what he was doing. Tommie Watkins is a high school math teacher in Miami. All the rest of our Classmates are submariners and in class with me at SOBC. The whole pre-game crew: Darren Shriner (U of Texas), Steve Blazejewski, Ed Hanley, Pete Andrews, Stephanie Hanley, Dave Forman, April Varnadore, Mike Breen, Jen Werner, Dale Matheny, Carlos Jativa, Brian and Leslie Hogan. Go Navy, Navy, Navy! In proper Navy attire, Carlos Jativa (or as we call him in SOBC, Carlos Jativar-al-Mufar) is enjoying himself prior to going to the game. The post-game clan: Mike Breen, Kevin Sproge, Dave Durkin, Jim Day, Ian Schillinger, Dave Durkin's friend, Dave Forman, Steve Le, Dave Danelo, Ed Hanley, Brian Hogan. At the 1st (hopefully annual) Class of 1998 Army-Navy tailgater. L to R: (back) Mike Breen, Tommie Watkins, Ed Hanley, Brian Hogan, Micah Smith, Steve Blazejewski, Shawn Gee, Jen Werner, Dale Matheny, Steve Le, Dave Danelo and Pete Andrews; (fron) Dave Forman, Ian Schillinger and Carlos Jativa. The class ahead of me has now graduated SOBC and heads to the fleet. (By the time you actually read this, my class will be in the fleet as well.) We've been with these guys for over a year now in training, so it was a little sad to say farewell (for now) and go our separate ways. My class attended their graduation, so here's a BZ to Thomas Neal, winner of the Admiral I. Mckee Award, and to Eric Cole, winner of the Naval Submarine League Fire Control Excellence Award. Great job guys, and to all the guys in class 9807, best of luck in the fleet. My last little two cents: The world sure is a small place once you've graduated USNA. For example, Dale Matheny was driving down I-95 a few months ago, and he sees this guy honking and waving him down. None other than Anthony Giardino, so they pull off to the side of the road and talk a while. Who would have thought? Also, after seeing Micah Smith on Saturday at the A/N game, I see him again in the pit stop all the way up in Connecticut, he was on his way back to Boston. And one more thing, when Ryan Erdman and I went up to Killington for the weekend, Dave Leather was there too. I'm sure that many of you are experiencing the same thing, so if you are, let me know about it, and maybe we can find the strangest occurrence of two '98ers meeting somewhere. L to R: Classmates Ryan Erdman and Dave Leather are seen here with buddies Jack Long and John Kennedy at "The Pickle Barrel" in Killington, VT. I went snowboarding with Ryan and we ended up staying an extra day to let the storm blow over. They managed to stay warm that night. Post delivery: Anne Straw (formerly Anne Cossitt) holds her new baby, Christopher, while aunts Gaby Bolton, Cristina Esposito, and Cory Thorton gather around. Congratulations! Until next month '98, keep up all the hard work, and remember to let me know how it's going. Fair winds... DSF