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April 2000 Greetings, Great '98! I hope all is well with you all this month. Now, right to the letters for this month. From Tony Licari: Eric "E" Smith just smacked me around because I left his name out of the last Shipmate. He's doing fine and still has a good right hook. Nate "Licari is my hero" Langmack is doing just fine and has yet to be fired as the Combat Supply Officer of Tank Battalion. He credits his hero Alan Sabol with his success as a SUP-O. Melissa Martin held a Christmas party at her house and it was swell. We all drank soda, held hands and sang Koombaya, and played Bingo until 3 a.m. Okay, maybe not, but you get the point. I saw Cecil "Big C" Collins this summer in Norfolk. He's expecting a baby soon-and is still a very large man. And speaking of kids...Bill "Billy Baroo" Burrack's wife, Kim, is pregnant and expecting soon. Andrea and Paul Detar had Bill and me over for a Halloween Party. We laughed, we cried, and we watched, "The Great Pumpkin"-go figure. Rob "Flanders" Danberg and family hosted me against their will for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. They even changed the locks, but I'm from New York remember. Ha. On a serious note, condolences go out to Adam Nazario whose mother died in December. She was a great lady and those who knew her will miss her greatly. She did so much for Midshipmen in the way of hospitality and kindness that she should be a matron saint of Annapolis. Thanks, Tony. I only had the opportunity to meet Mrs. Nazario on one occasion, but I agree, she was a wonderful lady who knew many of our Classmates, and she will be missed by all. Here's a little word from another branch of the armed forces: Hey, just wanted to write a little note from Fort Bragg, NC. Well the 82nd Airborne is going great. The late nights suck sometimes, but someone has to do it. I participated in operations with the Royal Canadian Paratroopers in December and earned Canadian Jump Wings. Just a little eye candy. More importantly, I was recently promoted to first lieutenant on 22 November. Quicker promotion is one benefit I got from commissioning into the Army. It just means that I can't make as many mistakes. I was recently engaged on 24 December to Courtney White of Carlisle, PA. The wedding is going to be this September. Well, Beat Army. 1LT Antonio Ramos, in USA, Antonioram@cs.com. Huah! And now to another letter from Kevin Sproge: Greetings again from Meridian, MS, home of the mighty T-2C. I'm just finishing up Fams so I am about one-third of the way through intermediates. Other than that there is actually very little going on here. Pat Hourigan, Gregg Sanders, Christian Sewell and Matt Maloney all just finished T-2 intermediate and are moving to Kingsville, TX, for Advanced. John Becker just moved up here from Corpus and is living with me. Kind of a mini 16th Co. reunion. I ran into Nicole (Ringel) Holloway last week and she's down in P-cola doing Marine Corps NFO Strike (Hornets or Prowlers). She's about half way through advanced as of this letter. (23 January 2000) I just heard form Adam Wieder in the Med. He writes: Sorry for the lack of comms. I've been busy and that may be an understatement. Yes, we're almost done, 53 days left, but who's counting anyway. I feel like it should be a Plebe rate, too bad we don't have any. We do have a '99er and that's just as close (Tom Beyer '99 from 2nd Co.). As for being busy, I'll give you a rundown since mid-December. We had a couple weeks in the Adriatic doing exercises with the ARG and the rest of CTF 60. Then we sailed on down to Haifa, Israel, for Christmas and New Year's. While in Haifa, I had a roughly four-hour SWO board, but came out on top. So now SWO daddy really fits, and I have the pin to prove it. I think I also set the record for Carney, nine months from reporting aboard to getting my pin. After Christmas, JOHN HANCOCK pulled in just outboard of us. Zoe Cawfield is the DCA over there, so I met up with her. We spent New Year's Eve together in Haifa Square. They had a concert in which the Hancock's band was the headlining act. Thanks, Kevin and Adam. Keep up the good work. That's all for actual letters this month, but there is plenty more going on. Tullio Celano is now done with graduate school and will be starting NPS soon. Pat Lessard is currently in NPS, and I ran into him at Wild Wings in downtown Charleston, SC. I also saw a bunch of '99 guys doing the same thing the '98 guys were doing about a year ago. Funny how that works. I was down there visiting my fiancée. I got engaged to April Michelle Varnadore, of Orangeburg, SC, in December while we were in California. We plan to get married in July of 2001, but my schedule has to cooperate. It's a small world too, once again, because when I went to the airport a few weeks ago to pick up "my" April, I ran into Steve Blazejewski picking up "his" April, and Pete Andrews picking up his girlfriend, Dori. They were all on the same flight from Charleston. Coincidence? Herman Reed is now here at SOBC and he told me that Aaron Schumaker just got P-3s and Dave Manka got Prowlers. Congrats to both. Be sure to keep an eye out for our new Web page: www.usna98.org. It used to be ".com" but it is now ".org" so check it out sometime. All the sub guys have our "last will and testament" done while we are here, and Jeff Sowa was pleased to see that, at his request, his will reads: "It is my desire that, upon my death, I be buried at sea, in the Sea of Tranquility." Way to go Jeff! By the time you actually read this, there is a good chance that Justin Anderson, James Jones, and I will be underway on the Rivers. "Rivers Delivers!" Therefore, John Chau may be stepping in to write some articles. Take care and best of luck to all. Fair winds...DSF