Washington Area Lunch - January 13, 2012

Report and Pictures by Dave Carruth

Last Friday, the 13th, 37 of our Classmates, wives and widows gathered at the Army-Navy Club to hear RADM Bill Miller ‘62,  USN (ret)
 speak.  Bill recently retired after 12 years as the Dean and Provost at USNA. Our Class has worked closely with him to present the 2 million dollar gift to the Information Technology major.  Attendees at the 60th reunion heard him speak at the Class meeting.  He is an honorary member of our Class.

The people at the luncheon were the “usual suspects” with the exception of Bill Olin
 whom we haven’t seen recently and hope he will join us more often.  Warren usually tells us about Class news and this time he told us that Carolyn Ball could not attend because she has recently had a heart valve replacement and is still recuperating.  He also said Phil Shutler couldn’t come because he is a ski instructor at Ski Liberty and would be on the slopes.  How many other ski instructors do we have out there?

Dean Miller chose to speak to the future of the Armed Forces, particularly the Navy, expressing concern over the large cuts planned for the defense budget. He also commented that given the number of ships we have our current deployment rate is unsustainable in the long term.  The bottom line was that for many reasons we are in for some big changes and as the politicians say “everything is on the table.”  He is hopeful that we won’t end up cutting back to the bone as we have done after every war we’ve ever engaged in.  He strongly recommended that we pay close attention to Obama’s next address to Congress.

I’m certain Bill felt that he was preaching to the choir.

The Army-Navy Club is engaged in a major construction project and the construction has eaten up almost all of the parking.  That condition will exist for a number of years so it would appear to be in our best interest to look for an alternate location for our luncheons.  Warren is actively engaged in doing just that.  It is also becoming more obvious that fewer and fewer of the Annapolis folks want to make the trip here to the Army-Navy Club and that few people here would make the trip to Annapolis for a luncheon.  We do still seem to be able to attract a good gathering at the Pirate’s Cove, closer to being half way between, but only for one luncheon per season.  Things change as we age and we must accommodate.

Our next luncheon will be on Mar. 9th, location to be announced.  I will continue to put out the word to all Class email addresses to permit any of you who might be in the area to attend.  Just give me a call—703-569-1354.