JULIE: "Romeo, Romeo, where are you, Romeo. The news is on. You’re gonna miss it."
ROMEO: "I’m in the latrine. It’s that burrito surprise of yours, again."
JULIE: "How many times do I have to tell you, it’s ‘head’ not a ‘latrine’."
ROMEO: "Whatever."
JULIE: "Oooh, it’s that reeaally cute announcer with the glasses and the big nose."
ROMEO: "Him again? He’s such an idiot . . . thinks he’s some sort of hoitsie-toitsie literary so-n-so."
JULIE: "I’m warning you, don’t start with me or I’ll watch it upstairs in the bedroom—alone—Now, zip it, Mr."
BIG NOSED ANNOUNCER: "Good evening, boys and girls. Live from beautiful suburban Leesburg, VA, it’s the September edition of ’81 News. Let’s go international, first, and check in on Rich Perry on an island in the Med."
"Sorry for the year long gap in writing. Thankfully I’ve been prompted by a visit from Fuzz Harrison last month while he was on his active duty from the reserves.
The cliché is right on "It’s a small world." Since you and I last talked (DC at a Class luncheon) I’ve transferred overseas to La Maddalena, Italy where I’m the Chief Staff Officer for SUBRON 22. We serve as the deployed staff for a squadron of four attack subs that deploy to the Med on a 6-month rotation from CONUS and we are embarked on one of the Navy’s last repair ships.
Fuzz and his detachment of divers did some great work recovering about 20 tons of debris in two weeks from the bottom of the tender’s mooring. To put this in perspective, recovery efforts BF (before Fuzz) were 5 tons in about two years. All the "stuff" they recovered were spoils from over 25 years when our sailors were less "environmentally correct". The work Fuzz and his divers did was terrific and the right thing to do in this remote, but beautiful part of the world. La Maddalena is an island off the larger island of Sardinia and just a few miles south of Corsica. The entire area is an archipelago and, for the Italians, a national nature preserve. Apart from the month of August (and the two weeks before and after) we live in a relatively sleepy coastal community of not more than 25,000 spread over all of nothern Sardinia. During the summer that grows to seven times that with French, English, Italian, and German tourists in search of sun, sand, and windsurfing. The tourists range from multi-millionaires at Porto Cervo with their Rolls and yachts to students cycling and camping.
I’m a bit embarrassed that Cetti and I waited until the last few days of Fuzz’s visit to have his wardroom over. Despite the obvious misgivings that a nuke submariner may have in inviting a group of divers over to his home, we had a great time. They were great sports in putting up with a ferry ride and a 20 minute drive on the coast just to get to our house. Or maybe they were just hungry. We look forward to seeing them again next year.
We’ll be here for at least another year and look forward to hearing from any other classmates in the area (marmanga@tin.it) and can also offer travel advice for anyone passing through Italy. I’ll let you know how next month turns out when my roomate Ric Harned and his family come to visit. Ric and Emily are great friends and my daughter has been counting down the visit for months. Thanks for listening and ci sentiamo presto. Rich & Cetti (pronounced "Chettee" and short for Maria Concetta)."
BNA: "Well, happy pasta, Rich, and watch those olive pits,they’re murder on the choppers."
JUL: "Ha, ha, ha, ha, gosh is he funny!"
ROM: "What a smarmy little worm, I’ll bet he’s former Coast Guard."
BNA: "Moving right along and ignoring the loser’s comments, we get aviator updates on various folks including Ron Sandoval who’s been married to Blanca almost 11 years, has two kids, Veronica (8), and Christopher (1.5), and is happy to be back in sunny San Diego after a short stint in the Pentagon. Blanca’s a bank manager for Glendale Federal Bank in Chula Vista. Email: rbsandoval@worldnet.att.net."
ROM: "You wanna beer? This is boring."
JUL: "That’s just like you and no thanks, I’m staying right here."
BNA: "Mark Adamshick is XO of VF-213, the Navy’s newest F-14D squadron. Mark recently finished a tour on the CNO’s staff as Air Warfare Policy Officer, a payback for his free ride at Harvard. He and Stephanie live in Virginia Beach with Gabrielle (8), Henry (6), and Joseph (3). Email: madamshick@aol.com."
JUL: "Will you stop belching and get some manners. I know how you feel about this Navy stuff, but I like it and I put up with your programs."
ROM: (Sneers, immaturely)
BNA: Kevin O’Flaherty is XO of VFA-94 after joint duty as Navy Liaison Officer and combined exercise planner the Ops Directorate of U.S. Air Forces Europe. Email: koflaherty@vfa94.lemoore.navy.mil.
ROM: "These people aren’t that great. We do neat stuff, too, and get paid just as much."
JUL: "Yeah, right, you guys don’t land on carriers or drive subs or even go near the water. You just hang around boring places like Killeen, TX and Fayetteville, NC and you don’t even blouse your trousers. It’s so sloppy looking."
ROM: "Don’t start with the clothes, again, you know I have no choice there."
JUL: (mumbles)"You had a choice about 20 years ago and you blew it."
ROM: "What was that?"
JUL: "Nothing, shut up, the commercial’s over and you made me miss the part where he kills the knight and morphs into that cool blue getup with the sword. Oooh! I get chills when he does that."
ROM: "I think I’m gonna puke."
BNA: "Locally, USNA recently selected 10 officers to fill the Academy’s 1st permanent teaching positions. Among them, Ed Tucholski (edneva@aol.com) is off to grad school this fall before coming aboard and Rob Niewoehner reported last month. They’ll spend 10 years at USNA before retiring."
ROM: "So what?!"
JUL: "Jerk!"
BNA: "On the matrimony front, Ted Morse and Kim were married over Memorial Day weekend in Virginia Beach with many ‘81ers in attendance. A significantly good time was apparently had by all although I’ve received no blow-by-blow specifics on the actual transgressions. Understand Vince Hartman may have gotten hitched in Dallas about the same time. Anyone with data on that one?"
ROM: "Who’s he talking to?"
JUL: "You wouldn’t understand if I told you."
BNA: "And now for ’81 sports. The 8th Annual Class of ‘81 golf tournament was held at Fort Meade, MD on June 5th. There were 54 golfers and over $500 was raised for the Class. Playing conditions were, again, ideal. Winning the tournament was the team led by Tony Kurta and Carl Cramb with a team score of 11 under par. Although many prizes were distributed, ‘81ers only managed to claim "Best Dressed," Bill McGuinness, and "Traveled the Farthest, "Doug Heimbach, Orlando." Thanks to all those who contributed prizes--Bill McGuinness (Northrup-Grumman), Doug Heimbach (IBM), Dave Ciccarelli (DTI Associates), Jon Wall (Legg-Mason), and Tom Yavorski. Also thanks to Fred Reitzel and Greg Denkler for their time and effort planning and organizing this fun event. Look forward next spring for details on the 9th annual and plan to attend."
ROM: "What is this, public access cable?"
BNA: "You probably know that Wendy Lawrence went back up in space on the final shuttle mission to the Russian space station. Discovery launched right on time on 2 June. This was Wendy's third shuttle mission and she was the flight engineer (Mission Specialist 2)."
ROM: "Oooh, an astronaut! I’m impressed."
JUL: "One more outburst, soldier boy, and you’re outta here."
ROM: "Oh yeah?"
BNA: "Here’s news from the semi-lost"
"This is Brooks Barlow, formerly of Good Times 10 class of '81. I live in Austin, Texas and love the happening town. Just went on two weeks active duty in February with Jim Coatney '80 in Williamsburg, and am currently looking for a new job in October, like all the rest of us poor reserve 0-5's. Also, got married in December to Ann Schadler, and we live in perfect harmony here in the second fastest growing city in the country with four teenagers. I would like to hear from my 10th Co. classmates at bbarlow7@aol.com, or please drop by if you are in the area. Great article!! Thanks for your support."
BNA: "And still more from another Perry."
"From Bob "Out of touch for a while" Perry (Rperry3146@aol.com: Just a quick note to let everyone know that I will be out of touch for approximately 3 months as I am deploying on 1 June and returning to Pearl Harbor the first week of September. I will be taking my sub, HAWKBILL, up to the Arctic Ocean for a 45-day science and research mission. I have attached an article that was written last week in a Riverside, CA newspaper about the mission. It should be a unique experience!!! I am really enjoying my command tour - it is THE best job in the Navy. Judy and the kids are having a great time in Hawaii. Judy will be checking my email periodically. She has her own e-mail address - jperry3377@aol.com – she likes getting e-mail!! Take care,
Bob Perry."
BNA: "Sorry, Bob, like the Kay Hire thing below, we’ll hafta save the full text for an edition with more room."
ROM: "Is Cops on yet?"
JUL: "Child."
BNA: "Our final note is from Sally and David Jones ’53."
"We are Cary Jones’ parents and have stayed close with some of her classmates, Noreen Leahy, Wendy Lawrence, Steve Jaworski, Kay Hire, Mary Brigden Snow, Mark Mulligan, Steve Colon, Katherine Engleman Dugene, etc. It has been a great joy to us to be able to stay in touch with Cary’s friends and to know that they still have good memories of her. We are also very pleased and proud to have been invited by Wendy and by Kay to attend their space shuttle launches. Cary had wanted to be a shuttle astronaut and we feel as if somehow she is watching the launches as well.
We just returned to our winter home in Delray Beach, FL after watching Kay go into space on April 17th. It was a spectacular launch and the ‘81ers and ‘53ers in attendance were cheering and yelling "Go, Kay, Go!" at full volume. I am enclosing the Florida Today feature article on Kay as well as some pictures I took of some of her classmates who were there."
BNA: "Well, that wraps up this edition of ’81 News, but don’t forget to tune in next month for more excitement from the world of ’81."
ROM: "81 reeks."
JUL: "I heard that and I’ve had enough. Now, take your B4 bag and get out."
ROM: "Yeah? Well you’ll be sorry, sister, you can’t do better than me."
JUL: "I’ll go to Annapolis and do better in a heartbeat."
ROM: "I won’t hold my breath.""
JUL: "Montague!"
ROM: "Capulet!"
JUL: "Woo-Poo!"
ROM: "Ouch, that’s personal."
Later, .