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For those that remain unaware of our most recent tragic incident, our classmate Brian Deforge was tragically killed in a midair collision on June 26,2006. He is survived by his wife Jane and two children. Those of us close to Jane and his children we send our prayers and wish them the best through this difficult time. Trusts have been established to ensure his children's financial well being. Below you will find all necessary information to contribute and support the Deforge family. Brian's funeral was held in Arlington on July 12. Those classmates closest to Brain and his family made their best attempt to contact everyone from his home, USNA '03, Echo Co., VT 2, VT 22, and VFA 125. TRUST FUND INFORMATION: Some of you may have already donated, some of you may not be interested, but we wanted to get this email out so that everyone had the correct information and those that are interested in making a donation are able to do so. Please know that we are in no way soliciting donations or forcing anyone to contribute...that is a personal decision and we merely want everyone to at least have the correct information in the case that they wish to make a contribution. Contributions to Brian Jr. and Alison's college fund are a way for all of us to make a true difference for the Deforge family. SGLI, SBP, and other military benefits will allow Jane and the children to meet monetary expenses in Brian's absence. The numbers are not important; however, the fact that she will be able to take care of herself and the kids is. That being said, the benefits are not designed to send multiple children through higher education, especially with the rising costs of today's college education tuition. The concept of the Brian Deforge Memorial Foundation was created with the goal of providing the necessary means to allow Brian Jr. and Alison to attend the college of their pleasing without placing a tremendous financial burden on Jane as she continues to support herself and the children in their everyday lives. Given our current career choices, none of us will probably be able to fully fund their education in 18 years; however, many of us getting together and making smaller contributions now will end up to be a sizable amount over time. With that in mind, there are a couple of different options that are available for making a donation: 1. If you are looking to make a donation by check, you can send a check made out to either Brian Deforge Jr. or Alison Deforge and send it to: The Brian Deforge Memorial Foundation
c/o The Romano Family
527 S. East Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21224
As long as the checks are made out to one of the kids, Jane can deposit them into the custodial account we have for the kids' benefit. Don't worry about one kid getting more donations than the other; the money is all going to the same place and will benefit both Brian Jr. and Alison equally. 2. Another option is to set up a monthly/quarterly/yearly allotment from mypay or a direct electronic transfer from a bank account (super easy with USAA b/c the Deforge's accounts are with USAA). You can set them up at an interval and amount of your pleasing and donations can be a "gift that keeps on giving" throughout the years. There has been interest in this plan by a few people as it's easy not to miss a few dollars per month/quarter and over the course of multiple years, a few dollars per month/quarter ends up being a sizable chunk of changeprobably far more than the amount of a one time donation and far less painful on the bank account as the bank account will not be missing a large chunk of change all at once. If you have free time, feel free to break out your graphing calculator and do the math of what 10 people contributing 10 dollars per month over the course of 18 years ends up being. Then factor in 8 10 percent tax free compound interest for 18 years on that same sum of money. It is a large number, a number that will probably be able to fund a serious part of the children's college tuition. If you're interested in this type of donation, us know and we will provide the bank account information to you so that you can set up your own deposits on a schedule/amount of your choosing. Thank you all on behalf of Jane, Brian Jr., and Alison for your tremendous support of them during this difficult time. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of us at the bottom of this email or shoot an email to remember.rhino@gmail.com. Regards,
Ricky Lang ( ricklang03@hotmail.com / 908 400 5465)
Justin & Piper Carlson ( carlson@2003.usna.com / 913 481 4645)
Mike Kingen ( mtkingen@hotmail.com / 410 507 3241)
Justin Wortendyke ( justinwort@hotmail.com / 361 290 2641) EOD Update Service Selection is only the beginning for so many career paths, as Pilots and EOD Hoo Yahs know so well. Since ancient times EOD techs have been allowed to go to ships to hone their leadership and social skills before going to EOD school. Sadly, the class of 2006 is going to miss out on this, but there will be enough SWOS around to remind them.
For the Class of 2003 most prospective EOD officers ended up in beautiful Ingleside Texas. Since the wardroom on a minesweeper is supposed to be less than 10 each diver had his own little personal ring in which to perform. This made for some fantastic story swapping at the gym (where we seldom saw the true SWOS) or when we ended up on a sister ship begging for parts, pubs, instructions, gouge... or sometimes just a hug.
San Diego is to West Coast Navy and Norfolk is to East Coast Navy what Ingleside is to Mine Warfare Navy... except that Ingleside is getting closed. There we learned and honed the skill of the Surface Warfare Officer. We soon became familiar with such amazing weapon systems as the SQQ 32 and the NIXIE. We dutifully memorized the wonders of the tomahawk and harpoon weapon systems... though none of us ever saw any of these systems many an XO convinced us they were "SWO riffic" The main weapon system on a mine warfare ship is a .50 cal., unless you count the biological agents in 40 man berthing. Learning the max speed of a cruiser only made us appreciate the steady resolve of our 13 knot mine (current assisted) ships. Unfortunately, we only got about 3 days underway a month. I personally got to see one port besides Ingleside, and had we stayed there longer than 4 hours I am certain it would have resulted in liberty.
In addition to all the ship knowledge we also learned that telling Texans that you can't stand their state, music, beer or trucks won't get you a free drink at any bar. Telling them how much you supported the BRAC closing 'their' base also rarely led to military discounts. Most importantly we learned that Wild Turkey isn't just for Thanksgiving, and that the best Champagne isn't made in France, it's made in a Miller Brewery.
Now all members of 2003 are at EOD School and doing well. The earliest will most likely be graduated by the time you a reading this. Most of us try to work out on a regular basis and do whatever athletic event we can get involved in, that usually helps build the ego until we PT with a fifty year old Master Chief who makes us cry like little girls, and feel as out of shape as a bunch of donut eating. Well you know. The following picture was taken after completing the First Annual EOD Memorial Challenge. The challenge was held a NAVSCOLEOD in Eglin FL and consisted of a 5k 25lb ruck run/walk, ½ mile swim, and finished with a 10K run. All proceed were donated to the EOD memorial fund to honor and commemorate those EOD technicians from all services who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our great nation. ‘03 grads pictured below from left to right are Leslie Esher, Dan Bailey, Todd Fruehauf, Matt Preston, Pete Glynn, Brian Reitter, and John Brenner.
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