H! REDTAGS!
Well it's Sunday night, the day before my deadline for this column. I have two letters which I received over the past three months. I have some articles which I cut out of Air Force Magazine. And I don't have much time for phone calls. So I say again: This column would have more info if you would get off your soft cushions and write. Fifty words or less is acceptable; more than 50 words is outstanding.

Got a letter from Joe HINES who lives less than 70 miles from me.  "Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you to bring you up to date on the happenings of the Hines family. I kept telling myself I would write or call at the next opportunity, but the time seems to fly by. ! have been working at the Naval Training Systems Center, Orlando, FL, for six years, and it has really been an enjoyable and challenging job. My time is substantially taken up with the aircrew training programs for the F-14, A-6E, and E-6A. In a nutshell, I am responsible for developing training system requirements and procuring lecture materials, flight and simulator guides, computer based training, and other training items and support. I have been traveling frequently to San Diego, CA; Norfolk, VA; and Waco, TX. Waco is the temporary home (at the old James Connally AFB) for the E-6A training program. April of next year E-6A training as well as the operational squadrons move to brand new facilities at Tinker AFB. The USN E-6As are the latest variant of the Boeing 707 and are replacing the aging EC-130 TACAMO (Take Charge and Move Out).

These are the birds that communicate with the USN ballistic missile submarines. (USN counterpart to Looking Glass?) "Mary Anne is still working at Intracorp and this year was promoted to billing coordinator. The company is converting to more automation, so all the changes keep her very busy. Mary Anne is active in the local chapter of the American Business Women's Association and works on the scholarship committee. "Our son David graduated from the University of Central Florida here in Orlando last December. He earned his BA in art with specialization in graphic design. No solid job prospects now in the graphic design field, so for the time being Dave is working at the Navy Exchange at the Navy base in Orlando. "Our daughter Elizabeth graduated from Florida State University in Tallahassee in April of this year. She earned a BS in communications with a media productions major. Elizabeth interned at one of the local TV stations here in Orlando during her final term.  She is now working in merchandising at Universal Studios in Orlando and hopes to move to the production/entertainment side of the house in the near future.  "l noticed in the latest issue of Checkpoints that our 30th reunion is planned for the weekend of Oct 24, 1992 for the USAFA and Hawaii game. (Editors' note: The 30th reunion has been rescheduled 8-11 Oct., 1992 which is the weekend of USAFA vs. Navy game.) Mary Anne and I have already circled the dates on our calendars, and we definitely plan on being there." Well Joe, I really appreciate that letter. And I plan on seeing you then, if not sooner.

I ran into Colin RICHARSON at the supermarket last night. He looks as good as ever. Loves the job. Staying busy. We promised (for the 10th time) to get together some day at Happy Hour. Got a change-of-address card from M/G Paul E. LANDERS. He is now stationed at Scott AFB. The card doesn't tell about a new assignment and I haven't seen it in Air Force Magazine. I'll try to have it next issue. Here's some more news about our latest promotes which I read in Air Force Magazine. Congratulations to all of you. M/G selectee Michael J. BUTCHKO, Jr. has been assigned as Comdr., AFDTC, AFSC, Eglin AFB, FL. L/G selectee Robert M. ALEXANDER is now the dep asst sec't of def for Military Manpower and Personnel Policy. And finally, M/G Ervin J. ROKKE has been assigned as dir, Intel, Hq USEUCOM, J-2, Vaihingen, Germany.

I was reading my company's weekly magazine recently when I saw Dr. Ken FLEMING inside. He was pictured with the dir of Admissions for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and our dir of Public Affairs. Ken is the chairman of Embry-Riddle's Aviation Business Administration Department. They were receiving a donation from Lockheed.

Got a letter from Fred and Arlene HENDRYX. "Dear Jack and Caroline. It has been extremely busy since returning from vacation and I know I owe you a letter plus a repeat of my December letter which you lost. (That doesn't happen very often, folks.) I called Tom YOUNG to find out what has been happening. He and Debbie flew down to Florida for some fishing and won money in a tournament. They were joined by Jim and Judy GALLAGHER and took a several-day cruise in the Caribbean. I believe they left from Port Canaveral. I was in Columbus two weeks ago but could not hook up with Tom. I have not talked with Dave LEE or Bob KUCHLEWSKI.  "It took me about two weeks to catch up from vacation and then I started working on opening up two new distribution warehouses and shutting down two others. This involved setting inventory targets for every brand size based upon some assumptions involving the customer's shipping from the old warehouse.

The start-up which occurred June 17th has been relatively good. With the warehouse opening we also started a new method of planning the deployment of product from the producing plants to all warehouses. This part of the project I have been working on for the last three years. The testing was completed and it was time for implementation. This is an almost JIT replenishment plan which in test has improved customer service while decreasing inventories significantly.  "Since coming back, we have had our annual appointees dinner, Arlene's aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary, the 50th celebration of another friend (a retired LO), and my parents visited us for 10 days beginning July 3rd. They are now in New York and will visit Ellis Island where mom's father and mother entered and have their names engraved on a plaque. It is nice to have some peace and quiet and get some work done.

"In May I got a call from one of my doolies. She called to say they were not recognized as scheduled, equaling '62 by not being recognized on schedule. It seems there was a spirit mission the Friday before recognition which caused the problem. She said they thought they had approval to put their class numerals on the mountainside and were in the process when the OIC ordered them back to the dorm. This was around 0400 hours and temp at 20 below. Some words were exchanged and possibly the OIC was pushed. The class was silenced and were treated as if they didn't exist for one week. Recognition was the following Saturday. She was not upset about this but got a call from another doolie's parents who were concerned and said their son was really upset that this would affect his career.  I calmed her down but it was hectic for a while. PS: this is a Red Tag class..."