Alfred Chiles:
CLASS OF 1970
Bartow High SchoolClass of 1970
Bartow, FL
Tulane UniversityClass of 1974
New orleans, LA
Alfred's Story
Graduated from Bartow High School (Summerlin Institute) in 1970 as class Salutatorian. Attended Tulane University, New Orleans, on an Army ROTC 4 yr scholarship; attended 6 week ROTC advanced summer camp at Ft. Riley, Kansas. Was a member and president of Eta chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. Worked summers and Christmas holidays at my parents' drug store; also worked summers at Polk General Hospital and the Polk County Democrat newspaper. Graduated in May 1974 and received a Regular Army commission. Went on active duty in the Army in Oct. 1974, reporting to Fort Eustis, VA, for Transportation Corps Officer Basic course. Graduated as the top honor graduate.Reported to the 75th Support BN,5th Infantry( Mechanized) Div at Fort Polk, LA in Feb 1975. Assigned as platoon leader and company XO in S and T company. Served 2 months as acting company commander. Then assigned to transportation company in the 105th S and T BN as platoon leader. Was promoted to 1LT and assigned as Bn asst S-3. Was then appointed to BN Motor Officer and reorganized several company motor pools into a consolidated Bn motor maintenance operation. Moved from the BOQ on post to an apartment in Deridder in 1976. In 1977, I attended the Army Motor Officer Course at Fort Knox, KY and was the honor graduate. I next served as company commander of the transportation company. This was a very challenging and satisfying job; since I had some great NCOs and enlisted men and women. The BN CDR next appointed me as the S-1/ Adjutant; during this tenure, our BN went to Reforger in Germany with the 5th Mech Div. It was my first trip to Europe; so it was very interesting. I spent almost 3 months in Germany, traveling all around the area. Learned to love German beers and schnitzel. I left active duty in Dec. 1978.
In Jan 1979, moved in with my best friend from the Army; lived in Metairie, LA. In June 1979, I took a management job with Trailways Bus Lines. Was eventually promoted to Asst District Mgr. Also joined the LA National Guard's 204th Area Support Group as a transportation staff officer. Went to Reforger 1980, where our unit ran convoys from the Netherlands to Germany. We worked with the Royal Dutch Army Transportation Command, which was a very professional unit. It was a very challenging assignment; because we worked around the clock. However, it was very satisfying. My performance was good enough to earn promotion to Captain and award of the LAANG Commendation Medal. This went along with the ARCOM and MSM that I received on active duty.
In 1981, I transferred to the 377th TAACOM, USAR, in New Orleans. I served first as a transportation staff officer and then as a motor maintenance staff officer. While assigned to the 377th, I served at Bright Star in Egypt, R...Expand for more
eforger in Germany, and training exercises at Fort Bliss, TX. I also served at HQ, 5th Army, Fort Sam Houston, Tx, during Operation Desert Storm. During my tenure with the TAACOM, I was promoted to Major. In 1995, I elected to enter the inactive reserve. I have since retired from the USAR.
In 1986, I was laid off by Trailways, when they were purchased by Greyhound. I was unemployed for about 8 months; but luckily, I was able to go on active duty for a few months at the TAACOM. In May 1987, I got a job as a claims adjuster with Allstate Insurance Company. Although I was overworked and over-stressed the first year and often thought I wasn't going to make it; I persevered and was able to retire from Allstate last year after more than 27 years. Some of my jobs were personal lines adjuster, auto physical damage adjuster (drive-in and field), total loss service adjuster, auto damage evaluator, auto technical reviewer, auto salvage coordinator, rapid settlement coordinator, Good Hands Repair Network(GHRN) damage evaluator; and GHRN coordinator.
In June 1983, I married Kathleen Blair Trygg. We had been introduced by our mutual friend, Chris Wells, who was my best friend from the Army. As it turned out, Kathy was born in Wildwood, FL. She moved to New Orleans when she was about 6. We have 3 daughters: Kati Brown, 39; Rachael Trygg, 36; and Lauren Baxter, 35. We have 4 granddaughters and 2 grandsons. The girls are all great dancers, as were their mothers and aunts. The oldest is also a cheerleader at East Jefferson High School. The boys are both budding star athletes, playing football, basketball, and baseball. Hopefully, they will be better than their grandfather in all sports.
Since retirement (Kathy retired from teaching after 33 years), we have been doing as much traveling as possible. We went on 2 Carnival cruises to the Caribbean and Mexico. We were able to attend the 45th reunion in Bartow in June 2015 and then spent some time with my cousin,Don and wife at Anna Maria. Then we spent a couple days at Hutchinson Island, FL, before returning home. We are planning a trip to Cancun in October. We are also driving to San Francisco and back in Oct/Nov 2015. Otherwise, I am enjoying attending sporting events at Tulane with my friend, Martin Schiel. We also spend a lot of time with family. Hope to visit some friends in AL and GA later this year or 2016. We also enjoy spending time with my brother and sister-in-law in Tallahassee. We will be with them for a week in San Francisco.
If you make it to New Orleans, please call me; so we can maybe get together in the French Quarter or Uptown. We have lots of fantastic restaurants and bars, which we can recommend.
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