John Gillette:  

Life I have now retired and am working at Fort Monmouth near the Jersey Shore. Though a civilian now, I still work in and around the Army. Sue is still leading the scout den and she is now volunteering for Hope for the Warriors. Diana is blazing away at Kellenburg and will be joined next year by Nicole. Peter continues at Saint Joseph School, but will probably also go to Kellenburg in a year or two. My new position has allowed me to reconnenct with many old friends through email and through actual visits. Looking forward to seeing how retired life plays out. School Most of my school experiences revolved around the music program. Most of my mentors are gone now but there are still a few around. I still have contact with Art Himmleburger (interestingly enough he and I were stationed together at West Point and he even came to my promotion). I also have had contat with Ms Cannizarro (Jr High) over the years and a few others. I talk frequently to Rhonda (Aulenbach) Readshaw anf Natalie Fisher to keep up on what is going on. Rhonda's husband and I are at the same point in our military careers and finally met each other in Baghdad of all places. When Nat and I get together, most of our conversations end up with talk of Band competitions or our times with the equipment crew liberating "trophies" for the directors (signs, 55 galon drums, railroad tracks, etc.) Lots of scandal in the back hallway, but then again, it seems that I have just changed venues over the past 25 years going fromt he Valley Forge Band to my Army Units. In each case we pretty much just carried on the traditions of the old band. The teachers (besides the music directors) who influenced me are too many to note. I will say that for the most part I find that they are much better in hindsight and they are also better in comparison with many of my kids' teachers. I am probably being too critical. I will say that High school was a great time (again in hindsight) and though I would have done a few things differently, the one run at it that I had was great, made that way by friends and family. College College was a real trip. After basic training at Fort Knox I attended Valley Forge Military College in Wayne PA. The first year was a real suck since I was a "plebe" and had to answer to high school upper classmen as well as college upperclassmen. The experience was good in that it taught me organization and how to appreciate anything in the face of adversity. I made a lot of close friends at VF. Our company, the Band was functional and dysfunctional all at the same time, but we ran herd on the Corps. Between the Band and the Chapel Choir, I kept myself busy and out of trouble. My best friend and roomate Tom Glock, had an eye injury our first year and was out for a long time. He returned and we continued our fun through the second year. Yar two brought officer rank, leadership in the choir, and leadership in the band as the result of some indiscretions of other bandsmen (read that they got busted for doing something wrong). When I graduated from Valley Forge in June 1984 I was also Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and joined the Army Reserve. In September 1984, I attended the University of Delaware as a third generation student (both grandparents int he '20s and my Mom in the '50s). Delaware was a wee bit different than VF. No uniforms, no formations, no mandatory meals, and no mandatory chapel. Most importantly, no "sticks" for missed classes. Needless to say that my attendance record at my 0800 Linear Algebra class sucked and resulted in a 0.7 GPA for that class. Combine that with another 0.7 for Statistics taught by a German Exchange proffessor who could not speak English and my overall GPA just about bottomed out. I enjoyed Delaware and felt I needed to clear my head, so I went on Active Duty for a semester to Artillery School to certify as an Artillery Officer. Afte...Expand for more