Category: Personal

Buck A few months ago, I saw a post on one of the on-line blogs in which the author had taken a dollar store armored vehicle, applied a few bits, and made it a science fiction armored vehicle. The genius is that many of the armored vehicles that came in packs of plastic army men […]

via No War Toys or War Movies? — H.A.W.K.S.

Buck Five Archive Miniatures Star Ducks Late last night before packing for a family vacation, I finished 36 of these Archive Miniatures Star Ducks. Star Ducks with Wargames Supply Dump weapons For a few of the ducks whose weapons were not well cast, I ordered some retro science fiction weapons from the Dirk Garrison line […]

via Star Ducks are Done — H.A.W.K.S.

This weekend, Chris and I went out to Provincetown for a convention called Nauticon. It’s a 21+ convention full of all things nerd and geek and awesome (and alcoholic). We went to the first one back in 2012 and were excited to have the chance to go again. It’s held at the historic Provincetown Inn, […]

via The BIG Question — fateschoiceblog

Buck My friend Ma’k Morin recently discovered the Star Rovers line of figures from Archive. See his article here. Ma’k molded some of them for me, since they are no longer in production. The guy who has all the Archive molds, doesn’t have these, so they may be lost. Last weekend, Ma’k gave me two […]

via The Phrinx are Coming! — H.A.W.K.S.

Chris Palmer This past Saturday, the HAWKs attended the HAR-CON gaming convention put on by the game club at the local Harford Community College. This con is a mixed gaming con, with video games, role-playing games, card games, board games, and miniatures games. A group of us posing with the French & Indian […]

via HAWKs Attend HAR-CON Gaming Convention — H.A.W.K.S.

This post is a little late!  Lynn and I celebrated her birthday on June 12th by heading up to Hampton Beach, NH.  This was our first trip back up there in several years, but it was a lot of fun.

We hung out at the beach for several hours, taking advantage of Lynn’s new beach umbrella.  This kept us from roasting.  I did hit the water briefly, but it was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit so when I could not feel anything in my legs I went back.  We walked around the area – and it was pretty amazing that so much has been improved in terms of parking, signage, bath houses, etc.  The old casino was the same with its many arcades, shops, etc.  But again, it seemed less worn down than the last time we were there.

On the way home, had to hit Brown’s in Seabrook, NH.  Had a couple of 2.5 lb. lobsters and a quart of steamers each.

On the way in we were surprised to run into Jim Herndon’s mother and his sister who were up from Leominster, MA.  Small world!

Need to get back up there again soon – or so Lynn tells me!

It was a rare privilege to attend the Promotion and Installation Ceremony for my fellow F-4 ’84 Classmate Fr. Paul K. Hurley as he was promoted to Major General and installed as the 24th Chief of Chaplains of the US Army.

The ceremony was fantastic, and it was great to be in attendance with nearly 200 fellow USMA 1984 grads, dozens of Army personnel and Fr. Paul’s family & friends.  The chapel was packed!

The outgoing Chief of Chaplains, Chaplain (MG) Donald Rutherford spoke, and ribbed Fr. Paul of the Red Sox/Yankees etc. rivalries (he of course is from NY).  The history of the Chaplain Corps was read, to include the recent losses of Chaplains in the War on Terror.  There was a scripture reading from Ephesians.

LTG H.R. McMaster (another ’84 classmate!) was the senior officer, and presented inspiring remarks and performed the swearing in ceremony.  His passion and love for Our Army was on display, as was his immense respect for Fr. Paul.  It was great to see Fr. Paul’s parents and family take part in the promotion as well.

I had not seen Fr. Paul since graduation, although we spoke once when he had a parish near Boston.   He was the only other Massachusetts native around F-4, and it was great to have someone there besides myself with a proper accent!

He looked great, and gave a tremendous speech.  I will always remember that he said the Chaplain needs to go “where it sucks most”.  He has been living this mantra for 20 years, most of which while we have been at war.  I am proud that such an inspiring man of God will be in a place of leadership where he can do so much good for so many.  I PROMISE, I will be praying for Fr. Paul to succeed!  The Chaplain Corps motto is “Pro Deo Et Patria” – for God and Country, and Fr. Paul has been a wonderful exemplar of this.

Here is the beautiful program from the ceremony: (in order of pages)

There was a reception at the Chapel at Ft. Myer, and I got to see many, many classmates whom I had not seen in 31 years (our graduation anniversary was the next day, May 23rd).  I had many great conversations and along with Dave Wood (who was gracious to help me get there and to the party in Arlington afterwards – THANKS DAVE YOU ARE AWESOME) we had a great time.  There is a photo of all from USMA ’84 who attended, and I will add it to this blog when available.  From F-4, we had Fr. Paul, Dave Wood, Larry Carroll and his wife, and Jim Kelly and his wife.

The conversations and the celebration continued at Ireland’s Four Corners pub in Arlington.  (fitting for a son of Hibernia!).  The celebration and the night was great.  Fr. Paul’s mother asked for us to sing the “Alma Mater” and I think that it was heard all the way to Annapolis! (BEAT NAVY!)

Here is the awesome cake that says it all:

Much credit goes to Steve Epling for organizing this after party and more – and Mike Kwinn too.  I have only recently been made aware of all the class activities through Steve’s efforts and I appreciate them greatly.

God Bless you Fr. Paul and I will keep you in my prayers!

This is my new blog site – well, my only blog site.  I will see how this goes, and hope my friends find this interesting.

Best, Mark