The Gouge

Useful or interesting information passed along to us by our alumni and friends

01-12-2012 Naming the new College of Liberal Arts Building:

There are lots of people interested in what will happen with this issue, including a few Army folks, but it appears as though the Navy has assumed the leadership role (again) in this transition from Russell A. Steindam Hall to the new buildling that is going up in its place. At the 2011 Reunion Jim Broaddus '70, who is more than a little familiar with the inner workings of UT, opined that we should start a very civil letter-writing campaign to the members of the Board of Regents to express our concern and opinion about the name of this new building. If we are to have any influence over what name it finally takes on, we must make ourselves heard. We had a dramatic effect on the fates of the three ROTC programs on campus with our campaign about the RAS demolition plans. We must have a solid plan, though, and have specific recommendations that are shared by the majority, before we embark on such a campaign. Send your ideas to Jim or the Webmaster and we'll see where this goes. Don't wait too long, though, or the opportunity may slip away from us.

12-25-2011 Texas Fight - The History of Army ROTC at The University of Texas at Austin:

John D. Boswell, history professor, 1969 UT Army ROTC graduate and guest speaker at the decommissioning ceremony for Russell A. Steindam Hall, has just self-published a book about the history of Army ROTC at UT, in which the Navy and its ROTC Unit play a prominent role. Many of you who attended the decommissioning of RAS will remember his most interesting speech about the ROTC Units at UT and RAS Hall. From the excerpts I've seen, it's very well researched and footnoted. Maybe it'll inspire one of us to write the NROTC History at UT. The book sells for $25 and John is donating all profits to the Army ROTC. For a copy of the cover, table of contents and order form click here.  Passed along by Ed Mergele '75 on 12-25-2011.

12-14-2011 Navy:Together We Served

There is a terrific website for you to document your career, duty stations, awards, badges, certificates, etc. As you feed information in it builds a shadowbox for you also. It's free to join but if you want to start contacting other shipmates (based on duty stations and units that you plug in or just names to search on) you have to pay a small fee. The website is https://navy.togetherweserved.com. A 1974 alumni, Dave Barron, put me on to this. And yes, there are sites for the other services as well. If you join one you get guest privileges on the others. I think the USMC site would be https://marines.togetherweserved.com. Check it out. Passed along by Ed Mergele '75 on 12-14-2011

12-12-2011 Crow's Nest Scholarship:

There are probably lots of "nesters" who would be interested in endowing a scholarship named for their old coop dorm. Ray Adams '80 brought it up at our 2011 Reunion and wants to know who's interested. Send your thoughts to Ray (click on his link) or the Webmaster. To see some of the discussion going on about the nest, click here.

11-08-2011 Free Texas college tuition for children of Texas veterans:

The Hazlewood Act exempts eligible Texas veterans from payment of tuition and fees at any Texas public college for up to 150 semester hours; unused exemption hours can be transferred to veterans' children. For more details, see http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/apps/financialaid/tofa2.cfm?ID=579 and the UT Austin veterans' benefits Web page at http://registrar.utexas.edu/students/cert/vetn. Passed along by D. C. Toedt '74 on 11-8-2011.

11-08-2011 Surface Warfare Officer lapel pin:  

Our aviator colleagues have long worn miniature Wings of Gold lapel pins. Now SWOs can do the same with their "water wings." (Or, as one of us remarked years ago, we should call them Kiwis, because Kiwi is what you put on a black shoe) The pins are available for $4.99 each (plus shipping) from OpsGear, item X-OG-US-NAVY-WARFARE-OFFICER-PIN (http://goo.gl/db9C2). Passed along by D. C. Toedt '74 on 11-8-2011.