First F16VPA Reunion Debrief

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Washington D.C., 7-10 October 1999

Here is a summary of our first F16VPA reunion this year at Washington D.C. and Andrews AFB. Enjoy the photos! Thanks to all our sponsors for supporting this event: Bill Harrell, Don W. Thompson and Tom Smoot from Lockheed Martin, Glenn and Felicia McGinty from Kids Flight Suits and Guy Aceto from the Air Force Association. The following events formed part of our first get-together:

Thursday, 7th Oct

all reunion attendees came together at the 121st Fighter Squadron for the informal welcome. Later, all attendees met at the Andrews O'club for a few rounds of beer.

Friday, 8th Oct.

The formal program starts... At 9 30am all went out to the Andrews Golf Course to compete against each other. The task: Who is the best F16VPA golf foursome? The game lasted until 3pm in the afternoon. Followed by a short break was the highlight of the first F16VPA reunion. The reception dinner with our first Guest Speaker, Colonel Steven A. Caine. Col. Caine spoke about the "Operational Launch of the F16 from 1978-1981". You will find a brief summary of Col. Caine's speech in this section. Be assured, it was great!

Saturday, 9th Oct.

We all met around 10 am at the Jack Kent Cooke Stadium to attend the USAF Academy vs. Naval Academy Football Game. After a short period of confusion ("How on earth should we find the others, or how are they going to find us??"), all pretty much found our designated area at Parking section F21 in order to party! The game was a blast and AF won 19:14 over Navy! Go, Air Force! After the game, the tailgate continued for several hours.

All attendees came to the conclusion that it surely was a nice little get-together and only "the tip of the spear" for future reunions. However, this very first reunion has clearly shown one thing for sure. The plan, to keep F16VPA a no-dues organization in the future, can only be realized if its members show an interest in keeping F16VPA alive. This means we will be dependent on voluntary donations by members. Donations (Checks or other) can be made out to the F16 Viper Pilots Association at 1031 Hillside Lake Terrace, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. They will be deposited at the F16VPA bank account. All, whether it is a reunion or the web site maintenance, is cost prohibitive and the F16VPA Board of Directors has paid most of the expenses out of their own pockets. In the end, we came up short with about $950. Most of this derives from expenses for set up fees, patches and other admin. costs. The reunion barely paid for itself. With over 700 members to date, a single donation of $5 or more per year by each member would help a lot and the Association could be maintained. We hope with your support and wish that you recognize F16VPA as a worthwile project. Its future is "in the hands" of its members.

The Guest Speech by Colonel Steven A. "Cobber" Caine, with pictures!!

Click on the different links below to view the reunion pictures!

Thursday events - Friday events - Saturday events