Double Whammy: 9/11 and CAPT Kathy Bruyere

Capt MJ

Capt MJ

Serviam.
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Today is always a good to take stock and remember all the fallen.
Never forget.

As I looked at the news this morning and fielded texts, calls and emails from a small group of us on the Navy Staff in the Pentagon who shared a great deal that morning and the days afterward, I also read of the passing of a powerhouse in the history of women in the Navy, CAPT Kathleen Bruyere, USN (Ret). She was relentless, smart, persuasive, and never too busy to be a mentor. She was one of my first role models and mentors in the Navy. I grieve her loss today.

www.navytimes.com

Retired Navy captain and trailblazer for women’s equality in the service dies at 76

Retired Navy Capt. Kathy Bruyere, who was featured on the cover of Time magazine's Women of the Year issue, later helped clear the path for women to serve on ships and aircraft engaged in combat.
www.navytimes.com www.navytimes.com
 
It’s good to remember. I choose to remember Captain Jack Punches, USN, (Retired) who was killed at the Pentagon. Our paths crossed in Sicily when he was the CO of VR-24. I hitched a ride with him to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in one of his C-2 Greyhounds to attend a manpower course. Onboard were his wife and young son who thought it was cool to fly in his Dad’s Navy aircraft. After that trip I vowed to take my family there.

The last time I saw Captain Punches was at an impromptu get together at the Consolidated Club on base. The music was loud, drinks started to flow, and then people and JOs started yelling Jack! Jack! Jack! With a grin on his face he went to the stage, grabbed the mic, put on black Ray-bans, and started mimicking and singing Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman”. I remember everyone laughing and smiling with Captain Jack Punches. RIP, Captain Jack.
 
Capt MJ said:
Today is always a good to take stock and remember all the fallen.
Never forget.

As I looked at the news this morning and fielded texts, calls and emails from a small group of us on the Navy Staff in the Pentagon who shared a great deal that morning and the days afterward, I also read of the passing of a powerhouse in the history of women in the Navy, CAPT Kathleen Bruyere, USN (Ret). She was relentless, smart, persuasive, and never too busy to be a mentor. She was one of my first role models and mentors in the Navy. I grieve her loss today.

www.navytimes.com

Retired Navy captain and trailblazer for women’s equality in the service dies at 76

Retired Navy Capt. Kathy Bruyere, who was featured on the cover of Time magazine's Women of the Year issue, later helped clear the path for women to serve on ships and aircraft engaged in combat.
www.navytimes.com www.navytimes.com
Click to expand...
I really liked the last line of the article: "... "Frankly, she left this world a better place and will be missed.”-retired Army Lt. Col. Trent Bruyere, her stepson.
 
I remember two people today, both USNA grads.

Ken Waldie: For four years at Annapolis and until 9/11, my friend "Waldo" was the only Class President that our class ever had. He was the life of any gathering, and the soul and heartbeat of our class. The academies produce leaders and without bragging too much, I'll just say that my class has one of the highest numbers of "stars" ever including four Four Stars serving at the same time and it really says something about a person to be elected as a leader among so many others. We have not forgotten him and are still in contact with his family to support in any way possible.

RADM Bud Flagg: RADM Flagg was my reporting senior when I had my first command in the Reserves and somehow, even with the wide gap between LT and RADM, he became more than a boss and mentored me over the next decade and a half. I last saw him a few months before 9/11 and we'd exchanged emails with a plan to get together in Reno at the end of September. RADM Flagg made it through 3 combat deployments to Nam without a scratch but he and his wife were casualties of the flight that hit the Pentagon.
 
I think about this day in somber remembrance, every year. As does everyone.

What is interesting to me, on this 19th anniversary, is that my youngest son was a mere few weeks away from being born. He never knew the world pre-911. 19 years ago, I had no clue that 19 years later he would sign on to serve his country as a plebe at USNA.

‘24 is the class that (predominantly) didn’t know a pre-911 world....
 
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