CGSC
IO Class of 1993
"Build it ... and they will come!" Last update as of 7 January 2009
Our 20th Anniversary is
at the horizon (2013), contact me if you are interrested
in organizing it...
This site is
dedicated to
our dear friends from the CGSC IO Class of 1993 and replaces the
Newsletter I
used to publish on a yearly basis. Most IOs from our Class have joined
the Net
but if you are new to the web and have tracked down this page, please
drop me
an email so
that I can add you to the
list.
EDITOR'S
MESSAGE
Dear friends,
welcome once again at our CGSC IO 93 Web Site ( pages.videotron.com/bend1/
) that I'm keeping up to date as often as I can based on your
input. The best way
to reach me for timely input and update remains through the
Internet at bend1@videotron.ca
. Other pertinent information can also be found through the IO Section
of the CGSC Web Site.
The
year
2008 is already coming to an end and I would like to take this
opportunity to
give you a bit of news and pass on my best wishes for the Holiday
Season. I'm
Marjolaine
has decided to retire from work at the
Marjolaine
and I are still competing in Ballroom Dancing, focusing more and more
on
the 45+ Championship categories at Home and abroad.
At the last Canadian Championships, we
finished 4th in Latin and 5th
in Standard. We
also finished 1st in Standard at
one of the competition in
As
you can
see, the Benjamin Family is doing very well and we truly hope
it’s the same for
you all. We wish you a great Holiday Season and a very happy
New Year 2009. Cheers,
best of luck and hope to see you soon.
CLASS
Our 15th Anniversary is now something of the past (2008) and no one has volountered to organize a Class Reunion associated with this event. Dimitrios from Greece was interrested at one point but I haven't heard from him since he came to my place in Nov 2004. If you are interrested to organize the next Class Reunion, as is potentially the case for Martin Tumenta and Rose from Cameron, please get in touch with me as soon as possible.
Our
10th
Anniversary Class Reunion of 2003 was organized by Koen and Rixt from
the
Given
that
one third of the
The third day was spent in
The fourth and last day was organized under the theme: Teamwork;
intensifying our bond, a secret event that proved to be a
25 km bicycle rally in around
NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
The last news I’ve
received from John, Sue goes back to Jan 08 and was as follows;
John is still with Suncorp but has changed his role, moving
into
the technology area. Sue has also changed roles with
a great
opportunity to take up the role of CEO for a large community-based
early childhood organisation - Lady Gowrie Queensland. A particular
benefit has been some interstate conferences and travel – and
opportunity to catch up with friends in a child-free
environment. Samuel and Georgia turned 13 at the end of
September,
and have just completed their first year at High School. Both
Georgia and Samuel have established a great set of friends, are doing
well academically and enjoy going to the school. Both children
continue to enjoy a range of extra-curricula
activities. Georgia
continues to dance with passion and this year again successfully
completed exams in both classical ballet and hip
hop! Samuel
continues to pursue his love of music, including singing with the
wonderful youth choir – Brisbane Birralee Voices.
In June, his
choir toured to Korea as part of the World Vision Children’s
Choir
Celebrations. He spent a week performing with choirs from around the
world as well as experiencing life with a Korean family. On his return
he entered a very busy time with a number of performances including
performing at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre again, this time
with the Queensland Pops Orchestra. Samuel continues to play
viola and sing at school, this year performing in the Senior
Strings Orchestra and Senior Choir. Samuel changed from soccer
this year to try his hand at Australian Rules (a football game unique
to Australia but has much in common with Gaelic Football). The club,
the West Junior Bulldogs, and the team mates Samuel played with were
great and he really enjoyed the year. Nevertheless, having tried
something new, Samuel has decided to return to soccer next
year. 2007 also marked a significant milestone for Sue and
John as
they reach their 25th Wedding Anniversary. To celebrate, Sue and John
joined two other couples celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary on
a trip to Singapore and Vietnam. They managed to take a tour of the
Battle of Long Tan, which was an important battle in the history of
John’s Infantry Battalion 6 RAR. The Casey’s can be
reached
at johnbcasey@optusnet.com.au [Jan
08]
The last news I've received
from Wadud
and Rina goes back to Mar 07 and they were doing quite well.
Wadud
reached
the rank of MGen three years after graduating from the
I've just received Christmas Greetings from Guido and Marie-Claire. On
top of this, Marjolaine and I had the chance to meet and dine
with Guido's
family in Belgium this past April 08 as Marjolaine joined me
for
the QLF in Portland UK and then the SNLC in Brussels. Marjolaine and
Marie-Claire did a lot of touring and shopping together as Guido and I
joined them in the evening for dinner Chez Vincent and then at their
place. We had a great time and it was very nice to also meet with
Marijke (youngest), Elke (oldest), her husband Dieter and their son
Wout. Guido
is still a MGen working at the Material
Resources Direction and Marie-Claire fully
enjoys her role as a grandmother and “advisor” for
their daughters. Dieter works with his father in the (real
estate)
project development business. Elke is teaching part-time
and Wout started preschool in May. Marijke
is also teaching and is finally recovering from the
consequences of her
bicycle
accident 9 years ago. The Andries can be reached
via the Internet at guido.andries@pandora.be
[Dec 08]
According
to Geoffrey Kibuchi, Joseph Molefe reached the rank of LTC and then
retired to
become the Assistant of the State Minister for the Botswana Government.
[Oct
03]
Given that Cesar
is the new Defence Attache in Washington and that he's also
covering Canada, I had the chance to meet with him on three
different occasions in Ottawa in the past year. He is doing very well
and so is his wife Claudia. They were supposed to stop by our place for
a Holiday trip across Eastern Canada but this has yet to
materialize. They
can be reached via the Internet at cesar.zambao@gmail.com
[Dec 08]
The last news I’ve
received from Panayot goes back to Jan 08. Panayot
has now retired from the Forces and his wife Venera is working as a
secretary at the Nationak Deffense College in Sofia. Their daughter
Katina graduated from High school and their son Stilyan is attending
last year of New Bulgarian Univercity. They can be reached
via the Internet at ppanayot@hotmail.com [Jan
08]
<span
style="color:
rgb(0,0,102);">
Cameroon
<span style="color:
windowtext;"> I've received Christmas Greetings and several
emails from Martin Tumenta this past year. He is now
a
senior Col within the Cameroon Army and is scheduled
to retire in
the next four years. In preparation for this, he is doing
business in the following sectors: 1. Commodities trading
which deals with import and export of goods into and out of
Cameroon and other regions of Africa (as they have a huge revolving
facility in place now to import rice into
their region). 2.
Industrial fishing with Trawlers. 3. Logistics: Land and Sea. 4.
Finance and Banking. He is doing very weel and appears
to be willing to organize our next Class Reunion. Him and
Rose can
be reached via the Internet at <span
style=""> </span>vengonswifi@yahoo.co.uk
[Aug 08]
I’ve
not met nor heard from with Jerry for quite a while since he's back
from Europe and working in Eastern Canada. I suspect he has retired
from the CF and that him and Sharon have established
themselves in the Halifax region
I’ve
received an E-Mail from a CGSC IO Class 04 student who knows Hernando
Ortiz and
Margarita quite well. Hernando is now a BGen and commands the
5th
Div in
I've
received an E-Mail from Ivo in Apr 02. He tried to attend the Class
Reunion in
2003 but didn’t make it. He can be reached via the Internet
at ijanecek@hotmail.com
[Apr 02]
I've just received some news from Markku. He was promoted to
LTG in June and is now third in command in
their Defense Forces (DCOS Ops). He just married four weeks
ago after a decade long condideration and a five year long engagement
period. He and his lovely wife Merja just had a wonderful two
week honeymoon trip in
Phuket,
Thailand.
Merja is the General
Manager of Finnish Sauna Society , and the General Secretary on
International Sauna Association. She is
a mother of two teenagers, Keny and Inka, who live with them in
Kirkkonummi,
Finland.
They built a house six years ago, and enjoy life almost in
countryside, as
well as gardening. As almost all other Finns,
they have
a summer cottage which is one of their greatest common
passions.
Marianna is doing great in her long and challenging studies in
Manchester
U.K.
She is finalizing the doctorate studies in economics, but is not sure
of what to do afterwards. She is not
actually very interested in returning to
Finland,
and has seen enough rain in U.K. South America has been one of her
favourites, and
Washington
D.C.
is still among her considerations. Arja is still living in
Kerava, where they hosted our First Class reunion,
but Markku have not had many contacts with her.
Markku can now be reached at markku.koli@mil.fi [Dec
08]
I've
attended the Senior NATO Logistician's Conference on 3-4 May 06 in
Brussels and had the chance to meet with Winfried who was one of
the German rep for this forum. He has since changed
appointment and is now Commanding the German Logistics Brigade. He was
to be promoted BGen with this appointment but I'm not sure if it is yet
in effect. He
can be reached on the internet via zimmer.boersting@t-online.de
[Dec 07]
I just had a quick phone call from Erhard
in Bonn who was just about to be promoted MGen before
moving
to Berlin where he will have the chance to be closer to his son Markhus
who is now 24 and working there. He told me the sad
news that
him and Helga are not living together anymore. He can
be
reached via the Internet at erhard.buehler@t-online.de
[Jul 08]
I've just got a phone call from Susanne
Benning in Dec 08 plus a lengthy email. She lives
in the northern
part of
I've
met with Kwame
Opong-Kyekyeku who is now a Colonel and the Ghana Defense Attache for
the US and Canada. He lives in Washington but is coming
to Canada
at least once or twice a year. You can see a picture of him and Toshi
below as they met during the last AUSA. He will likely return to Ghana
next summer. [Nov 08]
I've met
with Dimitrios and Maria as they were visiting us in
Yaya
Sow has had the misfortune of spending 10 years in
jail but those bad memories are now a thing of the past.
He has since started a small security business named SOPROSSUR
(in
french; Sow Protection Sécurité et
Surveillance)
for which many things have yet be done. It's on the right
track
and everything should be fine in the near future. He and his
family are doing very well and they can be reached at
yayakaba49@yahoo.fr
[Jan
08]
Jagjit
Singh Dalal and Priti attended the last Class Reunion in
The
last news I've received from Eddi Budianto goes back to Mar 02 and were
as
follows; He was promoted Bgen in 1998 and is now working at the
Indonesian
Armed Forces HQ as Chief of the
The last news I've
received from Yehuda, Marian and
their two
children goes back to Mar 05. Yehuda has retired from the IDF
and the whole
family
moved back to Israel and are all doing quite well. They can be
reached via the Internet at yudathai@zahav.net.il
[Mar 05]
The last news
I've received from the Satta's family goes back to
Dec 07 and were as follows; Marina
is back running her
Veterinarian practice in Santa Marinella and kids (well, quite grown
up! 18!)
are attending their last year of high school with good results. Simona
would
like to continue next year by taking psychology at the university,
while
Alessandro is planning to enter the military Academy. Simona is also
playing guitar in a group and
Alessandro’s improving his skills with piano and playing
basket.
They’re quite busy with school and after studies activities.
Together
with their mom, they also sing in a choir, performing in institutes for
disabled persons for the joy of handicapped people during the holiday
season.
Antonio is going to be promoted to the rank of Major General in a month
or two
and is now covering the position of Chief of Staff of NATO Rapid
Deployable
Corps –
I've just received Christmas
Greetings from Carmelo
and Daniela who are both doing quite well. Carmelo was promoted BGen
two years ago and is back from
I've just received Christmas Greetings from
Toshi and Miyawho who are both doing very well. On top of
this, I
went to Tokyo to attend the Pacific Area Senior
Officier Logistics
Seminar (PASOLS) in Sept 07 and had the chance to dine at a very nice
restaurant with Toshihiro and Miya. It was great to meet with them and
since then, their oldest son Akihoto got officialy engaged with Miho
Miyamoto and their wedding is planned for next spring. Their daughter
is also doing very well and you can see below some pictures of the
newly enlarged family. On the professional side, Toshihiro was
promoted MGen in July 03 and as of Jul 07, has become
Director, Policy & Programs Department, at the Ground Staff
Office for the Japan Ground Self Defense Force. He had the
chance to meet and dine with LGen (Ret) Mike Steele who was a mentor
during the JA-US Bilat EX of this past Dec. If you recall, LTG
Steele was Comd CGSC during our year in Leavenworth.
Toshi and Miya can be
reached via the Internet at miya_toshihiro@ybb.ne.jp
[Dec 08]
I’ve
received a moving letter from Geoffrey Kibuchi back in Oct 03. He
reached the rank of LTC but
was then forced to retire because of age. He had no job and was facing
difficult financial problems while trying to take care of his wife
Esther and
two children Brian (12) and Edna (10). He is soliciting our help, so
feel free
to contribute if you can and I suggest you write to him at
According
to Geoffrey Kibuchi, Josphat Bukhala is now a
The
last news I've received from Kim Young-Kyo and Gui-Hee goes
back to Dec
99. They both seemed to go well. [Dec 99]
Susanne Benning from Germany
had the chance to meet with Nabeel this past year. He is doing quite
well and can be reached at nalsafy@hotmail.com.
According
to Geoffrey Kibuchi, Martin Kaiche is now a COL. [Oct 03]
According
to Geoffrey Kibuchi, Victor Simunja is now a COL. [Oct 03]
The last news I've received
from Sundar
Rana goes back to Jan 08 and were as follows; Sundar reached the rank of
The last news
I’ve
received from
Vijay,
Gita and their two children go back to Sept 01 and were as
follows; Vijay
was promoted LTC five years ago and had the chance to act as Security
Officer
at the
I've just
received Christmas Greetings from Koen and Rixt. I also had the chance
to meet
with Koen on several occasions these past two
years and he even came for supper at our place
in Feb 07. Koen was promoted MGen in the Fall of 2006 and
quickly moved to the USA with the whole family in order to take on his
new responsabilities as ACOS C4ISR within the NATO Allied Command
Transformation Organization in Norfolk, Virginia. It
was quite a step for him to transition so quickly from Command of an
Air Assault Brigade to ACOS of a NATO
strategic level Headquarters. The
family adapted well but things were not like the good
old
days in Leavenworth since life has changed significantly in the
USA post 9/11. The family went skying in the Appalayan
Mountains (6 hours from Virginia Beach) during the Holidays and will do
the last strecth before returning to the Netherlands next
summer where Koen is to become the Chief Information
Officer. They
can be reached via the Internet at kgijsbers@cox.net
[Dec 08]
I've
just received Christmas Greetings from Andrew and Elaine who
are doing quite well. The last time we met with them was at the last
Class Reunion in
According
to Geoffry Kibuchi, Malik Jibril is now a
I've
just received Season Greetings from Arne who
was promoted
LGen in Mar 05 and is still doing
very well as Deputy
CHOD for the Norwegian Armed Forces.
Well done Arne. He can be
reached via the
Internet at adalhaug@mil.no [Jan
08]
The last
news I've received from Ferdinand, Daisy and their four children go
back to Dec
2000 and were as follows: Ferdinand has been Group Commander for the 2
RCDG in
the
The last news I've received from Samuel’s family goes back to Dec
03 and were as follows; Samuel was promoted MGen in Apr 03 and is
commanding their 5th Inf Division. They all seem to go well and can be reached via the Internet at sb_bagasin@yahoo.com [Dec 03]
Andrey
and Dina did attend the last Class Reunion in
I’ve
received a letter from Rasheed Al-Subaie back in Oct 04. He is now a
Brigadier-General and is
Deputy Commander for the Signal Corps of the Saudi Arabia National
Guard. His
oldest son Sultan is also with the National Guard (LT) and is the proud
father
of a son he named after Rasheed.
The whole family is doing very well except for
Rasheed’s handicapped
daughter who had several medical treatments in the
Singapore
The
last news I've received from Goh Kok Huat go back to Dec 99 and were as
follows: Goh Kok Huat has retired from the Army in 1996 and is now
working in
Bangalore for a Singapore company, running their operations, which is
quite
different than running an Army unit. He can be reached on the
Internet
at kokhuat@intltechpark.com [Jul
99]
I
didn't get any news from Ng Chee Yuen for the last four years. His
Internet
address was yng@mba1999.hbs.edu
[Apr 99]
The last news
I’ve
reveived from José Luis goes back
to May 01 and were as follows; After Leavenworth, he
commanded an Helo Bn
in a small town near
According
to Geoffry Kibuchi, Clement Dlamini should be LTC by now.
He was MAJ the
last time he met him in
The last news I've received
from Ulrich and
The
last news I've received from Lou Ti and Mia go back to Dec 99 and were
as
follows: Lou Ti has been promoted
According
to Geoffry Kibuchi, Salim Kijuu is now a
The
last news I've received from the
I've just received an email
from Birol, Serpil and Eda. They are
still in Diyarbakýr where Birol is commanding
the 16th
Mech. Brigade. Birol will soon complete this assignment and I'm not
sure about the next one. Serpil is working for a governmental
organization specifically aiming at increasing the education level of
young girls in Eastern Turkey. Eda is a Junior student in Bilkent
University. She is studying french/english/turkish translation
interpretation and was was elected as the secretary general for
training activities in the Model United Nations (MUN) Club
at her
college. She is therefore very busy.
The last news I've received
from Ibrahim
Al-Alawi goes back to May 03 and were as follows; Ahmed's
son moved to
According
to Geoffry
Kibuchi, Nyakairima Arona is now MGen and appointed Commander of the
Uganda
Army. [Oct 03]
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<span
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I've
met Stuart and Antoinette at the last Class Reunion. Stuart
has left the
Army some time ago, has ran for politics in Scotland and now has his
own
consulting firm in that domain. They can be reached at stuart_crawford@sidegate11.freeserve.co.uk
[Jun 03]
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<span
style="color:
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<span style="color:
windowtext;"> I've
received an email from Sergio who has just completed
his assignment as the
Army Aide to the Uruguay Minister of Defense. He has been promoted MGen
as of 1 Feb 06 and appointed as Commander of
their Military Academy.The family is doing very
well. They
can be reached via the Internet at <span
style=""> </span>sndof@adinet.com.uy
[Jun 06]
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<span
style="color:
rgb(0,0,102);">Venezuella</span>
The
last news I’ve received from Jose Leon and his
family go back to Mar 03.
His daughter Natasha graduated as a pre-school teacher in Oct 02, the
same
month Xiomy got married and moved to
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<span
style="color:
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The
last news I’ve received from Maybin Nondo go
back to Apr 02. Geoffry
Kibuchi saw him last year, he was still
According
to Geoffry Kibuchi, Reuben Mqwayi would now be a
Guido Andries' Family (
Koen's Family (NL) skiing in the USA Martin Tumenta (Cameron) Birol Erdem's Family (Turky)
Casey's Family (Aus) visiting Vietnam Susanne (GE) meeting with Nabeel (KU) in Dubai Susanne's Christmas Picture 2008 (GE)
Toshihiro and Miya enlarged Family (Japan) Toshihiro meeting with LTG(Ret) Mike Steele
Other
Class home pages: IO
Class of 95, IO Class of 97,IO Class of 98
Take
a trip down memory lane with a
virtual tour of
©
2004 bend1@videotron.ca