There are some milestones in your life that sneak up on you regardless of how many decades have passed. Last weekend was Homecoming at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and for my class it was the 45th reunion. A few of my classmates had moved back to Colorado Springs and they were kind enough to host us for a couple of events.

Since this was my first time going to a USAFA reunion, the pace was hectic. We had an evening mixer the first night where I ran into hundreds of classmates, some of whom I missed crossing paths with for decades. The next day consisted of tours of the Academy Grounds—fields, classrooms, dormitories, athletic facilities, and halls. In a continuation of a tradition started at West Point, there was a roll call of each of the 40 cadet squadrons where those who passed the previous year are named and the honorary commander calls them out as “Absent”. We were guests of the Cadet Wing for the Noon Formation which included a flyby of two B-52s at low altitude in close formation as well as lunch at Mitchell Hall with the entire school in attendance. Things have changed over the years. The iconic AF Academy cadet chapel that evoked both the Rocky Mountains and modern aviation with its 17 aluminum spires was “gone”, replaced by a huge white cube. It was the place Suzie and I got married 45 years ago, but surely the most visited man-made structure in Colorado was coming back. It turns out the already 60-year-old all=faith chapel was experiencing corrosion between the steel and aluminum attachment points. Compounding the refurbishment was more asbestos than they expected. Started in 2022, the engineers expect the project to be completed in 2027, meaning there will be several classes of cadets that will never visit the chapel during their stay. Ironically the first class of AF Academy Cadets never saw this campus, having trained at Lowery AFB in Denver.

The second half of the day was somber as there was a memorial ceremony and “Missing Man” flyby at the cemetery. The aircraft were Van’s RV homebuilt planes that flew in a V formation leaving a smoke trail with the #3 aircraft executing a pull-up to leave the formation over the cemetery. Already one of my graduating squadron members is buried there, having passed after an auto accident. We gathered there to pay our respects.

There are a lot of singularly distinctive display aircraft on the AF Academy grounds. There is a Bell X-4 experimental tailless aircraft as well as the only F-4 in the AF inventory to record 5 kills. They were both there when I went to school. I saw an F-16 and T-38 that are new. With over 2000 hours in the T-38 and 800 in the F-16C, I will have to check my logbook to see if I actually flew those exact two aircraft. One I didn’t have to check was a green A-10 on a steel post outside of Davis Airfield. Davis was where I learned to fly and soloed in the T-41C, a fuel-injected military version of the Cessna 172. Suzie watched me do one of my 13 parachute jumps there. The A-10 on display is singularly distinctive because it recorded the first A-10 air-to-air kill during Desert Storm, a gun shot from the 30mm cannon on an Iraqi helicopter. The pilot was in my New Orleans AF Reserve squadron and was a 1979 AF Academy Cadet, graduating a year after I did. I flew that particular A-10 at least 20 times before it was retired.

Friday Night we had a BBQ in Colorado Springs where one of my classmates (who held a saber at our wedding) and his wife hosted us. brought them StillFire Beer which received unanimous praise. I brought plenty so there would be some at the tailgate on Saturday morning. The game was held at Empower Field at Mile High where the Broncos usually play. The Association of Graduates has really improved their game over the years. I was in only the 20th graduating class while today there are 65. Most of the parking lot was taken up by alums and their families along with numerous others tailgating. We had the best beer, so we made new friends easily. I met many generals, including the Academy Superintendent and Dean. We also met a recent 2023 Academy Grad, who was in their Miss Colorado uniform. StillFire had the best team that day as I later found out after kickoff. It was not surprising that we couldn’t bring our beer into the stadium, so the rest of the afternoon we had to settle.

The game started with a four-ship flyby of A-10s and a lot of singing and fireworks. The USAF parachute team jumped into the stadium trailing flags behind each jumper. It was the closest AF got to victory. I think someone abducted the 8-0 ranked 17th in the nation Falcons Football Team somewhere on I-25 that morning and replaced them with my retired classmates. The team play was abysmal as evidenced by turning the ball over 6 times as well as an additional 2 times on downs, dropping numerous passes, and even missing a chip shot field goal. The only thing positive I can say was I felt 45 years younger because this performance brought me back to the ‘70s. While the game felt lost by halftime, a non-football milestone lifted everyone’s spirits. Gen Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff promoted 100-year-old LtCol James Harvey to Colonel. To honor his service as a Tuskegee Airman, there was flyby of two warbirds, a P-47 and a P-51 in formation.

I was able to take a second day to make a second trip up the mountain to pay my respects to the love of my life and my forever partner. The weather was beautiful and as if on cue, the animals she always loved came out to visit with us. If you do nothing else today, please give the people you love a hug and let them know how much they mean to you.

On Monday I brewed a Collaboration with Left Hand Brewing in Longmont. I had an entire day brewing with Head Brewer Gary Glass, a friend of over 20 years. At the end of the day Eric Wallace, Left Hand owner, founder, another friend of over 20 years as well as a member of USAFA Class of ’84 caught up with us to visit over a few beers. I met both through my association with homebrewing and the Brewers’ Association. LHB is distributed to 34 states plus DC. They have been one of the Top 50 largest Craft Breweries in the U.S. for the past decade. Left Hand is having its 30th Anniversary in 2023 so there was a lot of valuable corporate knowledge of how to survive and thrive in the Craft Beer World within the Longmont brewery walls. Our Collaboration is an American Stout, a style of beer both Gary and I enjoy. We spoke about brewing together at the Craft Brewers’ Convention in Nashville back in May and finalized the details at the GABF in September. Neither Left Hand nor StillFire have brewed that style before, so we threw our collective 60 years of brewing experience into making a tasty beer.

We both feel American Stout is forgotten with all the other hoppy American beers stealing the spotlight while English and Irish stouts hog the oxygen in Stout World. Our version was brewed on their Pilot System which yields about 7 bbls (217 gallons). The pilot brewhouse itself is about double the size of our pilot with more electronic controls as well as steam heating, which makes sense since they have 2 taprooms to serve. Best of all their Pilot is in a separate room added onto the brewery in 2015 with a beautiful view of the mountains of the Front Range. Our “Cowboy Outlaw Raccoon” American Stout features several chocolate malts and flaked barley in the grist with Cascade, Comet and Sultana hops thoroughly Americanizing the stout. At around 7.5% ABV, this will be a great beer to start and finish the day with.

Gary took me on a tour of the Main Brewery and all the equipment it takes to be one of the larger Craft Beer producers in the world. They have a fully automated bottling line as well as an even faster 30 head rotary canning line. Their main brew system is “only” 60 brewing barrels (bbl), but it is optimized to quick turn to brew 3 or 4 turns a day. While their older fermenters under roof in the brewery are substantial in number and size, there is a row of 480-bbl outdoor fermenters with a 500-bbl Brite Beer Tanks to match. It takes 2 days of 8 turns to fill a single large tank, about the output of what we brew in 2 months.
Next week StillFire will brew our faithful version of Cowboy Outlaw Raccoon American Stout. When it is ready, it will go on tap and there will also be cans available in the Swag Shop when it is released. I think you will have a new favorite.
Cheers!
Phil