Our last dinner meeting was held in the Tashua Knolls Restaurant at the Tashua Knolls Restaurant in Trumbull, Connecticut on June 19th.  The event was well attended with some 50 individuals seated for dinner.  After dinner, the attendees were treated to an excellent presentation by CDR Jamie J. Sands, ’92.  CDR Sands is a career SEAL and will take command of SEAL TEAM EIGHT in December of this year.  A few highlights from his career resume are in order since they are most impressive and provide an excellent insight into his credentials.  Following graduation from USNA, he became a Surface Warfare Officer.   He received Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training in July of 1995 followed by his assignment as SEAL Delivery Vehicle Platoon OIC for SDV Team ONE.  Other assignments within the SEAL Program followed, culminating in his assignment as XO, SEAL TEAM TWO.  His current assignment is as a student at the Joint Forces Staff College where he is a candidate for Master of Science in Military Strategy and Campaign Planning.  CDR Sands has completed his thesis on Joint Leadership Competencies and after attaining his degree, he can look forward to future joint leadership and strategic planning assignments.  As you can see from his accomplishments thus far in his career, he was well qualified to speak on The SEAL branch of the naval service.  His presentation was spellbinding as he provided insight into the essentially unknown world of SEAL Team organization, operations and deployment.  He was able to make his excellent presentation while maintaining the requisite classification of his subject matter, not an easy task in the SEAL world!  We are truly in debt to CDR Sands for his truly inspiring presentation which provided us with an appreciation of what our SEAL Teams are capable of doing in support of our naval service and our country.    Planning is ongoing for our next Chapter event in September.  At the time of this writing, neither the speaker nor the location has been identified.  Details regarding this event, when known, will be posted on our website at:  www.usna.com/Chapters/US/Conn.  

BEAT ARMY,

Dave Boyd, ‘59