I thank Maj. Gen. L. Dean Fox, F.SAME, USAF, for his leadership over the past year as our President. I appreciate his guidance and assistance in working on Society issues with the Executive Committee and Board. He agreed to serve as our Past President and made valuable contributions at our May meeting in Louisville, Ky. I look forward to working with Rear Adm. Mike Loose, P.E., F.SAME, USN, in the coming year, particularly in helping to achieve the three objectives he and the Board have adopted.

On Page 5 of this edition of SAME News you will find the report on the May Board of Direction meeting. It was an intense meeting with many decisions made to improve the Society and its annual Joint Engineer Education & Training Conference and Expo, and to continue to refine the Strategic Plan to guide the Society and its Posts. I thank the Board for its diligence in considering the various proposals and making them even better when they are finally approved. There will be four Elected Director openings on the Board this year. Members of the Board and Post Presidents can nominate SAME members to the Board. The Board needs individuals who are committed to the future of SAME—so please conside nominating such an individual to the Board prior to Jan.15, 2006. More information may be found on the SAME Web site under “Society Operations.”

The naming of the Gold Medal for Brig. Gen. Walter O. “Walt” Bachus, F.SAME, USA (Ret.) is a testament to the legacy Gen. Bachus left SAME and the passion with which he conducted himself while the Executive Director and thereafter. Gen. Bachus is one of three individuals who have received the Gold Medal twice: in 1974 and again in 1992 when he retired from the Executive Director position after 15 years. During his tenure as Executive Director, Gen. Bachus was instrumental in bringing back to health the financial status of SAME, purchasing Century House, and having the Board approve Sustaining Member­ships. We congratulate Gen. Bachus on this recognition, and thank Helen, his wife of 58 years, for her untiring support of Gen. Bachus and SAME.

The Executive Committee of the Academy of Fellows (AOF) awarded the Golden Eagle Award for contributions to national security to Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster, F.SAME USA (Ret.) this year. Tony Leketa, AOF Chair, Maj. Gen. L. Dean Fox, Society President, Brig. Gen. Gerry Galloway, USA (Ret.) and Col. Gordon T. Bratz, USA (Ret.) met with Gen. Goodpaster in January to talk with him about his early career as an engineer officer following his graduation from West Point in 1939. Unfortunately, Gen. Goodpaster’s health prevented him from attending the Golden Eagle Awards dinner in April. At the dinner, Gen. Galloway presented an outstanding summary of Gen. Goodpaster’s accomplishments as an engineer during World War II. Gen. Goodpaster’s son-in-law, Roger Sullivan, accepted the award for Gen. Goodpaster that evening. Two weeks later, I hosted a luncheon for Gen. Goodpaster’s two daughters and their husbands, and they presented the Society with the general’s Golden Eagle Award for display at SAME HQ. Gen. Goodpaster died on May 16, 2005. I represented our Society at his funeral at Arlington Cemetery on May 25. The funeral was attended by the Chief of Staff of the Army, many dignitaries from Gen. Goodpaster’s past and a handful of his classmates from the Class of 1939. While Gen. Goodpaster spent only a short span of his career as an Army engineer, the program at his funeral, entitled “In Celebration of the Life of Andrew Jackson Goodpaster, General, U.S. Army (Retired),” was adorned by the engineer castle. So in the end, Gen. Goodpaster came back to his engineer beginnings.

Did you ever think about a definition for “military engineering?” I have developed a briefing that hopefully communicates the meaning and scope of our military engineering profession. You can find it on the SAME Web site under “Society Operations.” Your comments and input to the briefing are welcome.