Ted and Patty Hack

Ted sent a few interesting photos for the class blog of himself and his lovely wife, Patty, along with some other people you might recognize. When this first photo downloaded I wasn't sure who it was. It was only after all the other photos appeared that I realized that it is none other than our fellow classmate himself. Seriously, the photo notations bore some impressive names and I had thought that this was a Senator that had escaped notation. I'd vote for this guy, wouldn't you?

For a non-Annapolis graduate, Ted had an impressive thirty year career in the US Navy, during which he commanded the nuclear sub, USS Guardfish (SSN-612), above, and later, the WWII era veteran sub tender, USS Orion ( AS-18), with a crew of 1500. Captain Hack, retired in 1997.
[For those of you not familiar with them, the orange highlighted words you see on this blog are hyper-links. Just click on them and away you go. Hit your backspace key to return.]

Before he left active service he contributed to a Navy review of the movies, The Hunt For Red October, and, Crimson Tide. He gave a thumbs up for Navy support for the former and a thumbs down to the latter for technical and national security reasons. I would concur with Ted's judgment here. Who doesn't like anything Sean Connery's in?

One of his many tours while in the Navy, was at the Pentagon in the, Navy Office of Legislative Affairs. That sparked his interest to become a lobbyist for, General Dynamics , in their submarine program, where he has developed many lasting friendships with the men and women in the top echelons of America' s political and military power structures.

I asked Ted to expand upon the nuclear submarine program he has been involved with for us civilians, and taxpayers, who might be curious. He graciously gave me the following account which I have abbreviated:

Everyone at the top of government and the military have agreed, years ago, that we need to maintain a fleet of 48 nuclear subs into the foreseeable future. At this moment we have 52, but, many of those will be decommissioned over the next several years. At an initial cost of $2.5 billion each, coupled with the fact that reduction rates began to outstrip production 15 years ago, we will actually drop below that 48 NS level in 4 to 5 years for a period of about 8 years until it again pulls up to the desired level. As Ted put it," I am VERY happy!!!"...[about that], because, he has personally worked very hard for a long time to turn that declining imbalance around. GD also had to come down on the original price to $2 billion each to help move the process along. How many of us ever knew or cared about any of this before? Here's a story about a recently decommissioned nuclear submarine.

It is an established American truism that many a business deal and friendship happens over a good game of golf. Ted is an avid golfer and spends as much time on the several links around the Washington DC area as his schedule allows. He has also traveled to places like, Old Head, in Ireland, left, where, two years ago, he and six of his golf buddies played 7 courses in as many days. He also plays in numerous fund raisers and charity events.

Patty, his "a little younger" wife, has no interest in the game, but lets Ted play whenever he likes. She is presently pursuing a Public Policy PhD, which is a Philosophy/ Social Studies combination, at the University of Maryland. Patty has credentials of her own. She was the Deputy Director to, Donna Brazile, who was the Campaign Manager of the 2000 Gore/Lieberman Presidential campaign. Patty is a liberal Democrat, while Ted had always been a conservative Republican. " How we ever met and stayed together will ever amaze me," says Ted. But he now claims to be a centrist Democrat, or more of an Independent, like his mentor, Joe Lieberman.( Say, where have we heard that before?) It looks like Patty is having an effect on Ted. They have been married 14 years.

In addition to his beloved game, Ted also loves driving his newly restored, 1983 Porshe 911 SC, that he's had for 24 years, and his 2007 Jaguar XK . No, those photos are not Ted's cars, but the Jag's location certainly fits. Ted wanted us to know that he and Patty normally drive a two car fleet of Fords to work. Patty's is an Escape hybrid. Exactly what you would expect a liberal Democrat to drive. She maintains that Ted "loves his cars more than her!" They both agree that he needs a bigger garage.

Now for a few of Ted's and Patty's friends. On the right, Ted is with, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ted has had numerous discussions with Adm. Mullen about naval strength and those submarines levels previously mentioned. This photo was taken a few years ago when Adm. Mullen was Chief of Naval Operations. Their relationship goes back many years and includes a former classmate of Adm. Mullen who is one of Ted's, Myrtle Beach, golf group friends. Adm Mullen is, as Ted describes, a "surface Navy officer." That means he would prefer to build humongous aircraft carriers and ultra-fast destroyers, which in turn means that Ted had his work cut out arguing his case for the Silent Service. Remember that 50s TV show?

Above, we see Patty and Ted together with, Paul G. Kirk, on the far left, former Ex. Director of the JFK Library at a function at the Library in Feb. 2009. Kirk was the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's temporary replacement after he died last August. He was replaced by Scott Brown in the recent Massachusetts election.

All photo credits, (except USS Guardfish): Ted Hack

Ted and Patty Hack (continued)

I'll let Ted describe this last photo:

"I used to travel with him to Navy bases and events as his Navy escort. Up to his recent death, I worked closely with his Senate office as he was the Chairman on the Senate Armed Services Committee that dealt with shipbuilding ( I am the General Dynamics lobbyist for submarine programs). My company also has supported the JFK Library Foundation in Boston MA, and for the last 10 years I have coordinated our company's participation in the annual dinner that they hold in Boston at the Library, where this picture was taken. (it was taken one week before he had the stroke that eventually led to his death). I also used to attend many fund raising dinners at his home here in DC, so I knew him quite well. A good man !!"

With the passing of, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, an era is coming to an end. Our era. We, the class of 1962, cut our political baby teeth during those early Camelot days of the Kennedy White House. Remember the spirited, yet, civil, debates that were encouraged and held in class in 1960 that centered around the Nixon/ Kennedy election? Regardless of who took which side in those debates, (though it must be admitted that our Republican leaning members were in the distinct minority and were very brave indeed to express their contrary opinions), there was an excitement in the air; first, about the possibility; and then, the reality, of our country's first elected Catholic President. I'm sure we all felt that common pride.

I enjoyed putting together this small window into the life of our distinguished classmate, Ted Hack. While many of us have been living our various and busy lives as witnesses to the events of our era, Ted has been one of its active and earnest participants. It has become quite fashionable to use the word "lobbyist" as an epithet. In certain cases, it is probably justified. But here we can see a man we all once shared a part of our lives with. A man who has served his country proudly and with distinction and that brings honor to us all. His life and accomplishments, therefore, become all the more personal and real to us. His window is a window into our lives as well.

Ted now feels that most, but not all, of his life's work and goals have been accomplished. He is looking forward to retiring from General Dynamics in another year or two and go on about enjoying life. He and Patty will continue to live in Washington, DC, because that's where she works and they probably would not be able to sell their home in today's market for what they have put into it. Besides, all his close golf friends are there and he knows all the courses just as intimately. Perhaps, someday, he will take a trip to the Holy Grail of golf enthusiasts. When he does, he will send us a photograph or two and I'll put them on our blog. God willing.

Photo credit: Ted Hack

Technical difficulties

Wow! I can't believe that it's been, let's see; May, June, July, (counting fingers)...........February 2010........10 months! since I have put anything up on our blog.

Well, that's because:

1. You haven't been sending anything to me to put up and my silhouette cutting abilities are limited. And...

2. I have been experiencing more than a few intertubz problems over the past several months. Mainly, my formerly reliable satellite service, which I won't name, but they made a movie about its namesake starring Leonardo DiCaprio. No, not Titanic, though, there are similarities. It got so bad that I finally took down the dish and had a competitor's satellite system installed. Unfortunately, that one too is under preforming. Bottom line: I have to spend a lot of time waiting for a single page to download and uploading photos to the blog, or any other destination, can take quite a while. This country is definitely in need of some better broadband providers and capabilities.

The good news is that after visiting the hths1962 email site the other day, which I hadn't done since before Thanksgiving, I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of earlier emails. The first from Mary Carajat, who sent me a very informative Christmas letter about her and Wes' doings - and a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, Mary and Wes.
The second was from, Ted Hack, who sent me some very interesting photos with background which will be the subject of the next post. Ted has restored my interest in the blog and I'll try to persevere with it for at least a bit longer while resisting the temptation to throw the computer at the wall. Ted's post should appear in the next 10 days or so.

Addendum: Had a conversation with Tom Polese this evening and, according to him, Facebook is the new Gary's for the Class of 1962. That's where everyone is having almost real-time conversations while sipping diet cherry cokes. I even joined last year at Mary Carajat's invitation, but just like with the blog, it got lost in the back recesses of my mind with the all consuming Internet problems. I'll have to head over there and see what I've been missing out on.
Can Twitter and tweeting be far behind?

Addendum #2: 2/15. I just cleared out another email account that I hadn't visited in awhile, the one connected to Facebook, and sitting there amid all the clutter and Viagra come-ons was an inquiry by Stephanie Visokay, left prior to Thanksgiving, asking if I hadn't ought to be out hunting up one of my wild turkeys about now.

Well, Steph, I suppose I could sit in my favorite chaise out on the deck and nail one of these bad boys with a slingshot if I wanted, but that would hardly be sporting now, would it?
Besides, there's all that messy plucking and gutting and cleaning and, frankly, I'd rather hunt up an invitation to partake in someone else's turkey preparation abilities. Delegate some things whenever possible, is the credo I try to live by. I can, however, always be counted on to stalk a wild dessert or a few bottles of wine to bring to the table. P.S. I spent turkey day in Ashland, Or.
Again, belatedly, I hope you, and everyone else who drops by this way, had a fantastic Thanksgiving.