Ric Lewallen

I cut a lot of brush while there. Once while peeling potatoes in the back of the kitchen, I climbed the stairs where you sat with the pot. They led to a large, windowed room on the 2nd level. The view from there was great. I was having some difficulty, frustration with my roommate at the time (the reason has totally escaped me), so I decided to make it a getaway place. I jimmied the back door so I could get in and out at will. Set up a lamp, moved some furniture around so I could sit and read, study. Worked well for about a week, until Mr Woleb saw into those windows I looked out. Went to the Millard Tribunal and got brushcutting duties that took me to graduation. I did get a new roommate, Alan VanEpps. Great guy who did have a problem with his smelly socks (see his story), but we got along well as roommates otherwise.

I had a reel to reel tape deck and tons of music I listened to and played when we were allowed to. We had one of our classmates who was sang and played the guitar. Took my equipment out to the gym one afternoon and recorded him playing. The recording turned out great. The gym acoustics and the rain that came toward the end of the recording session made for a recording I listened to and played for years later.

Millard was the height of my academic career. I had applied to USAFA in high school. I had a 595 math and a 395 in English on my SATs then. Obviously, I did not make it. We took the SATs I think in Dec, after we had been there since sep, and I had a 770 math, 670 in English, an 800 in math level one, a 790 in math level 2 and a 650 in english composition. That and the PT training got me in on a presidential nomination (My dad was retired AF officer). As I said, that was the height of my academic success. While at the Academy, I did not let academics interfere with my education and spent 4 out of my 8 semesters on the dean's "other list." (academic probation). Had I known how close that would put me to the end in the graduation order of merit (I was 723 out of 756, I would have worked harder to get the $755!