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Service Notes


A first lieutenant in the Marine Corps 26th MEU Battalion 2/8, Jonathan Owen, BA ’01, (far left) completed a yearlong tour of duty in Afghanistan and is now aboard the USS Kearsarge and operating in Iraq, reports Andrew Mescolotto, BA ’01. “Joe is a really great friend and someone who has made great personal sacrifices to defend the freedom that we all enjoy,” Mescolotto says.

Editor’s Note: We invited alumni to tell us about Colonials who are serving our country. Below are the responses we received. We welcome any updates or clarifications via e-mail at magazine@gwu.edu.

Keith Bishop, BA ’03, is currently serving in Iraq, according to Carrie Marsh, BA ’02.

George Hamilton Buzby, BA ’88, MAccy ’97, is currently serving in Afghanistan, reports Ronnie Smith, BA ’89.

Since September of 2002, Lt. Kevin Gillooly, BA ’98, has served with Naval Intelligence and currently is serving at the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington. He reported to the staff of the Commander, Amphibious Squadron Eight (Amphibious Ready Group) in March 2003 as a staff communications officer. “I was onboard the USS Bataan on Sept. 11 and led the effort to secure the ARG prior to getting under way that evening fully expecting orders to head to New York. Those orders never materialized and we returned to Norfolk, Va., on the afternoon of Sept. 14,” he says. He was then re-designated as the staff’s antiterrorism/force protection officer; he was part of an exercise off of the coast of Egypt, Bright Star 01, and later received orders to transit the Suez Canal and head for the Arabian Sea. “Prior to our canal transit, I authored the anti-terrorism/force protection plan for the first ARG transit of the canal following Sept. 11,” Gillooly says.

Dave Greenlees, BA ’92, former ROTC, was “part of the first wave in Iraq,” according to Chris Shoulet, BA ’93.

A government civilian with the Department of Defense, Meghan Harrison, BA ’03, arrived in Iraq in June and will stay through October.

Anaklara Hering, BA ’00, served her country for four years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. She began her service immediately after graduating and was deployed to the Middle East from January to September 2003. She served in Kuwait and Iraq. In Iraq, she was second in command of a combat mobile hospital that treated thousands of American and Iraqi patients. The Palm Beach Post published a July 4, 2004, article by Hering that documents her experiences there.

Mitchell Moffitt, MD ’00, served in the Middle East for four months, reports Athena Stoyas, MD ’00.

During 2003 and 2004, Maj. Jonathon P. Myers, BA ’92, served in Iraq with the First Marine Expeditionary Force. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service. He now works for the Department of State.

Aboard the guided missile destroyer USS O’Kane, Thomas Scazzafavo, BA ’05, serves in the Navy in Hawaii. Scazzafavo recently returned from deployment in the Middle East, during which he made port visits to Manama, Bahrain; Muscat, Oman; Darwin and Brisbane, Australia; and Porta Villa, Vanuatu.

Alexander F. C. Webster, an associate professorial lecturer in the University Honors Program, was mobilized in June as a U.S. Army chaplain. He serves in Afghanistan and Iraq, providing ministry to soldiers of the Eastern Orthodox faith and acting as plans and operations chaplain for the Joint Forces. Webster is the author of The Virtue of War: Reclaiming the Classic Christian Traditions East and West (Regina Orthodox Press, 2004), which outlines the moral teachings of different religions centered on the justifiability and necessity of some war traditions.

Currently serving in Iraq, Lt. Cmdr. Jerome R. White, MBA ’04, is on the staff of the Principle Assistant Responsible for Contracting—Forces, Joint Contracting Command Iraq/Afghanistan as chief of the plans and programs division.

A first lieutenant going to Iraq this fall with the 1st Armored Division, John Mooney, BA ’03, reports that the following alumni have served in Iraq or will be going soon: Tom Calhoun-Lopez, JD ’01, a captain in the Army, served as a field artillery officer in combat and is now serving in the JAG Corps; Jeffrey Fanelli, BA ’04, second lieutenant in the Army; Christina Fanitzi, BBA ’03, first lieutenant in the Army, going in February with the 1st Armored Division; Josee (Radzikowski) Goldin, BS ’01, a captain in the Army; Anthony Heisler, BA ’04, a second lieutenant in the Army; Sean MacCarthy, BA ’02, an Army ranger who served with the 101st Airborne and is now attending Special Forces Assessment and Selection; Joseph Merrill, BA ’02, a first lieutenant in the Army currently in Iraq who is also in the New York Army National Guard; Danny Ponzo, BA ’02, a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps; Phil Radzikowski, BA ’00, a captain and Army ranger with the 10th Mountain Division; Genevieve Rickmeyer, BA ’00, a captain in the Army; Stephen Schwab, BA ’02, a first lieutenant in the Army; Adam Tiffen, JD ’03, a second lieutenant in the Army, now serving as an infantry officer in Iraq, also in the Maryland National Guard; and John Stepniewski, BA ’03, a second lieutenant in the Army.

In Memoriam

Ricardo A. Crocker, BA ’89
May 26, 2005
Redondo Beach, Calif.
Crocker, a GW NROTC alumnus, was killed while serving as a major with the II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in Hadithah, Iraq. He was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve’s 3rd Civil Affairs Group, Camp Pendelton, Calif. Crocker also was a nine-year veteran of the Santa Monica, Calif., police force.

Tracy Hushin, BA ’92, MA ’94
Jan. 3, 2005
Islip, N.Y.
Hushin, who held two degrees from GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs, was killed in Iraq while working with a BearingPoint Inc. team that was under contract for the U.S. Agency for International Development. She had been coordinating an out-of-country training mission for approximately 60 Iraqis.

Kylan Jones-Huffman, admitted to PhD program in history
August 21, 2003
College Park, Md.
Lt. Jones- Huffman, a reservist stationed in Bahrain with the Navy’s Criminal Investigative Service, was killed while on temporary duty with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq. Through fundraising efforts of his wife, Heidi, a permanent endowed fund for graduate study in Middle Eastern history has been established in his honor. On Oct. 28 in the Marvin Center’s room #310, the history department will host the Kylan Jones-Huffman Memorial Lecture, followed by a reception in Phllips Hall, rooms 328-329. For information about the fund or the lecture, please contact Brandy Vause at 202-994-8372.

Mark D. Taylor, MD ’96, MPH ’97
March 20, 2004
Stockton, Calif.
Maj. Taylor died in Fallujah, Iraq, after a rocket attack. He was serving as an Army combat medic with the 82nd Airborne Unit, based in Fort Brag, N.C. Taylor was a general surgeon who had developed a program for weight loss that included gastric bypass surgery.