'To All Members of the 54th Engineer Battalion:
I welcome this opportunity to wish you the blessings of the Christmas season and my best wishes to you and yours for 2008.
I want to add a special thanks for your service, dedication, and personal sacrifice. The Cold War is now long over, but without your contribution, this would not have happened. You can be very proud of your service and I salute you.
Tasman L. Graham
Colonel, US Army, Ret.                                                                   [Dec. 2007]

Tasman L. Graham

I

recently spoke with Col. Tas Graham, our former commander of the 54th Engr. Bn.
What follows here are excerpts from our phone call and email.

"Wildflecken was my most demanding, challenging and the most satisfying assignment of my army career."

I had an open door policy but some guys were reluctant to be seen at Bn. so on Sunday mornings I would go to the Rod and Gun Club , get a coffee,

or beer and sit down. A lot of the guys would come and talk and I learned a lot."

"When I first got the Battalion I tried to talk to every one and had the SGM set it up so that I talked to every new arrival the first day. I was surprised to hear that many of them arrived on the train from the 21st Repo Depo in the evening ,got nothing to eat told by the CQ to report to the ISG next a.m. and maybe slept on the pool table.I set op a program so that each company had a room with 3 beds, foot and wall lockers and I gave each Co Cmdr afew bucks so they could get something at the snack bar. I only had one CO who dropped the program on his own, for one night! He never was caught without the set up again ."

Life, Times, & Military Career

"I was born in Newdale Idaho in '31,went to Tasmania with my mother and brother in '34 where I grew up, went to school and served

a five year apprenticeship as a cabinet maker and joiner.

"I enlisted in January '53. I did Light Infantry Basic at Fort Ord and

based on what I knew of the Australian Army I figured if I did my job and worked hard I could probably make Sergeant , I had never heard of OCS . Anyway I left Ord and went to OCS at Ft. Belvoir and graduated in Jan '54."

From OCS to L Wood and ran the Carpenter Course,July '54 to Heidelburg then Stuttgart with HACOM Engr. then July '58 to Amphibious Engrs. Ft Lewis Wa. July 60 to Belvoir Engr Off Advanced Crs. and DOD course in Arlington Va. then Mar '61 to RVN as the Engr. Advisor I Corps, April '62 Ft. Benning Ga. Engr Instructor , Infantry Scool, July 64 to 12th Engr. Bn. 8th I.D. Daxheim Germany as S-3 and XO. March '67 to Saigon Engr. Advisory Groyp, May 68 to OCE in DC as Actiohn Off, then Executive to MG Ploger Dir. Military Engineering and Topography , it was at this time I was given a Regular Army Commission ,Dec 71 to Wildflecken and the 54th!

July '74 to Hanau as S3 130th, Jan '75 to OCE and the Postal Constrution Program ( Bulk Mail facilities ) then '75 to 79 in the pentagon ACE office as Chief Military Engineering Division . 31 July I retired as there was no slot for me in Germany."

11 DEC. 2007

Health Challenges

"I should bring you up to date on my present situation.
As John may have told you I lost my eyesight in '01 and Prostate cancer came back in '05 after three years remission so now hormones and chemo . are slowing down the inevitable . Two years ago the Dr's said 18to 24 months but Helga and I have our 50th wedding anniversary next March 22nd and I plan on being here."
(Dec. 2007)

"I went to the VA Blind Rehab course in CT. in '03 and learned to type (?)left handed and they gave me a Gateway with 'Zoom Text' which talks to me and magnifies up to 36 x so I can do e-mails but 'short and very slowly'.I most miss the reading , driving, shooting and seeing faces but with help I am making it."

"In Dec 89 I had a cerebro anurysim and some of my wiring circuits are loose,but I only had to learn to walk again."

1973

2007

OPEN THE ATTACHMENT TO SEE THE FILM AFTER READING THIS INFORMATION FIRST
A Military Nightmare: Russian Fighter SU-30MK - (video)
READ THE DESCRIPTION BELOW.....IT IS AMAZING!
Russia now has #1 fighter plane in the world...SU-30-Vectored Thrust with Canards.
As you watch this airplane, look at the canards moving along side of, and just below the canopy rail. The "canards" are the small wings forward of the main wings. The smoke and contrails provide a sense of the actual flight path, sometimes in reverse direction. This video is of an in-flight demonstration flown by the Russian's-30MK fighter aircraft.
You will not believe what you are about to see. The fighter can stall from high speed, stopping forward motion in seconds (full stall). Then it demonstrates an ability to descend tail first without causing a compressor stall. It can also recover from a flat spin in less than a minute. These maneuver capabilities don't exist in any other aircraft in the world today.
Take a look at the video with the sound up. This aircraft is of concern to U.S. and NATO planners. We don't know which nations will soon be flying the SU-30MK; hopefully China isn't one of them.
Note: I worked with advanced aircraft flight control systems and concepts for many years as an extension of stability control and means of control. Canards and vectored thrust were among many concepts examined to extend our fighter aircraft performance. Neither our current or next generation aircraft now poised for funding & production can in any way match the performance of this Russian aircraft NOW FLYING in any near in combat situation.
Somehow the bankrupt Russian aircraft industry has out produced our complex politically tainted aerospace industry with this technology marvel.
Scratch any ideas of close in air-to-air combat with this aircraft in the future. (See attached file: CA_SU-30.wmv)
                                                                        Original author unknown

Left to Right - Kathy, Carl, Annette, Andrew
Tasman, Helga