WPSCF Guest Speaker for 2020 Founders Day

The West Point Society of Central Florida (WPSCF) is pleased to announce that General Lloyd J. Austin III, USA (Ret.), will be  the guest speaker for Founders Day at the Rosen Plaza Hotel on Saturday, March 28, 2020. The picture shown here is of Genereal Austin, USA (Ret.) speaking at 500th Night for the class of 2021. 

General Lloyd J. Austin III culminated his military career serving as the 12th Commander of U.S. Central Command from 22 March 2013 to 30 March 2016. In this capacity, he was responsible for military strategy and joint operations throughout the Middle East and Central and South Asia. He also served as the Combined Forces Commander, overseeing the military campaign to defeat the terrorist organization, ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

A native of Thomasville, Georgia, General Austin attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1975 with a commission in Infantry. During his nearly 41 years of military service, he commanded units at every echelon, with duty in Germany, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the United States. He also has the extraordinary distinction of having commanded troops in combat at the 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-star levels. After his first assignment with U.S. Army Europe, General Austin was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he commanded a company and served as an assistant brigade operations officer. General Austin then commanded a second company in Indianapolis, IN before earning a Master’s Degree from Auburn University and serving as a Company Tactical Officer at West Point.

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Lee Roy Barnes - Class of 1972

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Lee Roy Barnes ('72).  Lee passed away on Friday October 25th.  Lee was a strong supporter of all things West Point and the Army.  As many of you know, he was also the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Camaraderie Foundation. 

Lee initially volunteered in 2011, to help with the Camaraderie Foundation annual golf tournament, “Pars and Stripes Forever”. He was elected to the board of directors in January, 2013. He was elected as Programs Director in 2015, elected Vice Chair of the Board in 2017, as Chair in Jan 2018, and in Jan 2019, re-elected as Chair for an additional one-year term.  In lieu of flowers, Lee's family is requesting donations be made to The Camaraderie Foundation.

Camaraderie Foundation Link

We have the following information to provide at this time.  

GEN(R) Ann Dunwoody Receives 2019 Thayer Award

"Receiving the Thayer Award makes me feel closer to West Point than I've ever felt before," said General Ann Dunwoody (Retired), in an interview just prior to receiving the 62nd annual Sylvanus Thayer Award. A remarkable statement given that Dunwoody, the first women in U.S. military history to achieve the rank of four-star general, comes from a four-generation legacy of West Point graduates: her father (Harold H. Dunwoody, Class of 1943), her grandfather (Halsey Dunwoody, Class of 1905), her great-grandfather (Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody, Class of 1866, and her brother, Harold "Buck" Dunwoody Jr. '70). "I've been here a lot," she joked.

Yet in addition to her long and strong West Point lineage, Dunwoody’s personal devotion to the values of “Duty, Honor, Country,” the central tenet of the Thayer Award, actually come from her 38 years of distinguished service to the country. “In my Army career, I’ve learned that ‘Duty Honor, Country’ is more than three words: It’s a way of life,” she says.

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How a Military Prep School Helped Army Improve in Football

Kelvin Hopkins Jr. didn’t have the test scores to join Army’s football team right out of high school. Now, after a year in the academy’s prep school, he’s the clear star for the Black Knights.

WEST POINT, N.Y — Kelvin Hopkins Jr., the youngest of three children raised by a single parent, was a mama’s boy who was hesitant to move far from home when he graduated high school in Charlotte, N.C. He did not know much about the military life, either, and his test scores were “not ideal.”

All this made Hopkins a risky candidate for the United States Military Academy, which is charged with generating future Army officers. But it did make Hopkins, a charismatic leader with an admirable work ethic — and a sharp passing arm — an ideal prospect for the academy’s prep school.

Now, four years later, the bet West Point made on Hopkins looks like a good one. He is nearing a degree in philosophy, relishes training to become an officer and, not insignificantly, has become a star quarterback and a centerpiece of Army’s continuing football renaissance.

The Black Knights, who had one winning season in 17 years before Jeff Monken was hired as coach in December 2013, have been on an upward trajectory since. They are coming off three consecutive bowl victories and a school-record 11 wins last season, and came within a whisker of their biggest victory in half a century in Saturday’s 24-21 double-overtime loss at then-No. 7 Michigan.

Read more: How a Military Prep School Helped Army Improve in Football