Gorman High alumnus receives special honors at Air Force Academy

Dick Benoit

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 8:14 a.m.

James Valpiani, Bishop Gorman High School class of 2000 and son of Michael and Leslie Valpiani of Las Vegas, has graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The graduate received a bachelor of science degree and has been selected to attend the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program conducted by the 80th Flying Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas. Only the top 30 pilot candidates of each graduating class get to attend the 55-week training program sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Before attending pilot training at Sheppard he will be pursuing a graduate degree in England under the Marshall Scholarship (40 students are selected nationwide each year to study for two years at any university in England). He will attend the United Kingdom University of Surrey to earn a master's degree in astronautical engineering.

Valpiani received a degree in astronautical engineering with a minor in mathematics and was named the top graduate, receiving the Outstanding Cadet in Order of Graduation Award for the Academy's Class of 2004. The cadet also was recognized with the following awards: the Argentine Air Force Award, the Chilean Air Force Award, Top Academic Award and the Astronautical Engineering Award; and was named as the Top Academic Performer, Outstanding Cadet in Astronautical Engineering, Outstanding Cadet in Engineering and Outstanding Cadet Spring Wing Commander for the Air Force Academy.

R & R travel expenses

The Army recently announced that more than 30,000 troops are eligible for retroactive reimbursement of out-of-pocket air travel costs paid in conjunction with rest and recuperation, or R&R, leave taken between Sept. 25 and Dec. 18 from duty in the Afghan or Iraqi theaters of operation.

Congress directed the change, noted Hank Minitrez, a spokesman for the Army's Well-Being Division, who explained that the reimbursements will cover service members' airline ticket costs for travel between R&R leave destinations and stateside points of debarkation. Points of debarkation, he said, may include airports in Baltimore, Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta

Soldiers make up the majority on the eligible list, Minitrez said. The policy, Minitrez noted, applies only to service members deployed on one-year tours of duty for Operations Enduring Freedom or Iraqi Freedom. Marines, he noted, do seven-month tours, and therefore aren't eligible.

The Army is using leave-and-earnings statements and unit e-mail messages to tell eligible active service members about the reimbursement program. Those eligible people who have left the service should receive an announcement about the program via mail to their last-known address, according to Army officials.

For more information, see the U.S. Central Command R&R Leave Program Web site at armyg1.army.mil/WellBeing/RRLeave/index.htm

In brief