During the period of May 15th through the 19th, the Commissioning Committee hosted four crew members to our state. MMNC(SS) Brian Love, MMN2(SS) Todd Ault, STS2(SS) Alexander Gilbert and EMN3(SS) Robert Cooper arrived on Monday the 14th and were met by several Committee members. Gene Kellar drove the group to Glenwood Springs stopping for Mongolian Barbecue along the way. Garfield County Veterans Service Officer, Gregg Bak arranged for the crew to stay at Hotel Colorado, dinner at The Brew Pub and passes to the Hot Springs.

After breakfast at Hotel Colorado the crew visited Glenwood Springs High School, and met with two classes of Air Force Junior ROTC cadets. After a quick lunch, they headed for Grand Junction High School where they were met by Brian Oney, Mesa County Veterans Service Officer. Brian arranged a presentation in the auditorium to the Army JROTC and any interested students. The auditorium was practically filled and many questions were asked, mainly about life on a submarine. Dinner was with the local US Submarine Veterans at the Golden Corral, where they met Bob Magos, a WWII Submarine Veteran who served on USS R-2 (SS-79) and USS Pipefish (SS-388/AGSS-388)

After traveling to Montrose, on Wednesday morning they met with Sheldon Smith, Montrose County Veterans Service Officer, and Capt. Lance Bach, Navy JROTC instructor at Montrose High School. They made a presentation to the unit and other interested Students. Afterwords, the JNROTC students presented t-shirts to the crew and they were interviewed by the Montrose Press. In the afternoon Sheldon Smith escorted the group to the South Ranger Station of Black Canyon of the Gunnison, where the Rangers escorted the crew on a personalized tour of the canyon.

Traveling through southern Colorado they returned to the Denver area on Thursday. On Friday Committee member Bill Emslie arranged for the sailors to visit four middle schools, have lunch in Old Town Fort Collins and visit Veteran’s Plaza. Returning to Denver they attended the Navy League Denver Council’s meeting and dinner that evening.

On Saturday the crew visited Estes Park where there was a welcome ceremony for them at eh Estes Park Veteran’s Monument by Mayor Pro Tem Cody Walker and several others. Following they were treated to lunch at the historic Stanley Hotel ant then a visit to Estes Park. In the evening they attended the Honorary Plankowner’s Reception at the Governor’s Mansion Carriage House with about 90 persons in attendance.

Overall it was another great visit to Colorado by the sailors of our namesake submarine. They proved to be great representatives of the Navy and the Submarine Force and impressed all who met them.