WASHINGTON, Oct. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MacAulay-Brown, Inc. (MacB), a leading National Security company delivering advanced engineering services, cybersecurity and product solutions, announced today that Don Raines , Senior Vice President of Corporate Business Development for MacB, generously funded a 14-day “Face of Battle Staff Ride” for six cadets enrolled in the Department of History at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA). The European tour was funded by Mr. Raines through an Air Force Academy Endowment, which helps provide financial support for vital programs and services for cadets and graduates. Details of the trip, and a one-page feature on Mr. Raines, were published in the September issue of Checkpoints , an alumni quarterly magazine issued by the Association of Graduates (AOG) of the USAFA.
Participating cadets were part of a semester-long class, studying six major battles spanning more than 600 years, using military historian John Keegan’s book “The Face of Battle” as a backdrop for the trip name. In June 2017, they visited historic sites in Great Britain including Winston Churchill’s War Rooms , and recounted the Battle of Britain with a walking tour of key sites. Next was an evening trip across the English Channel to Normandy, France (D-Day), as well as a trip into the forests of the Ardennes in Belgium where Allied troops battled during the Battle of the Bulge . Cadets also recounted trench warfare at the Battle of the Somme during World War I, studied the tactics of King Henry V during the medieval Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and revisited Napoleon’s defeat in 1815 during the Battle of Waterloo .
Mr. Raines is an alumnus and enthusiastic benefactor of the Air Force Academy, graduating in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in History. He served more than 20 years in the Air Force Security Forces, including 10 years in support of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), officially retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2006. Over the years, Mr. Raines has been a strong supporter of the Academy’s Department of History, and is also an avid collector of Napoleonic Books and memorabilia. He has graciously bequeathed to the Academy’s McDermott Library his collection of more than 1,000 leather-bound antique books (including two that bear the cipher of Napoleon’s wife), Waterloo medals, swords, artwork prints and other items acquired over a 30-year period.
“My goal for the six cadets who made the summer trip was to aide in their transformation from cadets to young officers, who in a year or two may be making life-or-death decisions on their own battlefields,” said Raines. “Walking the terrain, seeing the foxholes that Allied troops used, and visiting the cemeteries makes the history books come alive. Cadets can imagine the battles in real-time, wondering how they would have reacted in those dire circumstances versus just reading assigned books or watching war movies in their dorms.”
Click here to read the full story in Checkpoints entitled “Treading on Hallowed Ground” by contributing writer Gary Martyn (pages 74-77). For more information about the magazine, visit USAFA.org .
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