Call to Order: Following an official Fort Detrick Branch Open House event convened 1700hrs at the FT Detrick facility, the first member-attended meeting began 1820 hrs with LCDR Rick Gussio, LCDR Calvin Edwards, CAPT Steve Wickizer, and LCDR Lucienne Nelson of the Executive Committee present. Members present included, CAPT Bonita Pyler, CAPT Bobby Brown, CAPT Melvin Brubaker, (Ret.), LT Gregory Davis, LCDR Tom Doss, LTJG Destry Sillivan, LT Gregory Langham.

Reading of minutes: As the first member attended Branch meeting, LCDR Gussio gave a history of the Branch formation and its development thus far.

Treasurer’s report: The membership fees from National have not been dispersed to the Branch. CAPT Wickizer reminded members to designated Ft. Detrick as their Branch affiliation on National COA membership renewals as this is important to our treasury as well as official membership list.

Other reports: Nothing to report

Introduction of new members: CAPT Bonita Pyler, Professions Relations committee chair, and LT Gregory Davis, Education and Legislation committee chair were acknowledged for their willingness to serve on these important committees. Invitations to sign up for committee membership were extended with officers coming forth to serve in these committees. LCDR Tom Doss and LTJG Destry Sillivan joined the Professions Relations committee, and CAPT Bobby Brown and LCDR Tom Doss joined the Education and Legislation committee.

Reports of Standing Committees: Formation of other committees was postponed until membership has had an opportunity to expand.

Unfinished Business: Our mission statement is an important task the membership needs to undertake. A mission statement answers the question: What is our fundamental purpose? and it is a way of expressing what programs and services we wish to provide, taking into account our resource capabilities. A vision statement answers the question: what do we strive to be? and it is influenced by our understanding of the environment in which we operate, the needs of our members, and the values we want to uphold. The executive committee has begun brainstorming about the content of these statements for the membership to review and discuss. This will be an agenda item for the next meeting.

The creation of trifold Branch brochure continues. Once the mission statement is drafted, this will be a key component for the brochure, as well as our Branch activities and officers issues. LCDR Nelson will have further development of this for the March meeting.

New Business: LCDR Gussio welcomed those who came this evening for our first member-attended meeting of the Fort Detrick Branch of the COA. Following a brief history of the Branch formation, activities of the Branch thus far were mentioned and an invitation for new ideas and concerns of members in this Branch was extended. This brief history included Military Standards Cadre (MSC) and the enormous support of the Garrison Commander. MSC as a potential to serve the fitness standards needs of other groups such as CCRF was discussed. PHS 1-DMAT has recently set a fitness standard for their members (the pack test) which is very specific to their first response role. LCDR Edwards, a PHS 1-DMAT member, confirmed this.

CAPT Wickizer contributed a great deal to this meeting. He suggested focusing on membership as our first priority. LCDR Gussio reported the number of committed members is 30 out of a pool of 80 potential officers in the Fort Detrick area. CAPT Wickizer made the suggestion that each member present takes three names from the list of potential members of his/her category and personally contact them to invite them to our membership and make them aware of the Branch presence to meet their needs and concerns. This was set as a goal to increase attendance at the March meeting. LCDR Gussio will send forth the list of potential members with category designation for members present to view.

Potential Branch activities suggested included

• a co-deployment exercise with the military services in Response to Bioterrorism. LTJG Sillivan has the dates of the quarterly bioterrroism training offered by the Army for those interested. This is composed of three days of classroom on bioterrroirsm and two days at the Aberdeen facility on chemical bioterrorism.
• In addition to our MSC activity, CAPT Wickizer addressed the need to offer our members the same things other branches offer such as mentorship, address concerns of promotion, awards and pay, and provide Branch representation to National COA. LCDR Edwards is our liaison to National COA.
• LT Langham identified the need for increasing USPHS exposure to the other uniformed services. He sited his difficulty getting access to Fort Detrick daycare as an uniformed service member on active duty. The Army was unaware our service’s inclusion under Code 42 to these services and benefits. From the daycare office to the JAG office, the Army personnel were unaware of USPHS legal access to DoD services and benefits. A presence of PHS as an uniformed service needs to be a fostered to the military services in our Branch activities. Members concurred.
• Hosting a PHS event on Fort Detrick with formal invitation to the Post Commander / Deputy Commander with presentation of the PHS recruitment CD was suggested by CAPT Wickizer. The CD would acquaint the other services with our Corps and our mission.
• LCDR Gussio suggested our Branch summer picnic held at the Pond on Fort Detrick for members and families .
• A summertime pool party for all services commissioned officers and their families held at the Fort Detrick pool was proposed by CAPT Wickizer.
• Advertising of our Branch formation at the National COA meeting this year by hosting a booth ($300.00) or being a speaker (free) was discussed. LCDR Nelson inquired about a booth at the annual meeting and, in addition, made contact with DC COA Branch president CDR Doreen Melling about sharing the cost of a booth. She reported they plan to share a booth with another group, but would forward our interest to other groups who may be interested in sharing one. LCDR Nelson accepted this offer and has had no further contact regarding it. CAPT Wickizer suggested the no-cost option of a member contact the COA category representative to inquire about being a speaker at the COA meeting. The deadline for speaker submission is February 23, 2001. LCDR Gussio and CDR Pyler are already on the speaker/poster agenda for the meeting for individual professional presentations.
• This led to a discussion of fundraising and Branch expenses. LCDR Gussio stated the web site cost is about $200.00/year and five dollars per member comes from National COA. The suggestion of members making donations to the Branch was brought forth and acceptable to members. This will need to be an ongoing agenda topic. LT Langham proposed a Fort Detrick Yard Sale in the spring. This would raise funds and give PHS a presence. LCDR Nelson confirmed that there have been yard sales held just inside the Fort Detrick main gate in past years. This could be pursued further for information.

Natl COA reading and actions:

Our Branch website is now a link on the National COA web site. We will be listed on the COA Branch listing pamphlet at next printing. LCDR Edwards had no specific report from National.

Program:

Our Branch priority to focus on increasing our membership will allow us to distribute the ideas proposed at this meeting into committee actions and developing our program.

Nominations and elections:

A C.O. for the Military Standards Cadre remains a critical need. This individual functions as a liaison regarding MSC and directs inquiries accordingly. LCDR Gussio has invited some qualified officers to accept this important position, but has not been successful as yet.

Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 1920 hrs following plans to meet again every second Wednesday of every odd month. Next meeting set for March 14, 2001 1800 hrs in Bldg. 426 on the Ft. Detrick installation. This will be our regular meeting place. Future meeting dates are posted on the Branch web page.

Submitted by:

LCDR Lucienne Nelson

Secretary of the Fort Detrick Branch of the COA