End of the FTX. Team 2 group photo – The bug man, Murse, West Point, CHPPM, the Russian, Doc, and Joker. The class is over, we all graduated and Texas is history.

Thursday was moving day. We have left San Diego and now are on our way to the Great North West. We will stop in San Francisco on our way up, visit with some friends, and show the kids what Christmas in a big city is like.

What ever happened to the good old day’s. Wouldn’t it be cool to walk around with a pocket full of leeches again? The above photo is from the AMEDD museum.

Time has been flying by. Today was the “Health Fair”. I set up my display of Fire Ants. Everything went well. I was even able to get a little Internet connectivity and display some bug attack videos. It was a bit chilly this morning so my display of a fire ant nest was not too active. Normally, a little tap to the side of the jar would send thousands of ants into a frenzy, scrambling up the container walls.

Next week we will be out in the field for three days and then we graduate.

Here is a picture of the fire ant poster I put together for the AMEDD Health Fair. It will be in December and all of us will have to make a display representative of our different fields. Since I am an “ento guy” I decided to do fire ants. They were a real problem for us out in the grass during OBLC when we were doing our physical exercises in the dark.  You just can’t see what you are standing on or laying in.  Training inside the running track was a hazard. You will also notice the picture of the Sandbur weed. That was also a fun surprise out there. If the ants didn’t get you the Sandbur would.

The Army Medical side of our government puts a lot of effort in preparing for humanitarian relief missions. Although we are tasked to support the warrior, stabilizing the civilian side of a war can go along way to help shorten the conflict. Half of the battle is trying to organize your resources in such a way that you can easily locate them. There are so many organizations out there to help in a humanitarian crisis that it is easy to forget about one or two. All of them are important for gathering critical information when you need to put together an Operations Risk Management Plan. I will add to this list as I find more, but for now, the list below is what I have bookmarked. If there is any that I need to include please let me know. The important thing to remember is that the military can assist with logistics in ways no other organization can.

• AMEDD C&S
• U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine
• AFPMB – Armed Forces Pest Management Board
• Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center
• DOEHRS Occupational and Environmental Health Surveillance
• USAID
• WHO | World Health Organization
• Sphere, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response – Home
• ReliefWeb » Home Page
• International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Homepage
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Your Online Source for Credible Health Information
• U.S. Department of State
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• GlobalSecurity.org – Reliable Security Information
• Army Zoology PM Publications
• Army Electronic Publications & Forms – Department of the Army
• Environmental Protection Agency
• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
• Doctors without Borders
• Natural Resources Conservation Service
• Google Earth

Exam day, and it is 0700 in the morning. The big Epidemiology exam and a beautiful view of the full moon rising over the school house.

The last three weeks have just flown on bye. The 6A-F5 course, Principles in Army Preventive Medicine is well on it’s way. This year they have a new curriculum. The schoolhouse has gone out to bid to different universities in order to get us college graduate level credit for the whole class. If a university accepts the contract, it is possible that we could receive up to 15 hours worth of college credit. Then after that you can use those credits to apply to a Masters Degree. One thing that this has changed is that the course is now packed with assignments. The colleges have different standards than the military, so now more written work is being done to document our learning.

One thing that has been interesting to experience, is how a large organization works. The Army is so large, with so many moving parts, it is great to see first hand how everything works. It is not always pretty to see, but well worth viewing.

Back from a quick trip home. Started the new course. It is a preventive medicine course that will cover the whole gambit of issues, i.e. water quality, epidemiology, insect borne diseases, food sanitation and so on. One interesting development is that the AMEDD C&S has worked had to re institute a program so that the students receive college graduate credit for taking this course. It is possible that we may receive up to 15 hours credit to a Health and Safety type degree. That’s cool. I am the lone entomologist in the class.  My nickname (like always) is “the bug guy”.  There must no be too many CSI fans, otherwise, for a change, I could have the nickname “Grissom”.

The new hotel room is nice. It is a suite, with lots of space. I don’t really need the space or the extra bed. One perk that is nice is the Hotel provides a complementary breakfast plus on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday they provide 3 free beers/wine with snacks, salad and pizza.

http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do?displayContent=150612&page=2

A fallen rock was blocking a route in Afghanistan and EOD decided to blow it up. A wasp hive was found under the rock and they were not happy! Starship Troopers anyone? (50.83s)

from Military.com

This is the Medical Zoology classroom. I have been next door in the office for the past week and a half burning through power point presentations. By the time my track is done I will be Federally certified to apply pesticides. My next class will begin next week, the Principles of Military Preventive Medicine Medicine course.
So far the “Track” training hasn’t been too bad. The exams could use a little updating, but what else is new. The Army is still talking about Chlordane as if it was just canceled. For me all that is ancient history, like last century stuff. For some students they were just born late last century and have no clue about Chlordane, or even the carbonate class of pesticides. Just learn it and move on.

If you are getting ready to head on out to Fort Sam for the next OBLC drop a comment in the box. We can touch base if you have any questions about the AMEDD training.

My award for the “Most Misunderstood/Under-appreciated MSC Officer” The reason being, I was the only bug guy in the class and no one new what entomology meant.

Above is Mr. “W”. Even though his background was not in Army Medicine, he taught us about medical conditions that even the nurses and PA’s had never heard of. Like “Optal-rectal-craptiliosus” That is a condition where your optical and rectal nerves get crossed during training and you end up with a shitty outlook on life. You had to listen real fast with Mr. W otherwise you would miss his little gems. Not many students fell asleep in his class just for that reason.

CPT Kopp is in my Platoon. She is asking for help finding participants so she can finish her dissertation. If you can help it would be much appreciated. The info is below;

You are receiving this email because you or someone you know is eligible to participate in a research study.

People eligible to participate are women who meet ALL 3 of the criteria below:
-mothers
-ages 25-40
-not currently pregnant

If you meet the criteria to participate, follow this link (or copy and paste into a new browser if the hyperlink does not work):
https://www.concentusassessment.com/secure/Login.aspx?TimepointGUID=13362cf8-a37e-4ae5-9ef7-253f9f56d6dc
Upon completion of the study, you will be eligible for prizes ranging from a $10 Starbucks gift card to an iPod Shuffle.

If you do not personally meet the inclusion criteria, please forward this email to someone who does! If email is not convenient for you, feel free to print the attached flier and forward to the appropriate parties.

Thank you for your time and cooperation,

Katie Kopp, M.A.
Biola University, Rosemead School of Psychology
katie.j.kopp@biola.edu