For Official Use Only (FOUI" 2014 MSC Annual Report

72B, Entomology

This 2014 MSC Annu-

al report marks my second

address as the 72B Army En-

tomology Consultant. As I

look across and through our AOC, I am excited and im-

pressed with the depth and

breadth of our talented officers

and the further development of

our field. Specifically, the fu-

ture we will shape in world-

wide support to Department of

Defense, Vector-borne Infec-

tious Diseases Research, Ar-

my Medicine Campaign Plan 2020 and the System for

Health transformation.

Over this past year we assessed five new ento-

mologists onto active duty meeting our recruiting and re-

tention goals. I look forward to continuing this positive

trend.

A second part of my excitement was the historic

promotion of BG Sandra Alvey to her current rank. This is

the first time for an entomologist to be promoted to this

rank. A true celebration and accomplishment; my warmest

congratulations to BG Alvey.

Additionally, I am excited for the promotion of two

of our senior leaders to colonel; the first such advance-

ments in 8 years for our AOC. Congratulations to COLs

Jamie Blow and Amy Korman.

Over the next few pages you will find highlights of

an AOC always pressing forward whether from the labora-

tory bench top, garrison support activities, field training

exercises, to the final days of involvement in a major com-

bat theater, Army Entomologists have made a difference in

the lives they touch and enhanced the quality of that life

for the future. This is but one chapter in our exciting story.

RETIREMENTS

COL Mustapha Debboun retired with 25 years of

military service. He was born in Tangier, Morocco and

was commissioned as a Captain in the U.S. Army Medical

Services Corps in 1989 after re-

ceiving a Doctorate Degree from

the University of Missouri-

Columbia, MO. His additional

civilian education includes a Bachelor of Arts in Cellular & Mo-

lecular Biology from Skidmore

College in Saratoga Springs, New

York, a Master of Science in

Medical Entomology from the

University of New Hampshire.

COL Debboun's military awards and decorations

include the Bronze Star Medal-2, Meritorious Service Med-

al-6, Army Commendation Medal-4, Army Achievement

Medal, National Defense Service Medal-2, Armed Forces

Expeditionary Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal,

Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Armed

Forces Service Medal, Outstanding Volunteer Service

Medal, Army Overseas Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, Ku-

wait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia), Kuwait Liberation

Medal (Kuwait) and the Expert Field Medical Badge. He is

a member of the Order of Military Medical Merit, and a re-

cipient of the US Army Surgeon General's "A" Professional

Proficiency Designator for expertise in Medical & Veteri-

nary Entomology.

COL Debboun now works at Harris County Public

Health and Environmental Services in Houston, Texas as

the Director of the Mosquito Control Division.

LTC Sonya Schleich

retired with 31 years of military

service on 1 September 2014.

She enlisted in the U.S. Army

Reserve as an Orthopedic Spe-

cialist, 31 August 1983. While

serving with the 382nd MASH,

Erie, PA, she attended Edinboro

University of Pennsylvania and

enrolled in the U.S. Army Re-

serve Simultaneous Member-

ship/ROTC Program. LTC

Schleich received her Bache-

COL Russell Coleman, 72B Consultant

lor's degree in Biology, graduated as a Distinguished Mili-tary Graduate, commissioned as a 2LT in the Medical Ser-vice Corps, and entered active duty service, 16 June 1989. LTC Schleich was awarded a Master of Science degree in Entomology from Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas and inducted into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi for academic excellence in 1999. LTC Schleich is a Board Certified Medical and Veterinary Entomologist.Her awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit,

Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal-6, Joint Ser-vice Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal-4, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Med-al-2, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Kosovo Cam-paign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Overseas Service Rib-

bon, NCO Professional Development Ribbon, United Na-

tions Medal, NATO Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi

Arabia), Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait), Expert Field

Medical Badge, and the Parachutist Badge. LTC Schleich is a member of the Order of Military Medical Merit; award-ed the Chief, Medical Service Corps Award of Excellence; and, holds the Army Surgeon General "A" Proficiency Des-ignator in Entomology.

LTC Jason Pike retired

on 1 October 2014 following 31 years of military service. His

enlisted military career began in

the South Carolina National

Guard as a Field Artilleryman in 1982. After earning an ROTC scholarship at Clemson Univer-sity, Clemson, SC, he was com- missioned as a second lieutenant in 1988, completed col-lege, and became a Chemical Officer with the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens, MA. In 1994, he became a Medical Entomologist and served in this specialty for more

than 20 years. LTC Pike holds Masters of Science de-grees in Agriculture Education and Entomology and he is a Certified Environmental Heath Sanitarian. His military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal-2, Joint Meritorious Unit Award-2, Army Commendation Medal-4, Army Achieve-ment Medal-2, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal-2, Afghanistan

Campaign Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal, Humani-tarian Service Medal, Outstanding Volunteer Service Med-al, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, NCO Professional De-velopment Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon-4, Army Re-serve Components Overseas Training Ribbon, NATO Medal, Expert Field Medical Badge, Parachutist Badge,

and the Air Assault Badge.

LTC Van Sherwood retired

following 30 years of military service. Beginning with his enlistment as a private in the Field Artillery in 1984,1 LTC Sherwood was later commis-sioned and transferred to the Medical

Service Corps, serving first as a Clin-

ical Laboratory Officer at the Army

hospital at Fort Knox, Kentucky, be-fore becoming an Army Entomologist in 1997. LTC Sherwood completed his Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology and his Master of Science Degree in Medical Entomology from the Univer-sity of Florida in 1981 and 1997 respectively.His military

awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal-2, Meritorious Service Medal-5, Army Commendation Medal-

4, Army Achievement Medal-2, Army Good Conduct Med-

al, National Defense Service Medal-2, Armed Forces Ex-peditionary Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal, Iraq Cam-

paign Medal-2, Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal,

Korea Defense Service Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon-4, NATO Medal, Air Assault Badge, Expert Field Medical Badge, and the Parachutist Badge.

FIRST MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGIST GENERAL OFFICER

BG Sandra Alvey be-came the first 72B to obtain the

rank of brigadier general. She

has served a total of 27 years in

the military, 10 years on active duty and 17 years in the Re-

serves. BG Alvey entered the

military as a 4-year Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholar-ship recipient and graduated

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For Official Use 2014 MSC Annual Report

72B, Entomology

from Western Maryland College in 1987. She was commis-sioned as a 2LT in the Ordnance Corps. Her civilian edu-cation includes a Master of Science Degree in medical entomology from Georgia Southern University, acquisition certification, medical intelligence and intelligence commu-nity tradecraft skills.

In her civilian capacity, BG Alvey is an intelligence analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency, Bolling Air

Force Base, Washington, D.C. (2009-Present). Her new

position is as the Deputy Commanding General

(Operations) for the 807 th Medical Command (Deployment Support) at Fort Douglas, Utah.

NEW 72B RESERVE COMPONENT CONSULTANT

LTC Larry (Jeff) Luedeman has replaced BG Sandra Alvey as the 72B Reserve Component Consultant. LTC Luedeman has served 20 years

in the military with 5 years of AC ser-

vice and 10 years of RC service. He is also currently the Commander of the 7212th Medical Support Unit in Rochester, Minnesota. He was awarded the US Army Surgeon General's "A" Professional Proficiency Designator for expertise in Medical & Veteri-nary Entomology in 2013.

Scharninghausen (Reserve); LTC- MAJ(P) Jason Squitier

(Reserve); MAJ- CPT(P) David Delong (Reserve), CPT(P) Derek Monthei, and CPT(P) Scott Mueller.

LONG TERM HEALTH EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Medical Entomologists are currently well repre-sented in furthering their education and professional devel-

opment through LTHET at USUHS and various schools of

choice. CPT Lee McPhatter is in his final year at the Uni-

versity of California, Riverside completing his PhD in ento-mology. CPT Anthony John III and CPT Wade Deyoung are in their final year for their MSPH degree in entomology at USUHS. MAJ Lesly Calix is completing a one year TWI assignment with the Center for Medical and Veterinary Entomology at the USDA — Agricultural Research Service

in Gainesville, Florida. CPT Amanda Catena is in her sec-ond year of pursuing her PhD in entomology at Pennsylva-

nia State University. MAJ Hee Kim began pursuing his

PhD in entomology at Texas A&M University and CPT Amanda Cline began her MSPH degree in entomology at USUHS this year. CPT Jennifer Boyd was selected to pur-sue a PhD in entomology at a school of choice and CPT Nicholas Tucker was selected to pursue his MSPH degree at USHUS starting in 2015.

MS 9A PROFICIENCY DESIGNATOR ACCESSIONS

In 2014, five new Medical Entomologists joined

our ranks: CPT Jennifer Boyd (MPH, A.T. Still University), CPT Neil Milan (PhD, Emory University), CPT Thomas

Gilbreath (PhD, University of California, Irvine), 1LT Chris-tian Paulsen (MS, University of Georgia) and 1LT Tyler Ito (MS, University of Hawaii, Manoa).

PROMOTIONS

In 2014 the following officers were promoted to

their current rank: BG Sandra Alvey (Reserve), COL Amy Korman, COL Jamie Blow, MAJ Cynthia Tucker, MAJ

Wade Petersen, MAJ Wesley McCardle, CPT Travis Cul-

pepper and CPT Susana Padilla. Additionally, the following officers were selected for promotion: COL- LTC(P) Jerrold

LTC Anthony Schuster was selected as a recipient

of the highly prestigious US Army Surgeon General's "A"

Professional Proficiency Designator for expertise in Medi-

cal & Veterinary Entomology. Receiving the 9A Proficiency Designator recogniz-

es officers who are eminently qualified in their specialty and who have made significant contributions to the ad-vancement of knowledge through publications and active national professional organizational membership.

RECRUITING

LTC Jason Richardson, CPT Scott Stanley, and 1LT Bevin McWilliams attended the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting 16-19 November 2014 in Port-land, Oregon and assisted the 6 th Medical Recruiting Bat-

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2014 MSC Annual Report

72B, Entomology

talion in recruit-

ing entomolo-

gists that were

attending the

meeting. Their

efforts resulted

in over 400 visi-

tors to their

booth and 33

new accession

leads.

DEPLOYMENT

The 172nd MED DET (PM) deployed in support of

OEF XIV on 1 June 2014 replacing the 926th MED DET

(PM) commanded by MAJ Scott Vial. The 172nd PM DET

was commanded by MAJ Joshua Bast and led by SFC

Loretta Whitehurst. While most PM Detachments have an

Environmental Science / Engineering Officer and Entomol-

ogist in the Command/XO position, the 172nd managed to

survive with two entomologists at the helm. CPT Mauricio

Solis served as the X0 and OIC of the PM team covering

Southern Afghanistan. The 172nd Medical Detachment's

mission was to provide Level II & III PM support to over

60,000 US and Coalition Forces and tens of thousands of

additional civilian contractors across all six Regional / Train

Advise Assist Commands (RC/TAAC-North, East, South,

West, Southwest and Capital). In October 2014, the 172nd

became the only PM unit in the Combined Joint Operation-

al Area — Afghanistan (CJOA-A) after the departure of the

1st Combat Logistics Battalion Navy Preventive Medicine

Unit from Camp Leatherneck. Due to Resolute Support

Mission Force Manning reductions, the unit went from 13

Soldiers down to 8 in November 2014 while still providing

Direct Support to Bagram, Kandahar and the Kabul Base

Cluster as well as

Area Support to the

rest of the CJOA-A.

By November 2014,

there were only 2

other PM special-

ists under US Forc-

es — Afghanistan

(USFOR-A) providing Level II PM support across the

CJ OA-A.

MAJ Bast assumed the role of the USFOR-A Force

Health Protection (FHP) Consultant in October 2014. This

was previously a full-time position occupied by LTC Scott Mower, an ESEO working at ISAF Joint Command in Ka-

bul. In his role as FHP Consultant, he assisted in the de-

velopment of USFOR-A and ISAF policy on Ebola Virus

Disease, development of a USFOR-A radioactive commod-

ity retrograde SOP, revised ISAF food protection policies,

conducted monthly theater-wide PM synchronization meet-

ings including both US and ISAF FHP assets, conducted

monthly reporting and review of Occupational and Environ-

mental Health Site Assessments (OEHSA) and staffing of

Periodic Occupational Environmental Monitoring Summar-

ies (POEMS) for the CJOA-A to CENTCOM, assisted

USFOR-A in congressional inquiries to previous burn-pit

use in Afghanistan and GAO inquiries on Occupational and

Environmental Health Surveillance (OEHS) policies and

procedures in place in Afghanistan.

Initially MAJ Bast and then CPT Solis served as

the USFOR-A Pest Management Consultant / Entomology

Consultant. They provided CJOA-A wide policies for pest

management, training, pesticide application, and record-

keeping. They closely coordinated with the Armed Forces

Pest Management Board, USFOR-A, Defense Contract

Management Agency, Regional Contracting Commands

and the individual contracted pest management partners to

ensure full compliance with current laws, regulations, and

best practices. Two key contract modifications occurred

during this period which allowed for herbicide applications

to the Bagram flight line and an agreement with the Ger-

man Forces to accept feral animals in the RC/TAAC-N ar-

ea of operations which allowed for continued trapping by

US contract pest controllers.

RESEARCH

With the largest outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic

fever ever recorded still smoldering in West Africa, U.S.

Military personnel have been deployed to help. Ebola how-

ever, is certainly not the only risk they must plan for.

In addition to the current risk of Ebola, military and

deployed humanitarian efforts are much more likely to be

exposed to a number of endemic vectors and vector-borne

164

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(Fo' O)

72B, Entomology

diseases (VBD) that are prevalent in West Africa. From

malaria and dengue fever to leishmaniasis and Crimean-

Congo hemorrhagic fever, the mosquitoes, sand flies and

ticks of the region pose a significant problem.

The Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU)

provides military personnel with valuable information and

products to help mitigate the risk of VBDs. One such prod-

uct is VectorMap.org , an online resource for assessing

VBD risk.

When planning began for military deployments to West

Africa, a request was made to the WRBU for information

that would help protect soldiers, sailors and airmen from

exposure to VBDs.

In response to this request, the VectorMap team

quickly packaged relevant information found on VM into an

easily sharable report containing VBD risk maps, vector

habitat suitability models as well as background infor-

mation on the climate, vectors and diseases of the area.

Dubbed the West Africa Vector Hazard Report, the docu-

ment was easily created by browsing through the Vector-

Map data portal and linking to relevant informational web-

sites like the WRBU mosquito catalog and the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention.

VectorMap operates on a global scale and con-

tains the world's largest database of well curated collection

records and VBD risk maps. This provides the military with

access to knowledge of VBD risk in any part of the world

which can be used to plan appropriate measures before

boots hit the ground.

Those interested in learning more about creating

similar reports can contact the VectorMap team at mosqui-

tomap@si.edu . The VectorMap team will gladly accommo-

date training requests and custom educational / risk as-

sessment products for deployments and other military en-

tomology / public health needs. They are located at the

WRBU located at the Smithsonian Institution Museum Sup-

port Center in Suitland, MD. The team can schedule an

online training session through DCO.

ESA FELLOW SELECTION

COL (Ret.) Dr. Phillip G. Lawyer was elected by

the Governing Board of the Entomological Society of

America (ESA) as one of ten new Fellows of the Society

for 2014. The election as a Fellow acknowledges outstand-

ing contributions to entomology in research, teaching, ex-

tension, or administration.

Dr. Lawyer recently retired as core staff scientist/

medical entomologist at the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseas-

es, NIAID, NIH, from which he also served the Division of

Entomology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

(WRAIR). He is recognized internationally for research on

sand flies and associated diseases, with special emphasis

on sand fly biology and vector-parasite interactions

(Leishmania and Bartonella).

His professional experience spans over 43 years

in operational and extension entomology, teaching, and

research, including 30 years in the U.S. Army as a 72B.

Dr. Lawyer's international experience includes nu-

merous research projects in Central and South America,

the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. He has authored or co-

authored more than 70 refereed

publications and four book

chapters. He served seven

years as sand fly subject matter

editor for the Journal of Medical

Entomology and has organized

several sand fly symposia for

ESA Annual Meetings. He has

also served on the Scientific

Program Committee for the In-

ternational Symposium on

Phlebotomine Sand Flies since

1991.