News & Information - The Mercury - October 2009 Mercury

by Jerry Harben

The Veterinary Corps recognized some of its best during the 2009 Force Health Protection Conference in Albuquerque, N.M.

MAJ Lisa T. Read received the Daniel Holland Leadership Award. While assigned to the Northern Europe District Veterinary Command, she excelled in transformation from a field unit to a Veterinary Command element.

CPT Emilee Venn, chief of the Fort Carson, Colo., Veterinary Branch, was named Exceptional Junior Officer of the Year. She planned and coordinated two conferences for training more than 50 veterinary officers, assumed the care of Air Force Academy mascot falcons, and helped create a human-animal bond therapy program with Evans Army Community Hospital.

CW2 Melody Arnold is the Exceptional Warrant Officer of the Year. While deployed to Afghanistan she oversaw procurement, storage and distribution of $382 million worth of subsistence throughout the area of operation.

The COL Clifford L. Walker Leadership Awards were presented to SFC Cynthia D. Walker, first sergeant of the Mid-Atlantic District Veterinary Command, and SSG Christopher S. Nestor, NCOIC of VETCOM’s Center of Excellence, which designs, tests, implements, and models best practices in veterinary operations.

The Above and Beyond Award was presented to the Fort Huachuca, Ariz., Veterinary Branch. The branch conducted a five-day rabies vaccination program on the Tohono O’odham and Pasqua Yaqui Indian Nations in which more than 1,000 animals were vaccinated, and participated in the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair by judging more than 100 high-school projects.

Runner-up for the Above and Beyond Award was the Cherry Point, N.C., Veterinary Branch.

From the October 2009 Mercury, an Army Medical Department publication.