NATO 50th
  The last weekend of April was chosen by NATO to celebrate 50 years of NATO.  The event was hosted by President Clinton in Washington, D.C. from April 27 to May 2.


Picture of capital building taken by commo Bill while on break one morning.

Leaders from many of the NATO countries were in attendance.   As a result, the US Public Health Service was asked to support the event by providing medical personnel to be ready should they be need.  These personnel were to be house near Washington so that rapid deployment could be achieved.  Several DMAT, NMRT and Military teams were call upon to supply personnel for the event.
  The Dayton DMAT OH-5, provided 5 medical personnel who were then attached to the OH-1 DMAT from Toledo, Ohio who had been asked to supply a medical team for the event.  This team grouping was assigned midnight to noon duty each day.


The OH-5 Medical personnel.
Phil, Josie, Debbie, Judy, and Jim.

  The Dayton DMAT also provided two communications officers who were placed into duty with the Management Support Team, MST.


MST reception desk with Sid on the left and Bob on the Right.


Bill manning the MST radio operations room.

   This brought to 7 the total number of OH-5 DMAT members on this deployment thus qualifying it for official NDMS recognition as another team deployment.
   The team flew in together on April 26 and flew out on May 3.  Finding their way to the Gaithersburg gathering point proved a bit tricky as we had to take the subway from Nation Airport to Shady Grove, MD then find our transportation vehicles.  The problem in Shady Grove was that we did not know there were two parking lots at the subway terminal there.  After arrival in Gaithersburg, we were processed for ID cards, received our paperwork for time and expenses, and met the other teams.  Communications members started work as soon as they arrived, programming radios and tagging loan out equipment.  Although the MST component continued working into the night and early next morning, the official duty times started Thursday at noon with MA-1 taking their 12 hour shift from noon to midnight.


Debbie with OH-1 team guru, Doctor Rega.

   The OH-5 members were absorbed into the OH-1 team which started their 12 hour shift Thursday night just before midnight.  There was a half hour leadership crossover meeting at each shift change to iron out problems and provide continuation for ongoing projects.
   Thursday saw the first logistics problems with a lack of running water at the team staging area and at late night, the lack of food service availability at the same location.  The weekends also posed challenges for the MST members as it seemed most of downtown Washington's restaurants closed.  I guess that is why we brought MREs!


 Josie with friends, enjoying the comforts of the base party room.
Some MSU personnel were known to have entered but were never seen again.

   Since there were no disasters to attend to, each of the DMAT teams conducted 4 hours of training each day for their members.  Topics were varied with different speakers.


Medical trainining attended by OH-1, OH-5 and military personnel.

  Communications Officers, Steve and Bill split between night and day shifts at the MSU.  Their first days were spent in setting up computer networking, handing out and logging hand-held radios and  cellular units and keeping up with radio traffic.  The MST was located at a location near the down town area where they had set up two repeators nearby.

 Highlights of the trip depended upon who you talked to.  However, all enjoyed the beautiful Washington spring.    We all met a lot of good folk.  Sure there were the exception, but it was an experience enjoyed by all our team members.


As evening comes on, looking across the Patomac River and toward down-town Washington.
The party deck was put to good use every evening and provided a pleasant location at which to relax at shifts end.


Known as the Jiffylube incident, the NDMS suburban finds its self impaled by security pylons.
As NDMS leadership were departing, the exit pylons suddenly came out of the ground causing a small amount of damage to the vehicle's door and exhaust system.