Commander's Blog

Despite being the shortest month, February is always packed with many significant events. Each year during February, we celebrate Black History Month, Heart Health Month, Presidents Day, Valentine's Day, Groundhog Day, Mardi Gras, and this year, we even have the Winter Olympic Games taking place in South Korea. As we cheer on our Olympic athletes, it's incredible to see the diversity of everyone involved in sport, not only in other countries, but especially in the United States. This year's team is the most diverse of any U.S. winter team we've ever assembled, for both gender and race - which supports our country's philosophy that we're a nation that truly celebrates its rich cultural makeup and heritage.

Although the Olympic athletes are certainly an elite group of physically fit men and women, each one of us should do our best to stay in top form as well. Again, we recognize Heart Health month throughout February, which means we should focus on healthy living so we can spend many more years with our family, friends and co-workers. I encourage everyone to visit the American Heart Association's website for great tips on stress management techniques, healthier cooking, and preventing heart disease, which per the AHA contributes to 17.9 million deaths annually. For our military population, the Surgeon General strongly advocates the "Performance Triad" with its three pillars of proper sleep, exercise and nutrition, but this certainly can apply to everyone, both military and civilian.

As we continue to support USAMMDA's critical mission, I encourage everyone to rest and sleep well, eat right, and exercise when you can. Especially during nice weather, it's great to get out and walk on our lunch breaks, by ourselves or with a group. And keep in mind that Fort Detrick has a wonderful fitness center open to all employees, and we really should take advantage of what this facility has to offer, including a full-court gymnasium, swimming pool, racquetball courts, weight room, and various types of cardiovascular machines. For more information on these and other programs, visit https://detrick.armymwr.com/programs/cpt-jennifer-j-shafer-odom-fitness-center.

In light of the terrible flu season we're now experiencing, I ask that we all continue to remain vigilant of the seriousness of this illness. To help stop the spread of germs, we should all wash and/or sanitize our hands often, and always cover our mouths when we sneeze or cough. Unfortunately, this year's strain is very bad, but it's not too late to get the flu vaccine for some amount of protection. And by all means, if you feel like you may be coming down with something, please stay home so as not to risk spreading the illness. Staying healthy helps our organization to remain ready at all times, which the Surgeon General asks us to do every day. As our operational tempo could continue to increase going forward, we must ensure that we all are in top condition throughout 2018, so we can carry on with our mission to deliver life-saving solutions to our Warfighters as quickly as possible. Now more than ever, we remain focused on working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on approval of many critical medical products, so the emphasis on "Military Readiness" remains paramount. It may be a never-ending task, but someone has to do it - and we've been called to be that "someone," which makes me even more proud to be part of our great organization!

Let's always remember that we're saving lives with everything we do here at USAMMDA!

COL Ryan Bailey