Photo By Karen Nikol | CMA operations personnel Stephanie Fulks and Donald Friend collaborate on the...... read more read more
Being prepared to manage emergency response requires continuous learning and certification. An employee at the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity has become one of a select few emergency management professionals to receive Level-1 certification as accredited by the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center Certification Program.
Recently Ms. Stephanie Fulks, an operations specialist at CMA’s Operations Center, joined fellow operations specialists Mr. Mike Throm, Mr. Desmund Watson and Mr. Donald Friend as having earned the Professional Certificate in Emergency Management - Level 1 (PCEM1).
This puts them in an elite group of approximately 350 personnel in the U.S. Army to hold this certification. The employees earned the PCEM1 even though their primary duty isn’t as an Emergency Manager, going beyond what is expected of them. The chief of CMA’s Operations Center said that dedication and hard work reflects their commitment to enhancing CMA’s emergency management capabilities.
“Earning these certifications represents a tremendous accomplishment for our staff, showing a high amount of initiative and drive,” said Mr. Joseph Cullingford, Chief, Operations. “In an ever-changing and challenging environment, it is imperative that the Army continue to maintain a robust emergency management program. Watching the progression and accomplishments of CMA’s emergency management professionals, I know the future of the Army’s emergency management program is in excellent hands.”
Emergency management is not just an Army requirement, it’s a societal need, said Mr. Mark Schmitz, Emergency Management Program manager for U.S. Army Materiel Command.
“Bad things will happen,” Mr. Schmitz said, “and it serves the community at large when people have this level of expertise. “Gaining this certification takes discipline. You have to put in the time. It makes not only your organization, but the community at large more resilient.”
He said the Army works in concert with local communities, states, federal government and other non-governmental organizations for a whole-community response and recovery to a hazard.
“These individuals can apply what they have learned at home and to other organizations. Church, school, business, clubs – everyone benefits,” he said. “Ms. Fulks could move from CMA to any number of other organizations and fit right in.”
He noted that CMA’s four certified employees are part of a dozen in AMC with the certification. But the CMA operations personnel are working toward Professional Certificate in Emergency Management Level 2 certification, requiring even more rigorous standards and exceptional skills.
Mr. Throm, Ms. Fulks, and Mr. Friend also have distinguished themselves as Aberdeen Proving Ground’s only Federal Emergency Management Agency National Continuity Programs Level I Professional Continuity Practitioners.
“This certification is a testament to the dedication these individuals show in seeking personal growth and improvement,” said Mr. Carlos Estrada, CMA’s Director of Mission Operations. “These exemplary employees are part of the reason we can confidently say that CMA is the world’s leading expert in Chemical Demilitarization and all that the mission entails.”
This continued growth and expertise is critical as CMA restructures as part of its mission ends and new and enduring missions continue, Mr. Estrada said.
“As we look to the future of CMA, we celebrate these achievements not only as personal milestones for our team members but also as critical enhancements to our organizational capabilities,” he added. “Their certifications and continuous professional development ensure that we are better prepared to meet our mission requirements with confidence and competence.”
Headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground-South, Maryland, CMA supports the Chemical Weapons Convention, a treaty which seeks to achieve a world permanently free of chemical weapons. The CMA director is delegated by the Department of Defense as the Army’s treaty implementing agent, ensuring adherence to CWC requirements. This includes CMA’s enduring mission to assess and destroy chemical warfare materiel as it is recovered, continuing a legacy of expertise that developed assessment and destruction technologies, and destroyed the U.S. chemical warfare production facilities and the binary chemical weapons inventory by the treaty deadline of 2007.
CMA safely stored the entire U.S. chemical stockpile until its destruction a year ago. In 2012 CMA completed its mission to destroy nearly 90 percent of the stockpile at seven locations. CMA partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) at each stockpile location, working closely with state and local governments to educate, prepare and protect surrounding communities. CSEPP will close out following the destruction of agent-contaminated containerized drained rocket warheads at Blue Grass Army Depot, which CMA is continuing to safely store until they are destroyed.
| Date Taken: | 08.06.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.06.2024 13:42 |
| Story ID: | 477917 |
| Location: | APGEA, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 62 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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