A
luncheon meeting of the DINFOS Alumni Association was held
at 1130 AM on January 23, 2010, at The Garrison Restaurant
at Ft. Benjamin Harrison State Park. There were 29 alumni
and associates in attendance at the meeting.
A
welcome and overview of what the Alumni Association
accomplished during 2009 was presented by Tom Conrad and
Jack Rubak.
After
this, each attendee was asked to give a short background of
his or her connection with DINFOS followed with a
description of their current activities.
After
the luncheon, Jack Rubak described the nomination sheets at
each table asking for suggestions of the names of those who
might be interested in serving on the Executive Council. The
sheets with the proposed names would be collected at the end
of the meeting.
Jack
Rubak then gave an overview of the update of the school at
Ft. Meade that the Provost at DINFOS, Mike Gannon, had
sent.
Next,
Tom Conrad introduced the guest speaker, LTC Charles Ricks,
USA-Ret. The topic of LTC Rick's speech was "U.S.
Crisis Communication in Afghanistan and Other
Cultures." He shared with his audience some of his
experiences in dealing with the Afghan military. He
mentioned these interesting items.
Most
of the military people he met carried machine guns as part
of their everyday equipment. - Shortly after he arrived, a
bomb was detonated in Kabul while a NATO convoy was going
down the road. The bombs destructiveness and casualties
attracted media attention throughout the world. - Although
80% of the Afghan people are illiterate, they are not
stupid. - The territorial borders between Afghanistan and
Pakistan are similar and sometimes cause confusion. - Most
Afghan news releases are hand written and taken by bicycle
to their proper authorities. - He also projected a caution
that was spread among the people with whom he worked that
it was necessary to accept the Afghans the way they were
with their customs and their ability to do things their
way.
He
also distributed calendars so that those present could see
the difference between our calendars. If something is
planned with the Afghans for a certain date, coordination
of the dates on the two calendars must be made.
After
the speech, the ballots for nominations were collected, and
the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully
submitted,
Jack Rubak, President
Helen Stritt, Secretary
