 Hi, I'm Rex Allen, and I want to share a story with you about one of the members that make up the Army Medical Department team. The veterinarian's role in animal health is traditional and familiar. His contribution to the health of man is less well known, and yet human health has increasingly occupied the attention of veterinarians for the past half century. In today's Army, the veterinarian is an important member of the medical department, a key participant on the team responsible for delivery of total health care to the men and women of the Army and their dependents. The United States Army Veterinary Service is composed of a corps of officers, all graduate veterinarians, and a number of highly trained and listed technicians. Its members are found in military communities throughout the world, performing four major functions. Animal medicine, veterinary preventive medicine, research and development, food safety and quality assurance. Since animals are one of man's principal sources of food protein, meat hygiene is a major function of veterinary public health, which is one of the two oldest recognized specialty groups in the veterinary profession. Today, the Army Veterinary Service has extended its expertise to include all foods, thus assuring delivery of wholesome, nutritious food. And at the same time, protecting the financial interest of the Department of Defense. In military language, a ration is food for one man for one day, the basic building block in the planning and management of military feeding. Napoleon said, an army marches on its stomach. In a more modern idiom, a senior military commander has stated, unless wholesome food is put into a soldier's stomach, there is little use in putting a weapon in his hands. A wholesome, nutritious and tasty diet is made available to military personnel, wherever they are, in all circumstances, and at a reasonable cost. This is accomplished by volume buying through central procurement and allowing only food of high quality to enter the military supply system. A food supplier is required to establish a quality control program to assure production of products conforming to military requirements. The Veterinary Service determines the effectiveness of this program by a periodic detailed examination of each step of the processing system. Wholesomeness and quality are determined by subjecting samples of the finished product to detailed physical, chemical and bacteriological testing. Emphasis is placed on personal hygiene, food handling and quality assurance procedures. Close scrutiny is given to the cleanliness and storage of utensils and equipment. Veterinary Service personnel check products at critical control points along the entire food supply chain. Extra protection of food commodities for the long haul and for storage under conditions sometimes less than ideal require special processing, packaging, the use of containerized shipments and surveillance examinations at critical control points. The Army Veterinarian's mission is global in nature. His assignments take him to many exciting and picturesque corners of the world. It's here that the mission takes on added significance, for when we leave the United States, we lose the umbrella of protection afforded by regulatory and health agencies at home. We may be entering an area where foodborne diseases commonly transmissible to man are more prevalent. The highly perishable nature of some foods require that they be procured locally. The quality control rules remain the same, but locations and traditions are often much different. Local suppliers must meet our food standards. It's a job calling for tact and understanding of local customs. The Veterinary Officer represents his country and may well be the only American a small farmer in a remote village has ever met. The Ends River Valley in Central Austria is home to a dairy cooperative that provides United States Armed Forces personnel in Europe with thousands of gallons of milk each year. The herds are healthy thanks to the efforts of members of the Army Veterinary Corps who assisted in eradicating tuberculosis in the area. Familiar with area farmers and their problems, the Veterinary Officer works with them on their farms and in their food processing facilities as a partner, sharing his knowledge and skills in exchange for a wholesome product. Processing techniques are continuously observed. Samples are randomly selected for laboratory analysis. Health and safety are the first considerations. The gross market in Frankfurt offers a clue to the broad knowledge required of the Army Veterinarian overseas as does this European exchange service bakery which provides fresh breads, cakes and pastries on a daily basis. Pigs from Denmark, sausage from Germany, cheese from half the countries in Europe. These are only a few of the foreign produced foods that are examined by the Army Veterinary Service. Physical examination alone can't determine all factors relating to the wholesomeness and quality of food products. Ultimately, the laboratory must play an important part in the food safety and quality assurance mission. Army laboratories staffed with Veterinary Service personnel are located strategically throughout the United States and in overseas areas, providing support for food safety and quality assurance activities. This is the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C. Here, because of their special skills and their access to the most advanced equipment, veterinarians are frequently called upon to perform special procedures in support of activities in the field. For example, canned mushrooms from military stocks were suspected of contamination. Intensive tests were performed. The presence of Clostridium botulinum was established. Because of the high mortality rate associated with the consumption of the toxin of this organism, the finding was critical to the health of the military. Veterinary Service personnel participate as individuals or as team members in a number of medical research programs, seeking the solution to vital biomedical problems. Animals are used as biological models. The veterinarian is required for his knowledge of animal medicine and for his expertise in interpreting results. At the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland, veterinarians are deeply involved in biomedical investigations, often as team leaders. At Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, veterinarians are involved in a program to improve the biosensor capabilities of the military dog through selective breeding, behavioral studies, and improved training techniques. One of the more intriguing research accomplishments in recent years was discovering the cause of a disease that affected hundreds of military working dogs in Vietnam. It struck without warning and seemed to defy identification. After months of study, the disease was identified as Tropical Canine Pancytopenia, not a new disease, but one previously unknown in the area, one which medical science had never researched sufficiently to determine reservoir, vector, or control. Through continued months of research at Walter Reed, the mode of transmission was established, methods of prevention and preferred treatment developed. Veterinary medical care is extended to the highly specialized military working dog, which is bred and trained for individual tasks. Used in many roles, the military working dog reached its maximum employment in Vietnam and was provided the best medical care ever. Everything the Army Medical Department does has only one objective, to conserve the fighting strength. The veterinary service is dedicated to that cause. There are over 150 zoonotic diseases. Those diseases transmissible from animal to man, and at least 50 of these are of serious concern. Rabies is a prime example. A vigorous rabies control program is in effect at all Army installations, but is only part of the comprehensive program designed to protect man from diseases of companion, domestic, and wild animals that inhabit the human community. Zoonosis clinics are conducted in order to monitor the health status of companion animals maintained on military reservations. Programs designed to eliminate reservoirs of infection are enforced. Environmental sanitation of all military stables and kennels is closely monitored. Military veterinary medicine is an expanding field. Activities involving several phases of wildlife zoonoses are being developed on Army reservations. These programs are designed to assist veterinarians in defining the epidemiology of such diseases. Data collected are used in designing disease control or eradication programs. Such animal populations also provide excellent sentinels for the detection and monitoring of zoonotic diseases. Civilian communities also benefit from the Army veterinary service. Its members are actively engaged in civic action programs throughout the world, protecting food producing and companion animals against disease. And at home, the Army veterinary service often provides the United States Department of Agriculture with personnel to assist in the control and eradication of foreign animal diseases, like exotic Newcastle disease, which endangered the poultry industry. The Army provides the veterinary officer an opportunity to enhance his professional career through advanced education and diversified experience. Approximately one-third of the regular Army veterinary corps officers are certified in one of the recognized specialty boards in veterinary medicine. This continuing education contributes not only to an individual's intellectual growth, but also to the overall effectiveness of the veterinary service. A classic definition of the veterinarian characterizes him as physician to all animals except man. And today's Army, he also serves and protects man through his efforts in the control of animal and food-borne diseases and his contribution to the betterment of mankind through research. The horse is still with us, but the horse doctor of history now contributes to the health and well-being of both the horse and the rider.