Meeting |
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Meeting |
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Report |
May 15, 2001 |
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Julian Aldridge introduced General Buster Glosson, who
presented one of our more interesting and thought-provoking programs in recent memory.
General Glosson is a Greensboro native, North Carolina State University graduate, and
currently a resident of Charlotte. He has been in the United States Air Force his entire
working career, reaching the office of General. He was the architect of the Gulf Air War
and director of air campaign plans in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was General Norman
Schwarzkopf's right-hand man in Operation Desert Storm ten years ago. As Air Division
Commander, he was responsible for 600 combat aircraft and 12,000 combatants and support
personnel. His military service has been highlighted by command and leadership decisions
at every level of the United States Air Force. He has also been very involved in extensive
cabinet-level work with both executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government. He
is currently Chairman and CEO of Emirates Palomar Medical Technology Services, a strategic
planning and medical services firm based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He also
serves on the C1A Directors National Security Advisory Panel. General Glosson chose to speak on what he considers America's greatest threat internationally: chemical and biological weapons in the hands of terrorists of rogue nations. His message was that America must have the courage to face these weapons and discover solutions. The General reminded us that by winning the Gulf War ten years ago, America changed war fighting forever. By developing and using stealth technologies and precision weapons, the world was provided a picture of how committed America is as a nation to preserve its ideals and way of life. Politically and economically, America gave the green light to our military to provide a strong defense, save lives, and show our adversaries that they cannot win with direct confrontation against America. Glosson went on to say that we have grown comfortable in a bi-polar environment. Our life-long major threat was Russia and now that they have weakened, we see shifts in thought to China. The General says, "China could be a problem no doubt, but chemicals are the real threat. They are cheap, easy to produce, difficult to detect, easy to employ, and most difficult to determine ownership." He saw evidence of the chemicals Anthrax, Botulium, Ricin, and Salin during his Gulf War experience. Only one drop of many of these toxins can kill a human being instantly. The General was very direct on what the answer is to this problem: "Detection and deterrence must be our focus through increased intelligence measures." We need to start with college students and employ them for thirty years in the military. It takes that long to effectively infiltrate a nation or community. Human intelligence was decimated in the '70's and it must be built back. The General was most passionate about the number one solution to chemical warfare being medical research, developing antidotes to counteract these toxins. We are spending billions on defense to maintain the best military, but the budget is not allocated properly. Politically, no one wants to expose this threat so we continue down this same path, thinking China may be next now that Russia is weak. The General fears we will sit idly by wishing the problem away. He says that being the world's only superpower, we have an obligation to mankind! He shared with us his father's homily on how to balance all of the things going on in your life as they relate to God, your family, and your country. "If you believe in the first, and take care of the second, you will be proud of the third." Questions from the audience included: Controversy of Anthrax shots? — Medical community says their use is better than nothing; we should spend research dollars to see who should or shouldn't use. What percentage of the budget should be strategic vs. research? — Budget must be reasonable; we've proven we can build anything, so should allocate more to research. Local involvement? — we need to provide hospitals with protection gear and get newspapers focused on potential problems. Defense department actions? — Secretary of Defense has some responsibility, but this issue is currently a political football in Washington. Medical research underway? — Highly classified work is underway, but with almost no progress; private research companies are involved, but too little money is being put toward the problem. Peggy Wesp introduced our many guests and visiting Rotarians. Special guests included Andrzej Milcarz from Charlotte's Polish Sister City, Wroclaw, Poland. In addition to Mr. Milcarz, Peggy introduced us to two gentlemen from Arequipa, Peru. They are known as Alma America, which means "American Soul," and are playing music here in Charlotte over the next week at area clubs. They entertained us with two songs using violin, guitar, and various flute instruments. They were quite good. After the pledge of allegiance to the flag, Lee Morris offered our invocation. President Don reminded us that committee chairs should have their budget in by May 18 and that there are two Rotary information meetings scheduled for Tuesday, May 15, and Tuesday, May 29. We had two new members introduced at Rotary today. Herb Klein introduced Art Dewberry. Art is from Atlanta, an Appalachian State graduate, and is now president of a company called Adverterve, which has to do with golf advertising. It was also mentioned that Art is not fond of green vegetables! Richard Kankin introduced Dr. Bijoy Sahoo as a new member. Bijoy is a native of India, has an MBA and Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina, and is currently a professor at the McColl School of Business at Queens College. Members seated at the head table were introduced as follows: Ken Harris, Tom Norwood, Don Steger, Mike Parrott, Cynthia Carfson, Lee Morris, and Julian Aldridge, who introduced our program * * * |
New Member
2001 Executive Recruiting, Retained Firm Sockwell & Associates A career change brought Rich to Charlotte in April of 2000. He joined Sockwell & Associates, a 20-year-old Charlotte-based executive recruiting firm specializing in recruiting CEO's and their direct reports, as a consultant. For ten years prior to joining Sockwell, Rich was with Wallace Computer Services. For the past five years, he was the District Sales Manager of the Greensboro, N.C., operation. His first five years were spent as an Account Executive in Charlotte. A native of Greensboro, Rich graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Business Administration. He is involved in the Metrolina Entrepreneurial Council, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, NCEITA, and the Men's Club at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church. Rich's wife Tracey is also a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. Prior to her career as a stay-at-home mom, she was a Commercial Underwriter at First Union and a Commercial Banker at First Citizens. Rich and Tracey have a 2-year-old son, Evan, and a baby due in July. Welcome to Charlotte Rotary, Rich. * * * POWELL'S
Pete deWitt had to miss the 1947 Central High Spring Fling due to neck surgery, from which he is recovering well. Class-mates recalled in the Senior Superlatives section of the annual that Pete was designated as "Best Looking." Tony Zeiss wrote a timely piece for the "Business Journal" on "How to Keep Top Performers on Your Team." Tony is also author of a Civil War novel, "Journey to Cherry Mansion," which is available at the Little Professor Book Store. Henry Bostic gave timely advice to older adults on memory problems in a letter to the editor of the "Observer." * * * |
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