The Current of Emergency Management Cody Powell and Dr. Maribel Martinez-Mejia

On this episodes we talk about why we took a summer break which has a lot to do with summer conferences. We discuss the ones we went to, the benefits and some unconventional conferences that EMs may not go to often. We also spend time discussing the summer heat wave and wildfires that have created so many problems here in Texas this summer. 
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This is the second of two episodes with recently retired Master Gunnery Sergeant Justin Aiken who served in the United States Marine Corps for 31 years. 

Our initial plan was for this interview to be mostly focused around what lessons we could learn from someone who served at the highest level about leadership and training. However, to prepare for the interview, Master Guns Aiken spent weeks listening to all our podcast and doing independent research about the EM profession as a whole. We quickly realized we needed to soak up as much knowledge and wisdom as we could. So we didn't take breaks and didn't worry about time. The end result was just short of three hours soaking up knowledge and wisdom from someone who achieved the highest rank possible in the Marine Corps, in the most difficult job field to do it in, the infantry. Additionally, Master Guns Aiken was the senior enlisted infantry advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. There are only around 75 infantry Master Guns in the entire Marine Corps and only one is selected as the infantry advocate.

In this episode we discuss the importance of the EM profession from out outsiders point of view, the importance of professional identity, and existing in the shadows vs. advocating for your profession. . 
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This is the first of two episodes with recently retired Master Gunnery Sergeant Justin Aiken who served in the United States Marine Corps for 31 years. 

Our initial plan was for this interview to be mostly focused around what lessons we could learn from someone who served at the highest level about leadership and training. However, to prepare for the interview, Master Guns Aiken spent weeks listening to all our podcast and doing independent research about the EM profession as a whole. We quickly realized we needed to soak up as much knowledge and wisdom as we could. So we didn't take breaks and didn't worry about time. The end result was just short of three hours soaking up knowledge and wisdom from someone who achieved the highest rank possible in the Marine Corps, in the most difficult job field to do it in, the infantry. Additionally, Master Guns Aiken was the senior enlisted infantry advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. There are only around 75 infantry Master Guns in the entire Marine Corps and only one is selected as the infantry advocate.

In this episode we talk about leadership, training, burnout, mental health, and learn from Master Guns about 'Post-Traumatic Winning.' 
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There were some audio quality issues on the recording for this episode... The quality improves at around the 15 minute mark.

In this episode, we interview Julie Elliot about her research and recently published article in the Journal of Emergency Management; Moved to partner: A case study of faith-based congregations in disaster response. Julie was first a field practitioner as the Emergency Management Coordinator for the University of North Texas before becoming a PhD Candidate at the University of Delaware. 

We speak about her experience as an EM at UNT and the preparedness programs she created there as well as what led to the decision to leave the field to become a researcher before diving into the focus of her research. Julie shares how this transition has led her to to have more questions than answers and how she hopes her research will benefit those still serving in the field. 

Link to Julies Article:

https://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3353

Contact Julie at: jhe@udel.edu
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On this episode, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jennifer Dunn, Warning Coordination Meteorologist from the Fort Worth Office of the National Weather Service (NWS-FW). We discuss her role within the NWS and the role of NWS as a whole. Of course, we dive into the coordination between NWS and local Emergency Management. 

We also discuss topics such as being colorblind and being able to interpret weather data, NWS products useful for more than just predicting weather, and the future of NWSChat. 
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On this episode, we talk about  defining what an Emergency Manager is and discuss the reasons why defining out job and scope of practice is becoming a topic of conversation more and more often. Additionally, we discuss the challenges of coming up with a common definition, discuss the scope of EM, and talk about why we think being interviewed by Joe Rogan would help us come up with a definition. 

App discussed on the episode: https://www.jesip.org.uk/#


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