District of Columbia DEFENSE FORCe ASSOCIATION

Service and Response

DCDFA People

(Note: Captions identify personnel by their current ranks)

Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs James B. Peake talked with DCDFA Commander Percy Reeder (on the right) and Deputy Commander David Fox about how state defense forces can and should become more actively involved with the Veterans' Administration when the DCDFA took part in the 2009 Winterhaven Stand Down for Homeless Veterans. Dr. Peake was VA Secretary at the time of the event, for which DCDFA provided security.

(Photo by Marvin B. Cornish, Jr./Washington, DC, VA Medical Center)

The DCDFA's deputy chief of staff for administration and personnel, Michael Wheeler-Bey -- along with Chief of Staff Victor Metta, response team member Dante Jackson and Sharon McNamee, the Association's former deputy chief of staff for logistics and supply -- ensured that a secured area was free of passersby during the 2008 Martin Luther King Parade in Washington.

Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty posed with some of the DCDFA personnel who provided security for the District's Martin Luther King Parade on April 5, 2008.

DCDFA Commander Percy Reeder and Chief of Staff Victor Metta prepare tote bags for a low-income energy conference in Washington -- a community service mission in June 2006. The Association's inspector general, Ralphelle Lenoir, can be seen in the background moving one of hundreds of boxes of conference material.

DCDFA Commander Percy Reeder adjusts a CERT volunteer's water pack during a July 4, 2006, mission on The Mall.

Barbara Pittman, executive officer of the DCDFA's 1st Brigade, was among the Association personnel who played the roles of victims at an Amtrak disaster exercise.

1st Brigade Commander Timothy Perkins and an unidentified District of Columbia police officer portrayed victims of an explosion during a disaster training exercise conducted by Amtrak at Union Station in Washington, DC. More than a dozen people from the DC Defense Force Association took part in the exercise as role players and observers.

DCDFA personnel learned helicopter med-evac techniques during a helicopter hoist class conducted by the U.S. Park Police in August 2006 as part of DCDF's search-and-rescue training program.

DCDFA members receive land navigation instruction from Chief of Staff (and SAR instructor) Victor Metta prior to a search-and-rescue exercise.

Instructor Nancy Wright demonstrates how to apply a sling to response team member Ryan Brunner's arm during all during a November 2007 training session on first aid and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

A DCDFA team provided physical security and visitor assistance during the District's annual Unifest street festival in June 2007.