Colonel Stephen Berté, Military
Entomologist
On
this page:
Introduction
to Military Entomology
An
Interview with Colonel Stephen Berté
Introduction
to Military Entomology
Military entomologists are primarily responsible for
protecting the health of the U.S. military. Throughout history,
infectious diseases (including those transmitted by insects) and
other non-battle injuries have produced more casualties in
armies than actual combat actions. Diseases carried by insects
and other arthropods make up a large portion of infectious
diseases, such as malaria, dengue, and Leishmaniasis, that are
important to the military. Entomologists in the military are
uniformed officers who are part of a team of preventative
medicine professionals.
While military deployments make the news, much training and
preparation of military forces occurs between such events.
Military entomologists provide support to the day-to-day
operations of all military installations, seafaring vessels, and
aircraft of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Because of
this broad mission, they also work in other entomological fields
such as the management of urban and vertebrate pests, and even
weeds. They also conduct entomological research.
Military training and sustainment operations take place on
bases and aboard ships that can have populations exceeding many
small towns and even small cities in America. Military
entomologists support these populations by providing technical
advice, conducting surveillance of insect-vectors (that cause
disease) and other pests, and implementing insect control
methods to protect the health of military personnel and to
protect military property.
The military also conducts entomological research to develop
new insect repellents and new methods to rapidly diagnosis
insect vectors. The diversity of military entomology assignments
allows officers to serve as pest controllers, consultants,
teachers, and researchers. These assignments can occur
throughout the United States and in Africa, Asia, Europe, the
Middle East, and South America.
Interview
with Colonel Stephen Berté
Dr. Stephen Berté is a Colonel in the U.S. Army assigned in the
Washington, D.C., area. He started his career in Maryland with
an Army organization that provides entomological consultant
services for installations in 17 Northeastern states. He went on
to other military positions, including commander of a deployable
entomology detachment, chief of a preventive medicine section at
an Army hospital, instructor at the Army’s Academy of Health
Sciences, product manager for repellent products, and an
assistant director in the Army’s Medical Infectious Disease
Research Program. He also served in Japan as an entomologist and
deputy commander of a preventive medicine organization that
supported the Army in the Pacific islands and in all Eastern
countries that border the Pacific.
On returning to the United States, Berté was assigned as the
contingency liaison officer for the Armed Forces Pest Management
Board in the Washington, D.C., area. His permanent assignments
have taken him to several U.S. states, and even Japan. His
business trips and temporary assignments have taken him to 21
states, Cambodia, Eniwetok Atoll, Honduras, Mexico, Panama,
South Korea, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
Berté received a B.A. in biology from West Chester
University in Pennsylvania, his M.S. in entomology from the
University of Delaware, and his Ph.D. in biology, specializing
in aquatic entomology from the University of Calgary in Canada.
When did you first become interested in
entomology?
I was a late bloomer. Although I had a long-standing interest
in the outdoors that led me to study field biology, I didn’t
focus on entomology until nearly the end of my undergraduate
training.
What made you want to become an
entomologist?
When I was an undergraduate, I took an introductory course in
entomology and loved it. The more I got into entomology, the
more the diversity of the field appealed to me. The professor
who taught the course helped me decide on a graduate school to
attend and off I went to the University of Delaware for my
Master's degree.
Can you describe a typical day? Is
there such a thing?
I’ve never had the same type of job twice, but here are a
few things military entomologists do.
As technical consultants to installations and military units,
entomologists work from a central office from which they advise
their customers on pest management issues, but they travel to
their customers and provide advice by telephone, e-mail, and
written reports. They may conduct surveillance of
disease-causing pests such as ticks, mosquitoes, fleas, biting
flies, and rodents; provide pest identification, and evaluate
installation pest management programs.
Entomologists serving in deployable units are not only
responsible for entomology-related issues, but also other
concerns in preventive field medicine. They also must ensure
that the soldiers maintain their military and technical skills
and that the unit is always healthy and prepared to deploy if
called to do so.
Some entomologists serve on military staffs where they
provide advice on entomological and preventive medicine issues
that could adversely affect the health of a command. They review
the readiness and training of preventive medicine units, advise
commanders on entomological threats associated with military
operations, and review and recommend entomological and
preventive medicine policies.
Entomology instructors teach general and medical entomology,
and train military and civilian technicians to be certified DOD
pesticide applicators. They also may teach at the Uniformed
Services University of Health Sciences in Maryland.
Military entomologists also may conduct research to rapidly
diagnose pathogens in vectors, to develop new compounds for and
formulations of insect repellents, and to determine vector
competency and epidemiology in such places as Egypt, Kenya,
Peru, and Thailand.
What is the best part of your job?
What drew me to entomology is its diversity, and the military
offers careers with a great diversity of assignments. I truly
believe that every job or experience in life is an opportunity
to learn, and my military career has offered me many great
learning opportunities.
What is the most difficult part of your
job?
What makes the military a great career is also what makes it
most challenging. The great diversity of assignments brings
leadership and technical challenges. Organizational skills and a
strong sense of personal responsibility are indispensable to a
successful military career.
What is the most challenging thing in
becoming an entomologist?
Entomology is an incredible field. The sheer number of
species there are to study can be daunting. Initially, it can be
difficult to narrow the path in entomology you want to take, and
once you take a path, you may feel you’ve become too narrowly
focused in your interests. I think the important thing is to
learn the fundamentals of entomology and to learn how to think
critically and objectively. Those skills are needed no matter
which path you take through the field of entomology.
Is being an entomologist as you
imagined it would be?
At first, I imagined my life as an entomologist could turn
out one of a few different ways. I might have found myself
studying a group of insects and sharing what I learned to help
develop new pest management products. I thought I might do
entomological research and teach entomology. Over time, I hoped
that no matter what I did, I’d gain enough knowledge in my
field that I could advise others on how to best reach common
goals. It turns out a career in military entomology has allowed
me to do all of these things.
Are you glad you became an
entomologist?
Absolutely. I’ve grown as an entomologist, a leader, and a
person throughout the course of my career. If I were given a
chance to do it over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.
What do you think students need to know
about being an entomologist? In other words, how do you think
their perception differs from reality?
I think when we are first starting in entomology we picture
ourselves in some position that's all about insects. We see
ourselves in the field or lab, immersed in our work, learning
more and more, and having a great time doing it. The reality is
that any career is more complex and changing than that. Wherever
we work, we will be part of a team of people trying to reach a
common goal. We have to learn how to assess our own strengths
and weaknesses to see how we best fit into that team. As we
progress in our field, we will have to take on administrative
and managerial roles. Students need to realize that life’s all
about developing as a person, not just an entomologist, and that
being a team member who grows on several different personal
levels is a very rewarding experience. You’ll find that if you
work hard and strive for excellence in whatever you do, you’ll
be ready and able to handle any new challenges life may throw at
you.
What advice would you give to someone
who wants to become an entomologist?
Set a goal for yourself and work hard to achieve it. I think
that students, who worry about whether the choice they make now
is the right one, fail to make any choice at all. Don’t get
hung up on whether the goal you choose now is the right one.
There are many "right" choices in life. You may find
that as life goes on, your goals change. That’s fine. The
point is to have some direction to your life at all times to
help guide your choices. If you do, you will learn and develop
as a person and will have an ever-stronger foundation on which
you build the rest of your life. Without a goal, people often
drift from course to unrelated course and eventually do the same
with jobs, so they have a more difficult time developing a
strong foundation that stabilizes their life. The bottom line is
that you should make a decision and go for it! It’s far better
and easier to change your course in life if you know where you
are and where you’ve been than to try to find your way after
wandering aimlessly.
For more information on military entomology, visit the Armed
Forces Pest Management Board web site and click on the
various services’ entomology links near the bottom of the
page.
