January 27, 2009, I arrived back into Australia after spending 8 months overseas in Canada and the United States.  The Fulbright Scholarship enabled me to research access and equity to professional training for both paid and volunteers.  My journies took him to many interesting places within the United States and enabled me the unique opportunity to participate in some large natural disasters and work along side many US emergency management professionals. 

Itinerary;

• City of Dallas - Office of Emergency Management - Dallas Texas
• Department of Agriculture - Washington DC
• US Forestry Service - Washington DC
• National Interagency Fire Centre - Boise  Idaho
• City of Austin - Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management - Austin Texas
• International Association of Emergency Managers Annual Conference - Kansas City Missouri  
• State of Texas - Department of Public Safety - Austin  Texas
• National Advanced Fire and Research Institute /  Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Centre  Tucson Arizona
• California State University  

The two key achievements of the trip

• The appointment to Planning Section Chief  for Hurricane Ike with the City of Dallas establishment of Mega Shelter for sheltering hurricane evacuees.
• Gaining the G-449 Incident Command System - Train the Trainer qualification, the first non-US citizen to gain this ICS instructional qualification.  

The "lessons learned" from this scholarship will be integrated into the Public Safety Training Package qualifications currently being delivered.

We look forward to an exciting year in 2009.