The National Library of Health and Healing in Waldoboro is pleased to announce the upcoming Ideas Exchange – aka “IdEx” — luncheon discussion titled “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to the United States Interests Abroad,” presented jointly by the National Library of Health and Healing and other allied organizations. This community discussion will be held on Thursday, March 14 at 11 a.m. at the Golden Wok, 25 Washington Road, Waldoboro.
A light luncheon will be available at a cost. The owners of the Golden Wok, Nathaniel and Eloisa Juntura, have graciously agreed to rope off a section of the restaurant for the luncheon discussion group. Local and regional experts will be on hand to answer questions and facilitate the discussion.
The discussion will be spearheaded by Dan Ammons, of Eliot, who, in addition, agreed to help convene future Ideas Exchange meetings.
About the speaker
Ammons left Eliot after graduating from Marshwood High School in South Berwick in 1972 to enter U.S. Army flight school as a warrant officer candidate. After completing flight training, he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division as a helicopter pilot.
While Ammons was in the Army and living in Tennessee, he met his future wife, Theresa, earned a bachelor’s degree in geology, and joined the U.S. Navy to fly jets. After earning his Navy wings, Ammons was assigned to Attack Squadron 75, flying the A-6 Intruder. He completed two Mediterranean deployments on board the USS John F. Kennedy.
Following sea duty, Ammons left active service to become an airline pilot. However, he persisted in continuing his Navy career as a reservist, flying the C-9B transport aircraft out of Norfolk, Va.
After 9/11 and the second Gulf War, Ammons was recalled to active duty, initially serving in the Combined Air Operations Center at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. While there, he was selected to be the liaison officer to the Pakistan Navy and was posted to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.
During his tenure in Islamabad, Ammons started a counternarcotics initiative in which he coordinated with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the Pakistan Anti-Narcotic Force, Naval Central Command, and the Combined Task Force 150 fleet in efforts to impede narcotics smuggling operations at sea, targeting opioids primarily. These narcotics originated in Afghanistan and transited through Pakistan to the Gulf of Oman for global distribution.
Ammons was eventually selected for attache training by the Defense Intelligence Agency. Between 2003 and 2012, he was posted to the U.S. embassies in Islamabad, Pakistan, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2011, he returned to Islamabad for his final assignment as naval attache. Between these assignments, Ammons received intel and language and cultural training for the regions in which he served.
After retiring from the U.S. Navy as a captain in 2012, Ammons resumed his civilian flying career with American Airlines. In 2013, after being away for 40 years, he returned to Eliot to live.
On Dec. 7 of last year, Ammons landed in Boston for the last time and retired from American Airlines.
Theresa and Dan Ammons have three grown children and eight grandchildren. The couple’s oldest son, Nolan, serves in the U.S. Coast Guard and he and his family are stationed in Portland. Their daughter, Sarah, and her family and youngest son, Kyle, live in Virginia.
Please note: Seating for the March 14 event is limited to 30. Contact the organizers, Jeanette Wheeler or Punyamurtula Kishore, via email at psk@pmai.net or by phone or text at 617-953-8994 to reserve a seat for the event.
