Welcome letter from the JCOC Director Lt Col Felicia D. Tavares
Dear Educators and Defense Participants:
On behalf of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense, we welcome you to the Educators and Defense Conference. Our program promises to be the experience of a lifetime. During the conference, you will have first-hand interaction with significant elements of each of our U.S. Armed Forces. Very few people, even those employed by the Department of Defense, get the opportunity to interact with such a broad cross-section of our military members and leaders. Enclosed you will find planning details, a press release, and a overview of the schedule for the conference. Listed below is information about the conference registration and banquet on Monday, October 7:
JCOC begins on Monday, October 7, at the Crystal City Marriott, 1999 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA. The most convenient of the three airports into the DC area is Washington Reagan National (DCA). The Crystal City Marriott offers a courtesy bus from Washington Reagan National Airport or you can take a 5-minute cab ride. Dulles IAP (IAD) or Baltimore-Washington IAP (BWI) are also gateways into the DC area. Dulles is approximately 45 minutes and Baltimore-Washington is approximately an hour. Both Dulles and BWI offer cab service to DC.
Registration for JCOC will be located in the foyer at the Crystal City Marriott beginning at 1:00 p.m. and will end at 4:00 p.m. Signs in the hotel lobby will guide you to the JCOC registration area where we will provide you with various materials for the conference, introduce you to your military escort officer for the week, and collect the balance of your registration fee ($700.00), unless you prepaid the entire amount. Please pay with a check, because we cannot accept credit cards or cash. A hospitality area with beverages and light snacks will also be available during the registration period.
You will be pre-registered at the hotel. There will be a
table in the foyer for you to sign your credit card authorization,
which will only be used for incidentals such as room service
and telephone calls, since your room cost is included in the
conference fee. Should you choose to arrive early and stay at
the Crystal city Marriott prior to the evening of October 7,
you will be billed directly by the hotel.
Beginning at 4:00 p.m., we will formally welcome everyone. A meeting will follow this with your fellow team members. Participants have been divided into four teams: Green for the Army, Navy Blue for the Navy, Sky Blue for the Air Force, and Red for the Marines. You will also receive several items with your team color: a backpack, a lined jacket, a polo shirt, luggage tags, a nametag, a baseball cap, and a portfolio. After the meetings, you will have time to refresh and prepare for the welcome reception and banquet.
At 6:30 p.m., the reception will begin in the Crystal City Club, followed by dinner at 7:15 p.m. We ask that you please arrive on time. The dinner dress will be business attire (business suit or sports coat for men, skirt or suit for women).
Only the dinner will require participants to wear business attire. The rest of the conference will be casual, jeans, dockers or casual slacks, and comfortable walking shoes are suggested. We will arrange for the hotel to have packing materials available to mail your business attire home rather than carry it for the rest of the conference.
We are delighted that you will participate in this prestigious program. We look forward to meeting each of you on October 7 and helping you to gain a greater understanding of our military service members, and their equipment and capabilities. If you have any questions or concerns about JCOC, please contact Major Joe Yoswa, USA, or myself. We can be reached at, (703) 614-6543 or (703) 695-3381, respectively, or via e-mail at jcoc@osd.mil.
