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ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — The careers of two service members of the APG community, with a combined 44 years of service to the nation, were celebrated during the installation retirement ceremony at the Ball Conference Center July 29. The event was the first of its kind to be hosted on the installation since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two honorees were Col. Derron A. Alves, the deputy director of Veterinary Services and Public Health Sanitation Directorate, Army Public Health Center, and Sergeant 1st Class Anthony R. Cortese, the senior construction supervisor of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Command.
The ceremony’s host was Liz S. Miranda, director of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command’s Integrated Logistics Support Center (ILSC), who was accompanied by Sergeant 1st Class Anthony M. Gonzales, the ILSC NCOIC. Miranda thanked the new retirees for their service before presenting them with their official honors and awards.
“It’s really great to be able to in person celebrate the dedication and commitment of these outstanding individuals and to share this special moment with everyone,” she said.
Miranda added that the support provided not only by the retirees, but their families as well, to our military and nation for so many years have exemplified the Army’s values of leadership, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.
Chaplain (Maj.) Yong Joung, Garrison Chaplain, U.S. Army Garrison, APG, provided the invocation for the ceremony.
Col. Derron A. Alves
Alves officially retires on Aug. 31, with 23 years of military service. The son of a retired U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt., Alves was commissioned through Tuskegee University’s Reserve Officer program in May 1994 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Animal and Poultry Science. The Hampton, Virginia native then earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from North Carolina State University and entered active duty service as a Captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps in July 1998.
During his 23 years of military service, Alves has served in a variety of leadership positions. Some of his assignments include his most recent role of Deputy Director, Veterinary Sciences and Public Health Sanitation Directorate, Army Public Health Center, APG; Director, DoD Veterinary Pathology Residency Program, Joint Pathology Center, Defense Health Agency in Silver Spring, Maryland; Program Chair, Veterinary Pathology Residency Program, National Capital Consortium at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland; Chief, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Branch Veterinary Services; Force/Command Veterinarian, 1st U.S. Army Support Battalion, Multinational Force and Observers, Sinai, Egypt; Task Force Medical (44th Medical Brigade) Theater Veterinarian and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Veterinary Consultant, Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan; and Chief, Operations, DoD Veterinary Services Activity, Office of the Surgeon General and DHA Veterinary Services, Falls Church, Virginia.
Alves was honored along with his wife, Dr. Wanda Rivera, who received official recognition from the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps and APG leadership during the ceremony for their appreciation to her commitment to her family and nation.
After thanking his family, fellow soldiers and colleagues, Alves spoke on what made his military career such a unique and rewarding experience.
“There’s very few of us veterinary pathologists,” he said. “The things the military and the Army allowed us to pursue and to really help the warfighter I think was the legitimately one of the best things in my career.”
Alves explained, “To see those treatments, medical countermeasures and seeing that go into the battlefield I couldn’t have asked for anything else in my career.”
Sergeant 1st Class Anthony R. Cortese
Cortese officially retires on August 31, with 21 years of military service. A Raleigh, North Carolina native, Cortese enlisted in the U.S. Army in June 2000 as a Carpentry/Masonry Specialist before attending boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Advanced Individual Training at Gulfport, Mississippi.
Cortese has an extensive military career highlighted by numerous deployments, assignments and awards. Some of his military assignments include being deployed to Iraq twice with the 94th Engineer Battalion in Baghdad supporting Operation IRAQI FREEDOM I (2003) and Mosul for OIF III (2005). The following year he was also deployed to Camp Bucca, Iraq while assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Command 705th Military Police Battalion in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM V and VI, before deploying to the USARCENT Operational Command Post in Camp Afrijan, Kuwait in 2013 while serving with the 169th EN BN. His final deployment was in 2019 to Camp Buehring, Kuwait, as the Theater Engineer Brigade Operations NCOIC. His most recent assignment was the Senior Construction Supervisor for HHC 20th CBRNE Command and APG.
Additionally, Cortese graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in history from Excelsior College in 2020.
Cortese was honored along with his wife, Elisabeth Rigby-Cortese, who received official recognition from U.S. Army leadership during the ceremony highlighting their appreciation to her commitment to her family and nation.
Cortese reflected on his career, his Army pride, and the perseverance of the nation during particularly stressful and uncharted times in history.
“I just want to thank you all for your love and all your support, but really especially for your perseverance because it hasn’t and won’t always be easy,” he said. “I appreciate it, really I do. Sergeant 1st Class Cortese out!”
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