The Army ACE Suicide Intervention Training Program, developed by U.S. Army Public Health Command (Provisional) behavioral health experts, was evaluated by a panel of suicide prevention experts and is now listed in the Suicide Prevention Resource Center and American Foundation Best Practice Registry for Suicide Prevention.
The best practices registry is an independent organization supported by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Three suicide prevention experts reviewed the ACE suicide intervention program and found that it met standards of accuracy, safety, adherence to prevention program guidelines and likelihood of meeting the goals and objectives of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.

Officials at the Battle Command Battle Laboratory at Fort Leavenworth are hoping a series of seminars at the Command and General Staff College will help not only the Intermediate Level Education course students, but also the Army’s development of the Army’s communication and electronics research.
“We want to expose the students to new technologies,” said Brett Burland, BCBL’s science and technology branch chief. “At the same time, we want to get feedback from Soldiers with recent operational experience.”

Gift baskets sold through the Defense Commissary Agency’s Virtual Commissary are no longer be available for order after, the agency announced Sept.7.
Stringer’s LLC, the supplier and distributor of Virtual Commissary gift baskets since 2006, informed DeCA that it would not be able to fulfill any gift basket orders after Sept. 14.

Active-duty Army officers have until the end of September to self-nominate and apply for retroactive credit for joint-service experience they gained between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2009.
After those dates, Army officers may only apply for credit for joint duty that ended within the past 12 months, according to Maj. Mike Mayes, the chief of the Joint Policy Branch of Officer Personnel Management Directorate at the Human Resources Command on Fort Knox.

Chaplain (Capt.) Tony Wilkins has been named “Chaplain of the Year” by the Salvation Army and the American Correctional Association.

According to military historian Peter J. Schifferle, the officer education programs at Fort Leavenworth made an important but little known academic contribution to the Allied victory in Europe in World War II.

Five Army Corrections Soldiers and an Army spouse were honored with awards Aug. 26.

Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 705th Military Police Internment and Resettlement Battalion, and families were given awards upon returning from an Iraq deployment.

News media representatives were permitted to take video and still photos Aug. 27 at the detention facility here for the first time since it became operational in December 2009.

Coalition and Afghan military and civilian leaders, news media and human rights organizations have previously toured the facility but had never been permitted to shoot photos and record video because of a Defense Department policy, which recently changed.

Leaders and representatives from the Kansas and Missouri Army National Guard community gathered on Fort Leavenworth’s Main Parade Aug. 28 to witness the 35th Infantry Division’s change of command ceremony.

Two weeks after returning from a 12-month deployment to Iraq, the Soldiers of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 705th Military Police Internment and Resettlement Battalion, saw their battalion’s ranks grow by two companies and gained a new battalion commander and command sergeant major.

Installation Management Command this month revised application procedures at its 44 stateside privatized housing facilities, providing residents with a “Bill of Rights” and a guarantee of superior customer service.
Army leaders made the changes as part of the Army Family Action Plan, following suggestions from Soldiers and families to make such procedures easier and more consistent.
 

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stressed the need for strong garrison leadership today, underscoring the effects longer periods at home between deployments may have on troops and their families in the future.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen spoke to Soldiers and Airmen at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Aug. 9. By October, more than 30,000 troops will be “at home” there for the first time since 2003.
Soldiers throughout the Army also will soon enjoy a slower deployment tempo, Mullen noted, as major units are projected to have twice as long at home as deployed by the end of 2012. About 70 percent of those units are expected to have a 2-to-1 “dwell time” ratio by the end of 2011, he added.

The joint task force in charge of the new U.S. detention facility in Parwan, Afghanistan, ensures that detention processes are fair and transparent — and that public perception matches that reality, the task force commander said Aug. 5.
“Our first focus was to ensure that the perception of U.S. detention operations was in line with what we did,” Navy Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward said during a Pentagon media briefing from Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul. “We made all operations open, transparent and inclusive. That’s through the whole detainee life cycle.”
Joint Task Force 435 was established in September, and in January it took control of detention operations, which moved to the new Parwan facility after the detention center at Bagram was closed. About 1,200 military members make up the task force, and 126 Afghan military police guard the facility, Harward said.

Protection of the nation’s computer networks requires focus on four key areas, said the director of the National Security Agency.
During the first day of the 2010 Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s “LandWarNet” conference Aug. 3, in Tampa, Fla., Gen. Keith B. Alexander, commander, U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, discussed both threats to the Defense Department computer network and suggestions on how to secure it.
Dynamic protection of the network, the general said, involves a four-pronged approach to protecting a network with as many as 7 million attached computers.

The installation will begin spraying an insecticide within the next two weeks to control the bagworm and webworm population which are stripping the leaves from trees along Grant, Pope and Kearney avenues.
The spray being used is Bayer’s Suspend and Tempo, both of which are approved for use by the State of Kansas, Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency. Both sprays can cause mild irritation and possible rash on exposed skin to humans and pets but are temporary effects.
To limit potential exposure to the public, spraying will be done after the duty day as conditions permit and pedestrian access to the areas will be blocked. Pedestrians encountering the spray crew while they are spraying from the lift truck are asked to select an alternative route to minimize contact. Any fruit or vegetables grown in the area should be washed before consumption.
For more information, contact the Directorate of Logistics and Public Works Environmental Office at 684-8975.

Two former Army medics are the newest students in a program that helps wounded warriors get an advanced degree and teach within the military.
Kortney Clemons and Ethan Harris are part of the third class in the Army Wounded Warrior Education Initiative, a partnership between the Army and the University of Kansas. Both Clemons and Harris are working toward earning a master’s in curriculum and teaching.

A wounded warrior and School of Advanced Military Studies student got a reminder of the importance of motorcycle safety and the Combat Lifesaver Course last month.
Maj. Joseph Claburn, a recent graduate of the Intermediate Level Education course, was traveling on his motorcycle June 28 in Douglas County, Kan., when he came across another cyclists’ accident.
Two riders, a man and woman, had been riding with their helmets on when the motorcycle crashed. Claburn said their helmets came off during the accident.
Claburn and another driver who stopped were able to use their medical skills until a local medical team arrived. The other driver happened to be an emergency medical technician with another community, Claburn said, and they made the decision to split up medical duties. Claburn began to assess the man, whose injuries appeared to be less severe.

On June 28, the government of Puerto Rico extended the validity of current Puerto Rico birth certificates for three months, through Sept. 30, 2010. Puerto Rico birth certificates issued before June 30, 2010, were scheduled to become invalid on July 1, 2010.
The extension provides a transition period as Puerto Rico began issuing new, more secure certificates starting July 1, 2010. The government of Puerto Rico has launched an online application process for those born in Puerto Rico to request new birth certificates. Soldiers, civilians and their family members who were born in Puerto Rico should follow this process.  Applications are currently being accepted at https://serviciosenlinea.gobierno.pr/ SALUD/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fsalud%2f .

The 705th Military Police Internment and Resettlement Battalion has been essential to detention operations for the government of Iraq and U.S. Forces-Iraq since coming to Iraq for its second tour in August 2009.
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 705th, currently assigned to the 49th MP Brigade Tactical Command Post, was instrumental in transferring the operations of the Taji Theater Internment Facility and Reconciliation Center to Iraqi control last March. The unit, which provides corrections Soldiers in support of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, is now working to transfer the operations of the last major USF-I detention facility, the Cropper TIF, to the Iraqi government.
The 705th deployed to Iraq in 2006 to support detention operations at Camp Bucca. While there, the unit’s Soldiers developed strong relationships with the Iraqi Corrections Services. The relationships fostered with the Iraqis in 2006 helped them accomplish their mission this time around

Col. David Bitterman assumed command of the Medical Department Activity, which oversees Munson Army Health Center, July 1 at Fort Leavenworth.
Bitterman is taking over command from Col. Andrea Crunkhorn, who left early to deploy to Iraq. MEDDAC commanders serve a two-year tour at MAHC, which serves as the on-post clinic for members of the military, their families and retirees. MEDDAC has about 400 Soldiers and civilian personnel.