Fort Bliss "sets example" of curbing suicides

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Army Post Sets Example in Curbing Suicides, Preventable Deaths
Department of Defense
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2013 – As military leaders struggle to reverse rising suicide rates within the force, Fort Bliss, Texas, is bucking the national trend, reporting a 30-percent drop last year and serving as a promising model for the Army and its sister services.

Fort Bliss had the lowest suicide rate in the Army during 2012 -- four confirmed and one still under investigation from its population of 33,000 soldiers. That’s down from seven in 2011. Fort Bliss reported three other preventable soldier deaths last year, also the Army’s lowest rate. This came at a time suicides increased in the overall Army and across the military as a whole, despite sweeping initiatives across the services and the Defense Department to stem them.

So what’s the magic formula at Fort Bliss, a sprawling post in Southwest Texas’ high desert that became the new home to the 1st Armored Division last year?

Army Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss commander, can’t point to any single measure that’s making the difference. Rather, he credits a comprehensive approach that focuses on suicide prevention, risk reduction and resilience.
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What is 4+1+3?

Again this sounds great but I would be more impressed with some questions answered. How many were transferred or discharged and then committed suicide soon afterwards? Would be a good place to start. To be fair this also shows they are holding leadership accountable. That is something that has been missing in the military as a whole. No one has been accountable for these deaths.

West Point Cadet may have to pay back Army

If you are a Christian, don't pass this off as a slam against Christians. Had our rights to decide what faith, denomination and doctrine we wanted to follow not been protected we'd all be forced to worship as someone else saw fit. We have to protect the rights of all people to decide how they want to worship or not at all. Forcing anyone or trying to get them to covert by force is wrong.

Blake Page, Cadet Who Quit West Point Over Religious Objections, May Have To Pay Back Army
Huffington Post
Chelsea Kiene
Posted: 02/15/2013

WASHINGTON -- A former West Point cadet who resigned from the military academy in November over what he says was unconstitutional Christian proselytizing may now owe the institution hundreds of thousands of dollars in a turn of events that have left the 24-year-old “shocked.”

Blake Page, who served in the Army prior to attending West Point, submitted an official letter of resignation from the academy on Nov. 6. In an op-ed in The Huffington Post, Page explained that he no longer desired to be part of a group of “silent bystanders” witnessing what he called “egregious violations” of the Constitution.

“The tipping point of my decision to resign was the realization that countless officers here and throughout the military are guilty of blatantly violating the oaths they swore to defend the Constitution,” Page wrote. “These men and women are criminals, complicit in light of day defiance of the Uniform Code of Military Justice through unconstitutional proselytism, discrimination against the non-religious and establishing formal policies to reward, encourage and even at times require sectarian religious participation.”
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Green Beret in the classroom

Green Beret in the classroom
By Bayne Hughes
The Decatur Daily, Ala.
Published: February 15, 2013

ATHENS, Ala. - Col. Eli Ballard believes he found the perfect retirement transition from life as a tough guy in the U.S. Army special forces.

The 56-year-old became the lead instructor for the Athens High School JROTC, giving himself a chance to provide the same inspiration he received as a teenager.

Ballard has gone from serving in the Green Beret and Rangers Airborne to high school teacher. He ended his Army career as brigade commander at Redstone Arsenal.

"I'm still working with young people who are trying to discover their place in life," Ballard said.
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Fort Hood Soldier Raps to Deal With PTSD

Fort Hood Soldier Raps to Deal With PTSD
KCEN.com
Posted: Feb 15, 2013
By Tiffany Lundberg

(KCEN) -- He's not your typical hip hop artist, because when Stephen Hobbs isn't dropping beats, he's serving our county as a specialist in the Army.

Hobbs said, "What sparked it off was the Soldier Boy Did song I made and I made that song in Afghanistan."

While over seas, Hobbs reacted to the song "Let's Be Real" by rapper Soulja Boy. The mainstream artist used foul language disrespecting the government and U.S. troops.

He said, "I just kind of compared like his life compared to a soldiers life and tried to show how it didn't even compare at all. It wasn't even a comparison because he's never been overseas."
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Thousands Mourn Loss of Slain Riverside Police Officer, Marine

Thousands Mourn Loss of Slain Riverside Police Officer, Marine
Michael Crain, a former Camp Pendleton Marine, was killed in the line of duty on the morning of Feb. 7, 2013
By Renee Schiavone

Riverside Police Officer Michael ‘Mike’ Crain was a family man remembered Wednesday not only as a devoted Marine and an “ideal officer” by the police department—but also a perfect “wing man” by his friends.

Crain, who was killed in the line of duty on the morning of Feb. 7, was honored at a memorial service at the Grove Community Church in Riverside with an estimated 8,000 people in attendance; the majority of them fellow members of the law enforcement community.

Friends and family painted a picture of the life tragically lost as one that will be dearly missed by all those he touched in his 34 years—11 of which were spent working for the Riverside Police Department and four of which were spent in the United States Marine Corps.
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