Colorado S prings M ilitary Newspaper Group
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Did you know?
Did you know? There will be a 9/11 ceremony 9-10 a.m. in front of Building 210. See page 13 for details.
www.csmng.com
Vol. 11 No. 36
HHHH 50 FSS Happenings on page 11 14 HHHH
Foster healthy relationshipskeep combating suicide By 2nd Lt. Scarlett Rodriguez
Base Briefs Spouses are invited to events marked with
THIS WEEK Sleep Smarts Lunch and Learn
Sleep Smarts Lunch and Learn will take place 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Thursday in Building 210, Room 310. This class is designed to inform individuals and their families on the proper habits of sleep. We cover proper sleep, hygiene, fatigue counter measures, diet, therapy, red flags and caffeine usage. It is designed to wake us up to the real physiological problems caused by lack of sleep.
Motorcycle Mentorship Program hosts end of season ride
The 50th Space Wing Motorcycle Mentorship Program will host an end of season ride 10 a.m. Friday. The ride will start at the Schriever gas station and will head to Royal Gorge. The ride will train individuals on safety — including a vehicle inspection. The event will count towards annual and refresher training. For more information, contact Tech. Sgt. Christopher Ash at 567-2811.
Peterson hosts Patriot Fest
Peterson Air Force Base will host Patriot Fest at Patriot Park Saturday. The event is free and open to all DoD cardholders. Food and beverages are available, as well as live music and family activities. For more information, contact the 21st Force Support Squadron at 556-4598. More Briefs page 13 Sign up for weekly Schriever announcements, news and more. Visit www.schriever.af.mil and click “Public Affairs” under featured links.
Public Affairs
Inside
What is your need?........................... 3 FEMP winners recognized............... 6 Finding new belonging................... 12
50th Space Wing Public Affairs
For many years, education on suicide underwent a period of unknowns. Before research could confirm the factors leading to suicide, and before the right actions to step up and act were known, knowing suicide was happening and telling people to seek help seemed to not be enough. That is no longer the case. The Department of Defense, and Schriever’s very own professionals in the field of suicide prevention, seek to equip Airmen to best know how to not only sympathize with struggle of suicide, but to actively work in preventing it with the people they impact in their day-to-day lives. “We strive to have a culture here of looking out for each other. Especially with the topic of this month, suicide prevention,” said Dr. Ken Robinson, 50th Space Wing Violence Prevention integrator. “If we see those signs, we’re going to take care of each other, we’re going to be there.” To best be there, there are various avenues Schriever wingmen can take, and it can all depend on the situations and people encompassed in the struggle. “The level of preparedness with how well we are equipped can vary anywhere from simply having a phone number (to a helping agency) on them to having formal training on intervention, via programs like Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training which is offered by the Chaplain Corps,” Staff Sgt. Jeannie Hackett, 21st Medical Squadron Mental Health Clinic NCO in charge said. In the earliest stages of a struggle with thoughts of suicide, there may be no clear See Combating page 5
Courtesy photo/Defense Suicide Prevention Office
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and military members DoD-wide are meant to not just be aware of the issue of suicide, but to #BeThere for their fellow service members. Being involved doesn’t mean solving everyone’s issues, rather, it means doing something seemingly small and positive to influence a person’s outlook on life.
National preparedness month, plan ahead for every situation By Halle Thornton 50th Space Wing Public Affairs
With hurricane season coming to an end and the winter season approaching, it is important to be prepared for any kind of situation. Tech. Sgt. Samuel Norris, 50th Civil Engineering Squadron NCO in charge of emergency management flight, said with everything that has happened in Texas and Louisiana recently, it puts “a big exclamation point on National Preparedness Month, which runs through September.” “I think one of the great things about preparedness month is that it reminds everyone and gives them an opportunity to look at their life and family to see if they’re ready to go,” Norris said. “When I was an Airman I got deployed
for a month to Keesler Air Force Base, and what we noticed at that time was that there are things you can do to prepare but sometimes there’s not,” he continued. “Some people had a little bit of a supplies, at least for a few days until they could figure out how to evacuate, but some didn’t, so they had to rely on the base at that time to take care of them.”
Norris stressed the importance of having a plan for when things like power outages and tornados occur. “You never know when the electricity will go out or when the budget gets tight,” he said. “You need extra supplies at the house and so what I suggest is that everybody has a plan for whatever it is - tornado, hurricane or bad weather, whatever the scenario is in your area.” If evacuations are advised, Norris said it is important to brief your family on where to meet and what to do in that situation. “If you look at people that are dealing with Hurricane Harvey right now, the initial questions are, ‘did they evacuate when they were supposed to, did they See Preparedness page 7