Stars & Stripes - 01.12.18

Volume 10, No. 5 ©SS 2018

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2018

‘If it’s not us – then who?’

Veterans, psychologists,

HUSBAND AND WIFE Utah couple’s relentless pursuit to end veteran suicide Page 2

Craig and AnnaBelle Bryan are veterans and psychologists running the National Center for Veterans Studies, where they research and develop suicide-prevention methods and treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder.

NIKKI WENTLING /Stars and Stripes

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COVER STORY

Couple teach others treatment techniques

BY NIKKI WENTLING Stars and Stripes

SALT LAKE CITY AnnaBelle Bryan knows the therapy is working when she hears the laugh.

She hears it through the wall separating her office from her husband’s, and she almost always hears it during a veteran’s fifth or sixth session. She knows that in a few short weeks the person laughing will test negative for post-traumatic stress disorder.

And she’s usually right.

In the basement of Building 73 on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, veterans and psychologists AnnaBelle and Craig Bryan have researched and developed suicideprevention and PTSD treatments with near-perfect success rates.

In the cramped offices of the National Center for Veterans Studies, which the couple runs, they’ve treated a National Guard spouse who experienced childhood sexual abuse, a burly former Special Forces soldier, homeless Vietnam War veterans who lived with PTSD for decades and many others.

They’ve conducted studies for the Defense Department about PTSD therapies and crisis-response planning for suicidal veterans and servicemembers. They travel across the country teaching their techniques to as many people as possible to save as many people as possible.

Every day in 2014, an average of 20 veterans succumbed to suicide, according to the latest available data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

At a time when the VA and Defense Department are promising big, bold steps to prevent veteran suicide, the Bryans said they have something that works — and they’re doing their best to spread the message.

Though they receive funding to study treatment methods — not to put them into practice — the Bryans answer calls from patients any time of day, treat them during off-hours and are growing their staff to meet the demand.

Sitting beside his wife in October in a windowless office no bigger than a walk-in closet, Craig Bryan asked, “If it’s not us — then who?”

A second chance at life Army veteran Dolly Murphy, 52, almost left the Bryans’ 14-day intensive

PTSD therapy program with only three days left.

For months, she had been sleeping in the walk-in closet of her large tract home in a Salt Lake City suburb, leaving the house only for quick trips to the grocery store or for one of the many other PTSD therapies that she tried.

Before a session at the local VA last year, she waited in the employee lounge, where she was permitted to go because she didn’t like being around many people. There, she spotted a pamphlet for the Bryans’ session, called the R&R program — two weeks at the National Abilities Center in Park City, combining daily therapy with recreation.

Murphy had tried traditional therapy, group therapy, a recovery-throughsports program and one for women with military sexual trauma. She’d make progress, she said, then backslide.

“At that time, every day I still thought about suicide, that I could die today and nobody would know I was gone,” Murphy said. “I wanted to find something that was going to help.”

She signed up for the Bryans’ next available session in January 2017. She left home five hours earlier than necessary and drove in snow through the Wasatch Mountains to Park City.

A week and a half later, she finished a one-on-one session feeling raw, having faced memories she’d been trying for years not to remember. She had nearly talked herself into leaving the center many times because it was getting too difficult. Murphy packed her car and was on the way back to her room to get the last of her belongings when Craig Bryan stopped her to persuade her to stay.

For the next 6 ½ hours, the Bryans talked with Murphy as she paced in her room and wrung her hands. She finally calmed down enough to remember she had come there for a purpose and wanted to finish it out.

The program — just one of many projects in which the Bryans are involved — includes one 60- to 90minute session of cognitive processing therapy each morning and activities in the afternoon. Instead of focusing on reducing symptoms, the therapies aim to boost problem-solving skills and the ability to regulate emotions.

The Bryans have led three of the 14-day sessions, each with about 12 people, about a third of whom struggled with suicidal thoughts or had made

NIKKI WENTLING /Stars and Stripes

Dolly Murphy cooks at her home in West Jordan, Utah. Murphy struggled with diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and was a recluse for more than a year, sleeping in her closet and rarely leaving home. Murphy underwent treatment from the National Center for Veterans Studies in January and is now actively involved in her church and community. attempts. At the end, slightly more than 75 percent recovered from PTSD, Craig Bryan said, and others saw some reduction in their symptoms.

The couple is constantly updating data from their therapies, trying to find trends and evidence to help others.

“How could I not do my best for someone who is that driven to help me get better?” Murphy asked. “That’s what kept me there, through the fears, the triggers — through the whole ordeal.”

Success story Murphy joined the military in 1982 at 17 at a recruiting station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

She said she was raped five times during her seven-year career and she has been struggling with the effects.

Murphy attempted suicide twice, once at 30 and again in 2012. At the time, she was recently divorced, reeling after the death of her father, had a splintered relationship with her only child and felt trapped in a hostile work environment. She had just moved alone to Utah from her home state of Iowa.

The suicide rate for veterans is significantly higher than for civilians, and for women the difference is even greater. In 2014, 19 female veterans for every 100,000 died by suicide — more than 2 ½ times higher than that of civilian women, according to the latest

VA data. In 2001-14, the suicide rate among female veterans increased almost 63 percent.

After her last attempt, Murphy became a recluse. She would peek out her closet window at the good Samaritan neighbors who mowed her yard without being asked. When her dogs, Digby and Sophie, needed to go outside, she sat at the sliding glass door leading to her backyard and peered around blackout curtains until they were done.

Nearly one year after the Bryans’ 14-day program, Murphy no longer meets the clinical criteria for PTSD. Murphy joined the Mormon church and is active in her local congregation. She bakes cookies every week for homeless veterans. She sleeps in her own bed. She walks her dog. She interacts with her neighbors.

The Bryans have worked with hundreds of veterans and servicemembers during their careers. Even so, they saw Murphy as one of their most dramatic turnarounds. She went from struggling with suicidal thoughts every day to being almost rid of them.

During her therapy, Murphy created a crisis-response plan, steps someone should take when thinking about suicide. She keeps her plan on a piece of paper tucked inside a binder full of information she received from the Bryans and from other PTSD programs.

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COVER STORY They directed her more toward identifying and understanding PTSD symptoms than focusing on trauma.

It also helped that Bryan was a veteran, she said. She deployed to Iraq with him in 2009. She knew he understood.

FROM PAGE 2

“Someone like Dolly, who really struggled with suicidal thoughts, this gave us a platform to work with her, to say, ‘You got this. I know it’s hard.

I know it’s challenging. But we believe in you, and you have a list of things you can do to take care of yourself,’ ” Craig Bryan said.

Murphy’s treatment is ongoing. Craig Bryan took her through a separate suicideprevention therapy program, and Murphy has the help of a VA social worker. She uses a telehealth appliance called a Health Buddy to take her weight and blood pressure every day. It prompts her to answer questions such as, “Did you complete your journal entry last night?” and “Did you avoid contact with people today?”

There are times when Murphy worries she’s backsliding.

When that happens, she’ll message AnnaBelle or Craig Bryan, or try to imagine what they’d tell her.

“I have to remind myself, had I not gone through all that I’ve gone through, I wouldn’t be the person I am,” Murphy said. “I wouldn’t be so driven.

I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

A trip to the grocery store used to take days of planning, gearing herself up to go from Point A to Point B. Now, Murphy is spontaneous. She explores. She takes the back roads.

“I feel like I have my life back,” Murphy said. “What came out of this treatment was, I can face things and deal with them. I have a second chance at life, and I’m going to live it.”

Lending support On a Saturday morning in late October, 30 motorcyclists with the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association drove along the highway across Great Salt Lake into Antelope Island State Park. Near a memorial to 12 troops who were killed in a helicopter crash there in 1992, the leather-clad veterans handed over a check to Craig and AnnaBelle Bryan for $35,000.

It was the proceeds of their annual Ride to Zero fundraiser, and for the third year, they’ve given the check to the National Center for Veterans Studies.

Utah’s veterans suicide rate

Consequences of war

NIKKI WENTLING /Stars and Stripes

Ryan Fleischman, a member of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, hugs psychologist Craig Bryan after awarding Bryan and the National Center for Veterans Studies $35,000 for suicide prevention. The association, which has given the Bryans a check the past three years, concluded its annual Ride to Zero initiative Oct. 28 at Antelope Island State Park in Utah. is significantly higher than the national average, according to information released by the VA this year. It’s more than 62 veterans for every 100,000, while the national rate is more than 38.

The same is true for other western and rural parts of the country. The report suggests lack of access to health care, gun ownership and opioid addiction might play a role.

The motorcycle group knows the statistics, and it continues to contribute to local suicideprevention efforts. For Ryan Fleischman, executive officer of the chapter, choosing who should receive the Ride to Zero money was personal.

The group was searching for a recipient just after his former sergeant in Afghanistan committed suicide.

“That was a driving factor for me personally,” Fleischman said. “We found NCVS in our own backyard. It was a nobrainer to try to raise money for them. Their programs are proven to work and save lives.”

Gaining notice The military community in Utah is taking more notice of the center. The Bryans help with peer-support programs at the Utah Air National Guard and trained some mental-

health professionals in crisis response at the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System.

The Salt Lake City chapter of 100 Women Who Care, a national organization of local chapters that raise money for charities, gave $14,000 last year to send six local veterans to the Bryans’ two-week program in Park City. Another nonprofit, Project Unbreakable, is trying to get treatment for veterans outside Utah.

Husband-and-wife Justin and Kimberly Lee run Project Unbreakable from their home in Ogden, Utah. Both are Air Force veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and they’ve both struggled with suicidal thoughts and PTSD. They‘ve also both been through the R&R program with Craig Bryan. Now, they refer others to Bryan and help pay their travel expenses.

“We’ve both been to a point where we wanted to take our own lives, so we started this foundation to help other people through their struggles,” Kimberly Lee said. “There have been so many years of war, and not enough mental health resources to take care of everybody who is damaged by that war.”

For Kimberly Lee, the treatment at the center was different than others she’d tried.

The thought of joining the military first came to Craig Bryan in 2003 while he sat in a graduate-level psychotherapy class at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, on the morning after the invasion of Iraq.

“My instructor started class with a discussion about what was happening in the world,” Bryan recalled. “His argument was, as a nation, we weren’t talking enough about the consequences of war and what the implications of military action would be in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said as psychologists, we will play a very critical role of addressing those consequences.”

Bryan graduated in 2006 with a doctorate in psychology. By then, the Iraq War was raging.

One of his instructors, David Rudd, a former Army psychologist who founded the National Center for Veterans Studies, encouraged Bryan to enlist.

“I just remember thinking that as a psychologist you can work at counseling centers, hospitals, the VA, but there are very few opportunities to work side-by-side with those who are bearing this burden,” Bryan said. “I joined because I could make a difference. I could be there with them in a way I would never be able to if I remained a civilian.”

Bryan was trained as an Air Force psychologist and deployed to Iraq in 2009 to work in primary care. He started to develop his short-term, goaloriented method for PTSD therapy.

Deployed troops often refused to seek mental health care. Many arrived at primary care complaining of trouble sleeping, agitation, headaches — obvious symptoms of PTSD, Bryan said.

He began offering brief, targeted interventions about servicemembers’ day-to-day stressors. Bryan tracked data on the outcomes and realized the therapy was working.

“The question in Iraq was, how can we treat PTSD when we only have four or five days

to work with someone?” Bryan said. “Now, our R&R program, where we meet with a veteran every single day — that was based on what we were doing in Iraq.”

Six years after Bryan deployed to Iraq, the National Center for Veterans Studies conducted a study of 156 active-duty soldiers who had been hospitalized for suicidal ideation, pitting their method — “brief cognitive behavioral therapy” — against “treatment as usual.” Standard treatment included group therapy, medication, substance abuse therapy and support groups overseen by military mental health clinicians.

Their treatment method amounted to 12 outpatient psychotherapy sessions, usually one each week, from 60 to 90 minutes and taught crisis-resolution and emotion-regulation skills, such as relaxation and mindfulness, and targeted feelings of hopelessness and guilt.

They found the 12 sessions led to a 60 percent decrease in suicide attempts.

After two years, eight soldiers who went through the 12 sessions had attempted suicide.

Of those who went through treatment as usual, 18 attempted suicide.

AnnaBelle Bryan was also deployed in 2009 to Iraq, where she served as a public health technician with the Air Force and met Craig Bryan.

Two weeks after he returned to the United States, Bryan left the military and joined Rudd at the University of Utah. He and AnnaBelle began dating a couple of months later, and they married in 2011. After she retired from active duty in 2012, AnnaBelle joined her husband at the National Center for Veterans Studies.

Craig Bryan testified to a Senate committee in September about suicide prevention.

At the time, the Bryans told Senate staff that they were worried for the day when they’d get a call from a veteran seeking treatment and, because their small team is overloaded with work, they’d have to start a wait list.

“A week or two later, it started happening,” AnnaBelle Bryan said. “Fortunately, we had two people who stepped up to help, so we’ve been able to stay ahead of it. But it’s now going to happen again.”

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COVER STORY research into crisis-response planning, as well as the 12-session PTSD therapy developed and tested by the National Center for Veterans Studies. So far, the studies show the methods are effective in preventing suicide attempts in veterans and servicemembers. Though one study was published almost three years ago and the other last January, leadership hasn’t made moves yet to widely share the approach to suicide prevention among the military health system. Bryan says the department is waiting on more research on the treatment method before pushing it out.

AnnaBelle Bryan explained the methods are practiced only by the small pockets of people she and her husband have time to train.

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Teaching others While lecturing, Craig Bryan strode through a conference room at the Salt Lake City courthouse Oct. 27, where about 35 juvenile administrators sat at a half-dozen tables taking notes.

“People do have reasons for living, even in their darkest moments,” Bryan told them. “Our job is to help them remember that.”

As with veteran suicide rates, Utah and other western mountain states have a consistently high rate of youth suicide.

From 2012 to 2014, Utah ranked eighth nationally in youth suicides, and it’s the largest cause of death for Utah’s population of 10- to 17-year-olds, according to the latest report from the Utah Department of Health.

According to a 2011 study published in the National Library of Medicine, 63 percent of youth who die by suicide in Utah were involved with the juvenile court system.

Most minors in Utah’s juvenile court system cross paths, at some point, with someone in that conference room.

The state of Utah pays Bryan to train groups of people across the state who are in positions to intervene. He takes them through crisis-response planning techniques that he developed for veterans and servicemembers, in which the person in crisis is directed to write an individualized plan onto an index card.

The plan includes warning signs for that person, things they can do on their own to calm down and a list of what they see as their reasons for living.

Phone numbers for people they can contact, such as a friend or family member, are also on the card, as well as numbers for emergency support services and a final direction to call 9-1-1 or go to the hospital.

The intervention involves more than writing out a plan on a card. The court workers were instructed to ask certain questions, with the intention of changing peoples’ thinking.

“We get down to the bottom. We start changing their capacity to regulate their emotion, and we also change how they think about themselves in the world,” Bryan told the group. “We force them, in this intervention, to look at the bigger picture.”

Bryan directed the court administrators to split into pairs and role-play, one person as someone going through crisis and the other leading an intervention. The process took about 30 minutes, and then they switched roles and did it again.

“We don’t actually need long-term treatment to reduce suicidal behavior,” Bryan said. “One conversation — 30 to 60 minutes — if you do it in a

Changing a culture

Courtesy of the National Center for Veterans Studies

This crisis response plan was created by a Utah veteran with the help of Craig Bryan. Veterans are instructed to use crisis response plans, written on index cards, when they’re struggling with suicidal thoughts.

Some therapists use “no-suicide” contracts with patients, but Bryan and other experts have deemed it an outdated method proven not to work. certain way, reduces suicide attempts dramatically.”

According to the study of crisisresponse planning conducted by the National Center for Veterans Studies, crisis-response planning reduces suicide attempts among military personnel by 76 percent.

In August, Bryan traveled to Blanding, Utah, five hours southeast of Salt Lake City, and spent the day teaching crisis-response planning to clinicians, teachers, faith leaders, correctional facility staff and community leaders — about 50 people in total near the more than 17 million acres comprising the Navajo Nation Reservation, where there’s been an increase in teen suicide, Bryan said. It’s remote, with little access to health care providers.

Like with the juvenile court administrators, the state of Utah sent Bryan there to coach people what to do when approached by someone in a mental health crisis.

The Bryans also recently held a training at Fort Belvoir in Virginia and were planning trips this winter to teach at conferences in San Diego and Colorado Springs.

The Defense Department has provided grants for Craig Bryan’s

When President Donald Trump’s VA secretary, David Shulkin, arrived in office, he quickly named suicide prevention as his top clinical priority and promised increased access to mental health care.

In July, the VA began offering urgent mental health care to veterans with other-than-honorable discharges, who previously were not eligible. The agency opened a new call center for its veterans crisis hotline in September.

In October, Shulkin promised lawmakers “big, bold” steps in suicide prevention, and he designated November as “Veterans Month,” during which he issued a public-service announcement asking the public to reach out to veterans in crisis. Actor Tom Hanks narrates over photos of veterans and servicemembers in the PSA, encouraging people to reach out to veterans in crisis with “a handshake, a phone call, a simple gesture.” The video initiated the monthlong social media campaign #BeThere.

VA data show veterans not enrolled in VA health care commit suicide at a higher rate than VA patients. Of the 20 veterans who succumb to suicide each day, 14 don’t receive VA treatment.

Shulkin called it a national public health issue that will require a concerted, national approach.

“When we make the decision to send our young men and women into harm’s way, we have to be prepared for the impact of that decades and decades later,” Shulkin said in a November interview.

Craig Bryan agrees.

Bryan has some critiques about the therapies that the VA chooses to uphold. The latest example, he said, was the VA’s decision this month to offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy to some veterans with PTSD. The therapy has been studied profusely with some positive results, but it isn’t approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a PTSD treatment. Shulkin

acknowledged it was an off-label use of the therapy but argued the VA must be open to new ideas.

While the agency is lifting up alternative suicide-prevention strategies, the Bryans are growing frustrated their evidence-based therapies don’t get enough support.

Even with his criticisms, Bryan said the VA is the standard-bearer in mental health care, and the rest of the field needs to catch up.

“In order to reverse the trend of veteran suicide, we need to adopt the newest strategies that have garnered the most scientific support, even though they may depart from existing procedures,” Bryan told a Senate committee this fall. “The changes should not just target the VA and DOD, but all clinicians in all settings. We’re at a critical turning-point; effective strategies have been identified.”

He’s appealed to Congress and the Utah legislature that future mental health providers need better education on evidence-based therapies while still in school. According to a report by the American Association of Suicidology in 2012, only half of psychologists received training in suicide risk-assessment and intervention during graduate school.

Bryan is also attempting to eradicate the idea that PTSD is a chronic condition with no effective treatment, which he said is a myth that pervades the field. Over the years, that notion has prevented many patients from getting better, he said.

“What bugs me to no end is this mindset of, ‘My patient can’t handle it.’

Because when you tell that to your patient, the message you send is, ‘You’re broken. There’s something wrong with you, and I think you’re too fragile to handle this,’ ” Bryan said. “Our approach is, ‘You can handle this. You’ll feel overwhelmed, but I will support you. This is how we can recover.’ ” The Bryans have lofty goals for the National Center for Veterans Studies.

They want to successfully treat PTSD and bring down suicide rates. Maybe the most ambitious is to change the culture of mental health care in the United States.

When some of their patients arrive to their office on the university campus for the first time, they tell Craig or AnnaBelle Bryan that other therapists insisted they’d have to be in treatment for the rest of their lives.

The Bryans say it takes 12 weeks.

And sometime during the fifth or sixth session, AnnaBelle can usually tell whether that will be the case. wentling.nikki@stripes.com Twitter: @nikkiwentling

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MILITARY

TECH SUPPORT

Bagram Wi-Fi overhaul will give airmen better FaceTime with family

BY CHAD GARLAND Stars and Stripes

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — The Air Force hopes to boost morale and performance here by improving WiFi access to make it easier for servicemembers to stay in touch with stateside family.

That should allay the concerns of some people back home.

Technological advances in the 17 years since the start of the Afghan War have enabled deployed troops to connect with loved ones like never before, but friends and family in the States occasionally take that for granted — sometimes panicking when they haven’t heard from their deployed loved ones in a day or two.

Afghanistan may be a war zone, but troops here say the reasons for a missed phone call are often the more mundane deployment challenges of long work days or limited internet access. It’s usually nothing to worry about.

“No word is good word,” said Sgt. Seth Killingsworth, one of the Marines responsible for security on the sprawling U.S. base north of Kabul. He had just finished a Christmas morning video chat from his office with his wife in Escondido, Calif., via Apple’s FaceTime app, but he said such connectivity’s not guaranteed. “Just because we have it here, don’t expect that. It might just be letters like back in the day.”

To help ensure airmen get their FaceTime with home, the Air Force increased bandwidth at Bagram by 800 percent in November, to 5-megabitper-second connection speeds for each device. The speed was bumped up again to 10 megabits per second in December as part of a $1.4 million contract with a local service provider.

That’s a little over half the average connection speed in the United States, according to Akamai Technologies, a Cambridge, Mass.-based content-delivery and cloud-services provider, but it’s fast enough to watch HD quality video on Netflix or make a group call to several friends and family members on

C HAD G ARLAND/Stars and Stripes

Sgt. Vanessa Turner chats with her 4-year-old son via a smartphone video calling app at a coalition base at the international airport in Irbil, Iraq, on Christmas Day 2016. Airmen in Afghanistan can more easily stay in touch with family thanks to improvements in Wi-Fi access.

Skype.

Speedier connectivity will help airmen stay mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually fit — the four “domains” of the Air Force’s Comprehensive Airman Fitness program — said Lt. Col. Kevin Childs, commander of the 455th Expeditionary Communications Squadron, which is responsible for the upgrades.

In practical terms, the speed boost means higher resolution images on video calls back home, said Capt. Lyndsey Horn, a spokeswoman for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing.

“These moments of normalcy provide a stress relief to our airmen,” Horn said.

“When they return to duty later, they can focus solely on the mission.”

That mission includes defending the airfield, supporting counterterrorism air operations and flying close air support, airlift, search-and-rescue, electronic warfare and aeromedical evacuation operations.

The Wi-Fi project is also set to replace outdated access points in the base’s common areas and 21 dormitories this month and upgrade core infrastructure

by May, Horn said.

While the Comprehensive Airman Fitness Wi-Fi is available only to the nearly 1,800 airmen at Bagram assigned

to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, around 1,600 other U.S. and coalition servicemembers, civilians and contractors can access free wireless internet service at USO and Morale, Welfare and Recreation lounges, and paid connections elsewhere.

Personal mobile internet modems, along with SIM cards from local providers and prepaid voice and data plans, can also be purchased at a shop in the base exchange.

Compared with a deployment to Bagram in 2012-13, staying in touch has gotten “a ton better,” said Tech. Sgt. Tarah White, a communications installer who’s pulled fiber and copper cable as part of the network overhaul on this deployment. On her previous deployment she had to constantly load up on prepaid calling cards. “This time, I haven’t had to use them at all,” she said.

The improved link to home was especially helpful when her mother was in and out of the hospital and she had to help make decisions about her care.

She’s also been able to stay in touch with her boyfriend, who’s deployed in Iraq.

“I can text him in the morning, text him goodnight and he gets it,” White said.

Deployed troops in Iraq have noted better communications than just a few

years ago, when costs or limited availability meant shorter and less frequent calls and internet access.

Despite spotty coverage, soldiers in a makeshift camp on the edge of the battle for Mosul last Christmas were able to text their families. At established bases, more bandwidth-intensive activities were possible, such as video calls.

Servicemembers at Bagram who can’t access the speedier Air Force Wi-Fi get by on the hodge-podge of other networks, but connectivity challenges are still common enough that they were the subject of several jokes during a recent Christmas Eve USO show.

Comedian and actor Adam Devine said he was surprised by how slow connection speeds were.

“I kind of always thought the military had like some secret technology that, uh, we weren’t sharing with the general public,” Devine said. “But after being at several bases I know that that is a lie.”

Still, for White, who was standing in the audience and had taken a video to share online later, it doesn’t take much to reassure loved ones with a quick message: “I’m still good.” garland.chad@stripes.com Twitter: @chadgarland

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EAMC Honor Guard assists school in flag-raising ceremony by 1st Sgt. Cody Nixon, Sgt. Charlene Browne, & Kashieem Averill Eisenhower Army Medical Center

The Fort Gordon Adopt-a-School Program partners Fort Gordon military units with local Richmond County schools to provide mentorship to students. The Fort Gordon Schools Liaison Office coordinates the overall program. Eisenhower Army Medical Center has volunteered to assist at Glenn Hills High, Glenn Hills Middle, Glenn Hills Elementary, Barton Chapel Elementary and Meadowbrook Elementary Schools.

Glenn Hills Elementary School invited the EAMC Honor Guard to assist in a Flag Ceremony Dec. 1. The Honor Guard provided instruction to a select group of students on the proper way to fold, unfold and raise the national colors. Once the flag was raised for the day, 1st Sgt. Cody Nixon led the school in the Pledge of Alliance.

After the ceremony, all Soldiers participated in classroom discussions about their jobs and experience in the Army. The students asked questions to get a better understanding of what military life is like. At the end of the

visit, a group of Soldiers challenged a fifth grade class in a friendly push-up contest.

The Adopt-a-School partnership is a great opportunity for Soldiers, civilians and family members to volunteer in the community.

To become a part of the Adopt-a-School Program, there are three prerequisites before volunteering in any of the schools: a complete a background check, conduct an online mentors training and attend a Richmond County Volunteer Training session.

The next available Richmond County Volunteer Training will occur Jan. 25, from 10–11 a.m. in EAMCs first floor auditorium.

For information, contact Kashieem Averill, Kashieem.t.averill.civ@mail.mil or 706-787-0200.

Soldiers from Eisenhower Army Medical Center’s Honor Guard instruct a select group of students from Richmond County’s Glenn Hills Elementary School on the proper way to fold, unfold and raise the national colors Dec. 1, 2017. Once the flag was raised for the day, 1st Sgt. Cody Nixon led the school in the Pledge of Alliance. (PHOTO SUPPLIED/RELEASED)

SJA Legal Hot Topics

New Tax Center

by CPT Anthony Avitable | Staff Judge Advocate Tax Officer

As the New Year rolls in, the men and women of the Fort Gordon Tax Center look forward to another great season of service and savings.

The Fort Gordon Tax Center provides free preparation and filing of State and Federal income tax for Active Duty Servicemembers, Retirees, and their dependents. The Tax Center is staffed by Servicemembers from across Fort Gordon who are trained and certified by the Internal Revenue Service. Last year, the Fort Gordon Tax Center prepared over 5000 returns and saved its clients over $650,000 in filing and preparation fees. The Fort Gordon Community received refunds totaling over $5,000,000, with those taxpayers who filed digitally receiving their refund in 7 to 10 business days.

This year, the Tax Center will be housed in room 224 of Darling Hall, a familiar and central location that we believe will balance space and privacy, and afford the tax preparers the best environment to serve you.

The Tax Center will hold its ribbon cutting ceremony on January 26, 2018 and will be officially open for business on January 29th. The operating hours are Monday through Friday from 9am until 5pm.

Clients will be seen by appointment and walk-ins will be seen based upon availability. Appointments can be made over the phone at 706787-1040 or 706-787-1944.

In order to help us make your tax preparation go as smoothly as possible, we ask that you bring the following documents to your

appointment: any and all W-2s (keep an on myPay as your W-2s will be available throughout January);1099-Rs; 1099-MISCs; 1099-Ins; 1099DIVs; 1099-SS; form 8332 if you are allowing another parent to claim your child as an exemption; your December bank statement; all your receipts if you intend to itemize; any paperwork relating to investments or brokerage accounts for which you did not receive a document from the IRS; closing documents if you purchased or sold a home; any documents that report a withholding; your banking information (routing number and account number); your 2016 State and Federal return; your Social Security card and the Social Security card of any dependents; and photo ID. We understand the hectic schedules of our military families, so for those couples who cannot attend the same appointment, we can make special arrangements to meet with each spouse separately to prepare the return.

Please keep an eye out for additional information in the Fort Gordon Globe and other local media outlets as we move through Tax Season.

We wish you a Happy New Year and a Tax Season that is free of stress and full of savings.

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Freedom Park teacher honored with Golden Apple award

by Laura Levering | Fort Gordon Public Affairs Office

A Freedom Park School teacher got a big surprise just before Christmas, and it was not the kind wrapped in paper.

Sandra Hayes, Pre-K teacher, received a visit from Brad Means, WJBF News Channel 6 news anchor, on Dec. 15.

Surrounded by her loved ones, the garrison commander, garrison command sergeant major, and a cameraman, Means interrupted Hayes’ class to present her with a Golden Apple Award.

Since 1993, WJBF and its partners have been recognizing outstanding teachers across the Central Savannah River Area with the Golden Apple Award. A teacher must be nominated to be considered for the award.

Making his way to where Hayes was teaching, Means positioned himself between Hayes and her students, and asked if they wanted to hear a story, to which they exclaimed “yes!”

“This is a story about a lady named Ms. Hayes and about how everyone loves her and about how she’s an incredible teacher,” Means said, with Hayes at his side and the cameraman recording.

Means went on to say that the person who nominated Hayes described her as “amazing, eager to help people learn, a champion for others, and an incredible teacher.” That person, Adrienne Gilstrap, was there to witness Hayes receiving the award.

Gilstrap’s daughter, Molly, 6, a Type 1 diabetic, was one of Hayes’ students last year.

“As a parent … it’s hard leaving your child’s life essentially in someone’s hands, and very quickly I realized that I didn’t have to worry when molly was in Ms. Hayes’ class,” Adrienne said.

But Molly wasn’t the only reason Adrienne nominated Hayes for the award. Her other daughter, Ella, 7, was never a student in Hayes’ class, but Ella was the main reason for the nomination. Earlier this year, when Hayes asked Adrienne how her family was doing, Adrienne told her that Ella had

been struggling with spelling and reading.

“The next day, Ms. Hayes showed up at our door and has tutored Ella after school every day ever since,” Adrienne said.

The time Hayes spent with Ella had a profound impact on her academics and confidence.

Adrienne said that her daughter went from being a student who struggled to being a student that receives perfect grades on tests. For that reason and others, Adrienne could not think of a person more deserving of recognition.

“She truly makes an impact on any student that is lucky and blessed enough to have her,” Adrienne said. “She’s just an exceptional lady.”

Addressing the students one last time before presenting the award, Means left them with a few thoughts.

“I know that school is just beginning for you, but remember this: you are lucky, and you are blessed to have Ms. Hayes as your teacher,” Means said. “She loves you with all your heart, and she knows – just like everybody in this room knows – that you are going to turn out to be great successful people.”

It was clear that her students agreed, as they applauded and surrounded Hayes with hugs.

Hard-pressed for words, Hayes credited her mother with instilling a passion for teaching in her.

“She said, ‘What people do for you, you return your favor back to them,’ and I love working with kids.”

Footage of Hayes receiving her award aired on WJBF News Channel 6 Dec. 19.

Along with a golden apple trophy, Hayes received several gifts from the program’s sponsors and will be invited to attend a banquet held for all CSRA teachers who were honored during the 20172018 school year.

Photos by Wilson A. Rivera / Fort Gordon Public Affairs Office Brad Means, WJBF News Channel 6 news anchor recognized Freedom Park School Pre-K teacher Sandra Hayes with the Golden Apple Award Dec. 15.

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MILITARY

Army takes ‘administrative action’ against general Complaints say Gonsalves disrespected congressional staffer

BY JOHN VANDIVER Stars and Stripes

The U.S. Army says “appropriate administrative action” has been taken against a two-star general faulted for mistreating a congressional staffer, but the service refused to specify the steps it took against Maj. Gen. Ryan Gonsalves.

“The matter is now closed,” Army spokeswoman April Cunningham said in a statement.

Gonsalves, who served as commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Infantry Division until August, had been in line for a promotion.

In July, he was nominated by the Army for a third star, but the White House rescinded the nomination on Nov. 27, after an inspector general’s probe.

The allegations against Gon-

salves centered on complaints that he failed to treat a female congressional staffer with “dignity and respect” during an October 2016 meeting at his Fort Carson headquarters.

Gonsalves is now serving as a special assistant to the commander of the Fort Hood, Texas-based III Corps.

Special adviser postings in the Army can function as brief stopping points while a general awaits promotion or is stuck in limbo while under investigation.

The Army did not say whether Gonsalves would be offered a promotion in the future or whether his current assignment would be his last.

“Following the completion of the Inspector General’s investigation of Major General Ryan Gonsalves, appropriate administrative action was taken,” Cunningham said.

The IG says it was able to

substantiate an accusation that Gonsalves called the congressional staffer “sweetheart” during a meeting about the 4th Infantry Division’s mission, which amounted to a violation of Army command policy.

The IG complaint also said that Gonsalves took issue with the staffer’s youth and told her she should take detailed notes on why the military needed funding “since she was a Democrat and did not believe in funding the military,” the IG report said.

Another staffer at the meeting confirmed that Gonsalves used the word “Democrat.”

He said that he was “shocked” by use of the word but did not regard the overall tenor of Gonsalves’ political comments as derogatory.

Generals are expected to refrain from overt expressions of partisanship while in uniform.

MICHAEL A BRAMS/Stars and Stripes

The Army says it has taken administrative action against Maj. Gen. Ryan Gonsalves for comments he made to a congressional staffer.

Gonsalves denied making disrespectful remarks about political affiliation during the meeting, and five other witnesses testified they didn’t hear the general make such remarks. As a result, the IG determined that the evidence did not support a conclusion that Gonsalves comments were “objectively disrespectful.”

Gonsalves also denied calling the female staffer “sweetheart,” but the IG said the preponderance of the evidence indicated otherwise.

In recent years, misconduct

among senior leaders has been a growing concern inside the Pentagon. In November, the Pentagon inspector general reported a 13 percent increase in misconduct complaints between 2015 and 2017. Highprofile scandals, frequently involving extramarital affairs, have forced numerous generals into early retirement.

The complaint against Gonsalves did not involve any accusations of sexual misconduct. vandiver.john@stripes.com Twitter: @john_vandiver

Service window stays open for 50 USAF colonels

BY JENNIFER H. SVAN Stars and Stripes

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The Air Force has given a late holiday present to colonels approaching the 30-year mandatory retirement mark.

The service announced recently that selected colonels nearing mandatory retirement may voluntarily choose to remain on active duty for three additional years.

The move is one of several measures the Air Force has taken in recent months to deal with a shortage of fieldgrade officers — majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels — and pilots.

A sweeping promotion change that went into effect last month allowed captains to advance to the rank of major as long as they were recommended for promotion and had an

unblemished conduct record.

The Air Force’s latest attempt to retain field-grade officers currently affects 50 colonels who are line officers and who face mandatory retirement between Feb. 1, 2018, and Feb. 1, 2019, the Air Force said in a statement.

Across all the military services, most colonels not selected for promotion to one star must retire after 30 years of active commissioned service.

The Air Force will convene a continuation board this month to assess the records of the 50 line officer colonels who would otherwise be forced to retire.

All eligible officers will be offered the opportunity to remain on active duty for an additional three years, the Air Force said.

The officer’s chain of command will notify those selected for continuation. Eligible officers were to be notified by Dec. 31, the Air Force said.

“It can take 21 years to develop a line officer to become a colonel who may then serve up to 30 years,” Col. Jeff O’Donnell, Air Force Colonels Group director, said in a statement. “And as the Air Force is growing end strength, we need experienced leaders to serve and lead across the Department of

Defense.”

Just under 1 in 10 Air Force jobs for field-grade officers — whose main job involves commanding troops — are vacant, while about 1 in 4 nonrated field-grade officer jobs are unfilled, the Air Force said in September, when it announced 100 percent promotion rates for eligible captains.

The Air Force is also facing a shortage of about 2,000 pilots. It is trying various incentives, such as bonuses and the promise of less non-flyingrelated administrative tasks, to entice pilots to remain on active duty rather than take jobs in commercial aviation, which typically offers higher pay for fewer hours. svan.jennifer@stripes.com Twitter: @stripesktown

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Friday, January12, 12,2018 2018 Friday, January

MILITARY

Air Force tosses evaluations for lower enlisted ‘ ... the requirements to

BY JENNIFER H. SVAN Stars and Stripes

The Air Force is tossing out formal performance evaluations for its least experienced airmen.

The service announced Jan. 4 that Enlisted Performance Reports are no longer required for all active-duty airmen until they reach the rank of senior airman or have served for 36 months, regardless of grade. For reservists, EPRs will be required for senior airmen and above. The change is effective immediately.

The move is part of a larger effort by Air Force senior leaders to reduce the administrative burden on airmen and to give them more time to focus on the mission, officials said.

“While the Air Force values the contributions of all enlisted personnel, the requirement to document performance in a formal evaluation prior to the

document performance in a formal evaluation prior to the grade of airman is not necessary.

’

Lt. Gen. Gina Grosso chief of staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services

grade of senior airman is not necessary,” Lt. Gen. Gina Grosso, the deputy chief of staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services, said in a statement.

The removal of EPRs before promotion to senior airman will give airmen more time to learn their primary skills

and duties before their performance is documented formally, Grosso said.

Under the policy change, commanders still have the option to document substandard performance for airmen first class and below after the 20month-in-service mark.

The Air Force didn’t say how many evaluation reports the policy change would eliminate. Airmen previously were required to get their first evaluations after at least 20 months in uniform.

The announcement brings to fruition a plan that Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright had talked about last fall at the Air Force Association’s annual conference.

Wright said at the time that he was working with senior leadership and the Air Force Personnel Center to reduce the burden enlisted performance reports have on schedules, particularly

in the maintenance squadrons, according to Air Force Magazine.

The Air Force uses EPRs to evaluate the performance of enlisted personnel both on and off duty, typically on an annual basis. A report, normally written by the member’s supervisor with input from other unit leaders, often is time-consuming and cumbersome to complete.

Under the change, each active-duty airman will receive their initial evaluation upon reaching their first March 31 static closeout date after either promotion to senior airman, or after completion of a minimum of 36 months of time in service, regardless of grade, whichever occurs first, officials said.

Enlisted reservists will receive their initial evaluations as senior airmen. svan.jennifer@stripes.com Twitter: @stripesktown

Free online records database aims to ID troops from WWII

BY M ATTHEW M. BURKE Stars and Stripes

An online database that could be used to identify unknown World War II-era U.S. servicemembers buried around the world will soon be available free to families and researchers.

The directory — which cross-references information about recovered unknown troops with missing servicemembers’ attributes — is expected to go live sometime this month. It was developed

by Kenneth Breaux and his team at the Houston-based M.I.A. Recovery Network, a nonprofit that advocates for missing-in-action servicemembers and their families.

“This will, as far as we know, become the first and largest compilation of centralized, openly available digital data on WWII,” he said.

M.I.A. Recovery Network, which recently announced a partnership with the Sons of Liberty Museum and the Army Air Corps Library and

Museum, has been uploading data to a cloud accessible through all three websites.

“The vision of the three groups is to become the best information source on WWII by using digital data organized in a structured fashion and openly available on the cloud,” he said.

So far, they have obtained more than 80,000 pages of data, including images, Missing Air Crew Reports, Morning Reports, combat interviews and other forms, Breaux said. They plan to add After Action Reports, tactical sketches, maps, overlays and other items. They also hope to mine data from families and other researchers.

But the crown jewel of their database is a geographic information system that Breaux said has drawn interest from

the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, a Defense Department division that works to recover missing personnel listed as missing in action or prisoners of war.

The GIS features the Military Grid Reference System location where each set of unknown remains was recovered from the European theater along with details about the remains. That data can then be compared with records for missing servicemembers and with unit records to see if matches can be made.

Breaux said the groups are expecting a memorandum of understanding from DPAA that will potentially allow them to cooperate on cases where multiple casualties were reported, such as from a ship sinking or the loss of an

C HRISTOPHER D EWITT/Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force

A POW/MIA flag waves during the closing ceremony for the POW/MIA 24-hour run at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., in September. aircrew.

“The idea is that each time data is collected and scanned

The crown jewel of the database is a geographic information system that its developer says has drawn interest from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

from [the National Archives and Records Administration], it is placed into the web app, obviating further trips to [the archives] for that same purpose and document,” Breaux said. “We’ve only just begun.” burke.matt@stripes.com

Friday, January 12, 2018

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VETERANS

Vet accused of inflating service Claims high rank was honorary, as part of honor guard group he started

BY STEPHEN CARLSON Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Papotia Reginald Wright started the 8th Special Forces Regiment New York Honor Guard more than a year ago to perform burial services for veterans.

But according to investigations by multiple groups, the supposed Special Forces veteran vastly inflated his military service, including medals for valor, and his group has since shut down.

Wright claimed to be a retired command sergeant major from Special Forces and used his fraudulent claim to run a veterans service organization with no official nonprofit status in Brooklyn, N.Y., according to the state Attorney General’s office.

Military records seen by Stars and Stripes show he served in the Army in 198290 as a truck driver who never ranked higher than a specialist — a far cry from his claims of combat service.

Photographs show Wright in full dress uniform at promotional events including a New York Giants game. Most of his decorations — a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and others — are allegedly fake, according to Steve Antson from Guardians of the Green Beret, a watchdog group that works to expose people pre-

‘ I believed in the organization. It was

a feeling of pride to put on the uniform again …. It sunk my heart.

’

tending to be part of Special Forces.

According to federal law under the Stolen Valor Act, it is a crime to lie about military awards for monetary or other tangible benefits.

Wright, who goes by “Reggie,” told Stars and Stripes that his rank is honorary, not an attempt to mislead.

“Because I started the unit (the Honor Guard), I was the top NCO there,” he said.

Wright has said he never claimed to be in Special Forces specifically, but that he drove trucks for the 75th Ranger Regiment and 5th Special Forces Group as an attachment.

As part of the Army’s Authorized Provider Partnership Program, organizations like Wright’s can perform military honors for funerals of former military personnel or honor guard ceremonies for events. “When they couldn’t take up the slack, we were called,” Wright said of the Army.

According to its now-de-

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher Terry Leonard, Editor Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing Editor Tina Croley, Managing Editor for Content Doreen Wright, U.S. Edition Editor Michael Davidson, Revenue Director CONTACT US 529 14th Street NW, Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20045-1301 Email: stripesweekly@stripes.com Editorial: (202) 761-0900 Advertising: (202) 761-0910 Michael Davidson, Weekly Partnership Director: davidson.michael@stripes.com Additional contact information: stripes.com

Jeffrey Johnson former Army major

funct Facebook page, the “8th Special Forces Regiment New York Honor Guard is a Veteran Service Organization (VSO) that renders final honors to Veterans with an Honorable Discharge or General Discharge with Honorable conditions.” It is based at the Park Slope Armory building on 8th Avenue in Brooklyn.

The name is an apparent reference to the 8th Special Forces Group, which conducted counterinsurgency operations and training in the backdrop of the Cold War in Latin America. The unit was disbanded in 1980.

The Guardians of the Green Beret said they have been aware of the Honor Guard for about two months.

Wright claimed he had been part of the “Black Hawk Down” incident in Mogadishu in 1993 that led to the deaths of 18 U.S. servicemembers, Antson said. Wright’s service ended in 1990, according to his personnel record.

Multiple people confirmed to Antson that Wright told

This publication is a compilation of stories from Stars and Stripes, the editorially independent newspaper authorized by the Department of Defense for members of the military community. The contents of Stars and Stripes are unofficial, and are not to be considered as the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, including the Defense Department or the military services. The U.S. Edition of Stars and Stripes is published jointly by Stars and Stripes and this newspaper.

The appearance of advertising in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the DOD or Stars and Stripes of the products or services advertised.

Products or services advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use, or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation, or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user, or patron.

© Stars and Stripes, 2018

the story of an enemy fighter who snuck up behind him and cut his kidney out. “He’s saying he is walking around with half a kidney,” he said.

Wright never received a Purple Heart, according to his military records.

An official at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, who wasn’t permitted to talk on the record, said no one questioned Wright’s rank and credentials at the base, and he used that to gain access to government vehicles “for whatever reason.”

Jeffrey Johnson, a former Army major, joined the Honor Guard to help veterans, he said. Wright immediately asked Johnson to work promotional events with him.

The pace was frenetic, Johnson said. They attended an annual Heroes Gala event

by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America where he met former Army Gen. David Petraeus and other well-known military figures.

He worked with Wright at a New York Giants game and at the Nov. 10 reopening of the Times Square recruiting station after its renovation.

“I got caught up so quickly in the events,” he said, eventually leaving the group because of the time commitment it required.

He said he was “crushed” by the revelations about Wright’s inflated service record and self-promotion.

“I believed in the organization. It was a feeling of pride to put on the uniform again since I was always proud of my military service,” he said.

“It sunk my heart.”

The Honor Guard website was taken down after accusations of fraud were made. Its Facebook page states in its last post on Nov. 29 that “information has been posted on the Internet which we were not aware of until this month of November 2017. As a result

Courtesy of Guardians of the Green Beret

Papotia Reginald Wright’s military record does not support his claims to have been in Special Forces. we will look into the matter, therefore we will be closing our social media until further notice.”

The post was signed by Maj. Tammy Feliciano from the group’s S-1 office, referring to personnel management sections in Army headquarters units.

The Guardians of the Green Beret claim they have been able to find no evidence that Feliciano served in the military after a Freedom of Information Act request to the National Personnel Records Center.

“She is calling herself a major. She was not active-duty, she was not in the Guard, she was not in the Reserves,” Antson said.

Wright said Feliciano is a civilian and the title was honorary. “She’s never been in the military and she’s never portrayed herself to be in the military.”

She could not be reached

by Stars and Stripes for comment.

The 8th Special Forces New York Honor Guard is officially defunct, Wright told Stars and Stripes in December.

“If people don’t want us to bury veterans, that’s a shame.

That is what our mission was,” he said. carlson.stephen@stripes.com

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Fri Jan 12

6pm - 8pm Walk With Queens 4P Studios Walk With Queens is a women-owned, laser-engraved skateboard deck art company based out of Columbia, S.C. They make limited-edition skateboard decks depicting strong historical women figures. 4P Studios will be displaying these creations during the month of January. Email info@4pstudiosart.com or call 706-267-6724.

7:30pm Garth Newel Piano Quartet AU’s Maxwell Theatre $40, general; $5, students; free, AU students, faculty and staff. Children must be at least 6 years old. Call 706-667-4100 or visit augusta.edu/ maxwelltheatre.

7:30pm Not Fade Away: The Ultimate Buddy Holly Experience Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center Tribute to Buddy Holly performs. $39.50.

Visit augustaamusements.com or call 706-726-0366.

7:30pm St. Paul and the Broken Bones Miller Theater $33.50-$150. Visit millertheateraugusta. com or call 800-514-3849.

7:30pm The Lonesome River Band Imperial Theatre

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Friday, January 12, 2018

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Sat Jan 13

11am Martin Luther King Jr. Parade Dyess Park Community Center Presented by the Augusta chapter of the NAACP and the city of Augusta, this year’s parade theme is Steadfast and Immovable. Line-up begins at 9 a.m., and the parade begins at 11 a.m. The parade will start at Dyess Park Community Center, go south on James Brown Boulevard, west onto Wrightsboro Road, north onto Augusta Avenue, east onto Laney Walker Boulevard, north onto 11th Street and east onto D’Antignac Street.

7:30pm USC Aiken Extra Inning Bull Riding James Brown Arena $18-$25. Call 877-4AUGTIX or visit georgialinatix.com.

Sun Jan 14

All day Annual Augusta Futurity James Brown Arena $14.50-$35. Runs daily through Saturday, Jan. 20. For a schedule of events, visit augustafuturity.com.

Thu Jan 18

9pm Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Sky City $35, advance; $40, day of show. 21+ with valid ID. Visit skycityaugusta.com.

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Friday, 12,12, 2018 Friday,January January 2018

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