Joint Base Lewis-McChord officials have released the names of the four 16^th Combat Aviation Brigade Soldiers killed in Monday night's crash of two OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters inside the southwest training area at JBLM, in Thurston County.

Dead are:

• Capt. Anne M. Montgomery, 25, an Army aviator and a native of North Dakota. She had served on active duty since August 2008, and arrived for duty at JBLM in December 2010.

Montgomery is a 2008 graduate of the United States Military Academy, and had not deployed overseas. Her awards include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Aviator Badge.

• Chief Warrant Officer Three Frank A. Buoniconti, 36, an Army aviator and a native of Colorado. Buoniconti had served on active duty since July 1994, and arrived for duty at JBLM in early November 2011.

Buoniconti was commissioned a Warrant Officer in 2003, and since has had assignments at Fort Bragg, N.C., and the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif. He deployed to Iraq twice, and Afghanistan twice. Buoniconti's awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross,  Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal (six awards), Army Commendation Medal (nine awards), and the Army Commendation Medal w/"V" device, the Army Senior Aviator Badge and other awards and decorations.

• Chief Warrant Officer Three Shan Joseph Satterfield., 32, an Army aviator and a native of Alaska. Satterfield had served on active duty since September 1997, and arrived for duty at JBLM in December 2009.

Satterfield was commissioned a Warrant Officer in 2002, and since has had assignments in Korea and at Fort Campbell, Ky.  He deployed to Iraq once, and to Afghanistan once. Satterfield's awards include the Air Medal (two awards), Army Commendation Medal (two awards), the Aviator Badge and other awards and decorations.

• Chief Warrant Officer Two Lucas Daniel Sigfrid, 32, an Army aviator and a native of Alabama. Sigfrid had served on active duty since May 2008, and arrived for duty at JBLM in January 2011.

Sigfrid was commissioned a Warrant Officer in 2008, and had not deployed overseas. His awards include the National Defense Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Aviator Badge.

Montgomery and Buoniconti and were assigned to A Troop, 4^th Squadron, 6^th Attack Reconnaissance Squadron, 16^th Combat Aviation Brigade, and Satterfield and Sigfrid were assigned to C Troop, 4/6 ARS, 16^th CAB.

An investigation into the cause of the accident has already begun by the Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., who is the overall lead in the accident investigation. The circumstances of the crash will be determined by the investigation team. Additional information will be released as it becomes available. According to a base safety officer, the helicopters were on a routine night training flight.

"The Soldiers and leadership at 16^th Combat Aviation Brigade mourn the loss of our patriotic heroes," said Col. Robert Dickerson, 16th CAB commander, in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends and loved ones of the aviators involved in this accident. We are conducting a thorough investigation to find the cause of this event and offer our utmost support to the families during this difficult time."

Imagine being a psychologist sitting across from your patient.

Now imagine that patient is actually hundreds of miles away.

The first-ever live Introduction to Telemental Health Delivery Workshop at the National Center for Telehealth and Technology's (T2) headquarters on Joint Base Lewis-McChord last week offered guidance to providers on offering mental health services from a distance - in this case, using videoconferencing technology.

"The (Department of Defense) is pushing for this form of care because it's a way to reach a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't get care," T2 clinical health psychologist Dr. Greg Kramer said.

Kramer was one of the all-day workshop's presenters. About 25 health care professionals from every military branch attended the training, some coming from as far away as Japan. The idea was to build a knowledge base so that clinicians can provide care even when their patient is too far to get to.

The session included information on the history of teletechnology in health care, addressed legal concerns and gave them the chance to practice videoconferencing with each other.

"It allows them to get comfortable with the technology," Kramer said.

In fact, the use of remote technology in mental health care is relatively new. Efforts to incorporate it into DOD policies and procedures increased in the late 2000s.

Since then emphasis on these programs has increased, in hopes to better serve those who live in areas where there are shortages of mental health care providers. An estimated 87 million Americans live in places where care is scarce, and up to 25 percent of servicemembers screen positive for mental health concerns, according to T2's Introduction to Telemental Health.

"This allows us to provide things like telepsychiatric appointments especially in rural and high needs areas," T2 clinical telehealth division chief Dr. Jamie Adler said.

The technology can be used in a variety of ways, from treating post-traumatic stress disorder and depression to wellness and resiliency interventions.

Of course, the new medium for care comes with some specific quirks. Participants at the workshop got a taste of technical difficulties when T2's network went down briefly during the training. Other issues had to do with clinical practice - for instance, if a patient appears to be avoiding eye contact, it's more likely that they're looking at the face on the computer screen instead of the video camera.

Many of the attendees had already begun using teletechnology to provide services to patients at off-site locations, but the rare in-person training (as opposed to online sessions) gave providers the chance to learn about and discuss technical, legal and clinical elements of providing telemental health care.

"I took some notes that I think are valid points for implementing this," Dr. Agnes Babkirk, a psychologist from U.S. Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan, said.

She's bringing that information back to her colleagues, who currently use teletechnology to interact with patients three or four times a week.

Dr. Daniel Christensen, the chief of Madigan's Soldier Readiness Service, had a similar experience. The service has been using teletechnology for post-deployment behavioral health screenings since March of this year. He said the training validated the practices they already had in place.

In the future, psychologists at T2 hope to offer more trainings, and expand them to reach providers at different levels (for instance, separate sessions for those considering using teletechnology, beginners and experienced clinicians).

For more information, including a Telemental Health Planning and Implementation Guide, visit t2health.org/programs-telehealth.html.

(Army Times) -- The Army Physical Fitness School, which played a key role in designing the new test, is building the scoring scales that will separate the average from the exceptional. The school has completed 3,000 of 10,000 initial tests. The final scoring scale is still a long way off, but patterns emerging in the initial tests provide a good look at what you will need to pass the challenging new test.

The school provided Army Times an exclusive look at the average scores for men and women in each of the new test's five categories, as well as the high and low numbers for each.

The averages, rounded to the closest whole number, are:

Push-ups in one minute: Men, 36; women, 19.

Shuttle run: Men, 16 seconds; women, 18 seconds.

Rower in one minute: Men, 33; women, 31.

Long jump: Men, 79 inches; women, 61 inches.

1.5-mile run: Men, 11:02; women, 13:12.

These scores are not the goal, unless your goal is to be average. But if you hit these numbers, you should pass.

While the fitness school continues to compile the data needed to build the full scoring model, we will use a statistical analysis of the averages and compare them with average scores obtained on the current fitness test to help you see where you are, and where you need to be.

This effort is challenging because the Army does not keep good statistical or historic data on individual fitness tests and trends - a fact bemoaned by fitness school officials. For our purposes, we will compare these new averages with the average scores of trainees at Fort Jackson, S.C., and the average scores of noncommissioned officers whose scores equate to points toward promotion.

To read the story, click here.

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Retired Joint Base Lewis-McChord 1st Sgt. Chris Ward is Central Washington University's new Veterans Coordinator for Programming, Recruiting and Retention. The hiring further enhances Central's reputation as a military-friendly school, officials said.
Until recently, Ward was the senior military instructor for CWU's Army ROTC program. In his new post, he will work to encourage veterans to choose CWU when considering their options after the military.
"There's already a great, outstanding veterans program going on (at CWU), and I'm just going to help make that even better," Ward said.

The veterans coordinator will work in conjunction with the CWU Veterans Center, which oversees about 380 student veterans typically enrolled during the academic year on the Ellensburg campus, and with military personnel and veterans off-campus.
Associate Dean for Student Life Keith Champagne, who oversees the veterans coordinator position, describes the new post as an "extension of the Veterans Center," and specifies that the coordinator's primary goal of recruiting will "assist veterans with the transition from the military to the university."
In addition to his off-campus recruiting, Ward hopes to "be an advocate for all veterans on campus, since I'm a veteran myself."
Ward brings more than 20 years of military experience to this position. Originally from Woodland, Calif., Ward was an infantryman in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Haiti, Korea and Iraq during his military career.

He came to Ellensburg with his wife and two children (one of whom will be attending CWU next year) three years ago to teach CWU's Army ROTC students. He has lived in Washington for more than 10 years and was previously stationed at JBLM.

(USA Today) -- The Army will outfit a brigade of soldiers in Afghanistan in the next few weeks with gauges worn on their bodies that can alert medics to an explosion's severity - proof of possible brain injury.

It is the beginning of an effort over the next several months to wire up soldiers and vehicles with sensors, black boxes and digital cameras.

The data may shed light on how blast exposures damage the brain, even when a soldier appears only dazed, researchers say. An estimated 300,000 troops have suffered mild brain injuries, mostly from blast, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"(This) is the beginning of a process...that's going to lead us to collecting the data researchers need to untie this Gordian knot," says Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff.

Sensors will measure blast effects from buried bombs known as improvised explosive devices that have killed nearly 3,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and wounded about 30,000. The newest sensor, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)for nearly $1 million, is about the size of the time piece on a wristwatch and weighs less than an ounce.  

For the complete story, click here.     

Apache attack helicopters will soon field a new, high-tech Ground Fire Acquisition System, which uses cameras and infrared sensors to instantly identify the source location of ground fire, service officials said. 

"GFAS (Ground Fire Acquisition System) detects ground fire. It allows us to take information about incoming fire, get our sensors on it and identify and prosecute ground targets," said Maj. Justin Highley, Assistant product manager for the Longbow Apache.

The infrared sensors built into the GFAS system detect muzzle flashes from the ground, allowing Apache pilots to get their sensors on potential targets and immediately know the location, and distance of ground fire, Highley explained. 

Next spring, 1-101 Aviation out of Fort Campbell will become the first unit equipped with GFAS, he said.

The cameras on the aircraft detect the muzzle flash from ground fire - and move the information through an Aircraft Gateway Processor into the cockpit so pilots will see an icon on their display screen, said Lt. Col. Jeff Johnson, product manager, Longbow Apache. 

"The beauty of this system is that we are not changing the aircraft software. We are not adding displays. It's integrated through an Aircraft Gateway Processor," he said. 

Upon receiving the information about the ground fire on their display screens, the aircraft crew can move their Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensors, or MTADS/PNVS, onto the target at the touch of a button, Johnson said. 

"The crew sees the point of origin where the muzzle flash was detected,"
he said. "It is not just about the aircraft, but about getting information to guys on the ground who are in the fight. Apache has led the way for other platforms with net-centric operations and situational awareness." 

The GFAS effort - called an Early User Evaluation - has undergone a range of key tests at places such as Mesa Ariz., and Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., Johnson explained. 

Pending successful outcome of the User Evaluation, the Apache Program Manager will look at expanding GFAS' capabilities, including integrating the technology with Blue Force Tracker display screens, Johnson said. 

"Crews often return from missions in Afghanistan with small-arms damage to the aircraft," Johnson explained. "GFAS is an offensive targeting system. It is not a piece of aircraft survivability equipment. It helps us fulfill our mission of closing with and destroying the enemy." 

"How many of those forces who've been trying to shoot down our helicopters with small arms would have been eliminated by now if we had been able to pinpoint their locations?" Johnson said. "A recent historical example of why we need GFAS is the battle for Camp Keating in October 2009. We lost eight Americans and and had 24 wounded in one day because we could not locate an attacking enemy during the daytime."

"Medevac could not extract our wounded until (9 p.m.), when it was dark and those small-arms weapons had finally been located and destroyed -- after 8 or 9 hours of fighting," Johnson said. "To me, that's unacceptable. Our Soldiers deserve better."

Normalizing U.S. military duty tours in South Korea will increase combat readiness and greatly reduce stress for service members and their families, the top U.S. military commander in the region told the Senate Armed Services Committee here today.

"A force multiplier, tour normalization keeps trained and ready military personnel in place for longer periods of time," said Army Gen. Walter "Skip" Sharp, commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea. "It improves readiness, combat capability, lowers turbulence in units and reduces the stress placed on our troops, units and families."

Tour normalization in South Korea is an initiative the Defense Department and Sharp have been working on since December 2008. The initiative increases troop tour lengths in South Korea to three years and allows their families to accompany them.

The initiative is part of the Strategic Alliance 2015 agreement that hands over wartime operational control on the Korean Peninsula to the South Korea military in December 2015. The agreement also calls for U.S. forces to reposition to two enduring hubs under the Yongsan Relocation Plan and Land Partnership Plan.

Repositioning U.S. forces "realizes stationing efficiencies and signals a continued American commitment to defense of Korea and the engagement," Sharp said. "Restationing also enhances force protection and survivability."

Currently, 4,400 military families are in South Korea on command-sponsored tours. About 12,000 families will be there once tour normalization is fully implemented by the end of 2015.

"I think everyone is aware of the importance of tour normalization, with the increase of the readiness that it brings to our units that are over there; with the fact that it does show our commitment, which is a great deterrent value to North Korea," the general said.

Sharp said the tour normalization plan he will present this week to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will be "an affordable plan to get to full tour normalization." However, he acknowledged, the duty tour initiative's initial costs for moving an additional 10,000 families and compensating troops' housing needs will not be cheap.

"We are looking at many different options in order to be able to reduce the costs, and looking at many different options as far as how long it will take," Sharp said.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Brig. Gen. Daniel York, commanding general of the 104th Training Division (Leader Training), along with other senior military leaders and elected officials, will dedicate the 104th Training Division Headquarters building Saturday, April 9, in memory of Staff Sgt. Coby G. Schwab, a U.S. Army Reserve Soldier and former member of JBLM's 3rd Stryker Brigade.

The building dedication ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at the 104th Headquarters building located at the JBLM Logistics Center. Family and friends of Staff Sgt. Schwab will be in attendance.

Staff Sgt. Schwab, an Army Reserve Soldier and a Puyallup resident, was killed May 3, 2007, during a recovery operation of a damaged vehicle near a canal. Schwab was returning to his vehicle after reattaching the recovery straps to the disabled vehicle which was threatening to pull both vehicles into the canal when he was killed in a secondary explosion caused by an IED. The incident took place near Ar Ramadi, during his second deployment in Iraq.

Schwab was assigned to Company B, 321st Engineer Battalion, 301st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 416th Theater Engineer Command. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star with Valor Device, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Combat Action Badge. At the time of his death, Schwab was 25.

Schwab served previously as an Infantryman with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, from February 2001 to February 2005. He was a Stryker vehicle commander and team leader and deployed with 3/2 SBCT to Iraq in 2003 -2004. Following that deployment he left active duty and continued his military service by transferring to the United States Army Reserve.

Schwab was passionate about ensuring that Soldiers had proper training and he used his previous active duty deployment experience with the Stryker Brigade to prepare his fellow Reserve Soldiers for duty in Iraq.

This from The News Tribune: A soldier who has just returned from a tour overseas fired a gun during an argument with his wife and has locked himself inside his home with his 2-year-old old child while refusing to speak to authorities, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said Sunday night.

The SWAT team was called to the home at 130^th Street and Meridian Avenue just outside Puyallup about 8:30 p.m.

The wife safely escaped the home.

"He's inside his residence armed, refusing to talk to us or come out," Troyer said.

The soldier was later arrested on suspicion of assault after a tip led the SWAT team to a home in the 7600 block of 35th Street West in University Place, Troyer said.

The Transition Assistance Program is failing war veterans and their families, according to Pentagon reports obtained by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. See the article here.