Officials at JB Balad, Iraq, have introduced a new resiliency training program to help servicemembers deal with combat stress. Balad is the first base in Southwest Asia to test the flash forward resiliency training program. “The intent of this training is to help servicemembers lower the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorders and thoughts of suicide, and hopefully eliminate them in the future,” said Maj. Yaakov Bindell, chaplain with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. The program offers seven modules, ranging from leadership techniques to evaluating stressful combat situations. “The bottom line is being able to assess a fellow servicemember’s present emotional state and assist them in not making bad choices, which may hurt them or someone else. It’s about saving people,” explained Bindell. (Balad report by SSgt. Phillip Butterfield)
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
