Griffon
| 12/07/2009

Sgt. 1st Class Lou Stevens, Command Career Counselor for the 98th Training Division (IET) wanted something he could use to help fill and maintain the strength of the 21 Drill Sergeant battalions, broken down into 105 companies or 1890 Drill Sergeant positions available within the 98th Tng. Div. (IET).

| 12/07/2009

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is considered an anxiety disorder. Anxiety is comprised of worrisome thoughts plus excessive emotional and physical pain.

Alcohol dependence (defined as five or more drinks in the same sitting) is a powerful disorder with enormous health consequences. Alcohol dependence and chronic, excessive alcohol consumption are associated with a high risk of developing various types of chronic diseases, including psychiatric conditions, neurologic impairment and cardiovascular disease, some of which are fatal. It is estimated that in the year 2000, alcohol-consumption was responsible for 85,000 deaths, or 3.5% of all deaths, in the United States, making alcohol consumption the third leading behavioral cause of death after tobacco use, poor diet and physical inactivity. More than 55,000 veterans were admitted into addiction treatment facilities in 2000 .

DETC/AMSCUS/GOARMYED
Sgt. Heddleson | 06/08/2010

UMT has helped me in more ways than I thought possible. I am in the Air Force Reserves and have a full time job with the Government as a Civil Service employee at Robins AFB. I am also married to my wonderful wife Rebecca and have a beautiful nine-year-old daughter, Brooklyn. Before UMT, I was attending a local college, Macon State University in Macon, GA, enrolled in their Pre-Engineering degree program. It was a 30-minute drive, to and from school. I loved going to class and interacting with the students and teachers but found that working full time, going to school full time, keeping my daughter on the weekends, and going to the Reserves one weekend a month was wearing me out quick.

My goal at the time was to be an engineer on base. I soon found out that the local engineering school here did not offer any night time classes in engineering. It was too inconvenient to travel to any other school, so I was back to square one. I had kept working on my engineering core until I could come up with another plan, praying that god would give me an answer. 

Commentary
Spc. Christina Dion | 12/07/2009

One of the worst states of mind we can find ourselves in is one caused by stress. We may be worried or concerned about a situation in our life or in the lives of our loved ones. For many of us, this is a daily reality as we fret about the economy, our children and their choices, too much work with a paycheck that buys less and less, or whether or not the Panthers will make it to the playoffs. Alright, that last one is a stretch (at least for most of us).

TRAVEL USA
| 02/19/2010

Mossy Creek Barnyard Festival welcomes visitors every year with whiffs of barbecue and other delicious foods, sounds of fiddles and original and creative arts and crafts in and amongst the old homestead buildings throughout the terraced woods under the pine tree canopy. The amphitheater in Dogwood Hollow features bluegrass bands, gospel quartets, and dance teams.

Over 40 old-timers resurrect pioneer ways: dipping candles, carving decoys (in fact, one carver is a member of the prestigious Ward Foundation in Delaware) and knobbits, building fishing rods, weaving chairseats with cornshucks, making baskets, building dulcimers and brooms, tatting, cutting silhouettes, tinsmithing and more. Childrens’ activities include storytelling, farm animals, hayrides, horseback rides and a magician-ventriloquist.

The Griffon
Larry M. Cruz | 02/19/2010

I hope you and your families had a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.  We are looking at firming up the location of our annual Full-Time Staff (FTS) Conference. We will announce the location of the conference soon. It will be a great opportunity for us to do some FTS networking and team building among our three divisions and brigade FTS while simultaneously providing our new commanding general with a warm FTS welcome. 

We will push attendees as far down as fiscally possibly but will certainly include all division and brigade FTS, at a minimum.  As we get closer to the event, we will distribute a formal email and operation order detailing the specifics.  I can not tell you how much I appreciate the hard work you all put in day in and day out in support of our Soldiers, families and the command group.

| 06/08/2010

Jefferson County West Virginia, where you can “Discover It All,” welcomes all members of the 108th Training Command. We are the perfect spot for your R&R assignment.

In Briefs…
C. Todd Lopez | 12/07/2009

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 13, 2009) — Servicemembers who participated in the first state-side training program for joint counter-IED teams have just arrived in Afghanistan for a year-long assignment.

The Tidal Sun pilot program trained servicemembers to work as part of counter-IED teams to gather information and evidence from improvised explosive device event sites -- locations where IEDs have exploded or were discovered -- and then send that information to higher headquarters for further analysis.

From the Command Sergeant Major
Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Payne | 06/07/2010

I first met then Lt. Col. James Mallory almost 15 years ago as part of 1st Team, the senior leadership team for 1st Brigade, 108th Division Training.  I was a 1st Sgt. and acting Command Sgt. Maj. in the 2nd Battalion, 485th Regiment in Asheboro, N.C. and he commanded the 1st Battalion, 518th Regiment in Asheville, N.C.

I then served under him briefly when I was assigned as the Command Sgt. Maj. of the 3rd Battalion, 318th Regiment in Hickory, N.C. while he was the Commander of the 1st Brigade, 108th Division.

In 1999, I became the Commandant of the 108th Division Drill Sergeant School (DSS). Shortly after becoming the Commandant I was proud to be presiding over my first graduation class. From a class start of twenty eight candidates we had eight, “The Great Eight” I called them, to graduate. To graduate from DSS at that time it typically took over a year to complete the course. And we were graduating two classes a year. During the length of a course a number of issues could come in a Soldier’s life that would cause them to drop from the course.

The Griffon
| 06/08/2010

As the 108^th Training Command (IET) continues to grow, it will be difficult for the Public Affairs Staff to visit each brigade, battalion and company to cover news events. Public Affairs is the responsibility of commanders and Soldiers alike. The PAO is kicking off the Unit Public Affairs Program (UPAR), which will allow any Soldier to be the additional eyes and ears for your unit and the PAO. By volunteering you will assume the duties of UPAR as an additional duty.  The Public Affairs Office will hold training sessions and workshops during battle assembly (BA) to meet, train, and certify you as an UPAR.

Do you enjoy taking pictures? You can be the historian for your unit. As a Unit Public Affairs Representative (UPAR) you will take pictures of newsworthy events and submit them along with stories to the 108th Training Command PAO for review and possible submission in the 108th Training Command publication, “The Griffon” and 108th Training Command Website.