01_HP (Page 1) - Herald-Post

8 NEWS
Thursday, April 10, 2008 HP
KAISERSLAUTERN
New class aims for community awareness
Series begins with discussion about
teentrendsinsubstance abuse
by Christine June
USAG KAISERSLAUTERN PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Asamother of two, Sgt. 1st Class
Norma Mejia was looking for
answers and guidance when
she attended the Adolescent Training
for Parents class March 20 at the
learning center on Landstuhl Regional
Medical Center.
Discussing teen trends in substance
use, this class is a first in a series of
awareness training hosted by the U.S.
Army Garrison Kaiserslautern.
Classes will be held once a quarter,
said Heather Robinson, the garrison’s
Employee Assistance Program coordinator.
This program is a confidential
assessment and referral service to help
Department of the Army civilians,
retirees and their family members to
overcome personal or job-related difficulties.
“What I’m doing is identifying the
awareness months and then locating
the subject-matter experts in the area
to give presentations,” said Robinson,
who initiated this series of classes.
Presenting this first class was Ruth
Hines, the Adolescent Substance Abuse
Counseling Service clinical supervisor,
acontractorwiththe U.S. Army. She
supervises two ASACS counselors who
are faculty members at the Kaiserslautern
Middle and High schools. They
provide awareness classes and offer
free counseling services to students.
She first talked about inhalant use
among teenagers in conjunction with
National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness
Week, held this year March 16-22.
Other topics included alcohol and
drug use, harmful effects and signs of
use. Hines also explained how parents
and community members can make a
difference and what types of resources
are available here.
“It gave me more knowledge on
some of the things‘to keep my eye on,’”
said Mejia, who is a parent of a preteen
and teenager. She said she would recommend
this class to other parents.
About 15 garrison child and youth
service workers also attended the class.
Christine June
Heather Robinson, U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern’s Employee Assistance Program coordinator,
talks with parents and garrison child and youth services employees March 20 during
the Adolescent Training for Parents class at the learning center on Landstuhl Regional Medical
Center.
“We all want positive children – children
doing positive things and drugs
prevent them from doing that,” said
Michael Larkins, who has worked at
the Landstuhl Middle School and Teen
Center for five years.
Robinson said the next class will be
on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome to be held
sometime in June at the Landstuhl
Learning Center. “I know about all
these resources in the community, and
I’m heretohelpandprovidesupport,”
Inhalant Abuse
For more information about preventing and
recognizing inhalant abuse, visit www.inhalants.
org or www.poisonprevention.org.
said Robinson, who can be reached at
DSN 486-1710 or heather.robinson@
eur.army.mil.
Classes in this series fulfill one hour
of the annual three-hour mandatory
training requirement for DA civilians.
212th MPs to
support Iraq
operations
By Angelika Lantz
21STTSC PUBLIC AFFAIRS
It’s all about training. Training is what prepared
them for this day and training is what their mission
will be once they get downrange. The Soldiers of the
212th Military Police Company departed Rhine Ordnance
Barracks April 3 for a deployment in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
While in Iraq, the unit will assess and train the
Iraqi police force in its area of command, said Capt.
Jay Cash, 212th company commander. “We will train
them to be as good as they can be. The better they are,
the earlier we will be able to get out of Iraq as a nation.
Our job is to make them a success,” he said.
The 212th MPs plan to use the lessons learned during
the intense pre-deployment training and past experience
to train their Iraqi counterparts. “There is a
lot of experience here,” Cash said. “Most of these Soldiers
have already been downrange once or twice with
other units.”
The 212th MP Company is a subordinate unit of
the 18th MP Brigade’s 793rd MP Battalion, which falls
under the 21st Theater Sustainment Command headquartered
in Kaiserslautern. They returned to Kitzingen
from Afghanistan in May 2006, only to be moved
to McCulley Barracks, Wachernheim and from there
Angelika Lantz
Agroup of Soldiers from the 212th Military Police Company
waits April 3 at the Deployment Processing Center Kaiserslautern
to be bussed to Ramstein Air Base to board a plane that will
take them downrange.
to Wiesbaden Army Airfield. Now, the next time the
colors will be uncased will be downrange.
“We started from scratch, but everyone in our chain
of command is very aware of that and of the crucial
importance of training,” Cash said. “They have been
extremely supportive and given us every opportunity
to get every Soldier in the unit ready. Our deployment
was pushed back from January in order for us to complete
the training cycle.”
It appears to have worked. “I am ready to go,” said
squad leader Sgt. James Runner. “This is my first deployment,
but I am very confident inmysquad and in
their ability to do their mission.”
Their commander has another reason to be confident.“I’ve
been the company commander for almost a
year now, and I know every Soldier in this unit,” Cash
said. “I have been selected for the express purpose of
getting this unit ready to deploy, and ready we are.”
DFAS to help retirees
with pay concerns
IMCOM-Europe Public Affairs
A representative from Defense Finance
and Accounting System will be visiting installations
in Germany to assist retirees and
annuitants.
“This is good news for those living overseas
who do not have access to a toll-free number
for DFAS’ retired pay operations, which can
make it more difficult to resolve problems or
concerns they have about retired pay,” said
Mike Malone, retirement services officer for
Installation Management Command-Europe.
Malone said the representative will have access
to the retired and annuity pay system, allowing
for on-the-spot changes. Accordingly,
retirees will need to have readily available all
pertinent information for any action needing
completion. Such data includes: banking
codes, addresses with postal codes, social security
numbers and complete names.
The representative will be at these locations
on the following dates:
April 15: USAG Mannheim, Room 103,
Building 255, Sullivan Barracks, 9-11:30
a.m.;
April 15: Ramstein Air Base, Room 115,
Building 2106, 1-3:30 p.m.;
April 16: Wiesbaden Airfield, Room 105,
Building 1023W, 9 a.m.-noon;
April 16: USAG Darmstadt, Room 122,
Building 4027, Cambrai-Fritsch Kaserne,
1:30-5p.m.