Army Maj. Gen. Raymond Carpenter, the acting director of the Army National Guard, addresses the 132nd General Conference of the National Guard Association of the United States in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 21, 2010. "We are actually turning people away from our organization," Carpenter said. "Who would have guessed that almost nine years into two wars we would have a volunteer Army that is turning people away?" (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

AUSTIN, Texas – Leadership, screening recruits for compatibility with military service and better post-deployment follow-up are among solutions the acting director of the Army National Guard recently suggested for the spike in Soldier suicides.

Speaking at a breakout session of 132nd general conference of the National Guard Association of the United States here last month, Army Maj. Gen. Raymond Carpenter continued sounding the alarm about the current suicide rate. “We [could] be at 100 suicides by the end of this year,” he said.

But Carpenter said it is not an intractable problem. “We have an incredible amount of brainpower to put against this,” he said. “We can solve this.”

One piece of the suicide prevention mosaic: Leadership at every level.

Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Army Gen. William "Kip" Ward, commander, U.S. Africa Command, meet with National Guard adutant generals and Defense Department leaders at the 2010 National Guard State Partnership Program Conference at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, on Aug. 11, 2010. The 62-nation SPP is a superb tool for Africa Command, the combatant commander has said. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

STUTTGART, Germany — National Guard adjutants general and Defense Department leaders here this week are hearing how the Guard’s 17-year-old State Partnership Program is boosting the partnership capacity of one of the nation’s newest combatant commands.

“The benefits … are many and impressive,” Army Gen. William “Kip” Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said in his 2010 posture statement.

Adjutants general whose states are partnered with countries within AFRICOM’s 53-nation area of responsibility and leaders including Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Dennis McCarthy, assistant secretary of defense for Reserve Affairs, are here for the 2010 State Partnership Program Conference hosted by AFRICOM. Ward is scheduled to speak to the group today.

The SPP started with European Command partners in 1993 following the collapse of the Iron Curtain. EUCOM spawned AFRICOM in 2007, and there are now eight National Guard states partnered with African nations.

State partnerships foster military-to-military, military-to-civilian and civilian-to-civilian cooperation.

“The [SPP] delivers programs and activities that build broad capabilities with our African partners,” Ward said. “The habitual relationships this builds adds tremendous value to our efforts. This program is very valuable to [AFRICOM], and we look forward to expanding it as our African partners request greater participation.”

Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, tells about 1,800 Guardmembers attending the 39th Annual Conference of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States in St. Louis, Mo., on Aug. 8, 2010, that the National Guard likely will continue to play a significant role in overseas contingency operations for the foreseeable future. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ST. LOUIS – The National Guard likely will continue to play a significant role in overseas contingency operations for the foreseeable future, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said here Aug. 8.

“Just like we have in Kosovo for 14 years and the Sinai (and) the Horn of Africa, I think the National Guard will be asked to stay longer … and give (our) civilian-acquired skills to … emerging government,” Gen. Craig McKinley told about 1,800 Guard members attending the 39th annual conference of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States.

The Guard already is making a significant military-to-civilian contribution through the agribusiness development teams on the ground in Afghanistan, a program born in Missouri, he said

“The things that we bring from our civilian occupations will mean that the National Guard will be in huge demand for years to come,” McKinley said.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, talk before addressing about 1,800 Guardmembers attending the 39th Annual Conference of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States in St. Louis, Mo., on Aug. 8, 2010. The National Guard is an essential element of overseas mission success, the governor said. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The National Guard is making an essential contribution to the overseas warfight, Missouri’s governor said here today.

Recently returned from a Middle East visit, Gov. Jay Nixon told about 1,800 Guardmembers attending the 39th annual conference of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS) that commanders repeatedly told him the Guard is vital to the mission.

“Without the Guard, the job just could not get done,” Nixon said. Governors are the commanders-in-chief of their state’s National Guard, while they are in state status.

“I salute you for your service to our country,” he said. “Your readiness, willingness and ability to step into the breach on behalf of our fellow Americans have been demonstrated countless times over the decades and especially in the homeland here since 9/11 as a key part of a highly trained, highly dedicated military force that is second to none.”

A U.S. Army National Guard soldier, a member of an entry identification team, watches the U.S./Mexico border near Nogales, Ariz., on Jan. 17, 2007. National Guard soldiers and airmen participating in operation Jump Start are acting as the eyes and ears for the Border Patrol in securing the border. DoD photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill, U.S. Army. (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va. — National Guard troops in four states are in training today as they prepare to join colleagues already supporting Border Patrol agents on the nation’s Southwest border.

“The National Guard has been providing Southwest border support for a number of years through our Counterdrug … program,” said Army Maj. Gen. Peter Aylward, who is coordinating the latest operation at the National Guard Bureau. “Today we have more than 360 folks providing that kind of support. For this new mission, we have 150 folks, and we’ll ramp up as part of a phased, deliberate operation to as many as 1,200.”

These Guardsmen will support Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Soldiers from the Alabama National Guard build and maintain miles of HESCO barriers to protect Dauphin Island, Ala., beaches from the BP oil spill on July 23, 2010. More than 1,600 National Guardmembers are supporting Operation Deepwater Horizon in four Gulf states. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

MOBILE, Ala. – They stand in the Gulf of Mexico, water waist-high, heat topping 100-degrees, building barriers against oil.

They fly above the waves, directing “vessels of opportunity” to the slick.

They hustle among more than 1,200 people from dozens of agencies coordinating the response to a manmade disaster.

They go door-to-door telling residents and businesses about the British Petroleum claims process.

National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are supporting Operation Deepwater Horizon, the Coast Guard-led effort to corral the oil spill that followed the April 20 explosion and fire on the oil rig for which the operation is named.

Army Maj. Gen. David A. Sprynczynatyk, the adjutant general of the North Dakota National Guard, talks with National Guard troops assigned to Kosovo Forces 12 (KFOR 12), Multi-National Battle Group - East (MNBG-E), at Camp Bondsteel, near Urosevac in eastern Kosovo, on May 23, 2010, during a visit by National Guard and Defense Department leaders. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

PRISTINA, Kosovo – More than a decade into a National Guard mission to support Kosovo’s security and stability, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said he saw significant progress in the young nation during a late May visit here.

 “The mission has evolved over the years from a hot, kinetic fight to supporting … NATO forces … to a point where Kosovo can continue to be an independent country and can stand on its own two feet with good governance,” Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley said during his second visit here.

 “The reason I wanted to come back to Kosovo was to thank these forces – predominantly from North Dakota, but with 13 additional states – for this mission, because I think at times it does drop off the average American citizen’s radar screen,” McKinley said.

 Through the 1990s, this Delaware-sized new nation was wracked by Serbian repression of the Albanian majority and by an insurgency bent on independence. NATO intervention in 1999 ended the violence.

 U.S. troops, including the National Guard, have been part of a NATO and United Nations police force on the ground ever since. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Feb. 17, 2008.

 “The National Guard is a tremendous instrument for smart power,” Missouri Sen. Christopher Bond said in March. Smart power is the application of a range of diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal and cultural tools to foreign-policy demands.

 Here in Kosovo, the National Guard assists in keeping the peace and helping a fledgling nation find its feet. This is one of numerous domestic and overseas missions simultaneously executed by Guardmembers who have seen a greatly increased operational tempo since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Guard’s transformation from a strategic reserve to an operational force.

An Israeli officer briefs Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, from an observation post overlooking the Gaza strip near the Israeli city of Sderot on May 25, 2010. A National Guard delegation is visiting the country to strengthen a relationship with the Israeli Defense Force's Home Front Command and to observe National Level Exercise Turning Point 4. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

SDEROT, Israel — A four-year relationship between the National Guard and the Israeli Defense Force’s Home Front Command is yielding valuable lessons for both sides.

The National Guard is on an endless quest to improve homeland defense in the United States. Circumstances have forced the IDF to be a world leader in homeland defense, as National Guard leaders saw firsthand during a visit to this town overlooking the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the IDF seeks insights on issues such as border operations – something the National Guard has more than two decades of experience with, supporting civilian authorities on the nation’s Southwest border, most notably during Operation Jump Start from 2006-2008.

“Our relationship with Israel is a critical one that is stronger than ever,” Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said Tuesday as he toured Sderot’s civil defense measures. “We greatly value this cooperation. Our exchange of ideas and information with the Home Front Command is of substantial benefit to the National Guard in exercising its responsibilities for homeland defense.”

Although there are significant structural and legal differences, the IDF is broadly analogous to the Army and the HFC is analogous to the National Guard.

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

MCLEAN, Va. – Suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems and on Memorial Day in 2005 one of my best friends chose it.

Though he toyed with joining the Air National Guard, he wasn’t a servicemember, but I am a Soldier touched by suicide, and maybe something in his story will help.

Suicide leaves family members and friends with a peculiar pain entirely different from other deaths, such as losing both parents to natural causes, as I have in the last seven years.

In the almost five years since my friend’s death, the pain has never left; its quality changes, but grief lingers.

Grief and guilt.

Family members and friends ask: Why didn’t I call? Why wasn’t I there? Why didn’t I heed the warnings?

It helps when someone says it is arrogant to think anything we might have done would have made a difference, but it does not make the questions go away – especially as the National Guard’s experience tackling suicide and studies of suicide psychology suggest intervention can be the difference between life and death.

In retrospect, the warnings were all too clear.

Two fellow Soldiers saved the life of full-time Arkansas Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class James Powell, seen here outside a readiness center in Hot Springs, Ark., on April 15, 2010, when they went to his home, found him hanging from the ceiling and cut him down. Intervention at the first signs of trouble and having experts who are available to listen are crucial to helping troubled Soldiers before they ever reach that point, Powell said. "Somebody who's borderline suicidal, the last thing they need to do is be talking to answering machines all day," he said. "All that does is push you over." (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Army Sgt. 1st Class James Powell badly needed someone to answer the phone.

He couldn’t recall crying in 20 years, but the Arkansas National Guard full-timer had broken down, cried, struggled to breathe, had what he later realized was a panic attack and threatened his first sergeant and a lieutenant.

He had been sent home. The next day, a fellow noncommissioned officer from his battalion took Powell to a Veterans Affairs hospital emergency room.

Neither knew that if they told someone Powell was facing a mental health crisis he would vault to the front of the line.

Instead, after several hours waiting, Powell was seen by a doctor. The mental health provider had gone for the day. Powell was sent home with Ambien and Xanax prescriptions, encouraged to sleep and told to call tomorrow to schedule an appointment.

Which was what he was trying to do.

“I kept getting the runaround and talking to machines, and I finally lost it and attempted to hang myself,” Powell said.