U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Laura Comacho, of New Braunfels, Texas, the non-commissioned officer-in-charge of the new mild traumatic brain injury recovery clinic on Forward Operating Base Sharana, stands next to the as yet to be mounted sign for the new facility March 21. Photo by Sgt. Ken Scar

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Ken Scar

The Department of Defense estimates that 22 percent of all combat casualties from Operation Enduring Freedom are brain injuries. Of those, the majority are mild traumatic brain injuries. Victims of MTBIs don’t have the extreme symptoms of the more serious TBI, but even mild damage to the brain can last a lifetime. Fortunately, sufferers of MTBI have an excellent chance at making a full recovery if the injury is treated properly within the first 72 hours, so treating MTBI has become increasingly important to health care professionals in the field.

The medical treatment facility at Forward Operating Base Sharana now has a posh new facility to treat those casualties during the most crucial time in their recovery, the first 24 hours.
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Navy Ensign Darius Mercer, right, and sailors assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones transfer six rescued Filipino mariners to U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Baranof in the Persian Gulf, March 15, 2012. U.S. Navy photo

Central Command March 15 2012

Crews of the Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones and Coast Guard Cutter Baranof rescued 24 Filipino mariners here today, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command officials reported.

The John Paul Jones, assigned to Combined Maritime Forces Task Force 152, responded to a distress call from the Liberian-flagged motor vessel Stolt Valor, operating in international waters 48 nautical miles southeast of Farsi Island, Iran, officials said.

When the John Paul Jones’ crew spotted one of two life rafts signaling with a small light and launched the ship’s rigid-hull inflatable boat to investigate, they found 16 people in the first raft and eight more in the other.
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Royal Naval Reservist Aircraft Engineer Mechanic Michelle Ping was mentioned in dispatches for her bravery during her first tour of Afghanistan last year. Ping usually works for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service in Leeds, but during her tour she was a paramedic attached to various foot patrols. When one of her team was shot while on a rooftop, she lay on top of him to protect him from further injuries.

Members of the Naval Service took four of the ten awards presented at the Sun Military Awards – better known as the Millies – a glittering event in London also attended by royalty and celebrities. …

Billed as ‘a night of heroes’ at the Imperial War Museum in London the fourth annual awards – endorsed by the Ministry of Defence and better known as the Millies – saw soldiers, sailors and airmen rub shoulders with royalty, military and political leaders, including Prime Minister David Cameron, and celebrities such as footballer David Beckham, Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, Little Britain’s David Walliams and Strictly Come Dancing judge Alesha Dixon.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry were guests of honour with four of the ten awards being presented to members of the Naval Service.

Navy News

Undeterred by the blizzard of gunfire around her, paramedic Michelle Ping sprinted on to a roof to shield a stricken comrade and give him first aid.
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Prepared by the Biological and Environmental Research Information System, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, genomicscience.energy.gov/ and genomics.energy.gov/.

Every cell in the human body, except eggs and sperm, has 46 chromosomes, arranged in 23 pairs. These chromosomes consist of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), four different proteins in a variety of sequences. In total, the 23 pairs of chromosomes are the blueprint for you. From the moment that your mother’s egg and father’s sperm joined to create a zygote, this complex arrangement of DNA has guided your body’s growth and functioning.
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Afghan air force Lt. Sakina, prepares to strike a simulated attacker a during a woman's self-defense class at Kabul International Airport, Feb. 29, 2012.

Advisers from the 439th and 738th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadrons recently taught a class to four Afghan air force female personnel about the importance of using self-defense to escape a violent situation.

The training prepared the female students physically and mentally for what they could experience if placed in a dangerous scenario. The students learned that true self defense is more than just personal protection and learning a set of techniques to escape from an attacker.
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