Topic: Fort Campbell

Online enrollment keeps climbing at APSU

By Austin Peay State University | April 3, 2008 |

With 13 fully online degree programs and scores of online classes, Austin Peay State University’s online enrollment continues to soar.

Prior to Fall 2000, APSU offered no online courses. As of Spring 2008, online enrollment has reached 3,430, compared with 2,936 for Spring 2007—a 17 percent increase in one year.

Julia McGee, interim director of the Center for Extended and Distance Education, said, “In addition to those students pursuing an online degree, many main campus and Fort Campbell students supplement their courses with online offerings.” «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Education, News, Technology | No Comments

“Disgusted” army wife speaks out on Army’s response to soldier suicide surge

By Debbie Boen | February 4, 2008 |

Editor’s Note: Even as Ms. Boen was preparing this article, the issue of soldier suicide exploded on the news front again with these statistics:

Last fall, there was an article in the Leaf Chronicle [10.12.07] titled, Fort Campbell General stresses suicide prevention. It reported that with nine suicides for the year, and 16 deaths pending investigation, and with three suicides in the last two weeks, the general said:

“This is unacceptable and it must stop. I want everyone associated with Fort Campbell to take pause, and to focus on what we can do as a community to reverse this trend.”

According to the Fort Campbell Courier, [12.20.07 vol. 43, no. 51], Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, Commanding General at Fort Campbell, made suicide prevention his priority since he took command in 2006. He expanded the “buddy care” program, which has soldiers watching out for each other, to “unit watch,” a program used by commanders when a soldier has suicidal thoughts. Now he is training families to recognize signs through “Building Family Resiliency” programs. He was quoted as saying:

“The individual has got to take personal responsibility. They have got to take responsibility for themselves and realize that they can save their own lives. It comes back to the individual.”

An army wife spoke out about these articles and about what was going on at the base because of the suicide scares. This is her view, in her words:

I only became aware of these “programs” when there was apparently an increase in suicides in the November/December time frame.

At first I thought they had to be kidding.

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, Opinion | 2 Comments

Theatre Row arrives at APSU with ‘Paradise’

By James Butler | November 11, 2007 |

“Allah Akbar!” is the cry of Jihadists around the world. This motto of holy rollers shall soon be heard on Austin Peay’s Trahern stage. Glynn O’Malley’s Paradise will open in the Trahern Theater Wednesday November 14, exactly one year after the New York and former APSU resident artist’s death.

Paradise is the second part of O’Malley’s famous war trilogy and is set amidst the horrifying conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorists. The play follows the lives of two young girls, one Israeli and one Palestinian who in another place could have been friends. O’Malley follows their lives, their teenage crushes, their dreams as the cloud and horror of war looms over them and colors their world.

The show was first requested by The Cincinnati Playhouse as part of its educational outreach, but in the Post 9-11 world, the tour was cancelled and a threat was made to cease the production. However, the play eventually opened to a sold out opening night at the Kirk Theatre on New York’s Theatre Row in March 2005 for a limited run, and has since played to standing room only audiences through out the United States. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure | 1 Comment »

When grief comes …

By Rev. Charles Moreland | October 7, 2007 |

On occasion, I allow my mind to meander down the dark and gloomy path of grief with thoughts of events or experiences that are yet to be. Sometimes we are victims of anticipatory grief, as it is called by professional in psychology.

Anticipatory grief can be healthy, depending on its duration and our response to it. To think about the inevitable, such as our own demise, though sad, can motivate us to positive action, such as making a will, establishing a trust, and keeping our beneficiaries updated on our finances at every level.

Cassie, our beloved twenty-pound Chinese Pug, is more than a pet; she is a family member. Now nearly15-years-old, she has been in our care for the past ten years. She is a delightful companion and affectionate even to strangers. If animals can love, she loves children and adults alike. Singing her accolades is easy, and she is ideal for us.

To further her quality of life, she receives frequent health care from her vet, Dr. Winn; a nutrional diet, and a monthly grooming at PetSmart. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion, Politics, Spirituality | No Comments

Bio-hazard threat tests EMS response, proving “practice makes perfect”

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 17, 2007 |

The possibility of a bio-hazard at the Clarksville Police Department Monday night brought into sharp relief the effectiveness of ongoing emergency preparedness training by multiple agencies in our community.

Within a minutes of finding a possible biological threat, the Police Department had locked it doors, effectively isolating everyone potentially exposed to the threat and quarantining the threat itself. Fire Department crews and a broad range of emergency management personnel arrived with all the bells and whistles, cordoning off streets, and calling in support from Fort Campbell’s HazMat team. Everyone had a job to do, and did it well, and that job, which began with containment and the establishment of a perimeter, also included some down time just waiting for the analysis of the substance to be completed. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | No Comments

Fort Campbell steps up gay discharges

By David W. Shelton | August 16, 2006 |

Surprise, surprise, surprise! Fort Campbell had the second highest discharge rate in the nation of soldiers under the failed “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” policy. Clarksville’s neighboring Army base, the site of the brutal 1999 murder of Pfc. Barry Winchell, is still cashiering people out of the service at an alarming rate. According to information obtained by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, 49 soldiers were discharged from the base. That’s up from 19 in 2004.

On a national scale, 782 were discharged, which is up from 668 in 2004. The only base that had a higher number of discharges was Ford Leonard Wood with 60. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, Politics | No Comments