News 6 Mashup: April 11, 2022

Here is this week’s News 6 mashup of stories for the week of April 11, 2022, straight from AWN News 6 Correspondent, Jolene McNutt:

A Novel Diagnostic Tool in the Works for Helping to Detect Suicidal Ideation

In the past 20 years, 30,000 active duty service members committed suicide. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is hoping to test a novel approach to preventing suicide. The diagnostic tool is referred to as NEAT, or Neural Evidence Aggregation Tool, reported Federal News Network. Tom Temin of Federal News Network interviewed Dr. Greg Witkop to explain what NEAT is and how it may be helpful.

Caveat: I’m oversimplifying this system, but NEAT works to find brainwaves in the preconscious that measure activity in the brain from when a person is asked a question, their brain filters the answer, and then they respond with the answer. The NEAT system believes that in-between time will help get “clinicians the most valuable information that occurs just 700 milliseconds before the person is consciously aware and makes a decision, and responds.

Dr. Witkop goes into great detail on how the process works and I’d encourage you to listen into the interview, but I think it boils down to this statement, “our ultimate goal is to get to this idea of suicidal ideation” he think that this diagnostic testing will help go beyond the words a person says to catch the subconscious thoughts, to see a marker or a tendency of risk toward suicide, it might go a long way in preventing suicides among our troops.

Celebrate Month of the Military Child!

April is Month of the Military Child and it is in full swing. When I think about military children, I immediately think of the 1.6 million military children that range from infants to teens. But what happens when those kids grow up?

Some follow in their parent’s footsteps, like 2 Lt. Marah Sharpe who commissioned into the Idaho Army National Guard on January 28 while her father, Brig. Gen. Russell Johnson retired from his 41 years of service as a Marine and then a Soldier in the Idaho Army National Guard. They had one overlapping drill together, one incoming soldier, one outgoing.

“I don’t remember a part of my life that the Idaho Army National Guard wasn’t in,” Sharpe said. “My dad’s been in since I was born. The Guard has always been a part of my family and a part of my life growing up, and I’m excited to be part of that organization myself.”

“The Army and the National Guard are constantly changing,” said Johnson. “One thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of service to our country and state. Today’s Guard is in need of upcoming leaders and folks willing to step up and volunteer their time and efforts. It’s neat to see that level of commitment.”

Celebrate your Military Child with these resources:

• Military Child Toolkit
• DoD: Spotlights Month of the Military Child
• DoDEA Celebrates Month of the Military Child
• Purple Up!
• Military OneSource Month of the Military Child

Free Online Learning Platform for Military Spouses

Military spouses can access free online courses on learning platform Udemy through June 29, 2022. Courses are on-demand and flexible and will help you enhance your current skills, learn new skills and stay up to date on industry trends. Some classes are designed to help learners prepare for certifications in areas including cloud computing, information security, project management, accounting and more. Get started by contacting a SECO career center by calling 800-342-9647 or texting MilLife SECO to 468311.

This Week in History

On April 10, 1849 Walter Hunt patented the safety pin. Hunt was a mechanic and independent inventor, according to MIT. Although the safety pin was not a new idea, in fact, it was an improvement of a Roman-era jewelry that we might call a brooch. Hunt’s safety pin design included the spring mechanism that virtually all safety pins now feature. Hunt owed a man $15 and the “dress pin,” as he named it, was his way of paying his debt. He sold the rights for a mere $400, which would be almost $15,000 in today’s dollars. MIT reports that the business men who purchased the rights earned substantial fortunes from his invention. The safety pin has been used to clasp clothing, stop static cling (simply attach a safety pin to the clothing that is sticking!), to provide an extra measure of security to a purse when the opening is pinned shut, helps socks avoid a lonesome journey by keeping them paired while in the wash, to fix a broken flip flop or thread a drawstring and so much more.