Roy Bowden, now a civilian air conditioning mechanic with the 78th Civil Engineer Squadron at Robins AFB, Ga., on Aug. 21 received a Bronze Star Medal for his service in leading combat convoy patrols in Iraq from May 2005 to May 2006 as a sergeant in the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade. Bowden did not realize that he had earned the honor until February of this year when he was looking at his military record to get information for his job application at Robins. The Army Secretary had awarded him the medal in November 2007. (Robins report by Wayne Crenshaw)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.