Navy Suicides Still Highest of All Services

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River  economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

Suicide rates in the Navy have climbed rapidly since 2015, reports USNI. Over the past two years, the number of active duty sailors who committed suicide grew rapidly at a time the overall number of active duty service members taking their lives increased more modestly. In 2017, though, the Navy saw 66 active duty sailors – a 53 percent spike compared to 2016.

Veterans Affairs tries a new program to help prevent suicide within the ranks, reports Military Times. The program will reunite troops who experienced some of the toughest combat conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan for group therapy sessions, with the hopes of using those common bonds to better work through individual post-military struggles.

A partial government shutdown is not likely to impact military pay, reports Military.com, noting previous shutdowns prompted Congress to pass emergency bills to guarantee troops would be paid, although there has been no movement thus far in Congress on such a measure.

DoD is trying to figure out how to certify commercial companies to perform a Congress-mandated cybersecuity assessment of its 4,500 offensive cyber systems, long-range strike systems, nuclear deterrent systems, national security systems, and critical infrastructure, reports Fifth Domain. There are only nine certified teams across the combatant commands. “There’s no way that I can do an assessment of that many systems and I don’t even know what that term means yet,” said the program’s director, Patrick Arvidson, special assistant to the Office of the National Manager for National Security Systems at the National Security Agency.

Live ordnance from WWII was found on a lobster wharf in Maine, reports Navy Times. The 6-foot-long military projectile was caught in fishing gear about 12 miles off the coast before it was brought to the wharf. Police responded and removed the object, which was later detonated at a sand pit on an island.

The Navy will hold program managers more accountable for cutting time and cost, reports USNI. Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts’ directive: “Stop being a victim; lead your program, knock down the barriers, and deliver the capability the fleet needs when and where they need it at a cost they can afford. Period.”

The US Navy and Missile Defense Agency successfully shot down an intermediate-range ballistic missile target in space from its Hawaii-based test facility, reports Defense News. The test marked the second consecutive successful intercept for the SM-3 Block IIA missile.

The Truman strike group heads home after ‘dynamic’ deployment, reports USNI. The strike group’s two back-to-back three-month deployments demonstrate DoD’s dynamic force concept, which is to operate unpredictably.

Japan advances plans to purchase as many as 147 F-35s, reports Military Times, marking a major shift in the post-war makeup of Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Forces, which until now were exclusively for self-defense.

Military Times reports five things about Guantanamo Bay on its 115th birthday. There’s much more to this naval base than its use as an offshore prison.

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Dec. 10, 2018.

Contracts:

Clark Construction Group LLC, Bethesda, Maryland, is awarded a $298,211,055 firm-fixed-price construction contract to construct a VC-25B hangar complex. The contract provides for the construction of a hangar complex, an aircraft access taxiway/parking apron, associated lighting, engine run-up pads, and a hydrant refueling system with storage tanks. Additional requirements include, but are not limited to, site preparation, wetland/stream mitigation, storm water management, a parking lot, and a fire detection, and suppression system. This contract contains options, which if exercised, will bring the contract value to a ceiling of $315,481,000. Work will be performed at Joint Base Andrews, Camp Springs, Maryland, and is expected to be completed April 2022. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 military construction (Air Force) contract funds in the amount of $220,000,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was the result of a competitive acquisition via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 10 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N40080-19-C-0008).

URS Federal Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded a $9,742,253 modification (P00129) to contract W58RGZ-16-C-0001 for aviation maintenance. Work will be performed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Louisville, Tennessee; and Fort Polk, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of June 29, 2019. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement, Army; and operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $9,742,253 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.