DIANE A. RHODES
Barnard, a chaplain’s assistant for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, earned the honor for noncommissioned officers after an intense competition. Details were outlined in a story that appears on the Army’s website at www.army.mil .
Each day presented back-to-back challenges for competitors , including a freezing physical training test before moving on to a marksmanship round. The final day of competition started at 4:30 a.m. with a 6.2-mile march through ice and fog. Barnard came in first with a time of one hour and 28 minutes.
Later that day participants took a written test, followed by combatives. Barnard started his domination of the competition early and said he found his drive in one of the Army’s edicts: “Failure’s not really an option,” he said.
“Always do your best. If you give it your all, there’s not really anything to be ashamed of,” said Barnard, who is stationed in Germany with his wife and two children.
Kinney said Barnard met his wife, Veronica, in her class. Barnard took her beginning dance class and then became her teacher’s aide.
“Ryan is a great guy. It’s so nice to see him win something like this,” Kinney said.
SAVING LIVES
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. It seems like talking about breast cancer has become acceptable, but I notice when the subject of our colon comes up, people seem to shut down.
Yet colon cancer is a preventable, treatable and beatable disease — if found in its early stages. According to information provided by the American Cancer Society, an estimated 14,350 Californians are expected to be diagnosed with the disease this year. The survival rate is nearly 91 percent when it is caught early.
Since I already have a few of the risk factors for this disease, I work hard to reduce my risks. The American Cancer Society offers nutrition and physical activity guidelines to help.
I don’t know anyone who looks forward to getting a colonoscopy. And some people refuse to even discuss the symptoms that would lead their doctor to order the diagnostic test. But people like Gaylen Johnson realize how important it is to be tested.
“After years of being stubborn and putting it off, I finally had a colonoscopy last year,” said Johnson, 64. “On Nov. 2 I had it done and on Nov. 9 they said I had cancer.”
Johnson and his wife are snow birds who split their time between San Jacinto and Nebraska. He had his surgery at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage on Dec. 6 so he could recover in a warmer climate.
He said he was more afraid of his first oncology appointment in January than he had been about the test or surgery . He was told that his cancer was caught early — Stage 1 — and it had not spread.
“I consider myself lucky. The end results could have been very different. It definitely changed my outlook on things,” Johnson said. “There is no reason to put off getting tested.”
The American Cancer Society can be reached 24/7 at 1-800-227-2345 or www.cancer.org .
Diane A. Rhodes is a Press-Enterprise correspondent. Reach her at 951-763-3461 or dianealease@hot mail.com .