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WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2008 – With 2008 suicide rates expected to exceed last year’s all-time-high rate and threatening to top those in the civilian population, the Army is stepping up efforts to get soldiers and their leaders to look out for each other’s well-being and to take the stigma out of seeking mental-health help.

Sixty-two active-duty soldiers, most of them junior enlisted members, committed suicide so far this calendar year, Col. Eddie Stephens, the Army’s deputy director for human resource policy, told reporters today during a Pentagon roundtable. The armed forces medical examiner is investigating another 31 suspected cases to determine if they will be classified as suicides.

If this trend continues through 2008, the Army will exceed last year’s 115 suicides, an all-time high for the Army, he reported. This threatens to surpass the 2007 rate of 18.1 suicides per 100,000 soldiers, approaching the 19.5 per 100,000 rate for U.S. civilians in the same demographic.

\”The leadership of the army recognizes this development and considers even one suicide one too many,\” he said.

After ushering in a broad range of programs designed to stop soldiers from taking their own lives, the Army is turning to what officials call the No. 1 defense: junior leaders who often know soldiers better than their own families do.

Ending at the Pentagon, where a hijacked airplane killed 184 people when it barreled into the building on Sept. 11, 2001, the Freedom Walk in the nation’s capital is one of 330 similar processions around the world that will take place in all 50 states and 12 foreign countries.

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England told the crowd today’s walk not only commemorates the attacks on America that occurred seven years ago this week, but also represents a day for Americans to commit themselves to the preservation of freedom.

\”That day we lost 3,000 people of 60 nationalities,\” England said. \”I’ve concluded that we lost 3,000 people that day because the terrorists did not know how to kill 30,000 or 300,000 or 3 million, but they would have if they could have, and they are still [trying

BALTIMORE – There were some anxious moments, but the quarterback from South Jersey and the head coach who was imported from the Eagles, both enjoyed a successful debut today for the Baltimore Ravens.

Rookie quarterback Joe Flacco of Audubon High in Camden County and the University of Delaware showed unusual poise in his first NFL game as the Ravens defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, 17-10 at M&T Bank Stadium.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, an Eagles assistant coach the previous 10 years, expressed true emotion.

Maureen Elizabeth Cahill of Myrtle Beach and Richard Thomas Butwin of North Myrtle Beach were married September 6, 2008 at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Myrtle Beach. Father Timothy Gahan and co-celebrant, Monsignor Joseph Roth performed the 1 p.m. ceremony

The bride, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Edward Cahill Sr. of Myrtle Beach, is the granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Francis Regan and the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Joseph Cahill. She is a graduate of Myrtle Beach High School and attended Coastal Carolina University. She is the manager of Nibils Restaurant.

The bridegroom, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Edward Butwin of Woodbury Heights, New Jersey, is the grandson of Mrs. Helen Matunis and the late Mr. Frank Matunis and the late Mr. and Mrs. Martin Butwin. He is a graduate of Gloucester Catholic High School and Villanova University. He is a project engineer with Iepson Consulting Enterprises.