An early morning drive to Baumholder quickly turned into a nightmare recently for Heather Majorwitz and her two children, Kaitie and Bret.

They were on their way to school when the car hit a patch of ice and started to skid across the road toward an oncoming bus. Majorwitz swerved to avoid the bus and slid off the road, rolling the car.

"One minute we were on the road and the next we were hanging from our seatbelts," said Majorwitz.

To spark awareness and vigilance against a growing global human rights crisis, President Barack Obama has proclaimed January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

Linda Dixon, the Defense Department’s program manager for combating trafficking in persons, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service in a recent interview that DOD has strengthened training modules and reporting avenues to combat trafficking in persons, a criminal enterprise that generates roughly $32 billion per year worldwide.

On this day in 1944, Col. Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, World War II ace and leader of Marine Fighter Squadron 214, the infamous “Black Sheep,” downed three Japanese aircraft during his final combat mission of WWII. This feat brought his total number of downed enemy planes to 26, tying the mark in aviation history set by Army Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, who downed 26 planes in World War I.

During his last mission, Boyington made several flights through hostile enemy fire over Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. His aircraft went down during the ensuing dogfight.

The Military Channel announced today it will dedicate a night of programming on Tuesday, January 8 starting at 8PM E/P, to commemorate the celebrated career of retired General Norman Schwarzkopf, who passed away last week. General Schwarzkopf led the allied forces to a routing of Iraq in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, becoming one of the nation's most celebrated military heroes of the era.

U.S. Marines assigned to Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team Company, Central Command (FASTCENT), Charlie 5 Platoon, returned to Bahrain, after a 111-day deployment to Sana'a, Yemen, Jan. 1.

Charlie 5 deployed to Sana'a Sept. 13, 2012, to provide continuous security for the U.S. Embassy immediately following the attempted breach of the embassy walls by protesters during a period of heightened tensions in the region.

As of Jan. 1, Marines and sailors found to have a blood alcohol content of .01 percent or higher during regular working hours will be subject to counsel, and treatment and those with a BAC of .04 percent or higher will undergo a fit-for-duty assessment and further corrective action.

Marine Administrative Message 709/12 provides guidelines for the Alcohol Screening Program, an initiative focused on preventing alcohol abuse.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta expressed his gratitude to U.S. lawmakers for delaying sequestration and voiced optimism for finding a permanent way to avoid an additional $500 billion in budget cuts.

“On behalf of the Department of Defense, I want to express our thanks to the Democratic and Republican members of Congress who voted to temporarily avert sequestration,” Panetta said in a statement. “Hopefully, this will allow additional time to develop a balanced deficit reduction plan that would permanently prevent these arbitrary cuts.”

A historic mission for the 401st Army Field Support Brigade came to an end, Nov. 12, when AFSBn-Bagram issued 49 M1114 vehicles to the Afghan National Army, under a Foreign Military Sales case.

Although the state of Washington has recently updated the law on the use of marijuana, essentially decriminalizing use for civilians, Zero Tolerance drug policy regulations remain unaffected for Sailors.

The Zero Tolerance drug policy was implemented after a fatal crash of an EA-6B Prowler on board USS Nimitz in 1981, killing 14 crew members and injuring 45 others.