Air Force reservists will have a new leader Monday.

Lt. Gen. James Jackson will take command of the Air Force Reserve Command in a ceremony to be held at the Museum of Aviation’s Century of Flight Hangar.

He will replace Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner Jr., who has served in the position for four years. Stenner is retiring with 39 years of service in the Air Force. Like Stenner, Jackson will also hold the title of chief of the Air Force Reserve. In that role he will serve as the principal adviser on Reserve matters to the Air Force chief of staff, according to a release.

Jackson has served as deputy to the chief of Air Force Reserve in the Pentagon since May 2010.

The ceremony begins at 9 a.m.

Peach County native wins Coast Guard honor

A Peach County High School graduate has been selected as Penobscot Bay Navy League Sailor of the Year.

Petty Officer Chance Swords, who serves on Coast Guard Cutter Thunder Bay, was presented the award for “demonstrating professional proficiency many times over the past year,” according to a Navy League release.

Among other things, he was directly involved in the rescue of a hypothermic man from the waters of Penobscot Bay, Maine.

In addition to numerous other accomplishments listed in the release, he also volunteered to repair the roof of an outdoor pavilion at a nursing home.

Captains of ships that serve in the region nominate a sailor from their ship, and the Navy League selects someone from those nominations.

Swords is the son of Mark and Judi Swords of Byron and is a 2008 graduate of Peach County High School.

Military court takes up suicide issue in court

Should military members be court-martialed for attempting suicide? That’s the question being taken up by the military’s highest court, according to a story in the Air Force Times.

The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces will hear the case of Marine Pvt. Lazzaric Caldwell, who was sentenced to 180 days confinement and given a bad conduct discharge for “self-injury” as well as two convictions of theft and possession of synthetic marijuana.

The Marine Corps argues the conviction was for self-injury, not suicide. The question the court will consider is whether a confirmed suicide attempt can be prosecuted as a self-injury.

According to the story, Caldwell was being treated for depression when he slit his wrists. He pleaded guilty to the self-injury charge, but his lawyer later appealed.

To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.