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New group now forming in Fayette County Georgia to serve individuals in the Southern Crescent. Contact us today if you are interested in being and having an AFM Battle Buddy!
Welcome! AFM Battle Buddy is a Peer-to-Peer CIT Chaplain led support group for Veterans, Law Enforcement, and First Responders providing a safe place for participants to find support, understanding, and hope in the journey of recovery. Facilitated by trained team leaders, the program includes Peer-to-Peer support, group discussion and exercises all intended to help participants strengthen personal resilience. Benefits of Participation
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Chaplain on a Mission
Chaplain Kenneth Koon first began providing chaplain care in the Fayette community more than 24 years ago, following the massive fire of a tanker truck. On that fateful day, April 23, 1993, Koon was having lunch with his wife and two small boys at McDonald's when a lady began screaming "FIRE". Koon ran to the scene, but the car that had hit the tanker was already engulfed in flames. The only help Koon could provide came a few days later; organizing a firemen's appreciation day. A few days later the fire chief asked if he would be their chaplain. Koon was already an Army Reserve Chaplain so he thought this would be a good way to serve his local community. Chaplain Koon, recipient of the 2016 Trinity Awards Emergency Responder of the Year, is on a personal mission to Build Resilience and Restore Hope for America’s Veterans and First Responders. As the Executive Director of Armed Forces Mission and AFM’s Intervention Institute, Ken has conducted more than 600 successful suicide interventions in both military and civilian communities and trained over 7,200 others in the skills of suicide intervention. Ken has shared his personal story of restored hope in keynote addresses in Washington DC and to various military commands including ARMEDCOM, MI Command Conference, 101st Airborne, International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and various law enforcement agencies. Ken is the CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) Police Chaplain for his hometown and Family Life Chaplain for the 80th Training Command USAR. In his previous assignment, as Chaplain of the 4th BDE 94th Division 80th TC, Ken served as the OIC for Suicide Intervention Training in a unit covering soldiers in 10 states, sustaining a Zero suicide rate during his tenure from 2010 to 2015. In 2014, on behalf of the SPPM, Dr. Paul Wade, Ken trained the largest contingency of soldiers in the 99th Regional Support Command. In 2013 training 300 caregivers in his hometown community of Fayette County, Georgia the suicide rate dropped to a 20-year low and was 50% lower than the previous year. Ken is the developer of the Listen Learn Lead Suicide Intervention Model, based on his work with more than 25,000 soldiers and veterans. In 2016 Ken hosted Georgia’s first LOSS (Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors) Conference with participants throughout the Southeast attending. Ken holds an M.Div in Education, D.Min in Counseling, and is a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Georgia Chiefs of Police Association. Ken is a Master Trainer of ASIST, ACE-SI, and Mental Health First Aid. He and his wife, Sherry are the proud parents of four grown sons, the oldest currently deployed with the US Air Force. Ken holds that positive and healthy relations with family is a vital key to maintaining personal resilience and hope. |
