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Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute set to fight mental, physical stressors
LAWRENCE – First responders across the state of Kansas, representing multiple fire and emergency service agencies, will participate in a four-day mental and physical health, wellness and resilience training workshop. The event, sponsored by the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute at the University of Kansas, will be run by O2X Human Performance, a training and education company founded by former Navy SEALs. The workshop began today and runs through May 29 in Salina.
Dole Institute to debut new exhibition featuring story of MIA soldier’s wife
LAWRENCE — The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will debut a new original exhibition, “Missing, Then Action: An Army Wife Speaks Out,” in the Elizabeth Dole Gallery and Reading Room on June 14, with a public program planned June 16. The 2022 exhibition tells the story of Army wife Kathleen Johnson, of Salina, as she coped with the 1965 disappearance of her husband, U.S. Army Major Bruce G. Johnson, in South Vietnam.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Bashon Mann, O2X, 619-347-9539, [email protected]; Jenny Durkin, KU Edwards, [email protected]
Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute set to fight mental, physical stressors
LAWRENCE – From May 26-29, first responders across the state of Kansas, representing multiple fire and emergency service agencies, will participate in a four-day mental and physical health, wellness and resilience training workshop.
The workshop, sponsored by the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute at the University of Kansas, will be run by O2X Human Performance, a training and education company founded by former Navy SEALs. As tactical athletes, first responders risk their lives daily to keep their communities safe. They endure physical and, more importantly, mental stress throughout their careers. As a result, it’s become critical that they train their bodies properly to stay healthy, but also maintain their mental health.
Beginning Thursday, May 26, both fire and EMS personnel take the first step in this program with a focus on their overall health and wellness based on a prepared curriculum provided by O2X certified professionals across a variety of fields germane to promoting physical and mental performance.
During the sessions, first responders will learn about nutrition, strength training, sleep science, stress management and resilience from the O2X team. The group will also be participating in physical training, yoga, practical activities and taking baseline performance assessments that will be used to track progress over their career.
O2X Human Performance works with thousands of first responders and designed programs for federal, state and local agencies nationwide. They provide state-of-the-art training and education aimed specifically at helping tactical athletes finish their careers as strong as they started.
“Being a firefighter involves a lot more than extinguishing fires and responding to emergency medical incidents,” said Kelly McCoy, director of the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute, part of the KU Lifelong & Professional Education unit. “We’re looking forward to partnering with O2X in offering firefighters and first responders in the state of Kansas an opportunity to learn how best to handle the mental and physical strains they may experience on the job. These are valuable lessons and habits that will help them prioritize their overall wellness throughout their careers.”
“We’re excited to bring the O2X curriculum to the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute,” said Paul McCullough, co-founder at O2X Human Performance. “This workshop will act as a foundation for these firefighters to keep their physical health and mental wellness a part of their daily lives in order to stay prepared for the demands of the job.”
The workshops will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Kansas FRTI, Nickell Barracks Training Center, 2930 Scanlan Ave., Salina.
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Contact: Maria Fisher, Dole Institute of Politics, 785-864-4900, [email protected], @DoleInstitute
Dole Institute to debut new exhibition featuring story of MIA soldier’s wife
LAWRENCE — The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will debut a new original exhibition, “Missing, Then Action: An Army Wife Speaks Out,” in the Elizabeth Dole Gallery and Reading Room on June 14, with a public program planned June 16.
The new exhibition is the culmination of a multiyear project that began in 2015 with research in the Dole Archives by a travel grant recipient, became an original exhibition debuting in 2017 and a book by the same name in 2019, and was re-created into a traveling exhibition that has toured across the country, reaching five cities and over 100,000 visitors nationwide.
“Missing, Then Action” is inspired by the Dole Institute’s 2017 original exhibition “The League of Wives: Vietnam’s POW and MIA Allies & Advocates,” produced by Heath Hardage Lee, Dole Archives Curatorial Fellow, historian and biographer.
The 2022 exhibition tells the story of Army wife Kathleen Johnson, of Salina, as she coped with the 1965 disappearance of her husband, U.S. Army Major Bruce G. Johnson, in South Vietnam. A mother of three and one of the “Waiting Wives” of Salina’s Schilling Manor, Kathleen, like other POW and MIA wives, followed military protocols that called for their public silence on their husband’s status for many years. Privately, military wives of all branches organized across the country to seek recognition, answers and accounting for their POW and MIA husbands during Vietnam.
In 1969, the wives broke their public silence. As spouses of career military servicemen, their voices were unexpected, and at first, unwelcome — before they changed the course of history, paving the way for their husbands’ release and accounting. Some national leaders, including Bob Dole, became fervent advocates for them in the halls of the U.S. government.
“What an honor and a privilege to have our mom, Kathleen, honored in such a beautiful way by the Dole Institute and the people of Kansas. Kansas has been our home for almost 60 years, and during that time, our mother’s roots have grown deep in her beloved Kansas,” said her son, Bruce Johnson, on behalf of his siblings Bryan Johnson and Colleen Nunn. “We are so grateful for the memories we have with Senator Dole and his invaluable and meaningful support for the families of Vietnam veterans, such as ourselves, as well as the veterans for many foreign wars.”
“Missing, Then Action” features items and content from Kathleen’s personal archives, which were donated by the family to the Dole Archives after the debut of the 2017 League of Wives exhibition. All three of the Johnson children attended the University of Kansas because of Public Law 91-584, passed in 1970, which authorized educational assistance to wives and children of military members who are missing in action or held prisoner of war.
“This exhibit of original, personal materials belonging to Kathleen Johnson Frisbie and her family tells an important and highly emotional story. It illuminates a new angle on the human cost of war and its generational impacts,” said Dole Institute director Audrey Coleman, formerly associate director for archives. “This is a new perspective on the leadership story too often overlooked – women’s leadership starting in the home and private settings, translated bravely to the national and international stage.”
“Missing, Then Action” is made possible by ITC Great Plains.
“ITC Great Plains is honored to support the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics in telling this amazing story about the perseverance and leadership of women like Kathleen Johnson Frisbie as they brought needed attention and action to the struggles of families of Americans missing in action or held as prisoners of war,” said Brett Leopold, president of ITC Great Plains.
Supporters of the Dole Institute 2022’s One Day. One KU. online giving campaign, which created new opportunities for KU students at the Dole Institute, enabled an innovative student component: Campaign funds supported the work of Olivia Korte, a Dole Institute Student Advisory Board member, honors student and 2022 graduate of the KU School of Architecture & Design, as she led the exhibition’s design conceptualization, graphic design and fabrication through to completion.
Sarah Gard, senior archivist at the Dole Institute as well as curator and project manager for “Missing, Then Action,” praised Korte’s contributions to the project.
“After building our exhibit program over the past several years, it has been wonderful collaborating with Olivia Korte on the design to try new things and expand the potential of the recently renovated Elizabeth Dole Gallery and Reading Room,” Gard said. “It amazes me every day how talented our Student Advisory Board members are.”
“Missing, then Action” will open to the public at noon June 14. A free public program featuring historian Mary McMurray, director of the Johnson Country Museum, will take place at 2 p.m. June 16 in the Simons Media Room at the Dole Institute.
McMurray’s presentation, “From Dependents to Interdependence: The Army Officer’s Wife Ideal and the Making of Army Family Policy,” will contextualize the activism of POW/MIA wives with the changing roles and expectations of the Army wife in the 20th century. Her presentation will cover the period from the beginning of World War II with the old saying “if the Army wanted you to have a wife, they would have issued you one” to 1983 with the release of “The Army Family: A White Paper” that called for policies and practices to support the interdependence of families and the military.
The traveling version of “The League of Wives” is currently on display at the Iowa Gold Star Museum in Des Moines, Iowa, through August 2022. It has previously visited Colorado Springs, Colorado; Richmond, Virginia; Coronado, California; and Neillsville, Wisconsin. The original exhibition was made possible by a gift from Harlan and Alice Ann Ochs of Colorado Springs, Colorado, with support by the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
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