Here are the top stories for the week of June 8, 2020, straight from AWN News 6 Correspondent, Jolene McNutt:

Active Duty Soldier Stops Active Shooter

A hero at Fort Leavensworth, Kansas, stopped an active shooter late last month. Master Sergeant David Royer, a corrections noncommissioned officer with the 705th Military Police Battalion (Detention), made a snap decision to use his vehicle to stop an active shooter on the Centennial Bridge, which spans the Missouri River. He was on the bridge when the shooting began. Another soldier was wounded. The Fort Leavenworth Lamp interviewed MSG Royer. He said, “‘I assessed the situation very quickly, looked around, and just took the only action possible that I felt I could take. I accelerated my truck as quickly as possible and struck the active shooter and pinned him underneath my truck.’”

KMBC News reported that three vehicles were randomly targeted and hit with bullets before MSG Royer intervened. 

Happy 245th Birthday to the U.S. Army!

The Army’s 245th Birthday is on June 14. According to Army.mil, “The U.S. Army was founded on 14 June 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized enlistment of expert riflemen to serve the United Colonies for one year.” According to Army.mil, the U.S. Army was formed out of revolutionary colonists who were fighting through militias and had no formal chain of command. On June 14, 1775, Congress voted to “adopt” some of the militia troops from Boston in order to confront British troops that were staging an attack. That same day, Congress agreed to form a committee “‘to bring in a draft of rules and regulations for the government of the Army,” and allotted $2,000,000 to support the forces around Boston, and those at New York City. Celebrate the Army’s birthday through virtual events on the full list here!

Military OneSource Offers Resources for Coping with COVID-19

Our lives have been in upheaval since the COVID-19 outbreak. Personally, I’ve swung from fantastic to fantastically not OK emotionally, mentally, and physically. Military OneSource has a team of counselors, consultants, and coaches to help you tackle challenges. Connect with them at your convenience online, by phone, or by chat. These services are free to service members and their immediate family. Military OneSource offers non-medical counseling, a healthy relationships consultation program, New MilParent specialty consultations, and health and wellness coaching. They also have resilience tools which include 

• CoachHub which connects you with experts who can help you set and meet goals
• MoodHacker which lets you track, understand, and improve how you’re feeling
• Love Every Day which connects you with your partner through text-message prompts

Click here to access Military OneSource resources.

All Things Point Up with NASA, SpaceX, Space Force, Space Command

All eyes were on the sky—or at least the broadcast—of the SpaceX mission that successfully transported two American astronauts to the International Space Station at the end of May. This was the first manned United States mission, launched from U.S. soil and with U.S. equipment in almost a decade. Swirling around in the excitement of the new era of NASA and space technology are questions of how the newly created sixth branch of the military ‚Space Force—will fit in. NBC’s Today shared that Space Force headquarters will be located at the Pentagon, like the other five branches of the military. The U.S. Space Command headquarters location has not yet been decided. Today reported that 86 members have been assigned to date, and the rank structure is still being determined. “[Space Force] will be dealing with things in outer space. It can be satellites. It can be things that we don’t know about because it needs to be secret. It can even be cleaning up space junk,” reported Kerry Sanders for NBC News. As Space Force begins its recruiting campaign with a futuristic ad, we’ll keep our eyes on Space Force, Space Command, and NASA to propel us into the future.