Here are the top stories for the week of Sept. 14, 2020, straight from AWN News 6 Correspondent, Jolene McNutt:

Payroll Taxes: Must Be Paid Back

Your paycheck might look a little bit larger beginning this week, but a word of caution is encouraged. President Trump has signed an executive order deferring payroll taxes from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, 2020. This includes service members in ranks E-1 to O-4, reported Military Families Magazine. The executive order impacts those who make less than $104,000 per year. “Defense Finance Accounting Services confirmed in an email response they would begin deferring payroll taxes on Sept. 12 and continue to defer those taxes until the end of the year,” said Military Families Magazine. Service members do not have the option to opt out of the deferment program; this money must be repaid. DFAS will begin collecting deferred taxes from paychecks starting Jan. 1, 2021, through April 30, 2021. You can expect 6.2% of a service member’s base pay to be deferred and then later collected.

Five DOD COVID-19 Vaccine Testing Sites Named

The Department of Defense is spearheading Operation Warp Speed, also known as OWS. The objective is “to accelerate the testing, supply, development, and distribution of safe and effective vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics to counter COVID-19 by January 2021,” announced the DoD. On Sept. 3, OWS named five DOD medical treatment facilities for the Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trials. The five sites to trial a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca are:

• Naval Medical Center San Diego, California
• Joint Base San Antonio Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas
• Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center in San Antonio, Texas
• Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland 
• Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Fort Belvoir, Virginia

Volunteers are needed, especially those who are from communities that are at the greatest risk, including working in an essential job such as health care or grocery stores, living in densely populated areas, older persons, and persons with underlying health conditions. 

59-Year-Old Combat Veteran Reenlists

“A 59-year-old combat veteran just completed basic training in order to reenlist in the Army,” reported Fox News. Staff Sgt. Monte L. Gould previously served in the Marine Corps and in Civil Affairs for the Army. He left the Army in 2009, just three years short of retirement. After his 10-year break in service, he decided to return to the Army Reserves to help work toward earning his retirement benefits and “give something back to younger troops,” he said. He will be serving in the same unit as his son, in the 405th Civil Affairs Battalion Las Vegas detachment.

This Week in History

Major Walter Reed was born on Sept. 13, 1851. Reed, an Army doctor, was most well known for his research on a yellow fever theory from Cuban doctor, Carlos Finlay. Reed was able to confirm that yellow fever was transmitted by a particular mosquito species, rather than direct contact. This was considered a breakthrough in the new field of biomedicine.