Here is this week’s News 6 mashup of stories for the week of August 29th, 2022, straight from AWN News 6 Correspondent, Jolene McNutt:

Troublesome TSP Transition is on the Mend

Accenture Federal Services, the federal contractor responsible for modernizing the Thrift Savings Plan, has apologized for a “troublesome transition” reported Federal News Network.

“‘I personally wanted to start with an apology,’ said Elaine Beeman, Accenture Federal Services’ senior managing director and civilian portfolio lead. The update to TSP’s recordkeeper added several new features, including a mobile app, a live chat window, enhanced security features and a new interface for participants using the MyAccount platform.

Veterans Incarcerated at Higher Rates than Civilians

The Council on Criminal Justice announced that it will be studying why veterans are incarcerated at higher rates than those who have never served, reported Military.com.

The CCJ shared “roughly one third of veterans report having been arrested and booked into jail at least once in their lives, compared to fewer than one fifth of non-veterans.”

“According to a study from the Department of Justice, released in 2016, there were about 107,400 veterans in state or federal prisons that year; 98% were men and just over half served in the Army. The CCJ said that total has since risen to a total of 181,500 veterans.”

2022 Warrior Games Wrap Up

The Department of Defense 2022 Warrior Games were back with a splash! The games were hosted by the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command in Orlando. Nearly 300 athletes representing the U.S. military and ally nations participated. Jon Stewart and Darius Rucker participated in the opening ceremonies. 

“The Warrior Games, first held in 2010, celebrates the resiliency and dedication of wounded, ill and injured active-duty and veteran U.S. military service members as they compete in adaptive sporting events such as wheelchair basketball, cycling, indoor rowing, wheelchair rugby, sitting volleyball and others.”

Watch highlights of the 2022 events at dodwarriorgames.com

This Week in History

On August 25, 1978, The First Lady of Parachuting, Georgia Anne “Tiny” Broadwick passed away at the age of 85. Broadwick was legendary in her parachuting career, but she made a tremendous impact on the U.S. military, shared the U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum. 

“In 1914, at the start of WWI, representatives of the Army Air Corps visited Tiny in San Diego and asked her to demonstrate a jump from a military plane. At that time, many Air Corps pilots had already perished, and the Army wanted Tiny to showcase how to safely parachute out of a plane.  

During the demonstration, Tiny made four jumps at San Diego’s North Island. The first three went smoothly, but on the fourth jump, her parachute’s line became tangled in the tail assembly of the plane. Due to high winds, she could not get back into the plane. Instead of panicking, Tiny cut all but a short length of the line, which made her plummet towards the ground. Still keeping a cool head, she pulled the line by hand, freeing the parachute to open by itself. This demonstrated what would be known as the rip cord, and showcased that someone who had to leave an airplane in flight did not need a line attached to the aircraft to open a parachute. A pilot could safely bail out of a damaged craft. Following this, the parachute became known as the life preserver of the air.”

Photo by Pfc. Dominique Dixon