Howdy y’all and buckle up for this weeks news 6 update!

Marines Save the Day at a Virginia Chick Fil A

Cpl. John Darby, Cpl. Bradley Feldkamp, and Lance Cpl. Nicholas Dural was recently honored with the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal in Quantico, Virginia.

The way they earned this honor was a bit unorthodox. 

All three marines were newly minted marine embassy security guards and were waiting for their visas and flight information to go on to different parts of the world.

The three men stopped at a chick fil a in North Stafford, VA on their way to get haircuts  when a fight took Place.

Two teenagers approached another teenager and things got heated. They bumped into a woman who was knocked down, Dural went to check on her.  That’s when One of the juveniles pulled out a knife and the marines jumped into action.

Using defense tactics they had been trained to use, they quickly were able to pin the assailant.

“I had my left hand on basically the back of the blade and the top of the hilt of the knife,” Dural said. “When I was pushing down and twisting, since I had the blade basically in my hand – the back of the blade – when I was twisting it, I guess I put so much pressure down there I was able to snap the knife. Once I snapped the knife, that’s how I was able to yell, “Darby, grab the blade!’”

The blade was soon out of dangerous hands and given to a manager. The teens quickly tried to leave but police were already on sight and they were quickly arrested.

The men then went on their way and got their haircuts. They will soon say goodbye to chick fil a for quite a bit, however, as Darby and Feldkamp are expected to leave  for the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria; and Dural is scheduled to leave next for the U.S. Embassy in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.

Bravo to these marines for their bravery, and best of luck on your new adventures. May all future haircut trips be uneventful.

*Find out more at cbs.com

Army Tackles Pacific in Ambitous Exercise 

Talisman Sabre, an a large scale exercise taking place in Australia, is set to take off this summer.

During this exercise, the 8th army sustainment command will deliver a large amount of equipment over a vast amount of land involving harsh landscapes and conditions. Brig. Gen. Jered Helwig, the Commander of the command, spoke to Defense News. He said: 

“The scale is an order of magnitude higher than anything that has ever been done before,” he said during an interview at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium here. “It’s been a huge undertaking. Just for one example, Australia’s got very strict agricultural requirements, and we have quadrupled the amount of equipment that we’re bringing …

 

“One of the contested things is ensuring that we can [keep] the leopard snail from getting into Australia. “We have to rehearse sustainment at scale and treat logistics as a warfighting function as we rehearse it as part of our campaigning.” 

A scrupulous clean and pack up has already been taking place in Oahu, Hawaii, for months in anticipation of this exercise. This exercise will also help keep the army ready to enlarge presence in the pacific region of the world as the need to deter China grows.

The US army will be joined by  Australia, South Korea, Indonesia and Japan.

The mileage between starting and ending points of this exercise is 1,617 miles…. Roughly the distance between fort Stewart GA and Fort Carson Colorado here in the states. 

Best of luck to the sustainment command! I’d avoid the kangaroos if I were you. I hear they kick.

Find out more at militarytimes.com. 

Northernmost Military Base Gets New Name

Thule Air Base in the country of Greenland is sporting a new name with Innuit roots. Now called Pituffik Space Base, the name upgrade now reflects native ties and its ever growing affiliation with the space force.

The name Pituffik comes from the original settlement the base was built upon. The original settlers were forced to relocate in the 1950s when Thule Air Base was built. Thule comes from the Roman mythological term Ulta Thule, meaning the northernmost place possible. 

The term “space base” seems to imply that the space force is taking the Air Force tradition of taking the word “force” out of OCONUS base titles.

“This renaming represents our wish to celebrate and acknowledge the rich cultural heritage of Greenland and its people and how important they are to the sustainment of this installation against the harsh environment north of the Arctic Circle,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said during the name change ceremony.

“May this base renaming serve as an opportunity for us here at Pituffik Space Base to reaffirm our commitment to that friendship and serve as a reminder of our special bond for many years to come,” Col. Brian Capps, Pituffik Space Base and 821st Space Base Group commander, said during the ceremony.

This change follows closely on the heels of the huge army move of renaming all bases named after confederate generals.

750 miles from the  attic circle is closer than I ever hope to be, but to all who call Pituffik Space Base home, stay warm!

Find out more at military.com.

Today in History 

On April 17, 1970, the Apollo 13 landed back on earth after quite a bumpy ride. It was the 7th crew-led mission of the Apollo space program and took to the skies on April 11. It was manned by three astronauts; Jim Lovell, Jack Swiggert, and Fred Haise.

The plan was to land on the moon but this plan was thwarted when an oxygen tank failed just two days into the mission, leaving the astronauts in a frantic race to get home before they ran out of air. 

They made it back safely in the nick of time, mostly thanks to the ground crew back in Houston who desperately worked round the clock to get them home. The splashdown in the South Pacific was broadcasted on TV and watched by thousands.

This harrowing tale was brought to life on the big screen with Tom Hanks in one of the lead roles in the cinematic masterpiece called….wait for it…. Apollo 13.

They may have not made it to the moon, but they sure made it into the history books!

That’s it for me, I’m Emma Tighe with News 6, signing out!