Howdy Y’all and Buckle Up For This Weeks News 6 Update!

Sage Sails the Seas

Ahoy Sage! A three year old Labrador Retriever is taking on the high seas and climbing aboard the USS Gerald R Ford as the Navy’s first service dog.

She is the first to pilot a new military initiative called the Expanded Operational Stress Control Canine program. This program has hopes of boosting mental health, morale, and resiliency to our troops.

Sage is just on the ship on a six month loan, however. She is trained and owned by Mutts on a Mission, a non for profit based out of Virginia.

Cmdr. Genevieve Clark, the chaplain for the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, will serve as Sage’s primary handler.

She undertook 120 hours with mutts on a mission to be mission ready.

“One of the positives of having Sage aboard the ship is her help in breaking down some barriers to utilizing mental, emotional and spiritual resiliency resources,”

Clark said in a Navy news release.

“Sailors are coming to more warrior toughness events and improving their morale through the vast network of resiliency resources the ship offers, with Sage now present at these opportunities.”

Mutts on a mission has been around since 2008 and has mostly trained dogs to deal with PTSD and mobility issues in veterans. 

Sage has been training for this moment since she was 8 weeks old. She has been brought onto naval ships before and her trainers are more than confident she’ll take her extended stay with stride.

No pressure, Sage, but the Navy will be following her adventures closely before deciding to take this initiative to the next level. The ship is stocked with plenty of pee pads, canine medicines, and even a canine life vest!

Fair winds and calm seas, Sage! I hope the ship is also stocked with treats.

Find out more at NavyTimes.com

The USS Cooperstown is a Home Run for American Hero Ball Players

The Navy has commissioned the USS Cooperstown, its name honoring the 70 American professional ball players who have served in the US military. Cooperstown is the town in New York where the hall of fame is located.

Hall of famers Joe Torre and Johnny Bench were present at the ceremony, with Torres saying “It is critical that we honor the legacy of these Hall of Famers, not just for what they did on the field, but for what they sacrificed and what they accomplished off the field.

Their legacy lives on with the USS Cooperstown and with the sailors here today and in the years to come.”

The players being honored have spanned from civil war veterans to the Korean War and sport household names such as Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays

The new ship even comes with a sporty motto: “Americas Away Team.” From New York City the ship will now make its way to its new home in Mayport, Florida.

Nothing more American than our national pastime and our national floating metal boats of freedom, and putting them together is a beautiful sight.

Find out more at The Hill.com

Breaking Glass Ceiling at US Army Special Ops

Command Sgt. Maj. JoAnn Naumann has become the first female Sergeant Major of U.S. Army Special Operation Command (USASOC).

“Thank you for the opportunity to serve the men and women of [Army Special Operations Forces],”

Naumann said during Monday’s change of responsibility ceremony, according to a command news release.

“It is my honor to be a part of this team. I’m excited to be back at Fort Bragg. I know well how much you invest in people because you’ve done that for me.”

USASOC oversees the training and educating of the US Army’s elite forces such and rangers and special forces.

“USASOC combines a vast range of warfighting skills, from raiding and airfield seizures, to human-terrain mapping and cultural analysts,” their website says.

She comes hot off the press as the Senior NCO of the special forces command of Korea and has earned two Bronze Star Medals, the Legion of Merit, the Defense Superior Service Medal, three Meritorious Service Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, the Order of Saint Michael, and the Knowlton Award.

She is replacing Sgt. Maj. Michael Weimern who will now go on to be the sergeant major of the army. 

“I have the utmost confidence in your ability to continue the high standard of leadership required to shepherd this amazing formation with its current missions but also evolving it for 2030 and beyond,”

Weimer said at the change of responsibility ceremony.

Congrats, Sergeant Major Naumann! You accomplishments show that you have the brains and brawn to shatter any ceiling in your way!

Find out more at taskandpurpose.com.

Today in History

On May 15th 1940 the first nylon stockings were sold.  In 1939 DuPont, the chemical company, set the stocking world on fire by its invention of nylon.

In its heyday up to 4 million were being purchased a day.

It was cheap, durable, and sheer, three benefits that stockings of old simply did not have. 

The hype was short lived, however, as the entering of America into WW2 forced DuPont to stop covering ladies legs and start producing parachutes, airplane cords, and rope.

This shortage caused nylon stockings to be one of the most sought after items on the black market. Some women would even marker a line up their legs to give the appearance that they were wearing nylon stockings.

After the war was over DuPont went back to the stocking making business.

One newspaper even had the headline: “Peace, It’s Here! Nylons on Sale!”…..except they could not keep up with demand. This led to the nylon riots. Yes.

You heard that right. 

Women would line up by the tens of thousands to get their hands on stockings and would wait for hours, only to find the store’s shipments did not contain tens of thousands of stockings. You can imagine how that went.

Fortunately DuPont was eventually able to catch back up with demand and peace reigned in America once more. 

You say you’d never, but I’ve seen how y’all behave over a Dyson vacuum on Black Friday and I do not believe you.

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