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

US Carrier heads to Israel 

The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group headed to the Eastern Mediterranean this week to stand by to aid Israel after the horrifying Hamas attack on the country and the subsequent retaliation.

The warships include the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the tyconderoga -class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), as well as the Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS Carney (DDG 64), and USS Roosevelt (DDG 80).

“In addition, the United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions,” 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said.

“The first security assistance will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days.”

His statement continued:

“Strengthening our joint force posture, in addition to the material support that we will rapidly provide to Israel, underscores the United States’ ironclad support for the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people. My team and I will continue to be in close contact with our Israeli counterparts to ensure they have what they need to protect their citizens and defend themselves against these heinous terrorist attacks.”

Israel officially declared war on Hamas this past Sunday, the first time this conflict has led to war since 1973.

Prayers for safety and a swift return for our American military service members and peace for Israel. Find out more at fox news.com

Maze Marks Anniversary for Marines

A pumpkin patch outside of Amarillo, Texas, chose an interesting theme for those corn maze this year.

While other patches are paying homage to Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, they are marking the 40th anniversary of the tragic attack of marines on Beruit.

This attack, which happened during a peace mission, is rarely discussed but claimed the lives of 241 service members, 220 of those being marines.

Last year the couple did a homage to the Doolittle raid on Tokyo.

Marine veteran Paul Doolittle, a relative of the namesake, saw this and was so touched he had to see for himself. While visiting he requested this year’s theme. He himself was a marine stateside during the attack and he has spent his life making sure his brothers are remembered. 

Every few years he walks 273 miles around North Carolina, a mile for every marine lost between 1981-1983. 

“All those people, all the Marines and the sailors and the soldiers had a family,” Doolittle told Marine Corps Times. “And they shouldn’t be the only people that remember.”

“This is not about me,” he said. “It’s about the 273.”

The Leonard’s, who own the patch, made their maze feature a lonely centry that matches the memorial to the attack in Jacksonville, NC, and have all the names inscribed in the middle of the maze.

“I’d just hate for anybody to forget what all they did in the past, what all they did for us,”

Shaun Leonard said.

“I know it’s just a little blip on the radar of everybody that’s ever sacrificed for us, but hopefully we can just kind of peck away at it every year.”

“I owe them a debt of gratitude for this act of kindness I can never repay and know that we will be friends to the end as a result,” Doolittle told Marine Corps Times.

You can visit Leonard Farms in Canyon, TX, until Veterans Day.

Senators Seek Answers From Military Housing for Disabled Family Members.

Several senators are demanding accountability and action from military housing when it comes to providing acceptable homes for disabled beneficiaries.

“There is a clear need for additional actions by DoD, as well as oversight from Congress, in order to address concerns about the [Exceptional Family Member Program] raised by residents, surveys, Government Accountability Office reports, and congressional investigations and testimony,”

wrote Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in their Oct. 5 letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Warren chairs the Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee.

A major concern is how many members have had to pay out of pocket to make the homes work for their family member.

A small online survey  by the Military Housing Advocacy Network suggests that 20 percent have done so.

The senators ask for specifics on a number of issues, such as:

• Housing waitlists for EFMP families;
• The number of ADA-compliant homes available at each installation;
• How many complaints have been received from EFMP families related to housing;
• What penalties housing companies face for not providing ADA-compliant housing; and
• How many penalties DoD has imposed over the past five years.

“The incremental improvements and continued oversight challenges make the lives of service members and their families difficult and raise questions about morale and readiness which also impact retention,” the senators wrote.

We all know that military housing can be a bear to tackle, and it should not be harder for those who need a little extra help.

Accountability is important and we thank these senators for leading the charge! Find out more at militarytimes.com

Today in News 6 History:

On October 16, 1962, the Cuban missile crisis began. It would last for 13 days.

It is considered the closest the world came to nuclear warfare during the Cold War.

This was the day that JFK was made aware of satellite images of Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, a mere 90 miles away from the coast of Florida.

Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine, stopping any boats to go in and out of the nation and preventing any more missiles making it on the island. The word quarantine was carefully closed because blockade would be considered an act of war.

Almost two weeks of tense negotiations with the Soviets ended with an agreement for the Soviet’s to disable their nuclear weapons on the island in exchange that the U.S. would no longer try to overthrow the Cuban dictatorship. 

While a nuclear war was avoided, as a Cuban American whose family was still in Cuba at the time, it is still considered a huge disappointment for many Cuban people who were eager for American aid in the overthrowing of the oppressive communist regime that still reigns today.

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