News 6 Mashup: August 1, 2022

August 5, 2022August 3, 2022 Jolene McNutt 0 Comments News 6

Here is this week’s News 6 mashup of stories for the week of August 1st, 2022, straight from AWN News 6 Correspondent, Jolene McNutt:

USAFRICOM Names Top Three Challenges

China, Russia and terrorism are the top three challenges for U.S. Africa Command, reported the Department of Defense.

“China is acting in a very whole-of-government way, leading with development and economic measures on the continent,” said Army Gen. Stephen J. Townsend. “They are proceeding … to increase their access and influence on the continent, and they have a desire … to establish more military bases on the continent.”

China has one base in Djibouti and desires a second on Africa’s Atlantic coast.

Russia has a “band of mercenaries” called the Wagner Group and Russia’s primarily interest is collecting natural resources for its own use “and not interested in sincerely helping African nations.”

Finally, Townsend said that the “most immediate threat is that posed by extremist organizations.”

“Al-Qaida and the Islamic State are present on the continent, and groups like al-Shabab in Somalia, for example, are financing terror groups in Africa and other areas of the globe…”

Joint Typhoon Warning Center Forecasts For Safety

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center, JTWC, helps with forecasting for the Navy’s third, fifth and seventh fleet areas of responsibility, reported Tom Temin in his podcast, Federal Drive at Federal News Network. He interviewed Angela Francis, Commander of the JTWC.

“We provide analysis forecasts, of course, and decision support to the whole of the U.S. government and the DoD to make decisions as they plan, prepare and protect against the threat of tropical cyclones,” said Francis. “And more broadly, we say across the Indo-Pacific region, and that includes both the Pacific and Indian Oceans.”

They go beyond weather forecasting, which they can model up to two weeks in advance, to help redirect ships away from potential bad weather and to help people on land have time to prepare. She also explained the difference between a hurricane, cyclone and typhoon.

“And the trick answer is there’s no difference. So they’re all called tropical cyclones. And the typhoon is actually just a specific name that we give any cyclone that’s in the Western Pacific region,” she said. “So think, along the Philippines, Japan and the Western Pacific island chain there, whereas a hurricane is just a more specific name that we give to a cyclone that impacts the mainland Americas.”

D-Day Pilot Turns 102

D-Day pilot, Harry Gamper, turned 102 on July 20th and he celebrated with a bang! Gamper “served as an Royal Air Force pilot in WWII and won medals for his service in France and Germany,” shared Good News Network. He few over 1,000 hours while serving in the RAF. When asked about D-Day, he shared,

“For a whole week before D-Day, nobody was allowed off the aerodrome. So, something big was going to happen,” he said. “The [English] Channel was extraordinary – I think you could have almost walked across the Channel because every boat was going across it.”

Gamper had an Italian-themed birthday party to honor his late wife who loved vacationing in Italy.

This Week in History

On July 27, 1953, the US, the Korean People’s Army and the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army signed the Korean Armistice Agreement, ending three years of fighting the Korean War. According to Historynet, the Korean War, and more specifically, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, has been called,

“The battle that defined the modern Marine Corps. Retired Captain Harold Barber calls it the battle that saved the Marine Corps. Yet the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, and the Korean War as a whole, is largely America’s “forgotten war.” During the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, 30,000 U.S., Republic of Korea and British troops fought against 120,000 Chinese soldiers. The 17-day battle was fought at the beginning of December, 1950. The Chinese surrounded the United National Command troops, later nicknamed “The Chosin Few”. The Chinese troops were “ordered by Moa Zedong to destroy the UN forces.” But the UN forces, broke from the encirclement and were able to make a “fighting withdrawal.” Beyond being outnumbered significantly by the Chinese troops, they faced rough terrain and harsh winter weather conditions. Some estimates say that temperatures were as low as -36 degrees F. Troops battled frostbite, icy roads, weapon malfunctions, frozen medical supplies, dead batteries in jeeps and radios and more.

Additional reading at: wikipedia.