News 6 Mashup: May 2, 2022

Here is this week’s News 6 mashup of stories for the week of May 2, 2022, straight from AWN News 6 Correspondent, Jolene McNutt:

Online Sexual Harassment Running Rampant for Troops

Online sexual harassment for military members, especially women servicemembers, is running rampant and without much recourse, reported Federal News Network.

“Troops are feeling the weight of attacks from peers, veterans and civilians through direct messages, texts, calls, video chats, public posts and internet forums. Equally, service members are harassing their peers, often without consequences,” reported Federal News Networks. What’s more, the Department of Defense “does not have any active data on cyber harassment or who is doing it.” Read the in-depth report at Federal News Network.

If you need help for online harassment, you can reach out to the DoD’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office 8am-5pm, EST, at 571-372-2657 or DSN: 372-2657.

Nowhere safe to hide: What online harassment is doing to service members and the military

Army’s Announces New Parental Policies

The Army has sweeping new parental policies aimed to create a better quality of life for military parents, reported Military.com. The policies will impact “400,000 soldiers who are also parents, including 29,000 single fathers.” The policies were a “grassroots effort by midlevel and noncommissioned officers and feedback from parents on social media, not senior leaders who typically craft new rules.”

Among the policy changes, new parents will be granted one year exclusion from anything that might take the parent away from the child for more than a standard duty day. This could include deployments, field training, and TDY. Pregnant officers will be allowed to attend schools required for promotion. Breastfeeding mothers will be allowed “lactation breaks” – 30 minutes every two to three hours in a private room with a locking door in a space other than a restroom.

World’s Oldest Dog Turns 21!

A Florida chihuahua named TobyKeith is officially the world’s oldest living dog. The 21-year-old chihuahua was adopted from a shelter by Gisela Shore. According to Good News Network, TobyKeith has a close friendship with Shore’s “28-year-old umbrella cockatoo named Coco, and often walks around with her. Otherwise, he enjoys eating slices of turkey, going on little walks, and lying next to Shore’s work station while she works from home.”

Florida Chihuahua is World’s Oldest Living Dog Setting Guinness Record

This Week in History

On May 1, 1915, Archie Franklin Williams was born. Archie was a U.S. Air Force officer, Olympic athlete and a teacher. He won the gold medal in the 400 meter run at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Archie was one of 14 black Olympians to win medals, which thwarted Adolf Hitler’s plan to use the games to showcase “Aryan” athletes. Archie attended UC Berkeley and earned a degree in mechanical engineering and in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Engineering School. He became a commercial pilot, earned his instructor rating and was a civilian instructor at Tuskegee, where a group of primarily African American military pilots trained, according to Wikipedia.

Archie enlisted in the Air Force where he flew missions during WWII and the Korean War. He retired a lieutenant colonel after 22 years of service, reported USA Track and Field. Following his military career, he taught mathematics and computer science in California high schools.

The CAF Rise Above program said:
“His story is one of perseverance in standing up to forces of systemic oppression, discrimination and racism, the drive to excel in learning and to serve and give back.”

Archie Franklin Williams

News 6 Report Image: Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash and IOC Olympic Museum, Switzerland, Public Domain