News 6 Mashup: May 6, 2021
Here is a News 6 mashup of top stories for the week of May 6, 2021, straight from AWN News 6 Correspondent, Jolene McNutt:
Final Troop Withdrawals from Afghanistan
The final phase in troop withdrawals from Afghanistan has begun, reported Military Times. Equipment is already being shipped out of the country, however, some will remain with the Afghan Defense and Security Force. President Biden announced last month that the troop withdrawal will be complete before September 11.
Dispose Old Medications Safely
National Drug Take Back Day was April 24, but the Military Health System wants to spread the message that every day is Drug Take Back Day. Excess medications including pills, powders, liquids, lotions, and dermal patches can be dropped in Military Health System pharmacies that are “outfitted with MedSafe medication disposal boxes,” reported Health.mil. The bins are right inside the pharmacies and are available to beneficiaries any time the pharmacy is open. Health.mil also stresses the importance of removing unused or expired medications, searching in common areas where medications are kept, including medicine cabinets, kitchen cabinets and drawers, bedroom dressers, and glove compartments in cars.
VA Testing Implant to Help Paralyzed Veterans Walk
“The VA is testing an implant that could allow paralyzed veterans to walk again,” reported Military.com. This implant is “designed to stimulate the body’s sensorimotor networks.” One of the volunteers participating in the trial is Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Burch, who fractured his seventh cervical vertebrae, “the lowest bone in his neck,” in an accident while he was serving in Guam. Burch has been selected as one of 20 candidates to test the implant after his successful implementation of using a battery-powered exo-skeleton. His doctor, Ashraf Gorgey, chief of spinal cord injury research at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, told Military.com: “A person with a spinal cord injury who has the ability to stand and walk is a breathtaking thing. Not only are there obvious physical and psychological benefits, but the physiological impact is huge. The act of walking can prevent so many other health issues associated with long-term paralysis, including heart disease, diabetes, muscular atrophy, [and] bone loss.”
This Week in History
Ten years ago, on May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed. This was almost a decade after he orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Bin Laden had been hiding out in Pakistan, shared History.com, and U.S. Intelligence information secured confirmation in 2007 of a high-level courier. Tracking that courier eventually linked the courier to a “large, highly-secured compound” in a town north of Islamabad. The team trained in a life-sized mock up of the compound before tackling the real mission on May 2, 2011.
