Here are five news stories and events to start your week, from the editors at Military.com:
Airman to Receive Silver Star Upgrade for Afghanistan Heroics
Via Oriana Pawlyk at Military.com: "The Air Force plans to upgrade a combat controller's Bronze Star Medal to a Silver Star for exemplary action while engaged in combat in Afghanistan in 2006. Chief Master Sgt. Michael R. West, assigned to the 720th Operational Support Squadron, will receive the Silver Star, the military's third-highest valor award, during a ceremony at Hurlburt Field, Florida, on Dec. 15, Air Force Special Operations Command said in a release. ... His upgrade comes as a result of a comprehensive Defense Department-wide review of awards from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Army Beats Navy 14-13 to Win First Commander in Chiefs Trophy Since 1996
Via Michael Hoffman at Military.com: "Army defeated Navy 14-13 in a classic snow-covered Army-Navy Game after the Midshipmen missed a 48-yard kick as time expired. The victory clinched Army's first Commander in Chief's Trophy since 1996. The snow never stopped falling on the 68,625 in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia for the 118th Army-Navy Game. With Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in attendance, West Point beat the Naval Academy for the second year in a row after Army had lost to their rival 14 straight years."
Sig Sauer to Offer Commercial Version of Army's New Sidearm
Via Matthew Cox at Military.com: "Sig Sauer, the maker of the U.S. Army's Modular Handgun System, intends to sell a special, commercial version of the full-size MHS 9mm pistol. 'We are planning to do a limited release of about 5,000 of the Army variant of the M17 for the commercial market,' Tom Taylor, Sig Sauer's chief marketing officer and executive vice president for commercial sales, told Military.com. 'The timing is not finalized yet, but it looks to be late spring.'" Glock, which competed for the program but lost, also reportedly plans to sell its version of MHS on the commercial market.
Military Officials to Testify on Troop Concussions, Pilot Hypoxia Episodes
Military officials this week plan to testify before lawmakers on the topics ranging from troop concussions to pilot hypoxia. Navy Capt. Capt. Dr. Michael Colston, director of military health policy and oversight for the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, is set to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee, headed by Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, at 10 a.m. Wednesday to provide an update on research, diagnosis and treatment for traumatic brain injury and concussions in service members. Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Committee's Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, headed by Michael Turner, a Republican from Ohio, is scheduled to hold a hearing 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to address physiological episodes in fighter, attack and training aircraft.
ICYMI: Pearl Harbor Vet, 98, Shows Trump How It Was Done
Via Richard Sisk at Military.com: "Ninety-eight-year-old Pearl Harbor vet Mickey Ganitch got down into his three-point stance at the White House on Thursday to show how he was going to take it to the battleship Arizona team if war hadn't interrupted football on Dec. 7, 1941. At a Roosevelt Room ceremony to honor six Pearl Harbor veterans from the Army and Navy, President Donald Trump said former Senior Chief Quartermaster Ganitch and his shipmates from the battleship Pennsylvania were getting ready to play the Arizona crew for the fleet championship on that Sunday morning when the Japanese attacked."
-- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.
