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Thursday, July 24th, 2008
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 06:48:12 pm
A nurse who treated victims of one of the Army’s worst air disasters and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11 took command Thursday at Madigan Army Medical Center. Maj. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho comes to Madigan after 15 months as commander of the Walter Reed Health Care System. She was also promoted earlier this month to command the Army Nurse Corps, a job she’ll keep in her new post at Fort Lewis. Horoho succeeds Brig. Gen. Sheila Baxter, who led Madigan the past three years. The past year she oversaw sweeping changes aimed at improving care for wounded and injured soldiers and their families. Baxter is retiring and plans to pursue a master’s degree in divinity studies at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
Categories: Military, Madigan Army Medical Center
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 03:12:46 pm
About 80 soldiers from the Washington National Guard's 1st Squadron, 140th Aviation Regiment will be welcomed home 10 a.m. Saturday at Fort Lewis after a year-long deployment in Iraq, the Guard said. The ceremony will be held in Soldiers Field House. The squadron's UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilots, crew members and maintainers performed "air assault operations, tactical air movements and support missions" across Iraq, the Guard said in a press release. The unit is part of the Washington Guard's 66th Theater Aviation Command based at Fort Lewis. Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 11:38:16 am
The support troops from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis – the 296th Brigade Support Battalion – have commissioned this artwork to capture their experiences during the last deployment to Iraq. It's by Paul Stuecke, the Olympia artist who's probably best known for his paintings and posters about the United States Military Academy at West Point. The battalion's Family Readiness Group is selling prints and will use the money for its programs. Contact Nicole Rosen from the 296th FRG at 253-843-3147 or nickelnm@iglide.net for more information.
Categories: Military, 3-2 Strykers
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 09:39:41 am
USA Today has a story that will come as welcome news to the Washington National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team: Convoy attacks in Iraq are down to their lowest rate since the early months of the war. At the high point of the insurgency in 2006, one in every five convoys got hit; in the first six months of 2008, fewer than one in 50 was attacked, the newspaper reported, citing Pentagon data. At the same time more U.S. logistics convoys are moving across the country than at any time in the war, USA Today said. Lots of folks around here will be keeping their fingers crossed that this trend continues. Convoy security will be the 81st Brigade's primary mission when it reaches Iraq in October, brigade officials say. Monday, July 21st, 2008
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 05:20:55 pm
Association of the United States Army members from six western states will gather Thursday through Sunday in DuPont and Lakewood for the association's Region 6 convention. The AUSA Fort Lewis chapter is the host. They'll have work sessions Friday and Saturday and a black-tie dinner Saturday night at the Great American Casino at State Route 512 and South Tacoma Way. The guest of honor and keynote speaker is Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. They'll also get briefings from various operations at Fort Lewis, including the 17th Fires Brigade and the Warrior Transition Battalion. Region 6 covers Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Idaho, Nevada and Montana.
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 01:06:07 pm
Fort Lewis says about 150 soldiers from the 170th Military Police Company got home early Monday after a 15-month tour in Iraq – the company's third tour of the war. They deployed in May 2007 to train Iraqi police in Al Anbar Province. According to a Fort Lewis press release, they opened a police academy and trained officers at locations around the huge western province. The 170th worked as part of the U.S. Marine Corps' Regimental Combat Team 5. The company lost one soldier on this deployment: Pfc. Aaron J. Ward, 19, of San Jacinto, Calif., who was killed May 6 when insurgents fired on his unit during a cordon and search operation, according to the Defense Department.
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 12:48:46 pm
The base is out with attendance numbers: 377,616 over the two days. That's more than twice the estimate of 150,000 that base officials figure was their previous high. They used turnstiles this time at the two entry control points to the flightline, but at times they waved people around the counters to keep the crowd moving, said Staff Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson, a base spokesman. Event planners figured they'd get a large turnout, with good weather, the Thunderbirds headlining the event and folks opting not to make long summer road trips due to high gas prices. But even at that, they predicted they'd likely get crowds of 200,000 to 250,000 Jefferson said. Folks with the local chambers of commerce said they could top 300,000, but base planners were skeptical. "It blew our minds," Jefferson said of the two-day figure. “We are extremely proud of the record number of people that attended our Air Expo,” said Col. Michael Hornitschek, 62nd Airlift Wing vice commander, said in a McChord press release. “It is inspiring to see how much support our community has for its military, especially us as Airmen. What a great weekend!” Click here if you missed Russ Carmack's photo slide show. Friday, July 18th, 2008
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 06:21:34 pm
The Associated Press is reporting that Capt. Tomoaki Iishiba of Fort Lewis is charged in federal court with trying to ship firearms sights to Japan without an export license. FOB Tacoma readers may recall a short profile I wrote about Iishiba at Yama Sakura in December. Hard to tell from the AP story how big a deal this is. It indicates Iishiba purchased the sights from a U.S. company. But it doesn't make clear whether prosecutors believe this was a technical sort of violation – failure to obtain the license – or whether they think he was deliberately trying to skirt U.S. export controls on sensitive items. AP story follows:
Categories: Military
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 05:58:57 pm
As we noted in today's story, Maj. Christopher Austin – the pilot of No. 2 – is a local product. Although it says in the program he's from Huntington Beach, Calif., he's really out of Port Orchard and graduated in 1990 from South Kitsap High School. He says he'll have his mom and sisters and nephew and a ton of friends from high school out to watch the shows over the weekend. So growing up over there in a Navy town, and in a region where the Navy's precision flyers are the big deal, does he see the McChord gig as a chance to get one up on the sailors? If there is any kind of interservice rivalry between the TBirds and the Blue Angels, Austin wasn't going to let on. "Not really," he says. "The big thing for me is we represent the entire military, and we represent the Air Force. For us, it's not about showing the demonstration teams, but more about showing the pride, the precision, the professionalism of the Air Force. Where I'm from near Bremerton, it's a Navy town, but when they come and see us, they can think about the folks that are deployed with the Navy as well. We're just trying to show the excellence of the military that we are all so proud of." I think this is what the PR professionals call "message discipline." Ah, but it's not impossible to coax a Thunderbird into revealing something he'd rather not: Like for instance, that he was a high school thespian. An actor. "I did have a lead role. I was Harry Beaton in 'Brigadoon.' He's the bad guy, trying to destroy the village," Austin said. "I was not a good actor, let's make that clear. I'm a better fighter pilot than I was an actor, but it was a lot of fun." Anything about it help prepare him for his current job? "I think every fighter pilot has a little bit of ham in him," he said. "I did it because it was fun at the time and it was in between sports."
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 02:56:18 pm
Tech. Sgt. Jackie L. Larsen, 37 of Tacoma, died Thursday at Balad Air Base in Iraq of non-combat natural causes, the Defense Department and the Air Force said Friday. Larsen was assigned to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing from Beale Air Force Base, north of Sacramento. She was serving in Iraq as a paralegal at Baghdad International Airport, according to a Beale press release. The Beale release said Larsen was from Tacoma but was originally from the Philippines. She joined the Air Force in 1990. At Beale she was the lead noncommissioned officer in the base legal department. She is survived by her mother and her husband, an active-duty airman also stationed at Beale, a base spokesman said.
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 11:33:43 am
Don't think he'll be passing out cigars this weekend at the McChord Air Expo but Thunderbirds pilot Maj. Dyon Douglas is a proud new dad just the same. His wife Trisha gave birth to twin daughters Reese and Brooke on July 10 at the squadron's home station in Las Vegas. "They were a little premature, about three weeks, but they're healthy and growing well," Douglas said Thursday after arriving at McChord. He's been with the Thunderbirds since November and flies the No. 6 airplane. Wasn't easy to peel away and come back to work after the birth of the couples' first kids. "Absolutely," Douglas said. "You have kids like that, brand new kids, you want to stay at home and bond with the kids and what not. But like all Thunderbirds you have a duty, and our duty is to come up here and represent the Air Force. So that's what I'm doing this weekend."
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 12:00:01 am
Notes and announcements about South Puget Sound residents serving in the U.S. military. Send your news to me at mike.gilbert@thenewstribune.com Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Alex D. Landress recently completed naval nuclear power training at Ballston Spa, N.Y., to qualify to become a Naval nuclear operator. Landress, son of Lydia Quinby of Bonney Lake, joined the Navy after graduating from Sumner High School in 2006. (July 21, 2008) Marine Corps Pvt. Travis J. Richard, a 2005 graduate of Sumner High School, recently completed the small-arms repair course at the U.S. Army Proving Ground at Aberdeen, Md. Richard joined the Marine Corps in September 2007. (June 30, 2008)
Air Force Lt. Caroline White, daughter of Drs. Lawrence and Donna White of Lakewood, won her age division in her first Ironman triathlon competition Sunday in Coeur d'Alene. She's a 2007 Air Force Academy graduate and a 2003 graduate of Bellarmine Prep. Next she's onto the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in October. White is working on her master's degree at the University of Maryland and then will go to pilot training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. An Ironman race consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run. (June 24, 2008) I Corps and Fort Lewis NCO of the Year is Sgt. Daniel P. Dean from the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, and Soldier of the Year is Spc. Justin R. Brown of the 308th Brigade Support Battalion. Click here for Northwest Guardian coverage of the competition. Two Tacoma-area soldiers -- Spc. Jeremy J. Bucholtz of Lakewood and Spc. Wayne J. Faga of Tacoma -- are back at Fort Hood, Texas, after a 15-month deployment in Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division. Bucholtz is with the 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment and Faga is with the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, according to an Army press release. Bucholtz, a 1994 Lakes High School graduate, is the son of Laurel Smith and grandson of Lawrence Bell of Lakewood. Faga graduated from Lincoln High in 1996 and is the son of Foai and Faafoi Faga of Tacoma's East Side. (May 21, 2008)
Staff Sgt. Todd A. Hotis, a U.S. Army Reservist from Lakewood, returned home in late April after a 12-month tour as a driver, gunner and team leader in Baghdad with the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. He also spent three months before deployment in training at Fort Riley, Kan. Hotis is assigned to the Reserve's 104th Training Division out of Vancouver. (May 6, 2008) Senior Chief Petty Officer David Jonason of Tacoma took command March 21 of the U.S. Coast Guard Station Chatham near Boston. Jonason, 39, has been a Coast Guardsman 21 years and was last assigned as an instructor at the service's National Motor Lifeboat School in Ilwaco. (March 28, 2008) Pvt. 1st Class Arley Lange of Lacey graduated from the Army Military Police transisiton course at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., on March 21. She will be assigned to the 16th Military Police Brigade (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C. (March 24, 2008)
Pfc. Jeffrey Arnold of Tacoma – that's him on the left, the Army public affairs people assure us – is serving in the Taji area of Iraq with the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. That's the Hawaii-based Stryker brigade that's been in Iraq a couple months now. Staff Sgt. Ben Santiago of the Washington Air National Guard will be awarded the Bronze Star medal for meritorious service in Afghanistan. There's a ceremony at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 1, at Camp Murray. Santiago, with the 116th Air Support Operations Squadron, worked as a Special Operations tactical air control party – TACP – last March to September, according to a Guard press release. (Feb. 28, 2008) Lance Cpl. Kristopher G. Murray, a 2007 graduate of Emerald Ridge High School, recently completed the Basic Food Service Course at Fort Lee, Va., according to a Navy press release. He also earned meritorious promotion to his rank. He joined the Marines in July 2007. (Feb. 13, 2008) Thursday, July 17th, 2008
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 04:44:49 pm
The Air Force Thunderbirds arrived at McChord Air Force Base today and will fly a private show beginning around 2 p.m. Friday for about 1,200 special-needs children and their families. Then on Saturday and Sunday they’ll be the headliners of 14 flying acts at the McChord Air Expo, the first time it's been held since 2005. Planners won’t publish a precise schedule, but the flying will generally begin between 10:30 and 11 a.m., and wrap up with the Thunderbirds performances that will start at about 3 p.m. “Planes break. Higher needs call them away. There’s all kinds of stuff,” said Maj. Doug Edwards, the Air Expo director. “I don’t think we’ll post it by times, because the second we do, things will change.” The show will end both days by 4:30 p.m., Edwards said. On Saturday and Sunday, flying acts will take place in this order: • C-17 air drop demonstration • Air Force Academy “Wings of Blue” precision parachute team • Jacquie B’s Pitts S-1T biplane • Air Force Reserve jet car • Bud Granley’s T-6 Texan • B-2 Spirit bomber (Saturday only) • F-15C Eagle tactical demonstration • P-51 Mustang heritage flight • Air Force Reserve jet car race • C-17 tactical demonstration • Bud and Ross Granley dueling YAKs • F/A-18F Supe Hornet tactical demonstration • Navy Tailhook legacy flight • Tim Weber Geico Extra 300 • Pearl Harbor “Tora, Tora, Tora” reenactment • Thunderbirds Access to McChord will be open to the public on both days. Edwards said there’s plenty of parking but expect traffic to be jammed on Bridgeport Way Southwest leading into the base from Interstate 5.
Visitors will go through one of two security checkpoints to get into the show area. Bags are subject to search. “The rule of thumb is if you can’t get on an airplane with it, you can’t get on the flightline with it,” Edwards said. “Security is not going to let you do so.” A few other notable restrictions: No bikes, skateboards or rollerblades. No pets. No coolers, weapons, glass bottles, alcohol, backpacks or bags.
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 12:05:01 pm
If you're out and about the general area of McChord Air Force Base in, say, an hour or so – and the flippin' overcast burns off – you should keep an eye out for at least half-a-dozen inbound F-16s. Don't know whether they'll be doing any kind of fancy flyin' on their way in. Otherwise, the Thunderbirds will be doing an invitation-only show 2 p.m. Friday for special needs kids, and then the two big shows 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Air Expo.
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 11:26:26 am
A Special Forces soldier and father of five from Fort Lewis was killed Tuesday in a vehicle accident in Mosul, the U.S. military announced today. Staff Sgt. David W. Textor, 27, was in Iraq as a weapons sergeant with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group. Three other soldiers were injured in the accident, according to Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, speaking Wednesday at the 1st Special Forces Group headquarters at Fort Lewis. There was no additional information Thursday about the accident, or the extent of the other soldiers’ injuries. A Special Operations Command spokesman said the accident was under investigation, and that the command doesn’t release information about wounded or injured soldiers. Originally from Jamestown, N.Y., Textor lived in Olympia with his wife Colette and their five children, the command said in a press release. Textor deployed in May, his first deployment in the war on terror, the command press release said. He is the fifth soldier from 1st Group to be killed in Iraq, and the 200th from Fort Lewis to be killed while deployed worldwide since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Textor played football, wrestled and ran track in high school and joined the Army in 2002. He was an infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, before winning a spot in the Special Forces in November 2006. In addition to his wife and children, he is survived by his parents and five sisters.
Categories: Military, 1st Special Forces Group
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 12:58:03 pm
Two soldiers assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group were decorated Wednesday for their actions during a four-hour engagement with insurgents in June 2007 in the southern Iraqi city of Ad Diwaniyah. Sgt. 1st Class Chad M. Kite, 27, and Staff Sgt. Chris L. Federmann, 32, were each awarded the Silver Star during a ceremony Wednesday morning at 1st Group headquarters at Fort Lewis. Wednesday's awards followed a ceremony Monday in which a Fort Lewis MP, Sgt. Michael Espejo, received a Silver Star for killing a suicide bomber in Afghanistan before he could detonate his explosive vest. Kite and Federmann are credited with fighting off numerous insurgent gunmen who attacked a combined U.S., coalition and Iraqi team that was trying to capture a suspected terrorist leader. "These were multiple acts of selfless courage," said Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, commander of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, who attended the ceremony. A USASOC press release issued a couple days after the June 3 raid said Iraqi troops killed four insurgents, and said coalition forces were along as advisers. It also said the Iraqis did not find the person they were looking for. But 1st Group on Wednesday said it was Kite and Federmann who "heroically distinguished themselves by exceptionally valorous conduct amidst the bravery exhibited by all the soldiers participating in this battle."
Categories: Military, 1st Special Forces Group
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 11:11:30 am
Curious about what will happen, disciplinary action-wise, to the Army employee who took a government laptop home and put some 900 soldiers at risk for identity theft when a prowler swiped it from his unlocked truck? We asked. Fort Lewis' answer, per a post spokesman:
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 05:24:39 pm
We're late on this, but wanted to pass along that on Saturday, one local law enforcement leader took over for another as commander of the Coast Guard's Port Security Unit 313, out of the Port of Tacoma. Cmdr. Jim Andrews, chief of police in University Place, succeeded Cmdr. Jim Howatson, The unit returned last month from a seven-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and was deployed in 2003 to the Persian Gulf to protect Iraqi oil platforms at the start of the war. The 313th includes a mix of 140 active-duty and mostly reserve Coast Guardsmen.
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 12:36:27 pm
Two items of note in the Army brigadier general promotion list put out (finally!) this morning: • Col. Heidi V. Brown is the effects coordinator at I Corps and Fort Lewis. She was the first woman to command an Air Defense Artillery brigade (the 31st ADA out of Fort Bliss). • Col. Stephen J. Townsend, now executive officer to the commander at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, was of course the commander of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis on its last deployment to Iraq. Also on the list is Col. Michael Shields, who commanded the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Alaska on its Iraq deployment. With Townsend and Shields' nominations, that makes Stryker brigade wartime commanders four-for-four on promotion to brigadier general. The other two were Michael Rounds, who commanded the 3rd Brigade on its first trip, and Bob Brown, who led the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division to Iraq in 2004-05. Rounds is vice director for operational plans and joint force development on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. Brown is the deputy commanding general for support at the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, set to return to Iraq this fall.
Categories: Military
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
Posted by Mike Gilbert @ 01:16:18 am
The Army Chief of Staff announced two other general officer moves for Fort Lewis on Friday. • Maj. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho will command Madigan Army Medical Center. She is currently commander of the Walter Reed Health Care System. (Note that she apparently is making jump from colonel to major general and is a replacing Brig. Gen. Sheila Baxter; will have to wait until Monday to get an explanation on that one. Per folks who received an invitation to the change of command ceremony 10 a.m. July 24, Baxter is retiring.) • Brig. Gen. Jeff W. Mathis III gets the title of deputy commanding general for I Corps and Fort Lewis (rear), meaning he'll be the guy in charge when Lt. Gen. Chuck Jacoby and crew head down range next spring to lead Multi-National Corps-Iraq. Mathis has been at Lewis for some time now doing this job when Jacoby is away; he is a National Guardsman and most recently served as director of the Joint Staff at the Washington Guard's Joint Force Headquarters at Camp Murray. More TK next week on both of these announcements.
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FOB Tacoma
I've been writing about the military for The News Tribune since early 2001. Send your suggestions, story tips and especially your leaks to me at mike.gilbert@thenewstribune.com Or, if you prefer, you can send mail to The News Tribune, PO Box 11000, Tacoma 98411. Category
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Items of interest and the odd comment or two about military and veterans issues in the South Puget Sound.
