The Department of Defense published a transcript here of Tuesday morning's news conference at the Pentagon with Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.

The headlines are all about the fallout for retired Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, former head of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. But Geren also covered the disciplinary action that followed for Lt. Col. Jeff Bailey, the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment commander at the time of Tillman's death. (Bailey has since been promoted to colonel and is assigned to the staff at the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C.)

Geren said the reviewing general, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command boss Gen. William Wallace:

"determined that Colonel Bailey, the battalion commander who received a memorandum of concern -- he received it because of his handling of punishment against the Rangers involved in the shooting of Corporal Pat Tillman; it had nothing to do with the investigation of Tillman's circumstances of his death, other than the conduct of the Rangers in firing upon Tillman's position."

Geren said Bailey and Ranger Regimental commander Brig. Gen. James Nixon, who also received a memorandum of concern:

"were forthcoming in the reviews of their actions and were found innocent of any attempt to cover up the truth in the Tillman matter. Both were in the war zone in Afghanistan and kept their leaders back home regarding Pat Tillman's death in the friendly fire investigation fully informed."

And Geren said:

"Brigadier General Nixon and Colonel Bailey made mistakes, but they kept Lieutenant General Kensinger informed of the key facts regarding Corporal Tillman's death and the investigation. Nixon and Bailey were in Afghanistan, conducting secret missions against a ruthless enemy. They were in the fight 24/7. They had every reason to expect that if they kept their leaders in their administrative chain of command informed, their leaders would do their duty, which included proper family notification and timely safety reviews."

The news services are all reporting for tomorrow's editions that the 74 U.S. deaths in Iraq in July are the lowest monthly total since last November, and a steep dropoff after tough losses in April, May and June. The stories cite figures maintained at the independent iCasualties.org web site.

The chart above covers only service members from Fort Lewis or from elsewhere in Washington, who likewise have experienced a dramatic decline in combat deaths after the worst two months of the war, from a local perspective. These figures are compiled from Department of Defense news releases issued on the announcement of each new U.S. military death over the past five years.

Soldiers from A Company of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment crash out on the roof of a house in Baqouba in this photo taken Saturday. McClatchy's Mike Drummond, who was embedded with the company for several days last week, said the soldiers told the occupants of the home to leave for a few days while the troops conducted combat patrols in the neighborhood Photo: Mike Drummond/Charlotte Observer

McClatchy's Mike Drummond and Hussein Khalifa have a ground-level report from Baqouba on how Stryker troops there are working with their former Sunni militant adversaries to identify and flush out al-Qaida in Iraq.

One insurgent tells Drummond and Khalifa that he'll go back to attacking U.S. troops once they're done ridding Baqouba of the AQI.

And a soldier acknowledged it's not easy working alongside fighters who might have had a hand in killing and wounding his buddies. But for now, at least, that appears to be the price of progress.

The New York Times carried a brief item about a new Human Rights Watch report that says since 2000, more people have been killed and wounded in terrorist attacks in the Philippines than anywhere else in Southeast Asia.

The Times said "the number of dead and wounded exceeded the number of casualties in terrorist attacks in Indonesia, Morocco, Spain, Turkey or Britain in the same period."

The local connection: the 1st Special Forces Group from Fort Lewis has sent teams there over the years to train the Philippine military in counterinsurgency tactics. A 1st Group soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Mark Jackson, was killed there in a terrorist bombing in October 2002.

With almost all our attention these days on the Fort Lewis and I Corps troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the report is a reminder that there are issues of concern in the I Corps' traditional area of responsibility, the Pacific.

UPDATE: For a little more on the Philippines, check out here and here.

USS Bunker Hill at Portland's Rose Festival	USS Rentz, also on the Willamette in Portland

We don't normally do much about the Navy on this blog but it's Seafair week up in Seattle and if you're interested, they're having public tours of a number of U.S. vessels.

They include the guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill, the guided-missile fast frigate USS Rentz, and the amphibious transport dock ship USS Cleveland. They'll be berthed beginning Tuesday at noon at Piers 90 and 91 in Seattle, the Navy says.

They and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Steadfast and three Royal Canadian Navy ships will take part in the parade of ships on Wednesday afternoon in Elliott Bay.

Public tours will be 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and then noon to 3:30 p.m. Sunday. The Navy wants you all to go to this web site to read about the rules for visiting its ships. There are various restrictions and procedures and all that.

There are also "airport-style security measures" to get onto the pier, and private boaters are asked to stay at least 500 yards from the Navy and Coast Guard ships ... or else! (I added that part.)

No reservations; everything's on a first-come, first-served basis, they say.

If you didn't get enough of the Air Mobility Rodeo 2007 this week out at McChord, fear not: The Air Force has put up a ton of stuff about it on the Air Mobility Command web site.

There's the story about the twin brothers competing on different teams. There's a story about the McChord airmen working behind the scenes to keep the communications running, and one about the umpires who score the precision landing competition by getting out on the runway and feeling for hotspots where the rubber met the road.

And best of all, the big end-of-event awards ceremony,complete with light show and blazing house soundtrack, was webcast live.

Holy cow -- it was a production not unlike Oscar night.

"Within this hangar are the best air mobility warriors in the world!" the rodeo commander, Brig. Gen. Kip Self, hollered after riding into the hangar-turned-set aboard a vintage roadster. "Damn straight! Give yourself a hand!"

Most of the award winners were announced Thursday (for a complete list click here). Local winners included:

• Best Aeromedical Evacuation Contingency Crew - 446th Airlift Wing, McChord.

• Best C-17 Postflight Team - 62nd Airlift Wing, McChord.

The top 15 awards, were announced at this afternoon's extavaganza. The local winners:

• Best Security Forces Team – 62nd Airlift Wing, McChord.

• Best Aeromedical Evacuation Team – 446th Airlift Wing, McChord.

The award for Best C-17 Team went to ... shock and horror! ... the 60th Air Mobility Wing from Travis Air Force Base. The home team comes up short.

The Travis gang from Fairfield, Calif., also hauled in the Maintenance Knucklebuster Award, the Best C-5 Team, Best C-17 Team, Best KC-10 Team, Best Tanker Team, and Best Air Land Team.

And so there was little surprise when Self announced that the winner of the overall Best Mobility Team trophy, delivered by retired Gen. Ron Fogelman via Harley Davidson to the strains of an AC/DC song that I can't just place at the moment, is. ... Travis.

So much for home field advantage.

Congrats to all.

Another item that arrived while I was gone: Another installment from Baghdad by Lt. Col. Matt Green, a former Fort Lewis officer who is leading a team of advisers to an Iraqi police brigade.

There's a sting in the tail of this one.

July 4, 2007

I sat with two other U.S. lieutenant colonels, a major, Staff Sgt. P and a terp along one side of a very long conference table in a cavernous hall on the second floor of the Iraqi Parliament building. Brig. Gen. Bahaa and his staff rounded out our team. On the far side of the table a collection of Iraqi deputy ministers of this-or-that waited patiently for the meeting to begin. About 18 hours prior BG Bahaa had been summoned to meet with one of two deputy prime ministers, Mr Salih Zorbea, on the topic of the Haifa Street project, and to “bring his Americans along with him.” Our full colonel brigade commander was home on leave, so our small band was dutifully playing backup to Brig. Gen. Bahaa in an engagement that was significantly above our pay grade.

=> Read more!

Iraq plays next-door rivals Saudi Arabia early Sunday in the final of the Asian Cup, the continent's premier international soccer competition.

The Iraqis are as crazy about football as people anywhere else on the planet. And it's hard to imagine any country more in need of a lift.

Iraq has a rich footballing tradition and the team brought joy to the country with an unexpected run of success at the Athens Olympics in 2004, before falling to Italy 1-0 in the Bronze Medal match.

But this is something much bigger. Iraq has never reached the Asian Cup final; the Saudis have lifted the trophy three times. A win Sunday would rank as the country's greatest footballing achievement, which to now is its qualification for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

If they can keep the psychopaths from bombing the street parties like they did after Wednesday's semifinal win over South Korea, a win Sunday, and the title "Champions of Asia," would give everybody something to feel good about.

And if nothing else, that ought to make life at least a little easier for all the Fort Lewis folks pulling the hard duty there these days.

Digging out from the stuff that piled up while I was on vacation. ... You probably saw a couple weeks back that Maj. Gen. Carter Ham – he commanded Task Force Olympia from Fort Lewis in northern Iraq – has been nominated for a third star and appointment as the J-3, director of operations, on the Joint Staff.

This is a big dang deal for a guy who started out as an enlisted joe and who was responsible for thousands of Fort Lewis troops who were there when things went to hell in Mosul in 2004-05.

He is currently commander of the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan., where it appears they like him as much as folks did here at Lewis.

His next job, assuming he is confirmed in the Senate, has been something of a launch pad in recent years. Army Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute got plucked to become White House "war czar."

Before that, Lt. Gen. James T. Conway was tabbed for a fourth star and commandant of the Marine Corps.

And before that, Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz – a former McChord squadron commander – moved up to director of the Joint Staff and then got a fourth star and leads the U.S. Transportation Command.

As promised, Fort Lewis boss Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby held a roundtable with newsies on Wednesday at the I Corps conference room. He apologized for not having done it sooner – like right after he assumed command last month – but at the time he said his immediate concern was getting his elderly mom out to Lewis to witness what he figures might be his last promotion, and then safely back home to Florida.

Full disclosure: I brought my digital voice recorder to the session. But like a D.S., I seem to have lost it somewhere here at the TNT Mothership. So I'm short any full-length quotes. But here are some highlights:

• With the arrival of the 17th Fires Brigade's full compliment of 1,500 soldiers over the next several months, the post's end strength will soon reach close to 30,000 soldiers. He wouldn't bite on a question about whether any other units might be headed this way, such as any of the five additional brigade combat teams the Army says it's going to create.

• There is some $2.8 billion in construction and renovation – barracks, gyms, dining facilities, motor pools, chapels, you name it – programmed over the next five years.

• Jacoby committed no news regarding the I Corps' long-discussed move to Japan. It's still under discussion at levels way above him, he says, but there might be news after Labor Day.

• Likewise, nothing concrete on the pending BRAC merger with McChord Air Force Base – or Fort Lewis' pending acquisition of McChord, depending how you look at it.

Jacoby acknowledged there is a fair amount of apprehension among the civilian workforce at both installations, on the assumption that many might lose their jobs in economy-of-scale measures that come with "Joint Base Lewis McChord." But he said the scope of the merger is still to come pending decisions at the Pentagon.

"Protecting the workforce will be job No. 1, or ought to be," Jacoby said.

• Jacoby touted re-enlistment rates as a sign of good morale and said rates among some Fort Lewis units are well above 100 percent of the goal. Soldiers here also re-enlist to stay at Fort Lewis at a much higher rate than do soldiers at other installations, he said.

• He would not confirm a timeline but acknowledged that the I Corps staff is reorganizing and training so that it will be ready to go to Iraq in early 2009 to take over the day-to-day command of U.S. troops there as Multi-National Corps-Iraq.

The Army's III Corps from Fort Hood and V Corps from Germany have shared the command responsibilities in Baghdad, while the XVIII Airborne Corps from Fort Bragg has run the show in Kabul. The XVIII Corps is scheduled to succeed the III Corps in Iraq next, and then after that, sources say the I Corps will have to step up.

Jacoby noted the Army is always cautious about discussing deployment dates and future operations, but acknowledged that transformation of the corps headquarters for deployment will be among his top priorities. The deadline for the transformation is January 2009, he said.

• "This is the best three-star job in the Army and I'm humbled to be here," he said.

Fort Lewis' commanding general, Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, Jr., will talk to reporters for the first time Wednesday in a media roundtable session that's scheduled to last an hour.

Got any questions for him?

Back in the saddle after two refreshing weeks of vacation. ...

Fort Lewis and I Corps welcomed its new deputy commanding general Monday in a ceremony under the flagpole.

Brig. Gen. Donald M. Campbell, Jr., -- bio and mugshot here -- has spent the better part of two of the past four years in Iraq, first as commander of the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, then as the Ivy Division's chief of staff, and then from January to December 2006 as the Multi-National Corps-Iraq chief of staff when it was V Corps' turn to run the show in Baghdad.

This is Campbell's second Fort Lewis assignment. In the mid-1990s he was assistant training officer on the I Corps staff and then commanded the old 1st Battalion, 33rd Armor Regiment. He also spent time after command as deputy commander of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division in its pre-Stryker days.

He's a tanker from Kansas State University, class of 1978.

Campbell succeeds Brig. Gen. William Troy, who left Fort Lewis last month to become “vice director for force structure, resources and assessment” on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.

Fort Lewis and its housing contractor, Equity Residential, say they're going to break ground Friday morning on a new park on post to remember fallen service members from Washington and Fort Lewis' contribution to conflicts going back to World War I.

This drawing shows an aerial view of the park, which would appear to be several blocks long. Officials say it will be built on a stretch of property near the Cascade Community Center, a couple blocks from Jensen Gym and near the Watkins Field parade ground.

From the Fort Lewis press release this morning:

Equity Residential will fund and construct the Reflection Park as one of their community park projects. The park will consist of an open entryway building, a large expanse of hardscape patio, and a water feature.

Surviving family members will participate in the overall development of the Reflection Park through the placement of engraved bricks or stones in the park's walkway which will bear the names, dates, and information about their fallen Service member.

There will be statues of unknown Soldiers from each era and they will be displayed along a landscape walkway timeline representing different conflicts.

The park will also include an electronic kiosk in the main building which will display information on conflict history, unit action and fallen individuals. It will also serve as a directory and a park locator. The statues, electronic kiosk, and some other elements of the park will be paid for through donations from private organizations.

The Reflection Park idea and design grew from meetings held with focus groups across Fort Lewis and the surrounding communities.

The release doesn't say how much the project will cost or the construction timeline, but it would appear there will be a fund-raising campaign to cover the statues and other elements.

More to come on this one.

Notes from a day spent following Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody around Fort Lewis:
•
The vice checked in with commanders and soldiers from the Army's latest Stryker brigade, the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. He presided over promotions, awards and re-enlistments at the 555th Engineer Brigade, and lunched with the engineers.

He met for more than 90 minutes with about 50 spouses from several family readiness groups, mostly from the post's two deployed Stryker brigades.

Then he headed over to Madigan Army Medical Center for a briefing with senior hospital officials for a progress report on his Army Medical Action Plan. Then it was more awards, promotions and re-enlistments at Madigan, then a town hall meeting with wounded and injured soldiers, and then a visit up on the 7th floor with three wounded soldiers.

And finally, it was off for more awards, promotions and re-enlistments at the 62nd Medical Brigade, which is heading out in a few weeks for its third Iraq deployment.
•
At the town hall meeting, one reserve major asked how he could get put back on active duty now that his health issues have been cleared up and he’s been declared fit for duty.

Cody thought about it for a minute and then said the easiest way would be for the major to send him an e-mail.

But then he thought about it a little more. Maybe it would be best if the major went through channels.

“I’m a large-caliber weapon system,” Cody said. “I tell a one-star general to do something, he’ll do it. But you’ll pay for it the rest of your career.”

=> Read more!