The Washington National Guard will welcome back another batch of its soldiers from Iraq, the 790th Chemical Company, due in Friday afternoon.

The company's name notwithstanding, its soldiers spent the past year guarding high-value detainees near Baghdad. Pennsylvania National Guardsmen who had this mission told interesting stories about Saddam Hussein's weakness for Dorito's; perhaps the returning guardsmen will share similar experiences.

Ordinarily the 790th's mission is to provide decontamination and medical triage in the event of, say, a chemical, biological or radiological attack or accident.

But in Iraq they were employed as security forces. They guarded detainees, took them to hearings at the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, or to the hospital for medical care, among other duties.

Fort Lewis officials are expecting a huge turnout at the Main Post Chapel for the memorial ceremony for Capt. Drew Jensen, a Stryker platoon leader who died Sept. 7, four months after being shot in Baqouba.

The ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m.

The West Point graduate from the Portland area was serving on his second deployment with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at the time he was wounded. A gunshot wound to the neck left him a quadriplegic, and per his wishes, his family removed him from life support at a Seattle hospital.

As always, civilians without Department of Defense credentials can get on post to attend the ceremony. Go the visitor center at the main gate, Exit 120 off Interstate 5, and bring your driver's license, registration and proof of insurance to get a temporary visitor pass.

POSTED this last month but wanted to move it up in case you might have missed it: The TAPS organization out of Washington, D.C., will bring its grief support and counseling programs to Fort Lewis on Sept. 22 for a one-day seminar for those who have lost a service member. They'll also hold a mini-version of the Good Grief camp for children ages 5 and up.

Norma Melo from Fort Lewis writes to tell us that organizers especially want to reach out to people beyond the active-duty Army community at the post.

"I know that there are many families of soldiers, Marines, airmen, Navy and Coast Guard in addition to families who have lost someone in the Reserves or National Guard that have not had an opportunity to meet or speak with other families from the area," Melo writes.

"Where it is easy for me to contact the widows here on post after they are notified, it is more difficult getting to the parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, nephews, friends of our fallen," she says. "The TAPS organization brings all those who are mourning a loss together and in the spirit of celebrating the life of our loved ones, we find a companion to help us along the journey of loss."

For information check out the TAPS web site – a page with information about the Fort Lewis event is here. Or call 1-800-959-8277.

Sponsors include the TriWest Healthcare Alliance, which is contributing $17,500 to the Good Grief camps for children.

Why would the United States want to move the I Corps headquarters from Fort Lewis to Japan? It's a question that I get from time to time, mostly from visiting reporters from Japan.

Robert Kaplan's op-ed piece in today's New York Times serves as a good answer.

The Department of Defense announcement about the three latest soldiers from 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division moved at about 8 o'clock last night.

All three were young infantrymen who joined the Army in 2004 and were sent to Fort Lewis to be part of the new Stryker brigade. They served in the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.

According to Fort Lewis:

• Spc. Joseph N. Landry III, 23, of Pensacola, Fla., enlisted in September 2004 and arrived at Fort Lewis the following March after infantry training at Fort Benning, Ga. He was a high school graduate.

• Spc. Nicholas P. Olson, 22, of Novato, Calif., enlisted in October 2004 and arrived at Fort Lewis the following March, also after infantry training at Benning. He also was a high school graduate and his decorations include an Army Achievement Medal.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a brief story that says he leaves behind a wife and 10-month-old child.

• Spc. Donald E. Valentine III, 21, of Orange Park, Fla., enlisted in September 2004 and likewise arrived at Fort Lewis the following March after training at Benning. He also was a high school graduate and received the Army Achievement Medal.

Valentine's father told The Associated Press he was motivated to join by the Sept. 11 attacks.

For space reasons, we ran a shorter version of today's story about the Department of Defense Inspector General report on the treatment of former Fort Lewis chaplain James Yee.

The Olympian ran the story at full length, and you can read it here.

And click here to read the unclassified executive summary of the IG's report.

To be honest, it's hard to understand why it took the Pentagon three years to come up with this.

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, was among several members of Congress who asked the Pentagon to review its handling of the Yee case. Defense Department officials briefed him on the classified report Wednesday.

Smith told The News Tribune on Thursday that his office is working to get a redacted version of the full report released as soon as possible. In the meantime, he said he was "disappointed that the report wasn't a little more straightforward and honest about the situation, and didn't admit any mistakes."

That is, it does not explain why Yee was held 12 days in detention without being allowed to notify his family. And likewise, there is no adequate explanation for why he was held in isolation for the better part of two months.

But Smith said the larger issue raised in the report is the need for a rewrite of the military's detainee policies. To that end the House Armed Services Committee is marking up a habeas corpus bill next week, he said.

If you want to listen to a couple of local college professors debate whether and when the United States should pull its forces out of Iraq, King's Books in Tacoma is the place to be Friday night.

D.W. Sid Olufs of Pacific Lutheran University will argue that we have a responsibility to stay until the country is stable, and Steve Niva of The Evergreen State College will argue that we should get out as soon as possible.

King's Books is at 218 St. Helen's Ave. One would hope that afterward the participants would retire for a civil pint at Doyle's next door.

The debate is sponsored by United for Peace of Pierce County.

There are at least a couple of local observances to remember the sacrifices of Americans who were prisoners of war or are still listed as missing in action.

At 10 a.m., the Washington State POW/MIA Concerned Citizens Association will hold a remembrance ceremony at the POW/MIA Memorial on the capital campus in Olympia.

And at 3 p.m., the Washington Memorial Cemetery in SeaTac will open its POW/MIA bracelet repository. Bracelets engraved with the names of those who've been recovered in the past year, as well as broken bracelets, will be put in the repository, and then it will be sealed up for another year.

In addition, federal and state law mandates the flying of the National League of Families POW/MIA flag at government buildings on this day.

Another big batch of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker soldiers -- 620 or so -- are due home this afternoon. They include the brigade commander, Col. Stephen Townsend, and the command sergeant major, Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Du.

With today's arrivals that'll be about 60 percent of the brigade's 3,800 soldiers back home to Lewis.

Good stuff.

Fort Lewis will hold another memorial ceremony at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Evergreen Chapel for two soldiers from the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

Sgt. 1st Class Daniel E. Scheibner, 40, and Sgt. 1st Class David A. Cooper, Jr., 36, were killed in Iraq. Scheibner died Aug. 29 in a bombing. Cooper died Sept. 5 in Baghdad from a non-combat related injury.

Members of the public who don't have Department of Defense identification can get on the post by going to the visitor center at Exit 120 off of Interstate 5. Those wishing a temporary pass must show their driver's license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance.

It's not just the Strykers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division who are on their way back from the war.

The 24th Quartermaster Company out of Fort Lewis is returning after a year in Iraq; about 60 soldiers were due home Thursday night with another 30 coming in the next few days. This was their second Iraq deployment.

And Sunday night, the Army Reserve's Task Force Pathfinder, led by the 321st Engineer Battalion, is set to come home after a year spent hunting IEDs and doing other combat engineer work in the notorious Anbar Province. The battalion is headquartered in Idaho but includes some 75 soldiers who live in Washington.

Look for a welcome home shindig for the 321st on Monday.

The freeway ramp to North Fort Lewis will be closed for two months beginning Sunday morning while contractors build a new gate to North Fort, the state Department of Transportation says.

The ramps to the main gate and visitor center at Exit 120 will still be open.

Motorists bound for North Fort should take Exit 119 and follow the detour signs, the department says.

The department advises motorists who don't need to get off at Exit 120 to keep left to avoid backups at the ramp.

Sgt. Ryan Badeaux of Dallas gets a big hug from his kid sister, Kaari Patten, age 6, at Monday night's homecoming of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment at Fort Lewis. Photo: John Froschauer/The Associated Press

We ran this picture on the back of our front page section today but I wanted to post it here for those of you who don't get the print edition. For whatever reason, we typically don't post captions-only photos on our web site.

To me it just captures so perfectly the emotions to be experienced at the homecoming ceremonies at Fort Lewis. I've been to my share of weddings and graduations and big winning games, but none quite compare to the mix of profound happiness and relief one sees when the soldiers return home from the war.

There is a vacuum effect when they walk into the gym. Whatever issues there might be with a family before, and whatever hardships the soldier faced while deployed, and whatever difficulties that might lay ahead, all that is set aside at least for those few moments of reunion.

It's almost as if you can see the months of anxiety and fear evaporate, instantly. It's over. They're home. We can breathe now.

The USO's Operation Care Package will get a boost Wednesday in Tacoma when the Waddell & Reed "big rig" promoting the campaign will park 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. near the Tacoma Mall.

The financial advice firm is sending the 18-wheeler on a 70-city tour around the country to mark the company's 70th anniversary. The truck will be parked in the International Jeweler's parking lot just north of the mall on Steele Street.

There'll be games and hot dogs, prize raffles and other activities. Donations will help pay for the USO care packages distributed to service members on their way to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The USO of Puget Sound says in just the past year, it has handed out more than 10,000 such packages to troops moving through the McChord Air Force Base terminal.

Looks like it will be all Petraeus, all the time over the next several days. Here's the full text of the letter he put out Friday to his command -- including about 10,000 soldiers from Fort Lewis.

7 September 2007

Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Civilians of Multi-National Force-Iraq:

We are now over two-and-a-half months into the surge of offensive operations made possible by the surge of forces, and I want to share with you my view of how I think we’re doing. This letter is a bit longer than previous ones, since I feel you deserve a detailed description of what I believe we have — and have not — accomplished, as Ambassador Crocker and I finalize the assessment we will provide shortly to Congress.

Up front, my sense is that we have achieved tactical momentum and wrested the initiative from our enemies in a number of areas of Iraq. The result has been progress in the security arena, although it has, as you know, been uneven. Additionally, as you all appreciate very well, innumerable tasks remain and much hard work lies ahead. We are, in short, a long way from the goal line, but we do have the ball and we are driving down the field.

=> Read more!

Fort Lewis will install its new top enlisted soldier in a ceremony Monday. Command Sgt. Maj. Frank A. Grippe will assume responsibility from Sgt. Maj. Gerald Williams, who's been serving as interim CSM after Command Sgt. Maj. Tommy Williams left for Iraq with Lt. Gen. Jim Dubik.

Grippe comes to Lewis from Fort Campbell, Ky., where he was the post and 101st Airborne Division command sergeant major.

His bio is at the Fort Campbell web site, but some highlights here: Bronze Star for valor three times, Purple Heart, and squad leader, platoon sergeant and 1st sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division. Iraq with the 101st.

Don't know about the timing, but it also looks like he could've been with the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment at the same time now-Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby – the Fort Lewis commanding general – was a company commander in Grenada.

About 150 soldiers from the Washington Army National Guard's 1-168th Aviation Battalion are setting up shop in Kuwait after more than a year of training at Fort Lewis, Yakima Training Center, Fort Rucker, Ala., and Fort Sill, Okla. They left Sill last week for the Middle East.

Most of the soldiers will be based in Kuwait but some while fly missions in and out of Iraq, a Guard spokesman at Camp Murray said. The battalion flies UH-60 Black Hawks.

With the unit's deployment, about 1,040 members of the Washington National Guard and Army Reserve units based in Washington are currently on active duty in support of the global war on terrorism, according to Pentagon figures.

Lots of coverage and chatter today about the Government Accountability Office report on the Iraqi benchmarks.

Comptroller General David M. Walker's remarks to the relevant congressional committees are up on the GAO web site, with a couple of handy tables that spell out the benchmarks and the GAO's assessment.

The report is here.

The 446th Airlift Wing -- the Reserve side of the house at McChord Air Force Base -- gets a new wing king Sunday when Col. William Flanigan succeeds Brig. Gen. Eric Crabtree.

They'll do the honors at 10 a.m. at Hangar 4 on base.

Crabtree is moving on to take command at the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver. Flanigan comes to McChord from the 939th Air Refueling Wing in Portland, a KC-135 tanker outfit that's being BRAC'd.

Read Flanigan's bio here.