Long-time Fort Lewis public affairs specialist Joe Hitt deals out one last plateful of dish before retiring Friday. Photo: Master Sgt. Lindsey Pleasant/U.S. Army

Joe Hitt called it a career Friday after 17 years at the Fort Lewis public affairs office.

That's a lot of "no comments."

Hey, we kid. Joe almost never said that – far less often, for sure, than he got dumb questions from the likes of me.

The relationship between reporters and PAOs is by its nature adversarial, but Joe didn't lose his cool when a reporter – this one, anyway – got testy. He didn't kill you with war stories. He preferred it if you did all the talking. He was old school; you had to remember to ask all the questions, or you might miss something.

His tenure at Lewis was preceded by three years as a civilian public affairs officer in Germany, and 24 years before that as an active-duty Army public affairs NCO. He retired as a master sergeant in 1988. He's the proud father of an Army lieutenant colonel who's on his way back for a second teaching stint at West Point.

At Lewis he's worked through nine lieutenant colonels who've been the post and I Corps PAO, and through a dozen commanding generals or acting commanding generals. For most of those years he was the guy who answered the phone when reporters from around the region, or across the country, called to ask some questions.

As people followed the news about Fort Lewis, "it's a good chance they were reading what Joe Hitt said about it," said J.C. Mathews, the Fort Lewis public affairs officer.

Hitt said he had his differences with folks over the years, but "telling the Army's story to the public was the only thing that was important."

Another item for your calendar (a short advance I wrote for this weekend's papers):

Two emerging U.S. military initiatives – the new U.S. Africa Command, and the Air Force’s Cyber Command – will be the focus of this year’s Pacific Northwest National Security Forum in Tacoma.

The half-day series of briefings by senior officers and strategists opens at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center at 1500 Broadway. Admission is $50, and identification is required. (Schedule here.)

“We’re kind of a future-looking forum, that’s what we’ve done in the past couple years,” said Doug Adams, a retired Army lieutenant colonel directing this year’s event.

=> Read more!

A long list of peace groups are taking part in the Northwest Winter Soldier event from noon to 4:15 p.m. Saturday at Seattle Town Hall, 8th Avenue and Seneca Street. An anti-war demonstration will follow at 4:30 p.m. Sponsor is Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Admission is $5 at the door.

Health care providers, schools officials and others who work with kids are gathering Monday at McChord Air Force Base for a three-day conference they're calling "Military Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health and Well-Being During Wartime and Beyond." (Agenda here.)

A Madigan Army Medical Center spokeswoman said the event is not open to the public but several Fort Lewis family members have been invited to attend.

Madigan said in a news release:

"The summit will bring together military families, youth and medical experts in various areas to focus on solutions that will enhance the quality of life for military children during wartime and beyond."

The Strykers at Fort Lewis aren't the only ones returning after a long spell in Iraq.

About 180 aviators and support soldiers from the Washington Guard's 1-168 General Support Aviation Battalion come home Saturday after a year over there. The Guard is hosting a welcome home ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday at Soldiers Field House at Fort Lewis.

The 4,000 soldiers of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry will pile back to Fort Lewis over the next few weeks and after that the post will have all three of its Stryker brigades home. That's a first.

A few other smaller units are due in over the next several weeks too.

But spare a thought for the 2,600 or so Fort Lewis soldiers who will remain in Iraq after July or so.

The latest list from FLWA includes:

• 14th Engineer Battalion
• 51st Signal Battalion
• 555th Engineer Brigade headquarters
• 42nd Military Police Brigade headquarters, the 504th MP Battalion headquarters, and the 54th and 170th MP companies.
• 4th Squadron, 6th U.S. Cavalry
• 62nd Medical Brigade headquarters, along with the 514th, 547th, 551st and 673rd Medical companies, the 153rd Medical Detachment, the 102nd Forward Surgical Team and the 98th Combat Stress Control Team.
• 295th Quartermaster Company
• 9th Finance Company and detachments
• 19th Public Affairs Detachment

The full house at Lewis is expected to last through the fall and winter. After that, the deployments are likely to kick back into gear.

The I Corps headquarters is scheduled to go sometime in the late winter/early spring of 2009 to take over as the Multi-National Corps-Iraq headquarters.

And two of the three Stryker brigades – the 5th Brigade, 2nd ID and the 3rd Brigade, 2nd ID – are likely to get the call in late summer or early fall.

Dana Goldsmith gets the prize for the most succinct sign among the dozens that decorated Soldiers Field House on Thursday for the return of the first batch of 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division soldiers from 15 months in Iraq.

It said, "Spc. Goldsmith. Hope you slept on the plane ... not tonight!"

"I'm hoping he winds up standing right in front of me so I can make him giggle," she said.

And as it turned out, Spc. Matthew Goldsmith did indeed march in with the last ranks of the returning soldiers and took his place in formation ... directly across from his wife. And the sign worked like a charm.

Goldsmith was home on mid-tour leave a few days after the birth of his son Joey in October. He served a previous 18-month deployment with a National Guard unit before switching to the active duty and going to Iraq with the 4th Brigade. His wife said he's been gone for two of their three years of married life.

Hence the sign.

"I am so, so ready to have him back," she said.

Fayetteville, N.C., Observer has a story today about a memorial ceremony Wednesday at Fort Bragg where the U.S. Army Special Operations Command added the names of its fallen soldiers from 2007 to its Memorial Wall of Honor. The story includes a photo slide show from the rainy ceremony.

The command includes the 1st Special Forces Group and the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment from Fort Lewis. The two units rarely open their memorials here to the press and general public.

The Fort Lewis names added were:

• Sgt. Maj. Bradly D. Conner, 1st Group.
• Sgt. 1st Class Nathan L. Winder, 1st Group.
• Cpl. Jason M. Kessler, 2/75.
• Sgt. 1st Class Adrian M. Elizalde, 1st Group.
• Spc. George V. Libby, 2/75.
• Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Tully, 1st Group.
• Staff Sgt. Joseph F. Curreri, 1st Group.

Meant to post this a couple days ago: The American Journalism Review has a piece about the dramatic drop-off in Iraq coverage by traditional U.S. news media (newspapers and TV).

The decline in coverage of Iraq has been staggering.

During the first 10 weeks of 2007, Iraq accounted for 23 percent of the newshole for network TV news. In 2008, it plummeted to 3 percent during that period. On cable networks it fell from 24 percent to 1 percent, according to a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

And more:

A daily tracking of 65 newspapers by the Associated Press confirms a dip in page-one play throughout the country. In September 2007, the AP found 457 Iraq-related stories (154 by the AP) on front pages, many related to a progress report delivered to Congress by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Over the succeeding months, that number fell to as low as 49. A spike in March 2008 was largely due to a rash of stories keyed to the conflict's fifth anniversary, according to AP Senior Managing Editor Mike Silverman.

And this:

Los Angeles Times' foreign editor Marjorie Miller attributes the decline to three factors:

• The economic downturn and the contentious presidential primaries have sucked oxygen from Iraq. "We have a woman, an African American and a senior running for president," Miller says. "That is a very big story."

• With no solutions in sight, with no light at the end of the tunnel, war fatigue has become a factor. Over the years, a bleak sameness has settled into accounts of suicide bombings and brutal sectarian violence. Insurgents fighting counterinsurgents are hard to translate to an American audience.

• The sheer cost of keeping correspondents on the ground in Baghdad is trimming the roster of journalists. The expense is "unlike anything we've ever faced. We have shouldered the financial burden so far, but we are really squeezed," Miller says. Earlier, the L.A. Times had as many as five Western correspondents in the field. The bureau is down to two or three plus Iraqi staff.

Fort Lewis keeps growing and welcoming troops home from overseas deployments. That means the number of volunteers needed to keep the Army post running as a warm and nurturing environment for children, spouses and soldiers will grow as well.

All the more reason why Fort Lewis took time out at a May 21 luncheon to honor its top volunteers from the past year. From a pool of 40 nominees, organizers chose seven individuals and one married couple who benefitted and inspired those around them.

Volunteer of the year:

* Sandy White, for serving as family readiness group leader for the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). She helped raise attendance at group functions by 70 percent. She helped mint a group coin, develop a group website and created group business cards. She coordinated fund-raisers, parties and even a Spouses Spa Day. But according to White’s nomination letter, her greatest contribution is supporting family members in their time of loss.

Adult volunteers of merit:

* Mia Johnson, for her efforts as family readiness group co-leader, treasurer and fund-raising chairwoman for the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). Among other projects, she led the development of a 50th anniversary cookbook for the unit.

* Monica Chappell, for serving as chairwoman of a women’s conference and co-chairwoman of the annual Officer Spouses’ Club bazaar, which brought in a record $16,000, among other volunteer efforts. She’s affiliated with the 201st Military Intelligence Brigade.

* Kristina Hitchcock, for serving as family readiness group co-leader in charge of training, standards, coordinating guest speakers and organizing video teleconferences over the holidays. She is affiliated with the 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment.

* Sarah Cerecky, for serving as an Army Family Team Building instructor. She was the programs and volunteer coordinator for the Enlisted Spouses’ Club and helped with fund-raisers such as gift wrapping and bingo. She is affiliated with the 51st Signal Battalion.

Active duty volunteer of the year:

* Lt. Rodrico Vargas, A Stryker Brigade officer who volunteered as an assistant Sunday school teacher for second graders and was quickly asked to take over teaching the seventh grade class. “He argued, debated and sometimes confused the students to get them to question the world around them and to use their minds,” according to his nomination letter.

Vargas belongs to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, which is part of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

Family of the year:

* Lt. Mark Bridges and wife Kristi. She worked as a family readiness group leader with the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment. He volunteered as a youth football coach and helped with activities for Beachwood Elementary School neighborhood kids.

Retiree volunteer of the year:

* Herb Schmeling, for the time he contributed to the Fort Lewis Retiree Council, Retiree Activity Day and Surviving Spouses Appreciation Day. Among other things, he provided gifts to families at the Fisher House on Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas.

Fort Lewis says the first big batch of returning soldiers from the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division will return home to Fort Lewis on Thursday afternoon.

About 250 troops from the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment on the first "main body" flight home will be followed by the rest of the brigade over the next three weeks, the post says in a press release.

The brigade has been in Iraq the past 15 months, operating mainly in Diyala Province and north Baghdad.

The advance party arrived a couple weeks ago.

Jack Lewis, an Army reservist who spent a year in Iraq with the old 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Fort Lewis – the Lancer Brigade – has a moving Memorial Day tribute up on Crosscut.

Col. Jon Lehr, commander of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division finishing up its 15-month tour in Iraq, did a teleconference Friday with the Pentagon's "bloggers roundtable."

Transcript here, and Quicktime audio here.

Links to coverage generated out of the interview: a Spencer Ackerman piece here at the Washington Independent, and a post here by Wired's Noah Shachtman. (Hat tip, again: Strykernews.com)

Col. Jon Lehr, commander of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, gets some pub in his hometown paper, the York (Pa.) Dispatch.

We didn't know this: They've opened an automatic teller machine at a bank in Baqouba.

(Hat tip: Strykernews.com)

Maj. Weldon K. Groves, who flew combat missions with the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and later worked for many years at McChord Air Force Base, died May 12 at a Tacoma nursing home. He was 10 days shy of his 91st birthday.

Graveside services are 1:30 p.m. Friday at Tahoma National Cemetery with a memorial service to follow at 3 p.m. Saturday at Fern Hill Congregational Church, 6722 Yakima Ave. S. in Tacoma.

The Poynter Institute is out with a survey of more than 8,600 adults that says nearly half rate U.S. media coverage of the war in Iraq as "poor," and a third rate it as only "fair."

The survey also asked readers what kinds of stories they wanted to see more of:

• Information about the Iraqi government 68%
• Stories about the Iraqi people 68%
• Stories about returning soldiers 58%
• Stories about how the war has impacted communities here in the US 57%
• News about areas in Iraq where there is not regular conflict 56%
• News about areas in Iraq where there is regular conflict 46%
• Stories about families of soldiers and how they are coping 46%
• Casualty reports 32%
• Other 22%
• Not sure 3%

The top two answers may be surprising to some people. But think about it: it's a counterinsurgency, and the Iraqi people are the prize. What they think, and how they are governed, and what life is like for them, would seem to be the whole point, no?

Readers get it; perhaps we can't necessarily say the same as reporters and editors.

There are numerous ceremonies and other events scheduled over the next several days to observe Memorial Day. If yours isn't listed here, send me the information and I'll add it.

Thursday

• Students at Clover Park High School in Lakewood are creating a replica of Arlington National Cemetery on the lawn in front of the school, at 11023 Gravelly Lake Drive S.W.

• The University of Washington Tacoma will hold its first-ever Memorial Day observance at noon Thursday at the Longshoreman’s Hall, 1710 Market St. Col. Cynthia Murphy, the garrison commander at Fort Lewis, will make a keynote address.

Saturday

• War Memorial Park, Sixth Avenue at MacArthur Street, Tacoma. 3 p.m. Day of Remembrance memorial service.
Sunday

• Fir Lane Cemetery, 924 E. 176th St., Spanaway. 12:30 p.m.

• Vaughn Bay Cemetery. 1 p.m. “Aisle of Honor” observance by the Key Peninsula Veterans Institute.

• Auburn Veterans Memorial, 405 E St. N.E., Auburn. 2 p.m. Veterans and Friends free concert.

Monday

• Washington Soldiers Home, Orting. 10 a.m.

• Washington Veterans Home, Retsil. 10 a.m.

• Sumner Cemetery, 12324 Valley Ave. E., Sumner. 10 a.m.

• Mountain View Cemetery, 2020 Mountain View Drive, Auburn. 10 a.m.

•Artondale Cemetery, at Hunt Street Northwest and 54th Avenue Northwest, 10 a.m. Joint observance by the Greater Gig Harbor American Legion Post 236 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1854.

• Bethany Cemetery, 26418 Mountain Highway E., Spanaway. 10:30 a.m. C-17 fly-by from McChord Air Force Base.

• Capital Rotunda, Olympia. 11 a.m. Thurston County Veterans Council Memorial Day observance.

• Calvary Cemetery, 5212 70th St. W., Tacoma. 11 a.m. Pierce Transit route 220 buses will take passengers into the cemetery throughout the weekend.

• Fort Lewis Cemetery. 11:30 a.m.

• Tahoma National Cemetery, 18600 S.E. 240th St., Kent. Noon.

• Pioneer Park pavilion, Puyallup. 1 p.m. Army Col. Harry D. Tunnell IV, commander of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, keynote speaker. Correction: Speakers are I Corps Command Sgt. Maj. Frank Grippe and Washington Army National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Robert J. Sweeney.

• Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 11111 Aurora Ave. N., Seattle. 1:30 p.m. Speaker is Mike Gregoire, the governor’s husband.

• Mountain View Funeral Home, 4100 Steilacoom Blvd. S.W., Lakewood. 2 p.m.

• Veterans Memorial at Triangle Park, Milton. 2 p.m. Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 11401 observance.

• Vietnam War Memorial, Olympia. 2 p.m. Vietnam veterans and members of the area's Vietnamese community will gather for speeches, flowers, flags and a balloon release.

• Memorial Day Thunder Run leaves Destination Harley Davidson in Tacoma at 11 a.m., Northwest Harley Davidson in Lacey at noon, and then arrives for ceremony at the Vietnam War Memorial on the Olympia capital campus.

Keeping that Stryker math problem in mind, an observer can deduce a little bit more about what happens next for the Strykers at Fort Lewis following the troop rotations announced this week.

The 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team from the Pennsylvania National Guard will be mobilized in mid-September and then go to Iraq after training at Camp Shelby in Mississippi.

That means there are two Stryker brigades – the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Alaska and the 56th from Pa. – going in the fall. They'll replace the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment from Germany and the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Hawaii.

So it stands to reason that Lewis' two soon-to-be-ready Stryker brigades – the 5/2 and the 3/2 – would be next up for the box in the summer and fall of 2009. We wouldn't be surprised if it's sooner, as commanders in Iraq may well want to again have three Stryker brigades to work with.

Two X factors:

• I Corps goes over in early 2009 to assume day-to-day command of U.S. military operations in Iraq. Makes a certain amount of sense they'd want to get some of their Lewis homeboys and homegirls over there to help as soon as possible.

• And there's no accounting for how any of this might change when new occupants move into the White House in January.

Purely a reading of tea leaves, so make of it what you will.

The homecomings continue Tuesday at Fort Lewis with the return of about 100 soldiers from the 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment after a year in Iraq. All 400 or so are due home by the end of the month, Fort Lewis said in a news release this morning.

The battalion performed a number of missions in Iraq – from running COB Speicher in Tikrit to detecting and intercepting insurgent mortar and rocket attacks on forward operating bases around the country.

=> Read more!

The Pentagon is out this morning with the list of the major active-duty units that will be going to Iraq. No Fort Lewis unit are on it.

The list:

=> Read more!

The battleships Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia and Rhode Island anchored in Commencement Bay in late May, early June 1908. Sailors marched in a parade down Pacific Avenue as Tacoma welcomed the Navy's Great White Fleet during a stop on its round-the-world tour. Not sure to whom credit should go for this photo; found it at www.greatwhitefleet.info.

Local historical types will be out on the Ruston Way waterfront Saturday morning to remember the visit 100 years ago of Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet.

Four of the fleet's 16 battleships plus escorts sailed into Commencement Bay on May 27 as part of an extensive visit throughout the Puget Sound. The fleet then returned to San Francisco before setting off across the Pacific.

As you can imagine, the Tacoma visit was a big dang deal. City burghers built a special welcome arch over Pacific Avenue to welcome the sailors and they threw the aforementioned parade. Mind you, this was nine years before the Army set up shop here at Camp Lewis.

In Tacoma on Saturday, representatives of the Tacoma Council Navy League and Mayor Bill Baarsma will have a brief ceremony to observe the centennial. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. at Jack Hyde Park on Ruston Way.

They'll hold similar observances Saturday in Port Townsend, Bremerton, Port Angeles and Bellingham.

The region's Navy brass will have its main celebration Tuesday in Seattle, beginning 11:30 a.m. at Pier 66. There will be a parade of Navy ships beginning at 12:15 p.m. and a flyover by EA-6B Prowler jets.

The USS Rushmore and USS Preble will have ship tours 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday at Terminal 30, at 2431 East Marginal Way S. in Seatle.

And there will be an exhibit and lecture Thursday at the Museum of History and Industry, 2700 24th Ave. E. in Seattle, with the lecture beginning at 7:30 p.m. Click here for tickets.

The 14th Engineer Battalion has completed its move from Kuwait up to Iraq and is settling in for its yearlong deployment.

But first they paused for this group photo at their desert training camp south of the border in – what else? – the castle formation.

Now ordinarily we'd be inclined to marvel at the complexity and planning and organization that had to go into a shot like this, but after all, they are engineers.

A Washington National Guard spokesman Thursday said he didn't know whether Maj. Andrew D. Franz would be suspended or otherwise removed from his duties following his arrest by Colorado authorities on charges he tried to solicit sex from an underage girl over the Internet. AP story here and a bit more info in the Seattle Times here.

Franz, a veteran of Iraq deployments with the 19th Special Forces Group, is currently assigned as the operations officer with the 1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry Regiment. As such he has a key job in preparing the squadron for a return to Iraq in August with the 81st Brigade Combat Team.

A guard spokesman at Camp Murray, Lt. Keith Kosik, said he didn't know Thursday whether commanders would subject Franz to any kind of administrative or disciplinary action.

"The decision on what his status is in the meantime ultimately resides with
the commander of the (Washington Army National Guard)," Kosik said via e-mail. "I don't have any details beyond that to offer. I think we all have our eyes on the judicial process and are waiting to see what happens there."

Gen. Arthur Lichte has been at McChord Air Force Base this week to make his first visit since taking over as big boss of the Air Mobility Command. He's been pumping up the airmen and meeting with local community leaders, among other things. (Public affairs-produced story here.)

Lichte, who was a principal figure in the Air Force decision to go with EADS and Northrop Grumman over Boeing for its new aerial refueler, also joined Air Force brass Thursday in touting the service's new "name the tanker contest."

Said the McChord press release:

The 'Name the Tanker' contest is an opportunity for everyone in the Air Force, said General Lichte. While he is looking forward to seeing what names are submitted for the tanker, he reiterated the most important priority was getting them on the ramp.

Of note, the contest is open only to Air Force personnel and civilian employees.

But we're under no such restriction here, so whattya say? What would you call the new Airbus-built KC-45A tanker?

Fort Lewis will be open to the general public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday for Armed Forces Day festivities.

Among the events lined up for the day are a 2 p.m. parachute jump and the Northwest Military Star singing competition at 3 p.m. The full schedule of events is here.

The post says guests without an access pass need to enter through the DuPont gate at Exit 119 off Interstate 5. Visitors will be shuttled to the activities from the parking lot.

The post adds:

Drivers should be prepared to present a driver’s license, vehicle registration, and proof of insurance on request, and passengers aged 16 and older should bring a photo ID.

A pair of local scholars will debate that question 7 p.m. Friday May 23 at King's Books, 213 St. Helens Ave. in Tacoma. Arguing the former will be Floyd "Chip" Churchill, a retired Army officer, University of Washington lecturer and history and current issues teacher at Pierce College. Arguing the latter will be Steve Niva, International Politics and Middle East Studies professor at the Evergreen State College.

Each guy gets 20 minutes to make his point, and 10 minutes for rebuttal, and then they'll do a one-hour discussion with the audience. It's free and open to the public. See more here.

OK, I will admit, I had no idea there even was an all-Army chess team. But congratulations to Pvt. David Corona for his selection to the squad that's competing at Fort Myer, Va.

Players are vying for a spot in the Interservice Chess Championships next month.

It's not really news that McChord Air Force Base has a couple crews at the ready to fly relief missions to Myanmar – the base and its C-17 cargo jets gets tapped almost any time there's a big natural disaster requiring a global humanitarian response.

The news is that for more than three days now, the crews are still sitting at McChord. The Myanmar government still hasn't asked for help.

With the junta making FEMA's Katrina response look like a model of good governance, it wouldn't appear the McChord fliers will be moving any time soon.

We pass along these notices that come from the post's public affairs office: More late-night firing is scheduled over the next couple weeks.

Today through Friday they'll be shooting 155mm Howitzers.

Tuesday through Thursday they'll be shooting mortars, big, medium and small.

And beginning Saturday through the following Friday they'll be shooting more big (120mm) mortars.

The post says:

"Increased levels of activity will be noticed during the evening hours, and firing will be conducted from numerous firing points on the installation.

This is normally scheduled and required training, which allows Soldiers to practice and improve skills required during combat. As often as possible, Fort Lewis conducts larger scale demolition training and artillery firing at the Yakima Training Center in an effort to minimize inconvenience for the surrounding communities. However, some training must take place on the Fort Lewis military reservation.

"Queries or comments about noise may be directed to the I Corps Public Affairs Office’s External Communication Division hot line at (253) 967-0852, daily."

Strykernews.com has the news that My War blogger and author and 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment Tomahawk Colby Buzzell has been recalled to active service and is headed back to Iraq. Buzzell broke the news here.

I wonder what unit he's going back with, and whether they'll let him blog.

The 864th Engineer Battalion is due home to Fort Lewis on Sunday evening after a 15-month tour in Afghanistan. Welcome home ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Sunday evening.

The sappers are coming back from their second stint. They were in Afghanistan for 12 months in 2005-06 -- that's 27 of the last 38 months deployed.

As they did last time, the battalion headed up Task Force Pacemaker and spent this deployment constructing roads and buildings to benefit Afghan and coalition military and civilians.

The battalion lost three soldiers on this tour. Sgt. 1st Class Rocky Herrera, Sgt. Cory Clark and Sgt. Bryce Howard were killed Aug. 28 by an improvised bomb strike on their vehicle in Jaji.

Evidently there are many rumors flying about just what happened in that incident that led the MPs and security officers to close the Liberty Gate for more than two hours Friday. One variant had it that a pair of suicide bombers were captured before they could get onto the post.

I put a number of followup questions to the post's Public Affairs Office, and this is what I got back:

"The most we can provide you about this incident is the information that was provided to the media on Friday:

"The incident began around 5 p.m. when the driver of the vehicle applied for a visitor pass to enter Fort Lewis and visitor's center personnel believed they had reason to become suspicious.

"Fort Lewis law enforcement officials closed the main gate to the installation, and as a precautionary measure Fort Lewis Law Enforcement investigated the driver's vehicle, and a police dog trained in explosives detection showed interest in the car. A Fort Lewis Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit was called to investigate.

"As a matter of precaution and public safety the visitor center and parking lot were evacuated and the Fort Lewis main gate was closed.

"Washington State Patrol closed the north and southbound exit lanes to Fort Lewis' main gate; however, traffic to North Fort Lewis remained open.

"At about 7:20 p.m. Fort Lewis Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel completed their investigation into the suspicious vehicle and determined that the vehicle posed no threat to the installation, and the gate was re-opened to traffic.

"Fort Lewis military and law enforcement officials appreciate the patience and understanding of motorists who were affected by this delay. In the interest of public safety, we will always act with an abundance
of caution.

"The driver was not arrested or charged and was released.

"Other than this, we don't discuss specific security precautions or measures used by our personnel to protect the installation."

Why did the personnel at the visitor center believe they had reason to be suspicious? And did that belief turn out to be unfounded? Was there a case of mistaken identity?

"What made the visitor center personnel suspicious gets into specific
security measures used by our personnel to protect the installation, and
therefore cannot be discussed."

As you might note, a Fort Lewis spokesman in the story that we ran Saturday said the driver apparently was found to be on a National Crime Information Center "watch list." The NCIC is a well-known FBI-administered database that the police routinely check when they're trying to find out if a detained person is wanted elsewhere.

It does not seem unreasonable to think that when you present yourself seeking a visitor pass at a major military installation like Fort Lewis, the security people might run you through NCIC.

But I-5 traffic past Fort Lewis slammed for more than two hours on a Friday afternoon. A motorist detained for more than two hours. Bomb sniffing dogs.

It seems that Fort Lewis could make a more forthcoming explanation of the incident – did they screw up? – without doing any real harm to its security operations.

U.S. Army Reserve photo

Soldiers from A Company, 5th Battalion of the 159th Aviation Regiment held a memorial ceremony today for Spc. Joseph M. Cerfus, who was killed Monday in a training accident.

The unit is participating in a joint exercise with Canadian troops at the Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta. Cerfus, 25, of Marysville, also worked as a corrections officer with Snohomish County.

The company is based at Gray Army Airfield at Fort Lewis.

The Herald of Everett has more about the soldier, who was a Navy veteran who served two tours in Iraq.

Reported the Herald:

"He had a big heart, cared about his friends. He was just an overall good kid,” said his father, Michael Cerfus, 49, of Marysville. “I’m just really proud of him.”

U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn) is hosting another one of his "veterans resource fairs" from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Kennydale Elementary School, 1700 N.E. 28th St. in Renton.

Reichert's office says a slate of veterans' and service organizations will be on hand at "an interactive fair for veterans and their families to discover and discuss benefits available to them from numerous participating organizations, ranging from health care services to financial assistance."

Reichert is apparently also looking for candidates to participate in the U.S. House of Representatives' Wounded Warrior Program, which places wounded service members in congressional fellowships.

Coast Guard Port Security Unit 313 out of Tacoma is pulling security at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and have been down there since last December, according to a Coast Guard press release we got today.

We must've been asleep at the switch when they announced that earlier. Either that or I need better sources in the Coast Guard. There's a Joint Task Force Guantanamo public affairs piece here.

GSU 313 previously was deployed to the Persian Gulf to protect off-shore oil platforms early in the Iraq war.

RecruitMilitary will host a career fair 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 15 at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center. See the press release here for more information.

They say they've got more than 30 employers lined up to conduct one-on-one interviews with veterans who are looking for work.

Bremerton hosts its 60th annual Armed Forces Day parade on Saturday, May 17, beginning at 10 a.m. The parade route runs through downtown.

The Navy's big boss, Chief of Naval Operations Gary Roughead, is the grand marshal.

Other entries highlighted by the Bremerton Chamber of Commerce:

• A Washington National Guard M1A1 Abrams tank.

• A military aircraft flyover.

• Bremerton's own Navy City Roller Girls roller derby team.