1st Sgt. William C. Harlan, a wounded, three-tour combat vet from Lakewood, is the Army Times Soldier of the Year. Read all about him here.

Harlan was wounded in March 2006 in Mosul while serving with the old 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Alaska. He recovered at Madigan Army Medical Center and is credited with playing a leading role in the establishment of the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Lewis. Now that he is recovered, he is soon to take on the role as top sergeant at Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment in the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

A Stryker armored vehicle rolls down the ramp of the USNS Brittin at the Port of Tacoma on Wednesday. It's one of an estimated 900 Strykers, Humvees, trucks and other vehicles back from the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's nearly 15-month deployment in Iraq. Photo: Russ Carmack/The News Tribune

Local authorities are bracing for a repeat of the March 2007 demonstrations that accompanied the departure of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's rolling stock for its combat deployment to Iraq. The brigade's Strykers, trucks and Humvees – more than 900 vehicles in all – arrived at the Port of Tacoma yesterday aboard the USNS Brittin.

Fort Lewis officials said soldiers will be moving them back to the post during non-peak traffic hours. Otherwise, they're not saying much about it.

Tacoma police and 10 other public safety agencies said they spent a total of $1 million on staffing and overtime during the 12-day loadout last time.

The Port of Tacoma billed the Army about $324,000 in wharfage fees and another $204,000 in longshore worker labor for the March 2007 loadout, according to port billing records.

Olympia and Tacoma-based anti-war activists say they are preparing to demonstrate at the return of the vehicles, just as they did at the brigade's departure.

The Olympia Port Militarization Resistance objects to public ports in Washington being used to ship military cargo to and from the war in Iraq on the grounds that it believes the war to be immoral and illegal.

The group has organized protests at all of the recent military shipments into and out of the ports of Tacoma, Olympia and Grays Harbor.

"If there are any demonstrations we are hopeful that the demonstrators will conduct themselves lawfully," said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek, "... and that we can complete the mission in a safe and secure manner."

The Washington state chapter of the Retired Sergeants Major and Chiefs Association has its annual picnic 1 p.m. Saturday at the McChord Air Force Base Holiday Park pavilion. E-9s from all services and their families are invited. It's a potluck.

For more information, call retired Command Sgt. Maj. Bob Sova at 360-556-2583, Sgt. Maj. Sid Katz at 253-230-0615 or Sgt. Maj. Harry Schreiber at 253-661-9064.

With the imminent return of the 54th Military Police Company, the number of Fort Lewis troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan is down to about 2,000,* according to post officials.

I can't swear to it but I'm pretty sure that's fewer than at any time since the early days following the March 2003 invasion.

Here's who is still over there.

In Iraq: 51st Military Police Company; 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Squadron; 62nd Medical Brigade headquarters; 504th Military Intelligence Battalion; 514th Medical Company; 547th Medical Company; 9th Finance Detachment; 102nd Forward Surgical Team; 551st Medical Company; 153rd Medical Detachment; 295th Quartermaster Company; 673rd Medical Company; 22nd HR Company; A/110 Chemical Battalion; 80th Ordnance Battalion; 710th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company; 42nd Military Police Brigade headquarters; 14th Engineer Battalion; 542nd Ordnance Company; 265th Transportation Team; 98th Medical Company; 38th Military Police detachment (CID).

In Afghanistan: 51st Military Police Company; 19th Public Affairs Detachment; 3rd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Battalion.

* Deployment figures don't include numbers from the 1st Special Forces Group and the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, who, like Col. Flagg on M*A*S*H, come and go like the wind.

Another 140 military police soldiers are coming home to Fort Lewis after a long tour in Iraq.

The post says soldiers of the 54th Military Police Company are coming in late tonight and will be welcomed home by their families in a ceremony in the wee hours Wednesday.

The company went to Baghdad in May 2007 and spent the past 15 months training and mentoring Iraqi police. The unit made news a couple months ago when they arrested eight of their counterparts on suspicion of participating in attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.

An Army captain from Fort Lewis pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge that he purposely mislabeled customs forms to illegally ship firearms sights to persons in Japan.

Capt. Tomoaki Iishiba, 34, of Dupont pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to a single count of conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States.

Federal prosecutors and Iishiba's attorney agreed that "the defendant did not intend to threaten a security or foreign policy interest of the United States and that defendant's conduct did not constitute such a threat," according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle.

In exchange for his plea prosecutors will ask U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman to sentence Iishiba to three years probation. The maximum penalty is five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

The sentencing hearing is set for Nov. 7.

=> Read more!

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.

=> Read more!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

By GENE JOHNSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer

SEATTLE (AP) — An Army captain who recently served as an intelligence liaison to the Japanese military has been charged with conspiring to ship holographic, night-vision-compatible firearm sights to Japan.

In a two-paragraph charging document filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, prosecutors wrote that Tomoaki Iishiba bought 60 of the EoTech 553 sights from a Northbrook, Ill., company called OpticsPlanet, then mailed them to coconspirators in Japan without obtaining an export license. The company’s Web site lists the sights at $639 apiece.

He also sought to export scopes and other firearms parts, the document said, including “upper receivers modified for Airsoft,” typically a BB-type weapon.

He faces one count of conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States and is scheduled to enter a guilty plea at the end of the month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg said Friday. Greenberg said he could not comment further.

The name of Iishiba’s lawyer was not listed on the court’s docket, and Iishiba, 34, did not return a call to his home in DuPont, south of Tacoma near Fort Lewis. OpticsPlanet Inc. did not return an e-mail from The Associated Press.

“The command here is aware of the charges that were filed today in this Capt. Iishiba case,” Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek said. “His command has been aware of the investigation as it’s been ongoing, and Fort Lewis has cooperated fully with civilian law enforcement.”

Iishiba has been reassigned from intelligence duty as a result of the investigation and is now working as an assistant operations officer, Fort Lewis spokeswoman Catherine Caruso added.

The New Tribune newspaper of Tacoma published a profile of Iishiba last December, describing him as the son of a Tokyo policeman who moved to the United States in 1993 to serve in the American military. He became a citizen, graduated from Northern Michigan University, and served with the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan in 2003. He wrote a book about it titled “A Japanese Lieutenant from the 82nd Airborne.”

At the time of the article, Iishiba was working as an I Corps intelligence liaison to Japan’s Northeastern Army at Yama Sakura. He earned the position after working with visiting Japanese troops who were training at Fort Lewis and Yakima, the newspaper reported, and he was quoted as saying he believed the Japanese are “too soft” and need to shed some military limitations adopted after World War II.

“It’s a different world now,” Iishiba said. “You’ve got to stand strong, but they’re not ready yet.”
He has also written a manual for the M4 rifle, has endorsed a line of knives and is credited as a technical adviser in the making of the video game Metal Gear Solid.

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."

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.

Douglas

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."

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.

Sound Transit Pierce Transit is operating free buses from the State Route 512 Park-and-Ride lot and from Lakewood Town Center.

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.

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.

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.

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."

=> Read more!

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:

"Regarding the laptop computer, this incident has been informally investigated by the employee's civilian supervisory chain of command. The result of the investigation is being handled as an administrative personnel action. Because this is an administrative personnel action the information is not releasable."

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, a captain assistant chief at the Tacoma Police Department.

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.

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.

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.

Kimberly Roy, a mother of two and Army wife from Yelm, is featured in the next episode of In Their Boots, a documentary series that's webcast every Wednesday at 4 p.m. PDT. Her husband is a captain from Fort Lewis deployed twice to Afghanistan.

Here's a clip with more information about the series:

And a clip about the next episode featuring the Roys:

Lt. Gen. Carter F. Ham – who as a one-star led the Fort Lewis-based Task Force Olympia through the worst of it in Mosul in 2004-05 – was nominated Friday for a fourth star and command of the U.S. Army in Europe.

Ham was deputy commanding general at Fort Lewis and I Corps in late 2003 when he and a 100-member slice of the I Corps staff was sent on short notice to provide command and control for U.S. forces in northern Iraq. That included the Army's first Stryker brigade, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and after that, the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis.

Can't find it on the web so I'm posting here a profile I wrote about him back in the early days in Mosul:

=> Read more!

That Army laptop?

Never mind.

Tumwater police this morning told our friends at the Olympian that they recovered it Saturday or Sunday, and that it was returned at some point Thursday to "the owner" – not sure yet whether that means the Army, or the Army personnel staffer who left it in his unlocked truck at home in Lacey.

Tumwater police said it did not appear that any data had been accessed. A Fort Lewis spokeswoman said authorities there were checking it today to make sure, but declined further comment for the moment.

The Tumwater police told the Olympian they were called to the Motel 6 there on Saturday afternoon by a 17-year-old male who wanted to report his wallet stolen. Long story short, he wound up under arrest and booked into juvenile hall for suspicion of possession of stolen property and other offenses.

Tumwater detective Jennifer Kolb said police found numerous items from recent Tumwater and Lacey area car prowls in his car and at a home where he'd been staying recently.

Fort Lewis says they'll get back to us later today with more information about the recovery.

UPDATE: Fort Lewis PAO sent an e-mail at 10:34 a.m. following up on a couple questions (would've posted it sooner but I was out on another story).

In a nutshell, they say the Army has the laptop, and that the information is secure:

"According to Fort Lewis Criminal Investigation Command the computer and external hard drive have been examined by computer forensics experts. The robbers apparently tried to access the laptop, but were unsuccessful, and the external hard drive containing the Soldiers information had not been accessed since the last time that it had been used by the Fort Lewis employee. It's also worth noting that the routine security measures installed on the laptop computer prevented the efforts of the robbers to get access to the laptop."

Not sure why I didn't see this earlier (like a week ago when it happened), but Lt. Gen. Jim Dubik concluded his command of the effort to train Iraq's security forces and returned to the United States. In a ceremony July 3 in Baghdad, the former Fort Lewis commanding general turned over the reins of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq to Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick.

The press release said Dubik will retire after 37 years in the Army. He was the top man at Fort Lewis from 2004-06.

His hometown Erie, Pa., Times-News took note of his career in an editorial Wednesday.

Dubik returned home in time to testify Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee, where he said he expected Iraq's ground forces to be fully manned and operational as soon as next April. Coverage here and here and here.

KING TV reports that Fort Lewis soldiers are being warned to watch their credit reports after the recent theft of a laptop containing personal information about "thousands of soldiers." The TV report suggested the entire 4,000-soldier 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, just back from nearly 15 months in Iraq, may be at risk.

Fort Lewis officials told me "the premise of the KING 5 story is generally accurate," but said the computer contained information about 800-900 soldiers. They didn't identify the unit.

Otherwise, the post released a statement:

"The Army takes security of personal information extremely seriously, and we are investigating this incident fully. However, it is apparent that Army standards and policy regarding protection of this information were not followed, and we are making immediate changes to step up enforcement of these policies to prevent this from happening again. We know what information may have been compromised, and we have already begun the process of notifying the appropriate Soldiers. We are also committed to working with local authorities to pursue prosecution to the maximum extent possible if these Soldiers' information is misused."

Lots of follow up questions there. The post's public affairs shop says they'll have more details later today.

UPDATE, 2:50 p.m.: Still waiting on Fort Lewis PAO shop to answer some followup questions. Apparently since this has to do with three of the touchier food groups – law enforcement, information security and personnel – the answers have to go up and down several stove pipes for approval.

At any rate, our friends at the Olympian report that the theft occurred sometime between 9:30 p.m. July 3 and 10 a.m. July 4 from a Dodge pickup parked in the driveway in the 5500 block of 34th Avenue Southeast in Lacey. The reportee was listed as a federal employee of the U.S. Army. The reportee said there was no classified, secret or top secret information stored on the computer and an external 500 GB hard drive.

The reportee said he left the door of the truck unlocked.

Awaiting a copy of the police report.

UDPATE, UPDATE: Fort Lewis finally came through with some additional information shortly after 6 p.m., a mere eight hours after we posed some followup questions. Next time somebody tells me how long it takes to turn around a battle ship ...

I did a quick story for tomorrow's paper that I am posting here:

=> Read more!

Speaking Tuesday at Fort Lewis, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said U.S. troops are well on their way toward handing over security responsibility to Iraqi forces, but he declined to set a timetable for how long that process will take.

Gates toured McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis on Monday and Tuesday, his first visit to the local installations since he became secretary in late 2006.

Speaking to reporters after a briefing with Stryker brigade soldiers, Gates said the U.S. mission began changing in Iraq after the withdrawal of the first surge brigade last December.

“I think this transition of control and responsibility ... for security is a process that is already well under way, and based on everything that I’m hearing, we’ll be able to continue,” Gates said.

“However long that takes really will depend on the situation on the ground, but things are going very well at this point.”

He declined to comment specifically on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s call for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from his country.

Gates likewise did not offer on a question about whether he could live with a short-term agreement to keep U.S. forces there past the end of this year, rather than pressing ahead with what have apparently become contentious talks with Iraqi leaders over a long-term pact covering the presence and status of U.S. troops.

“Ambassador Crocker is in charge of those negotiations,” Gates said, referring to Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, “and I am principally concerned with having an agreement that will allow our forces to continue to do their job and to support the Iraqi government.”

Otherwise, Gates said he spent the majority of his time at the two installations speaking with service members and their family members, getting his picture taken with newborn babies at Madigan Army Medical Center, and lunching with McChord airmen.

It was the first local visit by a defense secretary since Donald Rumsfeld came to Fort Lewis in April 2002.

Gates and his wife Becky own a home at Big Lake near Mount Vernon, where they spent the Independence Day weekend. His aides said he scheduled the McChord and Lewis visits on his way back to the Pentagon.

“It’s been very useful,” Gates said of his visit. “The conversations with (noncommissioned officers) and their wives are always instructive for me, and I’m always impressed with their dedication and commitment.”

Tuesday morning he and his senior military adviser, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who is soon to become vice chief of staff of the Army, talked with crews from four different Stryker variants from the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

Sgt. Eric Shuty showed him the latest version of the eight-wheeled armored truck, the Mobile Gun System, fitted with a 105mm gun.

Shuty is just back from Iraq where he served nearly 15 months with the first crews to use the MGS in combat, in B Company of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.

“There are only so many people who have real, functional downrange experience with the truck,” Shuty said. “And as one of them, I was glad to come out here and tell him it’s a good vehicle. Buy more.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is visiting McChord Air Force Base today and Fort Lewis later today and Tuesday, officials said.

It’s the first known local visit by the nation’s senior defense adviser since Donald Rumsfeld came to Fort Lewis in April 2002.

And it comes just 18 days after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen toured Lewis and McChord.

At Fort Lewis, officials said Gates would visit with patients at Madigan Army Medical Center and talk with soldiers recently returned from overseas deployments and their families. He'll also get an update on the post's Stryker brigades and check out the different variants of the eight-wheeled armored vehicle.

McChord hasn't released details of Gates’ itinerary there.

UPDATE: Visit at McChord was quick, and Gates headed over to Lewis this afternoon.

From his schedule as posted on the DoD web site:

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates will conduct a press availability at 12:35 p.m. EDT at Fort Lewis, Wash. Secretary Gates' visit is part of his ongoing efforts to visit military installations, meet with troops and their families, thank them for their service and hear their concerns.

Shutting it down for the weekend. Wherever you are, have a great Independence Day.

The request: We have a lot of folks around here who aren't too far removed from a time and a place where explosions and pyrotechnics meant real danger.

I know some people might be thinking that's BS. Joe loves to blow stuff up, right?

True enough. But this is different.

If you're going all out with your bottle rockets, firecrackers and M-80s, and somebody asks you to take it easy, give 'em a break.

They've earned it.

I wrote about Capt. Patrick Horan back in November as part of a package of stories about traumatic brain injuries among returning soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Slide show that ran with the story is here.

Now Horan's recovery is featured on an hour-long documentary called "Wounded Warriors," broadcasting on the Military Channel. Program times are here; it will next be on at 5 and 8 p.m. PDT Saturday.

"The presentation is a true story of hope and inspiration," writes Pat's brother, Richard. "An even more amazing sequel to this show is how far Patrick has further improved and recovered since this was filmed last winter."

Richard visited his brother and Pat's wife Patty on June 16-17 at the Casa Colina Rehabilitation Hospital in Pomona, Calif.

"He now walks almost completely unaided (even jaunts a bit) and cognitively he is doing even more -- he is well-spoken, responsive and I had much fun just hanging around and laughing with him."

Click! digital subscribers can see the Military Channel on channel 224. Comcast digital subscribers get it on 274.

My colleague Christian Hill at the Olympian compiled short profiles of each of the 37 soldiers from the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division who were killed during the brigade's 15-month deployment in Iraq.

The Fort Lewis public affairs office has also posted the award citations for Spc. Rodny Yefune and Cpl. Luke Runyan.

Click here for the speech by 4th Brigade commander Col. Jon Lehr and here for the remarks by Fort Lewis and I Corps commanding general Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby, Jr.

And there's also the script for the ceremony, which includes a blow-by-blow narrative of the brigade's accomplishments over the course of the deployment.

Finally, I don't have a link or a photo just yet, but at Tuesday's ceremony Steilacoom artist Patrick Haskett unveiled a new piece he did for the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment. It's called "Let 'Em Come," the Rock of the Marne regiment's motto, and depicts a Stryker Mobile Gun System truck preparing to fire while infantrymen take up positions around it.

Haskett said he is arranging to have prints made so that he can give away one to each of the 800 or so soldiers in the battalion.

Katherine Mackin, who is almost 3, was pleasantly unconcerned with all the military pomp going on around her Tuesday as Fort Lewis formally welcomed its latest Stryker brigade to return from the war in Iraq.

The 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is home after nearly 15 months over there.

Katherine had a little song for the part that mattered most to her.

"My daddy's back," the little girl sang, skipping in Sponge Bob rubber sandals around her mom, Sandy.

"My daddy's ba-a-ack."

Lt. Col. Patrick Mackin, the brigade intelligence officer, and about 4,000 other soldiers were in the ranks Tuesday. The brigade closed the books on its Iraq deployment, reunited with some of its wounded, paid tribute to its 37 fallen and recognized two of its most valiant – one of them posthumously.

It was a mission that began ahead of schedule, when the brigade's departure was moved up a month to April 2007 to be part of the surge of U.S. forces into Baghdad. Over time most of its troops would move up to Diyala Province, a stronghold for insurgent fighters.

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