Project Homeless Connect runs on a simple concept: Make it easy to sign up for services and receive some immediate care, do it all in one place and more people will be helped. The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department is holding the second such event at the Tacoma Dome today.

Attendees can get medical checkups, have their hair cut and sign up for social services. And one room – marked by red and blue balloons taped to the wall – attracted dozens of people. It’s where veterans could sign up for programs offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Inside the room, volunteers and VA workers staffed table after table explaining the myriad benefits the country provides to its veterans. One 37-year-old man who didn’t want to give his name but was wearing a jacket with the scroll of the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment said he’s been living off friends’ couches for a few months. He hadn’t signed up for VA benefits in the past because he worried it would be too much work.

“But that,” he said, nodding toward the room, “that was easy.”

Last year, the VA connected 91 people – about a fifth of everyone who attended the event – with federal programs, said Justin Schumacher of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. Forty had never previously been signed up for veterans’ benefits, he said.

I don’t have any official numbers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they exceed those based on what I saw today (albeit for a short while).

Photographer Janet Jensen snapped some really good photos at yesterday's homecoming ceremony for units from the 62nd Medical Brigade. Too many shots, actually, to get in the paper. So make sure to check out her slideshow from the ceremony.

The Army Reserve has compiled this video of recovering toxic tires from Saltwater State Park. Interesting stuff if you get a few minutes.