The Navy will commission a Virginia-class attack submarine, the USS New Hampshire, on Saturday in Maine.

And a Tacoma native, Cmdr. Mike Stevens, will be its inaugural commanding officer.

"This is a longtime dream for me," Stevens told seacoastonline.com "Submarines provide the best opportunity to command a ship at sea. When you're 4,000 miles out to sea, you really can't turn to anyone else for guidance. You have to rely on your own abilities, and that appeals to me. You have autonomy."

According to a Navy release, the 7,800-ton New Hampshire "will significantly contribute to the mission areas of anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface warfare; special operations forces; strike; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; irregular warfare; and mine warfare."

Stevens will lead a crew of 134. The submarine is 337 feet long and can operate at depths greater than 800 feet.

UPDATE: I was looking for more info about Stevens, to no avail. And by the time I got the release, I couldn't reach anyone in Navy public affairs.

Singing before crowds is nothing new for Victor Trinidad.

He can thank his command of English for that.

Trinidad, a helicopter electrician at Fort Lewis, was born in New York but moved to Puerto Rico as a child. Few kids in his neighborhood could speak English, and he was the only one out of those who knew the words to the national anthem.

“So when they needed someone to sing it,” he said, “guess who they asked?”

That sparked a love of performing before a crowd for Trinidad, now a 27-year-old staff sergeant with the 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. And his vocal skills are gaining attention in military circles.

=> Read more!

DVIDS posted a story about a Fort Lewis most people don't often read about: the 9th Financial Management Company.

The unit of 100 soldiers helped open a branch of the National Bank of Kuwait on the grounds of Camp Arifjan -- the first time a host-nation bank has operated on a military installation in Central Command's area of operations.

From the article:

Through the semi-permanent building, service members, contractors and civilians are afforded a new opportunity for banking. All will be able to conduct basic banking needs to include check cashing, wire transfers, foreign currency conversions and the ability to open and close bank accounts, along with expanded ATM service on the camp.

...

The establishment of the NBK branch here provides a model for finance operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan to encourage the civilian economy to use their own currency and banking system, allowing American forces to take dollars off the street, helping facilitate the transfer to the local economy.

About 150 members of the 8th Airlift Squadron, 62nd Airlift Wing will leave McChord Air Force Base on Monday for a four-month deployment in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It will deploy as the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, which is tasked with planning and executing missions using C-17 Globemaster jets throughout U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility. The McChord airmen will operate from bases throughout Europe, Southwest Asia and the Middle East.

The 8th Airlift Squadron last deployed in July 2007. It will replace another McChord unit, the 4th Airlift Squadron, which is scheduled to return to home early next month.

“Our airmen are proud of our mission to support our fellow warriors as a deployed airlift squadron,” squadron commander Lt. Col. Albert Miller said in a release. “Every single day, we’ll be flying missions in direct support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, delivering troops and supplies and keeping convoys off the roads.”