A cardboard moving box holding cans of shaving cream sat on the table in the garage, jammed next to hundreds of disposable razors and toothbrushes. Inside the house, other boxes held bags of trail mix, Xbox games, batteries and candy. Walking among the mass of supplies and volunteers could be difficult at times.

“My house has been overrun,” said Susan Allen, the volunteer coordinator for Operation Homefront Washington. “The only place where there’s not Christmas stuff is our bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor.”

But 20 volunteers steadily sorted through the stacks of donated goods Saturday at Allen’s Yelm home and stuffed them into stockings destined for wounded soldiers at Fort Lewis. They wore Santa hats – trimmed with white stars against a blue background, like the American flag – as they filled the stockings with DVDs, disposable cameras, pudding cups and playing cards.

The 875 stockings will be delivered Friday to members of the Warrior Transition Battalion, a unit of soldiers with complex medical issues that helps them prepare for a return to their military careers or civilian life.

The donations came from both large corporations and individuals and in the form of supplies and money, Allen said. During a trip to the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Lacey last month, members of the nonprofit filled 10 shopping carts with stocking stuffers.

=> Read more!

It got lost in the stories about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the warm-hearted Thanksgiving pieces and the previews of the frenzied Black Friday crowds, but the approval in the Iraqi parliament of a status of forces agreement between Baghdad and Washington could should have a major impact for tens of thousands of soldiers at Fort Lewis.

American soldiers will withdraw from cities and towns by June 30, 2009 -- shortly before the 3rd and 5th Stryker Brigades are set to arrive in Iraq – and all troops will be gone by the start of 2012.

The vote still needs to be approved by the Presidency Council, comprised of President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies.

The United Nations mandate that authorized the American presence in Iraq was set to expire at the end of the year. If an agreement between Washington and Baghdad didn't pass, it would've paralyzed the ability of coalition troops to perform daily tasks.

Thanks to our folks in the McClatchy Baghdad bureau, you can read the entire text of the agreement in English here.

Members of the 593rd Sustainment Brigade's 80th Ordnance Battalion played in a all-day long "ultimate football" tournament at Fort Lewis. Photo by Dean J. Koepfler.

Gordon Hold is an 81-year-old Army veteran who was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Dudley Bang-Ura is a 36-year-old Fort Lewis soldier who is preparing for his first deployment next year.

Over plates of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pie, the two shared stories. Hold earned an airborne rating. Bang-Ura has yet to jump from an airplane. Hold drove trucks. Bang-Ura is a medic specializing in preventative medicine.

Forty-five years might separate the two, but they hit it off Wednesday during a Thanksgiving meal for soldiers and residents of a Tacoma retirement home.

“We’re getting to know each other. And he’s telling me a lot about jumping (from an airplane),” said Bang-Ura, a Tacoma resident assigned to the 227th Company, 62nd Medical Brigade. “I’m starting to get some inspiration.”

=> Read more!

Here's a cool story from the Army Times: The Pennsylvania National Guard's 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team will deploy to Iraq with 15 unmanned aerial vehicles.

No word if the two Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigades set to deploy next year will use similar UAVs, but the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 3-2 Strykers recently trained with another component of the Future Combat Systems: The small unmanned ground vehicle, or SUGV (right).

The robot can be sent into buildings, around corners or into bunkers to check for enemies. One soldier moves it with an Xbox-like controller and monitors what the robot’s scope picks up – it has infrared and laser sights, too – with a pair of goggles.

It won rave reviews from the soldiers, who used it at the Yakima Training Center.

As 3rd Brigade’s deployment gets closer (we hear they'll move out around July), we’ll have more about the SUGV, which one platoon of the 1-23 memorably nicknamed “Shredbot.”

Photo by U.S. Army Future Combat Systems

You could hear some louder-than-usual explosions from Fort Lewis this week.

The booms today are from demolitions and C4. The bangs tomorrow are from mortars. It should be wrapped up for Thanksgiving.

As usual, here’s the complaint (or, if you’re so inclined, the compliment) line: 253-967-0852.

The Los Angeles Times has a story today about a regulation change that narrowed the definition of a combat-related disability, which is drastically affecting the benefits thousands of veterans receive.

The Pentagon says it's following Congress' orders when it passed a "wounded warrior" law in January. But the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee told the paper that the narrower definition was not the intent.

Secretary of the Army Pete Geren was at Fort Lewis earlier today, and I asked him about it. Here's what he said.

”In the Army, our approach is the injury or need of the soldier is what drives our response. Some try to say an injury that happened one place should be treated differently than an injury that happened elsewhere. In the Army, we consider every soldier based the wound, injury or illness. What is the need of that soldier? Do they need to be in a (warrior transition unit) and have that type of comprehensive care that a WTU offers? Or would they be better off remaining with their unit?

Now, we’ve made some adjustments over the course of the 18 months we’ve had WTUs. We’ve changed the aperture a little bit so we don’t have people in the WTUs that don’t really need the comprehensive care they provide. We want to make sure the cadre we provide is able to meet the needs (of those in WTUs). In the Army, if your injury is at Fort Lewis in a construction accident or in Iraq in a combat accident, we’re concerned about needing your healthcare needs. We don’t make a distinction based on where you got the injury.”

Carter Ham is known as a "soldier’s general", the guys at Fort Lewis say. Cares about his guys. Sees soldiers as people, not pins on a tactical map.

I talked with one senior enlisted soldier today – don’t want to use his name because we were just chatting and I’m not sure he knew I might use his anecdote – who got hurt pretty badly in Iraq. As he was being evacuated, Ham had tears in his eyes. The general promised the soldier he would get the best care the Army could provide.

He’s a riser: Ham arrived in Fort Lewis in August 2003 as a brigadier general. Just months later, he was in Mosul, Iraq, leading Task Force Olympia. He oversaw combat operations by two Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigades, among a portfolio of other responsibilities. Now the 56-year-old is a four-star general and commands all American soldiers in Europe.

But the effects of his tour in Iraq have lingered. According to an interview with USA Today, he didn't sleep well after he returned. Loud noises startled him. He sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The USA Today story not only reaffirms Ham’s reputation as a soldier’s general, but it’s also one of the first times such a high-ranking official has openly talked about suffering from PTSD.

From the story:

The mess-hall bombing stands out in Carter Ham's mind. "Not a day goes by when I don't think about it," he says. But the cumulative effect of making decisions that put troops in harms' way gnawed at him as well.

"You'd get to the middle of the month and you'd say, 'You know, we haven't had anybody killed this month. Can we get through one month? Can we get through just one month without getting somebody killed?' "

And here’s a quote from Ham’s wife, Christi

"When he came back, all of him didn't come back. … Pieces of him the way he used to be were perhaps left back there," says his wife, Christi. "I didn't get the whole guy I'd sent away."

Check out the article if you have a few minutes. One of the best stories you'll read today.

Pete Geren reached into the inside pocket of his sport coat and pulled out four notecards.

The blue, palm-sized cards were filled with comments soldiers had told Geren, the Secretary of the Army: Praise of resources for wounded soldiers, complaints about the slow-moving bureaucracy that runs the process to determine medical fitness for duty.

Such feedback doesn’t always make it back to the Pentagon, he admits. Listening to real-world concerns of soldiers is one reason why Geren tours Army installations worldwide, including a stop at Fort Lewis on Tuesday.

“There are a lot of filters between individual soldiers and the office of the Secretary of the Army – or anybody at the Pentagon,” he said. “Every trip is a chance to hear first-hand from soldiers: How are we supporting them? Are they getting what they need?”

The morning of Geren’s visit to Fort Lewis centered on the performance of the Warrior Transition Battalion, which was created about 18 months ago as part of an Army-wide approach to better recovery care in the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center controversy. The evolution of the warrior transition units was “like changing tires on a moving vehicle,” Geren said, but Fort Lewis has helped provide an example for the rest of the service.

“Fort Lewis has been one of the innovators and incubators for good ideas,” he said. “... We look at Fort Lewis and Madigan and the leadership here as one of our best innovators in the Army.”

=> Read more!

The Herald of Everett has a profile of Operation Homefront’s Janice Buckley in Monday's paper. The Snohomish woman works tirelessly behind the scenes to make the lives of Washington’s service members a little bit brighter. It’s great she’s getting the recognition she deserves.

Secretary of the Army Pete Geren will visit Fort Lewis tomorrow to receive updates on the family-care operations at the Warrior Transition Battalion and the Solider and Family Assistance Center.

Geren will also visit Madigan Army Medical Center, have lunch with soldiers from the 2nd Ranger Battalion and meet with Army spouses at the Fort Lewis Family Resource Center.

Want to know more? Click below to read the press release:

=> Read more!

Jennifer Day balanced her daughter on her lap, adjusted the microphone clipped to her collar and stared nervously into the cameras.

“What are we supposed to do?” she asked. “I’ve never done this before.”

Kevin Mann, sitting behind a set of computer monitors, reassured her.

“Just relax,” he said. “A lot of people watch these again and again, especially during the holidays. Just tell them what you’re feeling.”

Mann counted down from three and pointed to Day, a 29-year-old Puyallup resident. On a monitor, the video feed faded from black to the image of Jennifer and her three children – 9-year-old Andrew, 7-year-old Sarah and 3-month-old Aubrey – waving.

Jennifer’s husband, Staff Sgt. Timothy Day, is deployed to Iraq with the Fort Lewis-based 51st Signal Battalion and won’t return until August. But through a national program called Operation Best Wishes, his family recorded a video that Timothy could watch online.

The national program made its stop at Fort Lewis on Friday, operating from an office in America’s Credit Union. Mann, a webcast producer who recorded, mixed and uploaded the videos, said about 35 families had signed up.

=> Read more!

The holidays can be especially difficult for soldiers recovering from a major injury – even more so if they’re separated from their loved ones.

“For some people, this time of year is just tough,” said Maj. Daniel Dudek, the executive officer for the Warrior Transition Battalion.

A charity that specializes in helping Washington’s service members made the holidays a little easier Friday. Operation Homefront Washington helped organize a Thanksgiving meal at Fort Lewis for the Warrior Transition Battalion.

Hundreds packed the main post chapel to feast on a spread that included turkey, ham, rolls, potato chips, mashed potatoes, baked beans, corn, green beans, fruit trays, stuffing and pies of every variety.

“We help all military families, but we have specific programs for the Warrior Transition Battalion,” said Janice Buckley, the president of Operation Homefront Washington. “They’ve made exceptional sacrifices, and it’s a way to honor them.”

The charity purchased the turkeys and donated the desserts – including about 125 pies – while family members brought the other side items. The meal began with prayers and songs. As the soldiers and their family members gave thanks, dozens more were quietly setting up the meal.

The feast followed.

=> Read more!

Apparently a brigade commander can’t talk a little long-distance football smack without prompting at least a few responses.

Yesterday I posted a comment from Col. Ronald Kapral, the 81st Brigade Combat Team commander. He discussed watching his beloved Dallas Cowboys on Armed Forces Network -- and he made a not-so-thinly-veiled reference to the Boys' chances of upending the Seahawks on Thanksgiving.

Another Washington National Guardsman took exception, lamenting Kapral’s “man-love” of America’s Team.

Lt. Col. Phil Osterli is working “deep in the heart of Taliban territory in western Afghanistan” and sent along the above photo of the Hawks’ 12th Man flag flying high to show that dedication to the hometown team knows no distance.

(Or, for that matter, record: Seattle is a dreadful 2-8.)

You might hear some extra explosions coming from Fort Lewis this week. Have no worries: The post is clearing unexploded ordnance at artillery impact area this week.

The demolition on the duds will continue through Friday. Most of the cleanup will happen in the afternoons. And cloud cover – we’ve been seeing a lot of it lately – can amplify the blast noise.

Got a complaint? The public affairs hotline is (253) 967-0852.

Col. Ronald Kapral is more than 7,000 miles and nine time zones away from Dallas. But on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys played their archrival Washington Redskins. And Kapral, the commander of the 81st Brigade Combat Team and a huge Cowboys fan, knows that any true fan of America’s Team doesn’t miss a game against the Skins.

The Armed Forces Network apparently saw the same value in the game. And Kapral awoke hours in Camp Ramadi to watch quarterback Tony Romo return after missing three games with a broken finger and rally the Cowboys to a 14-10 victory.

“I got to watch them beat the Redskins last week,” he said, “and I’m looking forward to watching them beat the Seahawks on Thanksgiving day – even if I have to get up at 1 o’clock in the morning to catch it.”

A mild traumatic brain injury can be frustrating. Patients often look normal but can suffer from a wide range of symptoms, like headaches, fatigue, irritability and memory loss.

Concussion blasts from roadside bombs have made mTBI the signature injury of the Iraq war. And officials at Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis unveiled two new techniques to help patients deal with the injuries: a memory enhancement program and the DigiPen, which digitally records hand movements during tests.

“We want to use as many tools as we have available to help our patients,” said Col. Ronald Place, who runs Madigan’s daily operations.

Last year, the Army launched programs to help mTBI sufferers and their families. At Fort Lewis, soldiers returning from combat zones are required to complete questionnaires to help identify the condition. Incoming company commanders and first sergeants attend courses about observing the symptoms of mTBI and post-traumatic stress disorder and getting help for their soldiers. Two wings at the old Madigan site are being renovated to house the hospital’s mTBI program and should open next summer.

=> Read more!

The 81st Brigade Combat Team arrived for its first deployment to Iraq in early 2004 at a crucial time: Much of the country was wrecked after the U.S. invasion and the insurgency was gaining strength.

The brigade of 2,400 Washington National Guardsmen returned to Iraq for its second combat tour last last month, and its commander said he sees a big improvement compared to last time.

“There is no comparison between Iraq in 2004 and what it is today,” Col. Ronald Kapral told The News Tribune today during a phone interview from his office at Camp Ramadi, in Anbar province west of Baghdad.

“I’ve been outside the base numerous times,” said Kapral, who lives in Graham when back home in Pierce County. “I’ve seen a definite improvement in Iraqi police. I’ve dealt with an Iraqi general about security and about integration of the Iraqi army.”

=> Read more!

Could the military's ban on openly gay service members be ending soon?

The Associated Press reported more than 100 retired generals and admirals issued a statement calling on President-elect Barack Obama to overturn the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Obama has supported interest in repealing the rule but said he won't do so without building consensus with military leaders.

The military has discharged about 12,340 people between 1994 and 2007, the AP reports, including 627 last year. And the issue is of particular interest out here because a McChord Air Force Base nurse is in the midst of a legal battle with the Air Force over her dismissal.

Maj. Margaret Witt was suspended without pay in 2004 after the Air Force received a tip she had been in a long-term relationship with a woman. She was honorably discharged in October 2007 after 18 years with the service.

She sued the Air Force. A district judge threw out the case, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May that the military can't automatically discharge people because they're gay.

What do you think? Is it time to rethink the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy? Do you expect much to change under an Obama administration? If you're a service member or a veteran, would you have a problem with an openly gay colleague?

The Washington National Guard's 81st Brigade is in Iraq, and several units have already begun their missions, the brigade spokesman said.

Most units are tasked with providing security for supply convoys. Others are running day-to-day operations at the bases.

The brigade of 3,200 soldiers – 2,400 of whom are from Washington – left home in August for its second deployment in Iraq. It trained for eight weeks at Fort McCoy, Wis., and deployed to Kuwait, where it received several more weeks of training in operating vehicles and weapons systems.

The soldiers began arriving in Iraq last month. The brigade was split into smaller units – often by battalion, but sometimes by company – and spread throughout the country. Here’s where they’ll be serving:

● Ramadi
● Mosul
● Balad
● Tikrit
● Qayyarah West Airfield
● Baghdad
● Al Asad Air Base
● Al Taqaddum

Check back with us tomorrow morning. I’ll be talking with brigade commander Col. Ronald Kapral and will post something as soon as I’m done.

Jennifer Conner and Marcie Klatik arrived at the hotel, drawn by an invitation sent by email.

They sat next to each other in a ballroom at Tacoma’s Hotel Murano. Between sessions of the SpouseBUZZ Live conference, they discovered they have a lot in common.

Each has a husband stationed at Fort Lewis. Each is in her early 30s. Each has a special-needs child.

They shared tips on resources available to military families.

“It’s good to know that you’re not alone out there,” said Conner, a 34-year-old from Lacey. “It can be kinda hard sometimes.”

“It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who has some of these feelings about military life,” said Klatik, a 31-year-old Lakewood resident.

That was the idea behind the conference.

“We’re here to get people talking to each other,” said Jeanie St. Martin, one of the event’s organizers.

=> Read more!

Talk about a homecoming.

Less than two weeks after returning from a four-month deployment with McChord Air Force Base’s 4th Airlift Squadron, Capt. Richard Kind will participate in the coin toss for the Seattle Seahawks’ game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Qwest Field.

Kind, a C-17 Globemaster pilot, is part of a group of veterans who will be honored as part of the Hawks’ Military Appreciation Day. He’ll join representatives from other branches of the military as well as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

Two Medal of Honor recipients, Air Force Col. Joe Jackson and Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, will also participate.

Kind and other members of the 4th AS returned home Nov. 5. The airmen were stationed in Turkey and Kuwait. They were responsible for planning and flying all C-17 missions throughout U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan. Kind, who has been on four deployments, has almost 3,000 flying hours, including 800 hours of combat flying.

(I’m sure the other service members are from Western Washington military installations, but I haven’t heard either way. I’ll update this when I find out.)

Make sure you check out my colleague Steve Maynard's report on U.S. Sen. Patty Murray discussing the nation's need to take care of its armed forces. She was speaking at a summit for families and children.

At our newspaper, we don't publish a lot of so-called "handout" photos provided by the U.S. military. We have our own staff photographers to take images at Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base, and we rely on wire service photographers for news overseas.

But an AP story today about a doctored photo of a prestigious Army newsmaker gives us food for thought.

The Associated Press on Friday suspended the use of photos provided by the Defense Department after the Army distributed a digitally altered photo of the U.S. military’s first female four-star general.
The image of Army Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody is the second Army-provided photo the AP has eliminated from its service in the last two months.
The AP said that adjusting photos and other imagery, even for aesthetic reasons, damages the credibility of the information distributed by the military to news organizations and the public.
“For us, there’s a zero-tolerance policy of adding or subtracting actual content from an image,” said Santiago Lyon, the AP’s director of photography.
Lyon said the AP is developing procedures to protect against further occurrences and, once those steps are in place, it will consider lifting the ban. He said the AP is also discussing the problem with the military.
Col. Cathy Abbott, chief of the Army’s media relations division, said the Dunwoody photo did not violate Army policy that prohibits the cropping or editing of a photo to misrepresent the facts or change the circumstances of an event.
In the original photo, the general appears to be sitting at a desk with a credenza and bookshelf behind her. Three stars on her uniform identify her as a lieutenant general, her rank before Friday’s promotion.
The altered photo, distributed by the Army and run on the AP’s photo wire Thursday, shows Dunwoody in fatigues in front of an American flag. Her rank, affixed to the front of a soldier’s tunic, is not visible.
“We’re not misrepresenting her,” Abbott said. “The image is still clearly Gen. Dunwoody.”

What do you think? Should the military be manipulating photographs this way? Is the news media overreacting?

Incidentally, we are putting a story about Dunwoody's historic promotion on Page A3 Saturday. Accompanying it will be a picture taken by a wire service photojournalist during Friday's ceremony at the Pentagon.

UPDATED 11/17/2008: Fort Lewis spokeswoman Catherine Caruso called to make it clear that Fort Lewis does not manipulate photos it provides to the media. This would be a violation of Army regulation 360-1, Chapter 13-4. (Read it here.)

"We don't take things out of photos and we don't put them in," Caruso called to tell me. "The second you make a change like that, it becomes a photo illustration."

The Department of Defense must've been working off different sheet music in the Dunwoody case.

The most common type of Army "handout" photos we use at the TNT -- mug shots of soldiers who died in the line of duty -- are typically provided by family members, with Fort Lewis as a third-party conduit. Army public affairs specialists can't vouch for the integrity of those photos, Caruso said, although they do reject them if it's obvious they were altered.

An event in Tacoma on Saturday will allow hundreds of military spouses connect and share their experiences. SpouseBUZZ Live will also feature “military-friendly employers and organizations whose services benefit the military community,” according to a press release.

The free event is the third and final stop of a national tour. SpouseBUZZ is military.com’s virtual spouse support group and military spouse blog. Scheduled events include panel discussions like "A Humorous Look at the Milspouse Experience" and "Making the Most of the Milspouse Experience."

What: SpouseBUZZ Live
When: Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Hotel Murano, 1320 Broadway Plaza, Tacoma
Cost: Free

The Washington National Guard is partnering with food banks across the state. The Guard will collect non-perishable items at its eight storefront recruiting stations across the state.

The program runs through Jan. 1.

If you want to drop something off, the eight locations are:

Lakewood: 10020 Bridgeport Way S.
Puyallup: 4621 South Meridian #15
Lacey: 8221 Martin Way SE #F
Seattle: 2445 4th Ave. S., Suite 104
Lynnwood: 3333 184th St. SW
Kennewick: 2525 West Falls Ave.
Yakima: 112 W. Nob Hill Blvd.
Spokane: 1402 A North Division

Officials from Fort Lewis and the Clover Park School District are breaking ground today on a joint-use youth facility at Hillside Elementary School.

The 135-person facility at the on-post school will be used by both the military and the school district, according to a press release. Clover Park will use two classrooms for its Early Childhood Education Assistance Program for low-income and at-risk preschoolers.

Fort Lewis’ Morale, Welfare and Recreation will use the facility for its School of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills program, which offers classes in academics, arts, life skills and sports for military children and teenagers.

Other space has been designated for use by the school district for educational, sports and fitness programs.

A Kent man who claimed he was an Iraq war veteran and a Purple Heart recipient pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to presenting false military documents and to making false claims of military service and medals earned.

Brandon V. Perkins, 21, faces up to a year and prison and a $100,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones plans to sentence Perkins on Feb. 6.

Perkins admitted he submitted a written claim to the Veterans Affairs regional office in Seattle in April 2008, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. He claimed to be suffering from pain stemming from a combat injury sustained while deployed in Iraq.

He submitted discharge papers stating he had served a full term of service in the Army and received a handful of medals, including the Combat Infantry Badge, Combat Action Badge and Purple Heart.

Perkins, though, served less than two years in the Army, never served overseas, wasn’t injured in combat and didn’t receive the medals he claimed. He enlisted in the Army in July 2004, the attorney’s office said, and was discharged in 2006 because of a misconduct conviction in civilian court.

He received $2,720 in medical benefits from VA health care facilities. As part of his plea agreement, he’ll pay back the money.

Click below to read the press release (with more details):

=> Read more!

Charles Kanai dreamed of receiving his doctorate and returning to Kenya to teach the poorest of the poor.

God had a different plan.

“My goal always was to go back and educate kids,” he said. “But when God is asking you to do something, you need to do it. I felt like he was saying to me, ‘I need you to do one more thing: Join the Army.'"

Two years later, Kanai serves as a chaplain assigned to Fort Lewis. The 43-year-old Roman Catholic priest ministers to soldiers of a country that gave him a green card and an opportunity to further an education. And on Thursday, nine years after he first arrived in the United States and six weeks after returning from a deployment to Afghanistan, Capt. Kanai took the oath of citizenship at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in Seattle.

Kanai and 40 other service members, spouses and veterans from 29 nations participated in the ceremony. They raised their right hands and swore loyalty to the United States and pledged to defend the county against all enemies. They listened to speakers, posed for photos and ate sheet cake decorated with the American flag.

Citizenship, Kanai said, was a natural step after his military service.

“I was ready to give up my life for my country,” he said. “I’m ready to become an American.”

=> Read more!

Eleven states - Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma and North Carolina - have adopted the Interstate Compact on Military Children. Fourteen others are considering it.

If you want to read the full compact, click here. (Adobe PDF format)

An interstate agreement hopes to address those issues, and Washington is now one step closer to adopting it.

A state task force studying the Interstate Compact on Military Children recommended Thursday that the Washington Legislature adopt a modified version of the agreement.

The task force met at Clover Park School District offices in Lakewood, whose hundreds of military students could be profoundly affected by the compact.

“Over the course of six months, we hashed out all the issues the school districts brought forward,” said state Sen. Steve Hobbs, task force co-chairman. “We kind of tweaked the compact to meet Washington’s needs while keeping the intent, which is helping our military children.”

Hobbs, a Democrat from Lake Stevens and an Army veteran of the Iraq war, said he plans to introduce a bill adopting the compact during the 2009 legislative session. He hopes the task force’s other co-chairwoman, Democratic Rep. Christine Rolfes of Bainbridge Island, will do so in the House.

Eleven states have adopted the compact; 14 are considering it.

=> Read more!

A summit in Tacoma on Friday will focus on providing needed resources to military children and families.

The second annual Washington State Military Kids and Families Summit will offer workshops on how children cope with deployment, transitions and reunion. Maj. Keith Lemmon, an adolescent medicine specialist and the director of the Military Child and Adolescent Center of Excellence at Madigan Army Medical Center, will address the audience about the effects of military deployment and its aftermath on children.

Later, a panel of teenagers that have a deployed parent will share how the military has impacted their lives. Bring questions, because there’s a Q&A session scheduled with the teens.

Sen. Patty Murray will make an appearance, thanking the children and family members for their sacrifice. She will discuss her experiences of growing up as the daughter of a veteran, the struggles her family faced when her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and her work on behalf of the armed forces, according to a release from her office.

What: Washington State Military Kids and Families Summit
When: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday
Where: Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center, 1500 Broadway, Tacoma
Cost: $10 per person, $15 per family. Lunch and refreshments are included.

Over the past three months, Fort Lewis soldiers have been collecting aluminum cans. A lot of them – 78,000 cans weighing a total of one ton.

It’s part of America Recycles Day. Soldiers collected with their units over a 90-day competition, and they collected 33 cents for each pound of aluminum they collected. The top performers also will receive a cash award.

It’s part of the post’s ongoing effort to become a zero net-waste installation by 2025.

A Washington task force studying the impact of military children often changing schools will have their final meeting Thursday.

The 16-member The Task Force on the Interstate Compact on Military Children – which includes representatives from the military, school districts, State Board of Education, educational service districts and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction – will meet from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Clover Park School District board room at 10904 Gravelly Lake Dr. SW in Lakewood.

The Department of Defense estimates that military children attend between six and nine schools before graduating high school. That constant change can have major impacts on a child’s education. Several agencies, including the DoD, developed an interstate compact that became active in 2008 to address the issues. A compact is essentially an agreement between states to create uniform rules.

Ten states have adopted it so far. Another 14, including Washington, are considering adopting it.

The task force was created by the 2007 state legislature to consider the compact’s adoption. According to a press release, Thursday’s meeting will “will discuss school transition issues encountered by dependents of Army personnel, take public comments on the task force’s preliminary recommendations, examine the state-by-state status of the compact and decide whether the task force should recommend whether the Legislature should adopt the compact.”

What: The Task Force on the Interstate Compact on Military Children
When: Thursday, 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Where: Clover Park School District Board Room, 10903 Gravelly Lake Dr. SW, Lakewood

There are plenty of opportunities to help out service members and their families year-round, and even more during the holiday season. But one program has been flying a bit under the radar. Christmas Decor, a residential and commercial decorating service, offers soldiers and their families a chance to win free holiday lighting.

But the owner of the Puyallup franchise hasn't had any applicants two of the past three years for the Decorated Family Program.

“We got to do a home last year, but we didn’t have anyone submit any essays the past two years,” Belinda Bowman said. “I didn’t get a chance to get my crew out there and decorate someone’s house.”

To submit an application, go to christmasdecor.net and click on the link in the lower right corner. (Or you could just click here to go directly to the page.) It's a simple form; just fill out essentials like name and contact information, a few questions about your service and a place for a 500-word essay to tell your story.

If selected, a Christmas Decor designer will contact the family and design a custom holiday display. Everything should be installed by Dec. 15. After the holiday season, crews will return to the home and take down the display.

Sounds easy enough.

“There’s no cost to the family,” Bowman said. “We just want to make it a special holiday season for a soldier and the family. It’s just something we can do to help out.”

If you’re a veteran, someone has paid for your drink at the Starbucks in Tacoma’s Proctor District today.

Someone who wishes to remain anonymous dropped by the store at the corner of North 26th and Proctor streets this morning and handed a barista a prepaid Starbucks card. Any drink a veteran wants, he said, he or she can get it for free. Doesn’t matter if it’s a drip coffee or a Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino blended coffee with Chocolate Whipped Cream.

There’s a sign at each register asking customers to tell the baristas if they’re veterans. It’s on the honor system.

“They’re usually overwhelmingly touched and honored,” said one barista, who didn’t give her name because she wasn’t authorized by the corporate office to speak to reporters. “And others added to the card when they heard about what was going on. They’ve paid it forward.”

Tacoma Public Utilities will receive the Pro Patria award, the Department of Defense’s highest state-level honor for employers, on Wednesday evening.

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve gives three or fewer Pro Patria awards in each state each year. The recipient “demonstrates exceptional support for our national defense by adopting personnel policies that make it easier for employees to participate in the National Guard and Reserve,” according to a press release.

Five Tacoma Power employees will also receive the Patriot Award for supporting a co-worker during his deployment to Iraq. University Place’s Sgt. Robert Bennett, a line worker and a Black Hawk crew chief with the Guard’s 66th Theater Aviation Command, was deployed from April 2007 to August 2008.

The awards will be distributed at 6:30 p.m. at the Tacoma Public Utilities auditorium at 3628 S. 35th St.

The 1st Special Forces Group memorial wall at Fort Lewis is a granite testament to the members of the elite unit of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the United States.

During a sunrise Veterans Day ceremony, the Green Berets unveiled the 163rd name on the wall: Staff Sgt. David Textor of Company A, 3rd Battalion, who was killed July 15 in Mosul, Iraq, during combat operations.

“These are our hallowed heroes,” group commander Col. Rand Binford said Tuesday. “This is a pantheon of men who came before us, who served before us, who gave the ultimate sacrifice. We will not forget.”

About 300 soldiers stood at attention in the steady drizzle as Binford and others honored Textor and his family. The ceremony was simple but solemn. After a playing of the national anthem and a prayer, Binford praised both Textor and all veterans for their service.

“From the fields and forest of war-torn Europe during the first and second world wars and the jungles of Southeast Asia to the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, brave patriots have protected our nation’s ideals, rescued millions from tyranny and helped spread freedom around the globe,” he said.

=> Read more!

Pick up any newspaper across the country today, and chances are the main front-page story will be a profile of a veteran. After all, Veterans Day is just one of those holidays that necessitates a story each year.

We chose to write about James Clark, a Shelton resident who first enlisted in the Army at age 13 to serve during World War II. Others focused on veterans from Vietnam, Iraq and other conflicts. In no particular order, here is a sample of profiles from newspapers across the state (articles ran today unless noted otherwise):

For local Iraq vet and his mom, the healing never ends (Seattle Times, Sunday)

Housing vouchers help bring vets home (Seattle P-I)

Exposed in the service (Spokesman-Review)

Veterans honored on Capitol Campus (The Olympian)

Tri-City veterans tell stories (Tri-City Herald)

Decorated war vet “a true leader” (The Daily World)

Bellingham man in historic WWII photo with Gen. MacArthur (Bellingham Herald)

Students honor those who served our country (The Herald)

Veterans Day special: Medal of Honor recipients from the North Olympic Peninsula (Peninsula Daily News)

Military might: Training Center one of Yakima County's biggest employers¹ (Yakima Herald-Republic, Monday)

^{1 – Not a Vets Day story per se, but interesting nonetheless.}

James Clark looked big for his age as a teenager and ran with an older crowd. So when his friends reported to the draft board, he followed.

It was 1943, and the country needed troops. Young men were supposed to report when they turned 18.

About a month later, Clark received his orders for basic training.

The U.S. Army had just drafted a 13-year-old.

“They didn’t ask for any proof of age,” said Clark, a Fort Lewis retiree who’s now 78 and living in Shelton, Mason County. “I figured out what year I needed to say to make me 18, and I just told them. They didn’t ask anything more about that.”

Clark said it was expected that anyone who was of fighting age join the war effort. His parents supported his decision.

“My mother said ‘Hallelujah,’ and my father said, ‘Amen,’ when I told them,” he said. “People were just patriotic back then.”

Today, 17 is the minimum age individuals can enlist in the armed forces, if they show proof of age and parental consent; 18 is the minimum age they can deploy to combat zones. The Department of Defense clarified the policy last year, in part responding to isolated reports of underage service members in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Clark’s story is not unusual. At least 200,000 men and women under the legal age served during World War II, according to an estimate from the Veterans of Underage Military Service organization.

The group has 1,279 active members, national commander Bernie Doyle said, and the median age is 78.

Clark is likely the youngest surviving World War II veteran. The youngest service member during the war, Calvin Graham, died in 1992. Graham enlisted in the Navy in 1942 at age 12 and was wounded at Guadalcanal that year. His commanders discovered his age and discharged him.

A discharge also awaited Clark a year after he enlisted, but not before he completed basic and paratrooper training.

=> Read more!

Jerry Clark smiled proudly Saturday as fellow members of the American Legion marched down Auburn’s Main Street. People standing near the 62-year-old Black Diamond resident clapped as the group of older men wearing their trademark caps waved back to the crowd. He softly nodded and smiled.

“It’s a remembrance of our fallen comrades,” said Clark, an Army veteran who fought in the Vietnam War from 1967-69.

Clark, who said he rarely missed the parade, took in the scene: Thousands of spectators jammed Main Street to cheer veterans’ groups, marching bands, elected officials and other participants in the 43rd annual Veterans Day parade.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” he said, “that Auburn stands out as one of the most patriotic cities in the nation.”

The components of the parade were as varied as they were plentiful.

=> Read more!

A Fort Lewis Army captain was sentenced Friday to a year and a day in prison for firearms smuggling conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman rejected a recommendation from both sides that Capt. Tomoaki Iishiba be spared time behind bars. She says the 34-year-old former Army intelligence liaison to the Japanese military showed poor judgment.

After serving his sentence, Iishiba faces three years on supervised release. Government and defense lawyers recommended a sentence of three years on probation.

He pleaded guilty in July to arranging to send firearms parts to Japan without a license repeatedly since 2006. The components included 60 EoTech 553 holographic night vision sights.

Prosecutors said Iishiba deliberately mislabeled the customs forms on the shipments because he knew sending them to Japan required an export license.

=> Read more!

The Seattle Army Recruiting Battalion sent out a press release yesterday about a celebration marking the new opening of a Lacey office. Recruiters moved in Oct. 27. Three days later, it was vandalized.

The release is about the community offering their support, but it mentioned this:

"This was the sixth time Army property in the area has been vandalized in the past three months (Lacey, Olympia, Spanaway, Everett, and Tacoma). These incidents have cost taxpayers more than $8,500 to date."

More than eight grand in less than three months? Remember these boneheads when you fill out your 1040 next year.

About 140 soldiers from two medical companies will return to Fort Lewis today after a 15-month deployment to Iraq.

The 514th Medical Company and the 547th Medical Company deployed in August 2007.

The 547th, an area support company, treated more than 72,000 coalition soldiers and civilians. Its work ranged from immunizations and X-rays to emergency medical support and coordinating air evacuations for critically injured patients. The value of the care it provided is estimated at $12 million, according to a press release.

The 514th, a ground ambulance company, conducted more than 4,000 missions and transported more than 7,000 patients to various medical facilities.

For many Americans, Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg said, the image of the National Guard was formed during the years of the Vietnam War, when most Guardsmen stayed home while the military relied on the draft to fill its ranks.

But that’s an outdated view, Lowenberg, adjutant general of the Washington Guard, told a meeting of the City Club of Tacoma on Wednesday. The National Guard is more important than ever in a world where the dynamic of warfare is changing, he said.

“If we did not have the National Guard in this country,” he said, “the threats we face would likely lead to its creation today.”

Lowenberg’s speech at the University of Puget Sound touched on topics affecting the United States in the 21st century and expanded on the National Guard’s role.

The importance of the National Guard has grown as the number of active-duty military installations becomes smaller, he said. Many parts of the country are hundreds of miles away from a military installation, meaning crucial time could be lost during a national emergency or natural disaster.

“It creates a tyranny of time and distance that’s answered by the National Guard,” Lowenberg said.

=> Read more!

More than 4,000 Fort Lewis soldiers have reenlisted during the current fiscal year, the post announced, and another 800 will continue in the Army Reserve or National Guard.

From the press release:

The continued success U.S. Army's all-volunteer force depends on its ability to not just recruit qualified men and women to serve, but to retain trained and experienced Soldiers already in the ranks.

In every major subordinate command on Fort Lewis, trained non-commissioned officers serve as career counselors for their fellow Soldiers, working with Soldiers in their units to develop career goals and identify assignment opportunities that will continue their professional education and growth in their chosen military field.

Jenna Williams is no stranger to deployments. Her husband, Brad, is an airmen stationed at McChord Air Force Base. And her sister-in-law’s husband is a Fort Lewis soldier.

But whether it’s a 15-month deployment to Iraq or a four-month tour of airbases in the Middle East, the separation isn’t easy on the 22-year-old.

“The days just creep by sometimes,” she said.

But on Wednesday morning, her wait was over. Her husband, Senior Airman Brad Williams, returned to McChord with more than 100 other members of the 4th Airlift Squadron, 62nd Airlift Wing after a four-month deployment to Turkey and Kuwait.

Family members and friends waited in the terminal near the flight line until minutes before the jet was scheduled to land. As it began circling around for its landing, they poured outside. Many held signs, balloons and miniature American flags. They erupted in a cheer when the plane landed.

They crowded around the stairs as the airmen walked off. Wing commander Col. Jeffrey Stephenson stood at the bottom of the staircase and shook hands as they walked down. They hugged and kissed their loved ones. Some cried.

“It’s just good to be back,” said Brad Williams said, who received a big hug from his wife and his sister, Amanda Hawkins, as he met them on the flight line.

=> Read more!

We’re working on a list of Veterans Day celebrations around the South Sound. And will be adding to it when we get more. As the day approaches, we’ll be running a list of public ceremonies in the newspaper. Want to add your event to the list? Contact me at scott.fontaine@thenewstribue.com.

Here’s a list of what we’ve got so far:

Saturday:

● Auburn will hold its annual parade. At 11 a.m., it will proceed west on Main Street from E Street SE to B Street NW near Auburn City Hall. A C-17 flyover starts the event. Billy Robins, the state commander of the Vietnam Veterans of America, will be parade grand marshal.

● Auburn Senior Activity Center, 808 Ninth Street SE, 7 a.m. A breakfast hosted by American Legion Post No. 78.

● Veterans Memorial Park, 411 NE Street SE, Auburn, 9 a.m. Military equipment, antique vehicles and artwork on display, followed by remembrance ceremony.

● Auburn Memorial Stadium, 800 4th St NE, Auburn, 1 p.m. Marching band competition.

● South Prairie Community Center, 350 Highway 162, South Prairie, 9 a.m. Matt Waters, a Tacoma police officer and former Army Ranger, will represent nation’s wounded warriors. Performance by McChord Air Force Base color guard.

● Thurston County Fire Protection District No. 17, 16306 Bald Hill Rd SE, Yelm, 11 a.m. Free food, apple cider and tours of the fire station.

Monday

● Clover Park Technical College, Sharon McGavick Student and Conference Center, 4500 Steilacoom Blvd. SW, Lakewood, noon. Col. Paul Gruver of McChord Air Force Base is guest speaker.

● War memorial remembrances, State Capitol campus, Olympia, noon. Color guard ceremony, singers, buglers and speakers.

Tuesday:

● Capitol Rotunda, 416 Sid Snyder Ave. SW, Olympia, 11 a.m.

● Tahoma National Cemetery, 18600 SE 240th St., Kent, 11 a.m. Gov. Chris Gregoire will speak.

● War Memorial Park, Sixth Avenue at McArthur Street, Tacoma, 11 a.m. The Air Force Association and Tacoma Historical Society are hosting a dedication and remembrance ceremony.

● Washington Soldiers Home, 1301 Orting/Kapowsin Highway, Orting, 2 p.m.

● Washington State History Museum, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 2 p.m. Readings and discussion on poetry and war.

From TNT reporter Brent Champaco:

Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base plan to consolidate forces in about 15 general areas when they become a joint base in two years.

Those areas include management, housing, supplies, emergency services and information technology.

Joe Jimenez, Fort Lewis spokesman on the joint basing, told the Lakewood City Council Monday that the exact details of the merger won't be known until the two installations sign a memorandum of understanding next year.

But it appears that little will change in terms of operations when the two instillations become Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

"In some ways for some folks, this will be the biggest change you'll never see," he said.

=> Read more!

Members of the 4th Airlift Squadron will return to McChord Air Force Base on Wednesday after serving a four-month deployment overseas.

More than 100 airmen served throughout Europe, Southwest Asia and the Middle East as part of the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, which is responsible for all C-17 Globemaster III missions throughout U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility.
One mission involved ferrying about 2,000 Georgian troops serving in Iraq to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

“Our nation, our community and this combat airlift wing are proud of the airmen from the 4th Airlift Squadron and its many contributions to the war effort,” Col. Jeffrey Stephenson, 62nd Airlift Wing commander, said in a press release. “We welcome them home with open arms and are grateful each member has safely returned to their family and friends.”

McChord’s four active-duty flying squadrons deploy on a rotational basis, often for four-month tours. The 8th Airlift Squadron deployed in late October, replacing the 4th Airlift Squadron.

UPDATE: Here's the story after it was edited for space. Based on what you've been reading, whattaya think? Is the tone positive? Negative? Just right?

The sound of gunfire drew a crowd of a half-dozen Iraqi women to the streets. They shouted at U.S. troops. The Fort Lewis Stryker soldiers tried to calm the women through an interpreter, but a few continued grabbing at the troops’ equipment.

A soldier fired a warning shot in the air. An Iraqi woman crumpled to the ground. Several Iraqi men joined the protest. Soon five people were detained, their wrists bound. And then a television crew arrived to film the scene.

The final exercise of Monday’s battle simulation had soldiers responding to a sabotage threat at the water-treatment facility on North Fort Lewis.

At that moment, however, the Stryker brigade troops were reminded that even when a unit performs well, a momentary lapse of judgment can have large consequences.

They had made a critical mistake: One of the detainees broke free and ran down the street, away from the treatment plant. One soldier pursued him but couldn’t catch up. So the soldier shot the detainee in the back, just inches above where his hands were bound.

=> Read more!

The gunfire drew a crowd of a half-dozen Iraqi women to the streets in protest. They shouted at American troops. The soldiers tried to calm them down through an interpreter, but a few continued to grab at the troops’ equipment.

A soldier fired a warning shot in the air. An Iraqi woman crumpled to the ground. Several Iraqi men joined the protest. Soon five Iraqis were being detained, their wrists bound with zip-ties. And then a television crew arrived to film the scene.

At that moment near the end of a battle simulation, the troops of a Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade were reminded of a reality of today’s warfare: A unit can perform well, but a momentary lapse of judgment can have larger consequences.

The platoon of about 40 troops from Comanche Company of 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment – a unit of the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division – spent Sunday night and most of Monday on a situational-training exercise. They responded to realistic situations. Their guns fired blank ammunition with lasers recording hits. Role players filled in as Iraqis, both friendly as hostile.

The final exercise saw soldiers responding to a threat of a possible sabotage of the water-treatment facility on North Fort Lewis.

Four soldiers stormed out of their Strykers and ascended to the top of the tower at the facility. They spotted enemy gunmen and radioed in their locations, and other American soldiers attacked from the flanks. The Americans stopped an ambush in waiting. They evacuated wounded soldiers. They stopped the attack and captured the chemist plotting the attack.

Battalion commander Lt. Col. Charles Hodges said the exercise was designed to highlight the potential confusion of urban operations and remind soldiers to stay calm during tense situations.

“You can do a great tactical operation, but if the media sees someone shot and others arrested when you’re supposed to be there saving the water facility, then you’ve lost strategically,” he said.

One of the women acting as an Iraqi protester was instructed to fall if a warning shot was fired to teach that gunfire can immediately escalate a tense situation, Hodges said. The role of American troops has changed since the early days of the war, he added, and training must reflect that.

The troops did commit one other major mistake: One of the detainees broke free and ran down the street, away from the facility. One soldier pursued him but couldn’t catch up. So a soldier – it could have been the one pursuing or another from the roof – shot the detainee in his back, just inches above where his hands were bound with zip-ties.

In the post-exercise discussion, battalion commanders stressed that incidents like the shooting could have larger, destabilizing effects. But a water-treatment facility with a view of the Narrows Bridge – and not the streets of Baghdad – is the best place to make errors.

“No matter what you’ll do, you’ll never be perfect,” said Alan Bjerke, 3rd Brigade’s command sergeant major. “Most of the things you did, you did well. You got some good training, made some mistakes and learned from them. That’s what we’re out here to do.”

The soldiers struck before dawn. The vehicles rumbled through the woods of south Fort Lewis toward the mock-up village, which was a series of shipping containers surrounded by a 10-foot concrete wall.

A canister spewing yellow smoke preceded the attack. Soldiers jumped out of their Strykers and set up a perimeter while others stormed the compound. Gunshots came from the forest. Inside one of the vehicles, the gunner stared at his night-vision screen, aimed a .50-caliber machine gun with a joystick and fired. The shots stopped.

A call across the radio: An American soldier was injured. Spc. Ezra Tinkle bounded from the back hatch of the Stryker and sprinted toward the area. Tinkle, a 24-year-old medic, reported the soldier (a member of the 1st Cavalry Division who said other soldiers left him behind) had a compound fracture of his lower right leg. Staff Sgt. Sean Milligan radioed for a medical evacuation vehicle.

Tinkle splinted the leg, and two soldiers carried the injured man in a stretcher to a safe point across the compound. A few minutes later, they loaded him into the back of the Stryker.

Meanwhile, other members of the platoon searched and cleared each building. They captured the insurgent leader and discovered several pieces of evidence – including a cell phone with text messages indicating an imminent attack on the water-treatment facility near Solo Point on North Fort Lewis.

The platoon and several observers from Comanche Company analyzed the soldiers’ performance before they drove to facility.

“Overall, good job,” company commander Capt. Klint Kuhlman said. “You’re winning the game.”

The bleary-eyed soldiers returned to Comanche Company’s building after four hours of sleep.

They’ve got an hour to equip themselves, wake up for the exercise and roll out. So what do they use? So far, the top four products (but not necessarily in this order) seem to be energy drinks, black coffee, Hot Pockets and chewing tobacco.

White tape on the grass represented the target area’s concrete walls and buildings. The soldiers call it a glass house, and it provided an opportunity to review placement and timing of the upcoming exercise.

The soldiers split into four groups – corresponding to the Stryker in which they would ride – and walked through plans for the situational training exercise. Step by step, Lt. Kearen Feller and Staff Sgt. Sean Milligan described how the mission should unfold and how to deal with any contingencies, like gunshots coming from the surrounding forest.

For almost an hour, the two yelled over the hum of running Stryker engines. Soldiers marched through each step – setting up teams to grab anyone who runs from the target area, securing buildings – through wet grass, using only light from nearby streetlamps.

Milligan reviewed the rules of engagement. Many people in Iraq own AK-47 assault rifles, he said, so not everyone who carries one can be shot at. If a person just has the rifle slung over his shoulder, do not engage. Once he raises it, he becomes a threat.

But there are a different set of rules for someone brandishing a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

“If he has an RPG,” he said, “then smoke him.”

“This,” Lt. Kearen Feller said, pointing to the whiteboard behind him, “is Operation Comanche Shock.”

Feller delivered the operational orders of the mission – surround a safe house and capture the leader of a terrorist cell – to the platoon's squad and team leaders. The soldiers would strike at 4:30 a.m., when it was still dark outside. Using the illustration on the dry-erase board, he explained the role each Stryker team would play in the operation. Each building in the target area was numbered and given a function – one was the casualty collection point, another a place for soldiers to question detainees, yet another the location to bring any women who soldiers apprehend.

The lieutenant also put it in a larger perspective. A color-coded map showed the boundaries separating Sunni, Shiite and mixed neighborhoods.

“I was enlisted for a while before I became an officer,” Feller said later, “and I try to use as a lot of visuals. There’s nothing more boring than an officer just standing up there, reading off note cards.”

Soldiers jotted down notes as Feller went over radio frequencies to use. He told them several passwords to identify each other during the operation – and several words soldiers and role players could use to signify real-life harm.

Staff Sgt. Sean Milligan went over other details for the exercise, like setting up a location for injured soldiers and how to properly detain women. He also reviewed contingencies for real danger – if someone is injured or if a Stryker drives into a ditch.

And Feller talked about the proper response for other situations.

“If you see any vehicles outside the objective,” he said, “take them out with the .50-cal.”

Lt. Kearen Feller sat at the head of a well-worn wooden table. Beneath a sheet of laminate on the tabletop sat a map of Fort Lewis that detailed every street, building hill and waterway. Feller sorted through stacks of papers with the objectives of the upcoming situational training exercise.

The exercise involved driving four Strykers to a safe house – located on the southern portion of Fort Lewis – and capturing the leader of a terrorist cell. Aerial photos of the area and a rendering of the objective area were taped to the wall behind Feller, as were a photo of the cell leader and a flowchart showing the structure of his organization.

“This is the paperwork part,” said Feller, the platoon leader. “It’s about getting everything lined up right now.”

Twenty feet away, other members of Comanche Company trade stories from previous deployments, like finding caches of AK-47s when clearing houses in Baghdad's Ghazaliya neighborhood or the madness of a riot in nearby Sadr City.

Staff Sgt. Sean Milligan, the platoon sergeant, also sat in for much of the preparations. He made notes in a green notebook as the two decided what soldiers would ride in which Stryker. And the two discussed the weather. It was chilly with a light drizzle, which meant they would tell their drivers to go slower on the dirt roads.

“If it isn’t raining,” Feller said, “you aren’t training.”

I'm with 3rd Platoon of Comanche Company of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment -- a unit of the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division -- for a situational training exercise, which seeks to emulate real-life situations. The soldiers will wear full gear, and role players will step in as Iraqis.

Not sure how often I'll be able to post, but keep checking back for updates.

Bret DiFrancesco bears unseen scars of war.

“I don’t sleep much anymore,” the specialist stationed at Fort Lewis said. “Just a couple of hours if I’m lucky.”

DiFrancesco, 29, also is recovering from an injury that disrupted his sense of balance. At the worst point of his injury, jogging led to motion sickness and staircases became nightmares.

As part of his recovery, he attended physical therapy sessions once or twice weekly at MultiCare Health System’s Vestibular Balance Clinic – one of a handful of soldiers sent to the Tacoma clinic this year.

“These appointments don’t solve everything,” he said last month during his final visit to the clinic, “but they’re helping a lot.”

The infantryman from Minnesota was on a dismounted patrol in Ramadi, Iraq, two years ago when a nearby roadside bomb exploded. Shrapnel tore into both arms and his right leg; the blast threw him to the ground.Both eardrums were blown out.

He was eventually diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and a mild traumatic brain injury, which have caused his balance problems.

Madigan Army Medical Center referred him to the MultiCare clinic six months ago. He attended weekly sessions with physical therapist Karen Perz to regain his balance.

“They say my vertical line – what I consider my vertical line – is canted,” he said “It’s never going to get fixed. You need to retrain your mind.”

=> Read more!

(Note: This story by reporter Soren Anderson will appear in this Sunday’s SoundLife section.)

Filmmaker Michael Slee was in the back seat of an Army Humvee, camera running, when an anti-tank mine reduced the vehicle to a shattered hulk on the streets of Mosul in northern Iraq. The date was Nov. 18, 2007.

A freelance filmmaker who grew up in Lakewood, Slee was in Iraq to make a documentary about front-line troops patrolling one of the most dangerous cities in the country. He wound up embedded with the soldiers of Alpha Company of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Bliss, Texas. He lived with them, went on missions with them and got to know them very well. And on that November day, he came close to dying with them. Twice.

Slee and his camera emerged unscathed from the explosion, its bright orange flash etched dramatically on his videotape. But the Humvee driver, Pvt. Russell Ladwig, was badly wounded in both legs. (He has since recovered, Slee said.)

Ears ringing from the concussion, Slee resumed filming as Ladwig’s fellow soldiers dragged him from the wreckage, tended to his wounds and loaded him into a truck. After about 20 minutes, the patrol was ready to move out. As Slee climbed into the lead Humvee, he had a premonition. “I just went cold,” he said, “because I knew we were about to hit a second IED (improvised explosive device).”

Sure enough. The Humvee rolled barely 5 feet before a second mine “blew off its back end.”

Slee’s luck held. He escaped injury again. But the unit’s Iraqi interpreter, a man named Paul who was sitting right next to him, lost his right arm in the blast.

A frightening day in the war zone. But it was hardly the only one during the months Slee spent in Iraq.

“I was knee-deep in hands-and-knees combat on quite a few occasions,” he said. “We got blown up and shot up and torn up quite a bit.”

But Slee expected that. “I’ve made my living by being in the wrong place at the right time,” he said.

=> Read more!