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.