Iraq still remains the deadliest combat zone for Washington-based service members, though the number of fatalities has dropped since their apex in 2006. One likely reason for this is that the majority of deployed soldiers from Fort Lewis have served in Iraq. This year, though, was the deadliest in Afghanistan for Washington troops, defined as a service member who is stationed at a military installation in the state or lists Washington as his or her home state.

Here is a breakdown of Washington service member deaths, both combat- and non-combat-related, in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001:

Check out our full database with names, dates, causes of death and more here.

Michael Haines admits he's a bit of an idealist – probably the best philosophy to espouse when working in a country that has been wrecked by decades of civil war and ethnic conflict.

Next week, the 40-year-old Gig Harbor native will arrive in Afghanistan to become the deputy country director for the Asia Foundation, a non-governmental organization.

He will help oversee a staff of about 250 and a budget that routinely handles $25 million in projects at a time.

Projects include anything from running a preparatory course for girls before they take a college entrance exam to production of radio programs that teach about the country's government and possibilities for citizen involvement.

Development work is a second career for Haines. He left his private-sector job in 2003 and joined the Peace Corps, working business and economic development in Ukraine.

“That's when I learned that working in these communities instead of just passing through is much more valuable,” he said.

He has since worked in Iraq for the International Republican Institute and in Azerbaijan for the Eurasia Foundation.

Haines is visiting family in Pierce County this week before flying to Afghanistan, and he sat down with The News Tribune on Tuesday to discuss his next assignment.

Q: What is the main focus of the Asia Foundation’s work in Afghanistan?
A: Most often it’s developing institutions and capacities for citizens to be engaged, promoting economic prosperity and social justice. We’ll be working with women’s groups in civil society or government to help develop their capacity and skills for potential career advancement. I know there’s a perception that women aren’t engaged in Muslim countries – and that’s certainly true in many countries – but in others, they’re an integral part of civil society.
We also work with youth, who, like women, are also marginalized. We help them get involved in the process, at the school level, municipal level. We’re dealing with countries that have no concept of civil society, and we’re helping to bridge that gap. No functioning democracy works without a civil society.

=> Read more!

About 30 Washington National Guardsmen leave for training next week and will begin a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan this spring.

And it sounds like the detachment from the 741st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Battalion can’t get there soon enough, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Roadside bombs have become the largest threat to combat troops in Afghanistan, the newspaper reported. The number of incidents and casualties involving the bombs is up 33 percent from a year earlier. They're the largest single cause of American and NATO troop death and injuries.

Among the job EOD units have is blowing up the bombs discovered during route-clearance missions.

More from the story:

U.S. and NATO officials say that roadside-bomb technology has migrated from Iraq to Afghanistan, with militants here regularly using tactics -- such as "daisy-chaining" multiple bombs together to pierce U.S. armor -- first developed by fighters in Iraq. Militants detonated nearly 500 roadside bombs in Afghanistan in July and August alone, according to the statistics. Taliban fighters and other extremists have easy access to the large amounts of explosives that have been scattered across Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion and the subsequent Afghan civil war, according to U.S. Col. Jeffrey Jarkowsky, who heads the military task force charged with combating roadside bombs.

The increase in roadside bombs is forcing U.S. commanders here to rely more heavily on MRAPs, which can't reach many remote villages because it is difficult for them to traverse Afghanistan's narrow roads and harsh terrain.

(U.S. Army photo)

The third Iraq deployment for Fort Lewis’ 14th Engineer Battalion has a different feel: The 750 soldiers are spending less time searching for roadside bombs and have more opportunities to train Iraqis and rebuild roads.

And that means more opportunity to build goodwill, the battalion commander said.

“In the summer of 2003, most Iraqis waved or smiled when you passed them on patrol,” Lt. Col. Pete Helmlinger said by phone. “When I returned in 2006, I saw mostly long faces and glares. I now see waving and smiling again, with an occasional hang-loose wave, and far fewer glares.”

Most of the soldiers spend their days rebuilding roads near Tallil, in southeastern Iraq. But a third of the unit, part of the 555th Engineer Brigade, spends its days on patrol, looking for roadside bombs – a task that took up most of its first two deployments.

The battalion, which includes 500 soldiers from Fort Lewis and about 250 from Fort Hood, Texas, is largely stationed at Contingency Operating Base Adder outside Tallil, though a company is working near Balad in central Iraq.

The engineers deployed in April and should return from its 15-month tour this summer. The battalion previously served during the 2003 invasion and again in 2005-06.

Helmlinger, a University Place native, said the difference between deployments is stark.

“Violence and the number of (improvised explosive devices) are down to a fraction of what they were two years ago,” he said. “On our route clearance patrols, we now average two IEDs a week, instead of two a day, which has freed us to focus on other engineer missions.”

=> Read more!

The war in Iraq is easily the biggest news story of this decade, possibly this generation. More than 130,000 Americans are serving there. More than 4,000 have died since the invasion.

And yet ABC, CBS and NBC have pulled full-time correspondents from the country as the television networks' focus shifts to Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a piece in the New York Times.

That's because of rising tensions in Afghanistan and dipping violence in Iraq. Many media outlets, television networks included, are trimming staff and expenses, and the maintaining a Baghdad bureau is pricey.

According to the Times, the three networks are maintaining skeleton crews of producers and Iraqi employees to react to breaking news. Correspondents will fly in for specific stories.

(Of course, newspapers and magazines are also cutting their presence in Baghdad, though The News Tribune's parent company, The McClatchy Co., maintains a full-time bureau.)

TV evening news broadcasts are also de-emphasizing Iraq. The three networks combined to devote 423 minutes to Iraq this year through Dec. 19, according to the Times. Last year it was 1,888 through the same timeframe. (There also wasn't a full-fledged presidential election last year.)

The habits of American viewers also plays a role, former NBC News correspondent Mike Boettcher told the Times.

“Americans like their wars movie length and with a happy ending,” he said. “If the war drags on and there is no happy ending, Americans start to squirm in their seats. In the case of television news, they began changing the channel when a story from Iraq appeared.”

(U.S. Army photo)

About 60 percent active-duty service members are "uncertain or pessimistic" about President-elect Barack Obama becoming commander in chief, according to a Military Times poll.

This shouldn’t be a total surprise. Almost half of the 1,900 respondents describe their political views as conservative or very conservative. Only 13 percent identified themselves as Democrats.

Obama's lack of military experience and his pledge to pull combat troops out of Iraq in the first 16 months of his presidency seemed to trouble service members, the poll showed.

But the poll isn’t scientific, the article reminds readers:

"The responses are not representative of the opinions of the military as a whole. The survey group overall under-represents minorities, women and junior enlisted service members, and over-represents soldiers.

But as a snapshot of the professional corps, the responses highlight the challenges Obama faces as he prepares to take command of military careerists with different political and cultural attitudes."

But with that in mind, here are a few of its findings:

● Less than a third of respondents are optimistic about Obama.

● Eight in 10 black service members are optimisitc about the president-elect.

● About half of respondents believe President George W. Bush had the best interests of the military at heart.

● More than 80 percent believe the United States should have invaded Afghanistan, and almost the same number support the plan to boost troops there by more than 20,000.

● Nine percent of respondents said they would not extend their service if gays were allowed to openly serve in the military. Another 14 percent said they would consider not extending service.

(Photo courtesy of Multi-National Force-Iraq)

The public affairs folks at the 81st Brigade Combat Team, the Washington National Guard unit serving at various locations throughout Iraq, have set up a DVIDS page with stories, images and newsletters.

Click here to check it out.

And click below to check out one of my favorite shots so far:

=> Read more!

USA Today has an article on the building boom around military installations, and how planners are aiming for "smarter" growth.

Fort Lewis is the article's focus on how to do it right. If you regularly keep tabs on Lewis' growth, there's not a ton new. But it's always helpful to read what a reporter with a fresh set of eyes wrote.

From the story:

Fort Lewis, a post south of Tacoma, Wash., is touted as a model of the new philosophy. The active-duty population was 18,000 five years ago. It's now 30,000 and is expected to top 32,000 by 2012, says Col. Cynthia Murphy, garrison commander.

Fort Lewis stretches across 86,000 acres, much of it used for training missions. About 30% of families live in the 3,800 homes there — most built after World War II. Another 290 homes will be built next year and up to 2,000 more over time.

The military doesn't want to touch land used for training, which it views as vital. That means overhauling the base's old development plan. About 600 people met in workshops — "from junior soldiers to the most senior leadership to families of deployed soldiers … single soldiers, retirees," Murphy says.

=> Read more!

A preteen dressed as a rat tried to save Christmas from a nefarious elf named Knuckles and the Abominable Snowman. Standing beside her was a talking can of yellow Play-Doh. Sitting in the seats, waiting for their cue, were the 12 reindeer.

And five rows from the stage sat Armando Mejia, beaming a wide smile like a proud parent.

He nodded when the dialogue went smoothly and giggled at the jokes. And after it ended and all the characters took a bow, dozens of the kids mobbed Mejia and covered him with hugs.

The 31-year-old father of three clearly relished watching the Christmas play last week at an auditorium at Fort Lewis’ Madigan Army Medical Center. The Spanaway resident is the military outreach director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound.

Mejia’s job has become a bit of salvation for the former Fort Lewis soldier who nearly died four years ago when a roadside bomb exploded under his Humvee in Iraq. He struggled with a grueling physical recovery and a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Today, he helps coordinate programs for the hundreds of children in the area – from as far west as Belfair and Bremerton and eastward to Spanaway and Graham – whose parents serve in the armed forces.

“Working with these kids,” he said, “has helped turn everything around for me.”

Mejia grew up poor in Los Angeles, the oldest of five children. He was in high school when his father died; his mother eked out a living making food and selling it to neighbors.

He started working two janitorial-type jobs – at an upholstery shop and a Mexican restaurant – to help his family. He enlisted in the Army less than a month after graduating from high school in 1996.

“We were low-income – food stamps, welfare, one-bedroom apartment,” he said. “I would sleep in the living room. And you never forget where you come from.”

=> Read more!

My story on the Western Air Defense Sector came out today, but for some reason the map showing its territorial expansion was omitted from the print edition. If you're curious, here's how much extra ground the Air National Guardsmen at McChord Air Force Base have to monitor:

Stories about Washington National Guardsmen are popping up in newspapers across the state this week. (Our story about the Lineberry family, an early edition of which is posted below, will run tomorrow.)

Here’s a list of a few of the stories from this week. If I come across more, I’ll add ‘em.

Commander: "Christmas is just another day" in Iraq (Seattle Times)

War-bound single mom reaches out to troops, and gets help herself (Seattle P-I)

A bittersweet Christmas for 81st Brigade soldier (Yakima Herald-Republic)

Melancholy Christmas for soldier's family (Yakima Herald-Republic)

A note to Santa Claus sits in the Christmas tree at the Lineberry home in Gig Harbor. The family isn’t home this year, it reads, and it asks St. Nick to deliver the presents to Bellingham.

Jeanette Lineberry wrote the letter earlier this week at the urging of her 4-year-old daughter, Anna, who worried so much that Santa would drop off the gifts in their usual location that she asked her mother if they could take their Christmas tree with them to their grandparents’ home.

“It made her feel better,” Jeanette said this week. “She’s not really used to being elsewhere for the holidays.”

But Christmas at home just wouldn’t have felt the same for Anna and her 2-year-old sister, Emily. Their father, Maj. Doug Lineberry, is deployed alongside 2,400 Washington National Guardsmen with the 81st Brigade Combat Team in Iraq.

Doug, a 37-year-old lawyer whose firm has branches in Tacoma and Poulsbo, is serving in Ramadi as the brigade’s judge advocate.

The brigade’s yearlong deployment began in August, but Jeanette said December has been the toughest: Doug has missed Christmas, his wife’s birthday this week and Anna’s birthday earlier this month.

But Jeanette said her situation can’t compare with the difficulty her husband and other deployed service members face.

“Even though he’s not with us this time, I actually feel like the lucky one,” she said. “I’m surrounded by friends and family. For him, it’s much harder to be away from home.”

=> Read more!

The North American Aerospace Defense Command is once again tracking Santa Claus as he makes his way from the North Pole to houses of little boys and girls everywhere.

So if you’re worried if his sleigh can successfully lift off the ground – there are more than 6.7 billion people in the world these days, and that’s a lot of gifts – check out the Web site. The tracking goes live at 3 a.m. Pacific time.

NORAD's "Santa Cams" will send along images, and Google will provide tracking on its Google Maps and Google Earth software. If English isn't your primary language (though if you're reading this blog, it likely is), the information will also be available in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese.

Last year, 10.6 million unique visitors from 212 countries and territories logged on to track Santa.

Here’s a bit of background on NORAD’s tradition of tracking St. Nick:

The NORAD Tracks Santa program began on Dec. 24, 1955, after an errant phone call was made to the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The call was from a local youngster who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a local newspaper advertisement. The commander who answered the phone that night gave the youngster the information requested – the whereabouts of Santa Claus.

This began the tradition of tracking Santa Claus, a tradition that was carried on by NORAD when it was formed in 1958. This Christmas marks the 50th anniversary of NORAD tracking Santa Claus as he goes around the world delivering presents.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

A program started at Fort Lewis designed to prevent soldiers from drowning when their vehicles roll over into rivers or canals is being expanded.

The Shallow Water Egress Trainers, or SWETs, was started about four years ago at Fort Lewis. Now, according to an Army press release, it's being expanded to installations in Hawaii, Georgia, North Carolina, Kansas and Germany.

Eight other posts will receive SWET units next month.

A soldier is strapped into a stainless steel frame and dropped into a pool of about four feet of water. The idea is to train the soldier to relax, get his or her bearings and then calmly leave the vehicle.

Click below to read the full press release:

=> Read more!

Want to know how the Snowball Express families are faring in southern California?

The Los Angeles Times has a story from the event. Make sure to click on the link for the photo gallery, too.

(For those who don't remember, the Snowball Express is a nonprofit that sends the widows and children of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan to an all-expenses-paid trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios in southern California. A charter from Sea-Tac Airport left last week.)

The Wenatchee World has a touching story about a Washington National Guardsmen deployed with the 81st Brigade Combat Team. Bonney Lake resident Maureen Peltier was on a two-week leave and didn't tell her kids she was coming home; she surprised them at school instead.

Fun stuff.

From reporter Steve Maynard:

Milton’s Veterans of Foreign Wars post plans to nearly double the size of its memorial wall to make room for more veterans’ names.

By the time the Veterans Memorial in Milton’s Triangle Park was dedicated on Memorial Day 2007, the wall already was so popular that all of the nearly 900 bricks had been purchased as tributes. Each is engraved with the name, rank and branch of service of a veteran.

VFW Post 11401 now plans to add another 450 bricks to the wall. The 30-foot-long wall would be extended 14 feet on each side and finished in time for a ceremony on Memorial Day, said Jack Chandler, post commander.

With no more room on the wall, 20 engraved bricks for service people have been placed in a walkway. The “friends of the memorial” walkway was intended for bricks purchased by non-military members. They have purchased nearly 100 bricks.

=> Read more!

The Iraqi national police have begun taking over responsibility from the military for counterinsurgency operations, said the former police chief of Lakewood who is now the director of the Baghdad Police College Transition Team.

But Army Col. Larry Saunders, who left his job as Lakewood’s top cop in February, warned the advances are fragile.

“Our success is fragile because when placed in situations of high risk, there's a tendency to go back to comfort zones and security and obeisance to whoever is going to be the big dog in the local area,” Saunders told a conference call of online journalists and bloggers this week. “And so there's real opportunity, I think, for this to retrograde and unravel very quickly.”

Iraq's police force, badly crippled during the invasion, now boasts about 450,000 members. The police transition team, based at Forward Operating Base Shield in Baghdad and located next to the police academy campus, includes 27 American police officers, seven Danish officers and five British officers. They work with a military staff of five.

Saunders said the national police is approaching a “third phase” of transition. Coalition troops restoring order during the surge – the American military increase of more than 20,000 combat troops in 2007 – completed the first phase. The second was when the Iraqi army began to replace coalition forces, something Saunders said has happened in most of the provinces.

=> Read more!

A series of packages containing antiwar CDs have been arriving at National Guard offices across the country lately.

The Washington National Guard also received a package earlier this week, a Guard spokesman said.

It’s a bit of a bizarre case. Click below to read the latest Associated Press story about it:

=> Read more!

The Minuteman Emergency Assistance Fund, the Washington National Guard program to help families living on reduced income while their family members are deployed overseas, is receiving a big financial boost from the company that administers military healthcare throughout the western United States.

TriWest Healthcare Alliance, which administers TRICARE services throughout 21 states, is donating $25,000 to the fund.

The fund is hurting for money as more than 2,500 Guardsmen – including the 81st Brigade Combat Team, currently serving in Iraq – are deployed.

“My funds are drying up and are critically low,” Maj. Anne Marie Peacock, the Washington National Guard’s family programs director, said in a press release. She said there is a “huge demand on the Minuteman Emergency Assistance Fund and the Family Programs arm that is funded by it.”

George Cargill, TriWest’s marketing vice president, will present the check to Washington’s adjutant general this morning at Camp Murray.

Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg expressed his gratitude in a press release. This is the third consecutive year TriWest has donated a $25,000 check.

“TriWest continues to be a steady partner that recognizes the importance of supporting our National Guard families,” he said. “We are grateful for their generosity and the lasting impact their contributions have had on the Washington National Guard community.”

Want to help out the fund? You can make a donation by calling 800-588-6420 or 253-584-5411.

This is from our courts reporter, Adam Lynn:

A 57-year-old Sumner man pleaded guilty today to a federal charge of making false claims of military medals and decorations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle reported. Steve A. Bennest is to be sentenced March 17. He faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Federal prosecutors contended Bennest falsely stated on an application for veterans benefits that he had earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, among the highest decorations awarded to members of the military.

While Bennest served in the Army between 1969 and 1972, he earned neither medal, according to a news release.

Bennest is a former city of Pacific reserve police officer.

There's been some chatter about how the Stryker will perform in Afghanistan, when and if a brigade is deployed there ¹.

Meanwhile, the British newspaper The Guardian has a column about the long-term prospects of a British fighting force in Afghanistan. And while much of this certainly isn't new, it's always interesting to read about it from someone on the other side of the pond. From the story:

The British army wanted Stryker some five years ago. The procurement men tested it, and on Julie Burchill's famous dictum "if it ain't broke, break it", said the carrier isn't fit for purpose. It's about the best thing going, most soldiers in the field now admit. "It's performed brilliantly in Iraq," said one British army tank expert.

Yesterday we heard that the army is to soldier on with the controversial, and ageing "Snatch" Land Rover, designed for counter civil disturbance duties in Derry and Belfast.

So the Brits won't use them in Afghanistan. The Americans likely will at some point. The question that some folks are discussing is how the Stryker will perform in a radically different terrain.

^{1 - It's not totally uncharted territory. The 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment has used Strykers in Afghanistan, though officials have remained tight-lipped about it. And the Canadians have used the vehicle the Stryker evolved from in Afghanistan.}

Another former Army Ranger has been sentenced in the 2006 robbery of a Tacoma bank.

Chad Palmer, 22, pleaded guilty almost two years ago and received a sentence of 11 years in prison and five years of supervised release for the robbery of a Bank of America branch on South Tacoma Way. According to court documents, Palmer used an AK-47 assault rifle during the robbery as he and four others escaped with more than $50,000.

More details in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office are below:

=> Read more!

President George W. Bush was visiting troops at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan yesterday. DVIDS has a story about his stop there, including a quote from a Fort Lewis soldier.

From the story:

Bouras’ sentiments were shared by other Soldiers, Saliors, Airmen and Marines there, including Pfc. Kevin Providence of 3rd Explosive Ordnance Battalion out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

“This was a historical event. He came to address us and thank us for all the work that we are doing over here and our sacrifice and the sacrifice of our families,” said Providence, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native. “It was something I can be thankful for because he came himself. He didn’t send a letter. He didn’t send anyone else. He came himself and said thank you. And I’m thankful to be here serving my country. And I know it’s rough, but it’s the sacrifice we all made.”

Read the whole thing here.

Michelle Kane and her three children arrived at Sea-Tac Airport from their Hood Canal home early Tuesday to board a festively decorated charter bound for Southern California.

“They’ve been looking forward to this all year ¬ really since last year’s trip,” said Kane, 30.

Hers is not a typical American family enjoying a traditional early holiday getaway to Disneyland. The flight was one of six charters stopping in 23 cities Tuesday as part of Snowball Express, a nonprofit that sends children of service members killed in Iraq or Afghanistan on an all-expense trip to the theme park branded as “the happiest place on earth.”

The Kanes needed a big boost of happiness as Christmas approached in 2006.

Two months earlier, Staff Sgt. Joseph Kane had been killed when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Iraq.

Michelle’s life was in disarray. She and the kids moved to Allyn from Fort Hood, Texas, to be closer to family.

That’s when they took their first ride on Snowball Express.

“This was the first big thing we did since his death,” Kane said. “We were in a jumbled mess. This was really the kids’ Christmas present. It was kind of like their dad’s Christmas gift to them, in a way.”

=> Read more!

Staff Sgt. David Kechter surprises people when he describes his deployment to Iraq. After all, conducting patrols in Humvees isn’t typically a job people associate with the Air Force.

“Nobody expects Air Force to be the ground guys,” said Kechter, assigned to McChord Air Force Base. “Security forces do more of the – I don’t want to say Army-style stuff – but we’re doing a lot of security and law enforcement. We’re in the thick of things, just like everyone else.”

And that carries a daily dose of danger – including one attack last year that left Kechter wounded. The airman, now the noncommissioned officer in charge of the 62nd Security Forces Squadron armory, received the Purple Heart at a ceremony Monday at McChord.

On Nov. 28, 2007, Kechter was serving with the 586th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron at Camp Bucca, Iraq, a prison camp outside Umm Qasr.

=> Read more!

The dining table at Lee Henry’s home had the staples of a Thanksgiving meal: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pies.

But the Air Force reservist and his family also spent the last Thursday in November celebrating Christmas -- not by hanging stockings or drinking eggnog, but by spending priceless moments with loved ones.

Such is life in preparation for a December military deployment.

“We just had family quality time,” said Henry, a 43-year-old Clackamas, Ore., resident. “In my opinion, we got back to the true meaning of what the holidays are about -- spending that time with your family, laughing and giggling over the stupid, little things instead of getting wrapped up in the commercialized world of Christmas.”

Henry, a former Auburn resident, is senior master sergeant with the 36th Aerial Support Squadron, part of the 446th Airlift Wing at McChord Air Force Base.

He will soon join almost 200 others on a four-month deployment – the largest call-up of reservists from the base since Operation Desert Shield in the early ‘90s.

The airmen will serve at locations throughout Iraq, Afghanistan and Germany.

=> Read more!

Madigan Army Medical Center will unveil a new technology the Fort Lewis hospital will use to fight cancer during a ceremony Tuesday.

The Calypso 4D Localization System “utilizes proprietary electromagnetic technology in conjunction with implanted Beacon electromagnetic transponders in the prostate,” according to a press release.

“The system is designed to enable doctors to accurately and objectively position cancer patients for radiation therapy treatment, and then measure and monitor tumor motion during radiation therapy delivery,” the release continues. “Continuous knowledge of the tumor location provides greater confidence to clinicians and patients when they know that the radiation beam is always on target.”

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, will be at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Two employees at the Department of Social and Health Services will be presented the Department of Defense’s Patriot Award during a ceremony at the state Capitol in Olympia on Tuesday.

Judy O’Looney and Ron Druet, who work information system services for the agency, will receive the recognition for “extraordinary patriotic support and cooperation to their employees, who like the Minute Men before them, have answered their nation’s call to serve.”

The two were nominated by Ian Roberts, an Air National Guardsmen who was deployed to Afghanistan from January to June 2007. O’Looney, his supervisor, ensured his benefits were kept current. Druet led a campaign among co-workers to send packages to Roberts and his unit during their deployment.

The press release – with much more info – is after the jump:

=> Read more!

The Times-Herald of Forrest City, Ark., has a story about a former Fort Lewis-based Ranger who is walking across the country to raise money for the Pat Tillman Foundation.

Rory Fanning of Chicago is walking from Virginia Beach, Va., to Hermosa Beach, Calif., and hoping to raise $3.6 million. The money will go toward scholarships and leadership training.

He averages about 100 miles a week, walking along railways, and is keeping a blog about his progress.

The map of the continental United States is jammed with a constellation of multicolored dots. With a few computer mouse clicks, the image zooms in on a stretch of coastal California.

The screen shows the movements of dozens of aircraft: an American Airlines flight on a cross-country route. A recreational pilot enjoying a day off in his Piper Cub. A military helicopter on a training mission.

If something flies west of the Mississippi River, the Western Air Defense Sector is watching. Tens of thousands of aircraft daily move through the airspace of WADS.

The unit operates 24 hours a day out of a three-story building at McChord Air Force Base. It is comprised mostly of Washington Air National Guardsmen and members of the American and Canadian militaries.

In a room filled with four rows of computers, technicians gaze at screens, watch for intruders and respond to possible threats, sometimes by deploying F-16 fighter jets.

The importance of intercepting threats was hammered home more than seven years ago, when four teams of hijackers turned passenger jets into missiles and altered the nation’s history.

WADS’ workload has changed radically since the Sept. 11 attacks. Its jurisdiction has expanded eastward to include more than 70 percent of the continental United States. It now watches the interior of the country as well as the coastline and borders.

And it is doing so with fewer personnel – a worrisome trend for such an important mission, its commander said in an interview earlier this month.

“We can do sustained day-to-day operations,” Air National Guard Col. Paul Gruver said, “but I’m more challenged now than I was on 9/11.”

=> Read more!

When Heidi Brown began her military career, the long-term opportunities for women in uniform were uncertain. And the Texas native wasn’t entirely sure about her future in the Army, either.

“I was going to do five years” she said Friday.

She graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1981 – part of only the second class at West Point that included women.

Since then, she has helped forge a path for women in the Air Defense Artillery, the Army branch that operates anti-aircraft weapons.

Brown’s groundbreaking career took another significant step Friday when she received a promotion to brigadier general, becoming the first female general officer in the history of I Corps and the Air Defense Artillery.

“Throughout her career, Heidi has been a pioneer, a trailblazer, a difference maker, forging her own path, creating her own destiny with skill and determination and never taking no for an answer.” said I Corps commander Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, who pinned the general’s star on Brown.

=> Read more!

Just received this press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Seattle:

Former Army Ranger sentences to 24 years for Tacoma bank robbery

Luke E. Sommer, 22, of Peachland, British Columbia, Canada, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 24 years in prison and 5 years of supervised release for Conspiracy to Commit Armed Bank Robbery, Armed Bank Robbery, Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence, and Possession of an Unregistered Destructive Device – Hand Grenade. Sommer was transferred in May 2008, from Canadian custody to U.S. Custody at the Peace Arch border crossing at Blaine, Washington. Sommer, who holds both U.S. and Canadian citizenship, had fled to Canada and fought extradition following the August 7, 2006, bank robbery in Tacoma, Washington. U.S. District Court Judge Franklin D. Burgess imposed the sentence agreed to in Sommer’s plea agreement saying, “You touched a lot of people here, all in a negative way.”

According to documents filed in the case, Sommer recruited two other U.S. Army Rangers, Chad Palmer and Alex Blum, and Canadian nationals, Tigra J.A. Robertson and Nathan R. Dunmall, to participate in the August 7, 2006, robbery of the Bank of America on South Tacoma Way. Sommer recruited Blum to drive the getaway car. Sommer discussed his plans at length with a sixth defendant, Scott A. Byrne, who was a “consultant” on the robbery. At a meeting the day before the robbery, Sommer provided Palmer and Dunmall with loaded fully automatic AK-47 machine guns. Sommer and Robertson carried loaded semi-automatic hand guns. The men wore soft body armor to protect themselves in case of a shoot-out with police and carried hundreds of round of extra ammunition. Sommer told Byrne and others that he wanted to use the proceeds of the robbery to start a crime family to rival the Hell’s Angels in British Columbia, Canada.

=> Read more!

And you thought you were getting old.

The National Guard – which traces its origins back to militias of the English colonies – turns 372 today. And you know what that means: free cake.

Swing by the storefront recruiting stations around the state today – locally you can find ’em in Lakewood and Puyallup – for a slice of birthday cake.

And if you’re interested in more history of the Guard, click below:

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The man who will soon be planning combat missions for coalition troops throughout Iraq received his second star during a promotion ceremony at Fort Lewis.

Maj. Gen. John Johnson, the deputy commanding general for operations for I Corps, will deploying this spring with the rest of the unit to take over day-to-day operations in Iraq. He’ll be in charge of making sure an array of missions, from combat operations to helping Baghdad restore essential services, work in harmony.

And on Thursday at the Cascade Community Club on post, Johnson received a promotion post commander Gen. Charles Jacoby called “breaking away from the pact.” Johnson appeared to struggle to suppress a smile as Jacoby and Johnson’s wife pinned the stars on his shoulders.

“It’s very humbling,” Johnson said after the ceremony. “You grow up in the Army and see all these icons that you respect, that help you along. And one day, you turn around and you’re there.”

But, he added, a second star doesn’t automatically elevate him to that icon status.

“Being an icon means you gotta get out and earn it,” he said. “I gotta step up and do all the things these guys expect me to do.”

More than a dozen Japanese-American veterans, most from World War II and the Vietnam War, attended the ceremony. Johnson told the crowd that the men are a “hugely important part of our nation’s history.” He started a relationship with Japanese-American veterans groups while stationed at Fort Stewart, and he invited them to Thursday’s ceremony.

“When you want to associate soldiers with true heroes,” he said, “these are the guys you call on.”

Johnson is a 31-year member of the Army and deployed to Iraq as a brigade commander with the 1st Armored Division in 2003. He has since worked as an assistant commander of the 2nd Infantry Division and the deputy commanding general for the Army’s Morale, Family, Welfare and Recreation Command.

He arrived at Fort Lewis in August.

Promotions are on tap this week for two of I Corps' senior commanders, including the woman who will become first female general officer in the 90-year history of the corps.

Col. Heidi Brown, the corps deputy commanding general for sustainment, will become a brigadier general Friday. It’s the first time a female general officer has served on the I Corps staff, and Brown will be the first female general officer in the Army’s Air Defense Artillery.

Brig. Gen. John Johnson, the corps deputy commanding general for operations, will receive his second star Thursday afternoon.

Here’s some more biographical information from the Fort Lewis public affairs office:

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The F/A-18D Hornet that crashed into a suburban San Diego neighborhood Monday was returning to a Marine base after training on an Everett-based carrier.

The pilot was returning from the USS Abraham Lincoln before noon when he ejected above the neighborhood. The crash has killed three people.

(There’s obviously tons of more information elsewhere. I just wanted to point out the local connection.)

Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy

Paratroopers from the 1st Special Forces Group and the 3rd Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry drop from a C-130 Hercules above Fort Lewis during a Menton Week event on Thursday. Menton Week is an annual event celebrating a joint American-Canadian special commando unit that served during World War II.

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A couple of good stories with local ties came out over the weekend:

NPR has a piece about a former Fort Lewis infantryman's struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

And the Seattle Times (competition they might be, I gotta tip my hat to them) had a Sunday A1 splash about Congress pushing through inferior chemical-protection powder even though a far better lotion had been developed. Fort Lewis guys are using the powder, the article says. And it’s all part of the earmarks game in D.C.

Flags around Washington will be flown at half-staff Sunday in remembrance of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the office of Gov. Chris Gregoire announced.

The Japanese attacks on the Hawaiian Naval base on Dec. 7, 1941 killed more than 2,300 Americans and sparked the Unites States’ involvement in World War II.

Congress created National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in 1994.

From my colleague, The Olympian's Christian Hill:

Darkness, a sandstorm and enemy fire: One or two of these conditions can pose a challenge for a medevac crew in Iraq.

Chief Warrant Officer Noel Larson, a 37-year-old Black Hawk helicopter pilot from Olympia, faced all three the night of March 25, while he was temporarily assigned to a special operations unit.

The Washington National Guardsman was flying in support of a ground raid by coalition forces north of Balad. Gunfire had broken out from the target building, and the forces took immediate casualties.

Larson’s helicopter was an hour out, but he and his three crew members immediately volunteered to retrieve three wounded men.

“It was never a question,” Larson recalled Friday while being awarded at Fort Lewis for the daring combat rescue. “It was going to happen.”

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Artist Thomas Kinkade will be at Fort Lewis post exchange on Sunday to present signed prints of his painting “Coming Home” to two Fort Lewis soldiers and one McChord airman.

Kinkade makes similar presentations at military installations across the globe; that’s him in the photo with his wife and the family of Staff Sgt. Keith Jones during a stop at Fort Lewis in 2006.

Post commander Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby and base commander Col. Jeffrey Stephenson will be there for the presentation. (No word if they’re megafans like the folks on a “60 Minutes” piece four years ago.)

A state task force studying the Interstate Compact on Military Children – an agreement between states to streamline transitions in K-12 education for the children of service members – has released its report to the Legislature.

The task force’s recommendation: Approve the compact, with a few tweaks and adjustments. That’s what it agreed during its final meeting at the Clover Park School District building in Lakewood, but this puts it in writing. (A link is below.)

States that sign the agreement consent to work with each other to streamline records, course sequencing, graduation requirements, entrance and exit testing, inclusion in extracurricular activities, entrance-age rules for kindergarten and first grade, and other transition issues.

The task force was chaired by State Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, and Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbrigde Island. Both plan to introduce a bull adopting the compact during the 2009 legislative session.

Findings and Recommendations of the Washington State Task Force on the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children [PDF]

The Washington National Guard is celebrating the Tacoma Armory’s 100th anniversary in style – with a ball that includes dinner, dancing and, apparently, horses.

A centennial ball will take place Saturday night at the brick fortress in downtown Tacoma. The event will take place on the drill floor, which used to overlook the stables housing the cavalry troop’s rides. Some folks attending the ball will wear period costumes, and we hear there might be a few horses in attendance as well.

My colleague Mike Gilbert wrote about the armory earlier this year. And here’s some background from the Guard:

The Tacoma Armory has been a center of the community ever since holding its first event - a New Years Eve ball hosted by the citizen soldiers of Company A and Troop B on December 31, 1908. Since then, the Armory has hosted countless concerts, dances, weddings, graduations and sporting events. Three sitting Presidents (Taft, Wilson and Truman) have visited the Armory. It has also been the site of Washington National Guard units mobilizing to serve in Word War I, World War II and the Global War on Terror, in addition to many State missions to protect lives and property here in Washington.

In 1907, The State Legislature appropriated $95,000 to build the Tacoma Amory on land donated by Pierce County. Built to resemble a crusader castle, the Armory originally contained horse stables, a shooting range and a swimming pool.

Two Fort Lewis-based brigades will receive new commanders Friday.

Col. Steven Bullimore will take over the 17th Fires Brigade, replacing Col. David McCauley. Bullimore was previously assistant chief of staff at I Corps, also at Fort Lewis.

McCauley oversaw the 17th’s transformation from a field artillery brigade, which included moving several subordinate units from Fort Sill, Okla.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; and Fort Campbell, Ky. Among other roles, the brigade is responsible for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, a six-rocket launching system mounted on the back of a five-ton truck.

The 62nd Medical Brigade will also receive a new boss, Col. John Powell. He will replace Col. Patrick Sargent, who was deployed last year with other members of the brigade's headquarters company, which ran the U.S. military's network of hospitals and medical clinics throughout Iraq. The unit returned in October.

Powell is leaving his post as the commander of the William Beaumont Army Medical Center at Fort Bliss, Texas.

It was just past 7 a.m. The sun had yet to rise. People exited the elevator, some still rubbing their eyes, and headed straight to the carafes of coffee waiting on their tables.

Marvin Shields Jr., though, was buzzing. The Air National Guard master sergeant was sporting his dress blues. Strangers approached him and congratulated him. He answered a wide smile and a firm handshake.

This seemingly bottomless energy is why Shields was at the posh Tacoma Club on Thursday morning. It’s the same energy that would allow him to finish a shift at the Western Air Defense Sector and then volunteer with troubled kids at Pierce County's juvenile detention facility. The same energy that has allowed him to earn a bachelor’s degree on a full-time schedule, start working toward an advanced degree and help the elderly ensure they have working smoke alarms. The same energy that allows him to play the guitar, bass and drums – or sing the national anthem before a Seattle Seahawks game.

That energy – and the community involvement it fosters – was recognized by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, which awarded Shields the John Anderson Military Citizen of the Year award.

“I just try to do what’s in my heart,” the 46-year-old Browns Point resident said in his acceptance speech, “and I plan on doing that until the day I leave this earth.”

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I received an excited voicemail yesterday from Marie Campanoli. She’s the director of marketing and communications for Skookum, a nonprofit that provides jobs for people with disabilities. The company has contracts to provide fleet maintenance at Fort Lewis, and Campanoli was calling to tell me the company was named the sixth-best government fleet in North America by an industry trade magazine.

Of the company’s 560 employees, 206 work fleet maintenance at Fort Lewis. Of those workers, 133 are veterans and 80 are disabled veterans.

Skookum also has contracts for the central issue facility and sanitation services. As Campanoli points out, there are about 38,000 public fleets across the United States. So it’s quite an accomplishment.

The Associated Press is reporting the Department of Defense is reporting its strongest recruiting year in four years. The Army's retention rate is 20 percent higher than it was in fiscal 2004. One driving concern is the economy, the AP reports; there aren't a ton of open jobs out there.

I'm asking our readers: Have you or someone you know recently re-enlisted? Did the economy play a role? If so, e-mail me at scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com

I talked yesterday with Capt. Peter Aleria, the chaplain with the 14th Engineer Battalion. We discussed the death of Spc. William Dix, the subject of one of the stories in our Sunday package about suicide.

Aleria, an Orthodox priest, had been traveling and couldn’t reach me in time to get his comments into the paper, but they’re rather insightful.

Here’s what he had to say on the effect on other members in the unit:

“The effect on the soldiers is different. The impact is different. If someone dies in combat, they have somebody to blame for the death – an enemy other than the troops. But the difficult thing with suicide is that it’s internal. It’s blaming the self. And then there’s a stigma. It’s a tough thing to resolve.

“Soldiers said, ‘I would have done something had I known something was wrong.’ That’s a very hard thing to deal with. It took a while to recover (from Dix’s death).”

Aleria was the third person to discover Dix’s body. The first two were junior enlisted soldiers (a 22- and 24-year-old), and the soldiers had drastically different reactions.

“One was absolutely shaken, and the other one was like stone. He was just shocked. You could see, you cpould feel, you could smell what could happen in front of you. And the best remedy at the time was when I gave the last rites. At that moment, the soldier who was shaking became, at least for a while, a little bit better. For the other, the prayer we did was very helpful and allowed him to release some emotions.”

A Washington National Guardsmen who landed a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter amid a sandstorm and firefight in Iraq to evacuate wounded American soldiers earlier this year will be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Chief Warrant Officer Noel Larson of Olympia will receive the award at a ceremony Friday at Fort Lewis. The Distinguished Flying Cross is awarded for heroism or extraordinary achievement during a flight operation.

Larson, serving with the 1st Battalion, 140th Aviation Regiment, was the pilot and mission coordinator aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter providing support to a raid by coalition forces near Balad on March 25, according to a National Guard press release. The troops suffered casualties during the raid, but a thick sandstorm prevented medical evacuation helicopters from landing. Larson and his crew offered to act as an emergency medevac for the injured.

They landed amid the firefight and sandstorm, loaded the wounded onto the helicopter and choppered them to a hospital. The Black Hawk crew then returned to their original destination to continue providing reconnaissance for the troops below.

U.S. Army photo

Connie enthusiastically shoots a M249 light machine gun as Sgt. 1st Class Wolf feeds the belt. Her husband is in Special Forces, and family members fired the weapons Monday to become more familiar with equipment the SF soldiers use. This is one of the events that make Menton Week, an annual observance by the 1st Special Forces Group.

Photo by Peter Haley, The News Tribune.

Two of Sherri's children, Kylee, 6, and Houston, 3, wince at the loud machine guns at a Fort Lewis firing range. This is one of the events that make Menton Week, an annual observance by the 1st Special Forces Group.

Photo by Peter Haley, The News Tribune.

Eight-year-old McKenna gets assistance shooting a modified M4 carbine rounds. Her dad is a Special Forces soldier at Fort Lewis. This is one of the events that make Menton Week, an annual observance by the 1st Special Forces Group.

Photo by Peter Haley, The News Tribune.

Dennis Narvaes doesn’t have much experience with firearms. But when offered a chance to pop off a few rounds with military-grade weapons at a Fort Lewis range, the Hawaii resident appeared to relish the opportunity.

“It’s pretty exciting,” he said minutes before an instructor taught him the basics of how to safely load and fire an M9 pistol.

Elsewhere at a cluster of three firing ranges at Fort Lewis, military families learned how to shoot a variety of weapons used by the 1st Special Forces Group. The event was part of Menton Week, an annual celebration honoring the service of the combined U.S. and Canadian First Special Force. The elite unit, nicknamed the Devil's Brigade, fought in Alaska, Italy and southern France during World War II.

Dozens of spouses, parents and children were attending Monday’s event. Participants could shoot several weapons – including the Squad Automatic Weapon, M240B, M-4 and MP-5 – or scale a climbing wall. A tent run by the unit’s family readiness group sold refreshments and T-shirts and offered cakes donate by the group as part of a silent auction.

Family members could also use a skydiving simulator; participants hung from a parachute harness and wore virtual-reality goggles that simulated an air drop.

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A career fair for service members and veterans is coming to the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center on Thursday.

Plenty of local, regional and state employers will be there. Here’s the skinny:

What: RecruitMilitary Career Fair
Where: Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center, 1500 Broadway, Tacoma
When: Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

And click below for the press release – which has tons more information:

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Don’t worry if you see special-operations soldiers with maple leafs on their berets airdropping into Fort Lewis this week. Our northern neighbors haven’t launched an attempted annexation of Washington.

It’s the 64th annual Menton Week, which commemorates the U.S. and Canadian First Special Service Force. The two-nation commando unit, most commonly known as the Devil's Brigade, fought in Alaska, Italy and southern France during World War II.

The week coincides with the deactivation of the unit on Dec. 5, 1944 in Villenueve-Loubet, France. Canadian special operations soldiers and the Fort Lewis-based 1st Special Forces Group have a variety of events scheduled throughout the week, including:

Monday: A demonstration of special operations small-arms weapons and events for family members – and here’s the kicker – “a chance to shoot various special operations small arms.”

Tuesday: A combined wreath-laying ceremony at the 1st Special Forces Group compound.

Wednesday: A skills competition that features helicopter rappelling and marksmanship events.

Photo courtesy of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command