The battalion of Fort Lewis-based combat engineers serving in southeastern Iraq don’t anticipate much of a change from the status of forces agreement, either.

“The restraint doesn't effect ‘force protection’ operations which is pretty much 99% of everything we do as combat engineers here in Iraq,” said Capt. Thomas Anderson, the spokesman for the 14th Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade.

Force protection includes route clearance and infrastructure improvement projects. Most of the battalion’s 750 soldiers, 500 of whom are from Fort Lewis, are serving at Contingency Operating Base Adder near Tallil. One company is serving near Balad.

The battalion's 15-month tour should conclude this summer.

Most of the 14th Battalion’s soldiers spend their days rebuilding roads and training Iraqi units. But one-third of the unit still does patrol missions. Soldiers look for and dispose of concealed bombs – a task that took up most of the battalion’s first two deployments.

But one stipulation in the agreement – that American combat forces withdraw from Iraqi cities on June 30 – could have an impact on the engineers.

“We could see a rise in construction operations due to the need of living space for the soldiers moving out,” he wrote in an e-mail.

An Iraqi soldier patrols the streets of Nasiriyah as part of a joint patrol with the 14th Engineer Battalion. Photo by Staff Sgt. Brendan Stephens, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq.

The New Year brought new rules for American troops serving in Iraq, but the status of forces agreement between the Washington and Baghdad isn’t having a major effect on the 2,400 Washington National Guardsmen deployed to Iraq.

The soldiers of the 81st Brigade Combat Team are spread across bases in central and northern Iraq. They are largely tasked with providing security for convoys and running day-to-day life at bases -- not "kicking in doors and taking prisoners," one battalion commander said.

And so Lt. Col. Jeff Sabatine, the commander of the 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment, doesn't expect much to change for his soldiers, serving at FOB Marez near Mosul.

“This security agreement will have little bearing because the scope of their day-to-day work does not involve a lot of joint operations with (the Iraqi military),” he wrote in an e-mail. “For all intents and purposes we have a support role, rather than one that involves full spectrum combat operations. But the potential for contact with bad people is always out there.”

And if thrust into a combat situation, “senior leadership has never wavered on U.S. forces' right to defend themselves,” he said.

Brigade spokeswoman Sgt. Emily Suhr said the agreement also isn’t having much effect on headquarters company, which is running daily base operations at Camp Ramadi.

The agreement, which authorizes American troops to remain in Iraq, went into effect on Jan. 1 when it replaced the expiring United Nations mandate. It presents a timeline for American troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities on June 30 and to leave the country by the end of 2011. It also requires search warrants before American troops search homes, places contractors under the jurisdiction of Iraqi courts and makes U.S. troops subject to Iraqi criminal law for crimes committed off-duty and off-base.

Sabatine, who is running daily operations at FOB Marez, said the agreement cements a partnership between American troops and the Iraqi government.

“I inherited great, effective partnerships with both Iraqi police and Iraqi army units,” he wrote, “and the security agreement really just formalizes a program that my predecessors have been building for at least a year now.”

Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment participate in vehicle and convoy training on Oct. 23 at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. Photo by Sgt. Amanda Gauthier, 81st Brigade Combat Team.

If you suffer from combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder, you're not eligible for the Purple Heart, the Pentagon confirmed.

I’ve casually asked folks in and outside of the military if they think the Purple Heart, awarded for combat injuries, should be given to those who suffer from PTSD or traumatic brain injury. It’s usually sparks a pretty good conversation.

According to the Military Times, here are some of DoD’s reasons for not awarding the Purple Heart for PTSD:

• Based on the definition of a wound, “an injury to any part of the body from an outside force or agent,” other Purple Heart award criteria, and 76 years of precedent, the Purple Heart has been limited to award for physical wounds, not psychological wounds;

• PTSD is specifically listed as an injury not justifying award of the Purple Heart in Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

• The requirement that a qualifying Purple Heart wound be caused by “an outside force or agent” provides a fairly objective assessment standard that minimizes disparate treatment between service members. Several members could witness the same traumatic event, for instance, but only those who suffer from PTSD would receive the Purple Heart.

• Current medical knowledge and technologies do not establish PTSD as objectively and routinely as would be required for this award at this time.

• Historically, the Purple Heart has never been awarded for mental disorders or psychological conditions resulting from witnessing or experiencing traumatic combat events — for example, combat stress reaction, shell-shock, combat stress fatigue, acute stress disorder, or PTSD.

So I want to ask the readers of this blog: What do you think? Are mental injuries on par with physical ones? Is it time to redefine who gets a Purple Heart. Comments, please.

Photo by The Associated Press

Gov. Chris Gregoire made good on a months-old promise and quashed speculation she was leaving her job when she visited Washington National Guard soldiers serving in Iraq.

“Every one of these individuals, I want you to know, could not be more proud,” she told reporters during a conference call. “The morale is high.”

She met with service members and public officials, had lunch with a unit of the 81st Brigade Combat Team, dinner with another and held a town-hall meeting with a third, she said.

The governor's office didn't say which bases Gregoire would visit, and brigade spokeswoman Sgt. Emily Suhr said she couldn't release any details while the governor was in Iraq.

Gregoire traveled to Washington, D.C., on Sunday. She met with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other Pentagon officials on Monday. Later that day, she traveled to the Middle East with Govs. Jon Corzine of New Jersey and Rick Perry of Texas, who are also visiting troops from their states.

The trip was carried out under a cloak of darkness, and her absence sparked rumors about her future. The governor canceled a forum speech set for Tuesday, and her office refused to say where she was. That created speculation that she would soon accept an appointment in the Obama administration.

She said she had only just learned of the speculation her absence prompted, and that she ran for re-election last year because she wanted to be governor: “I made it clear early on I would not accept an appointment.”

“I’m sorry to say I’ve been on a flight since Sunday, and I’m really not aware of any inconvenience or problems this has caused,” she added.

=> Read more!

Northwest Public Radio has an intriguing piece on a former Iraqi interpreter and his struggles to make due in the slumping economy.

Haider Nahell worked with American troops for about four years before he was injured by a roadside bomb. He recovered and came to the United States, eventually landing a job as an Arabic instructor at Fort Lewis.

But he was recently laid off and scraping to get by.

Read or listen to the story here. It’s the second piece of a two-part series about Iraqi interpreters; the first, about an Oregon soldier who helps Iraqis immigrate to the United States, is here.