Lt. Col. Seth Goldberg, the commander of the 81st Brigade’s 1st Battalion, 185th Armor Regiment, e-mailed from a base near Tikrit to talk about the status of forces agreement. I asked him if it changed day-to-day operations much for the troops.

Here’s his response:

Generally no it hasn't. The majority of the 81st units are providing security for logistics convoys throughout Iraq, managing base operations and conducting security on bases.

Our mission does not change; we will make some operational adjustments in how we operate out on the roads, but the mission does not change. As coalition moves forces around the battlefield in support of the security agreements, we will obviously change where we deliver critical supplies to support their needs. But as a rule, our mission of supporting them with critical supplies does not change.

The implementation of the agreements does not affect the daily lives of the soldiers out on the road. The historic ratification of these two agreements is a major achievement in the strategic partnership between the governments of Iraq and the United States. The agreements respect the sovereignty of Iraq and establish a legal framework which enables us to continue to partner with Iraq to achieve stability. We welcome the ratification by Iraq's Presidency Council of the strategic framework agreement and security agreement, because it means that we, the United States and the GoI, are witnessing success in improving the security for Iraq and its people. This is clearly a sign/indication of progress.

While the main focus of the upcoming legislative session will deal with the ballooning state deficit, several bills dealing with veterans and military issues will be introduced.

The proposed laws could affect a variety of issues, like streamlining school transfers for the children of service members and expanding eligibility for county-based veterans benefits to National Guardsmen and reservists, State Sen. Derek Kilmer told a meeting of the Tacoma-Pierce County Military Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

The Legislature convenes Monday, and the proposed legislation includes:

● A bill proposing the adoption of a tweaked version of the Interstate Compact on Military Children, an agreement between states to simplify transitions in K-12 education for the children of service members. The compact allows states to work together 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.

● A proposal to remove potential drawbacks to hiring National Guard or Reserve service members by tweaking companies’ unemployment insurance ratings. For example, if a National Guardsmen is deployed and a company hires a temporary replacement, it could find itself paying more if it lays off the temporary worker when the soldier returns. This bill would help keep those potential costs down.

=> Read more!

The Pew Center on the States has released a report analyzing voting and the military. Entitled "No Time to Vote: Challenges Facing America's Overseas Military Voters," it found that more than a third of states don't provide adequate time for service members stationed abroad to vote.

Here’s what the report found, in a nutshell: “All told, 25 states and Washington, D.C., need to improve their absentee balloting rules for military voters abroad. In fact, given our conservative assumptions, the other 25 states would better serve these voters by giving them additional time to request and return their ballots as well.”

But there’s good news for Washington’s service members: The state is one of 25 that is listed as providing enough “time to vote.” (The other categories were “no time to vote,” “time to vote, but with concerns” and “at risk.”)

The full report is here. Plenty of info in there.

(Hat tip, nwnavynews)

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