The News Tribune is returning to Iraq.

I’ll arrive there early next month to report about the 2,400 Washington residents serving with the National Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team.

It’ll be the sixth time The News Tribune has embedded with a unit. That means I’ll be with them day and night, eating and sleeping alongside the troops. The 81st Brigade is spread among bases across western and northern Iraq; the soldiers primarily provide convoy security and force protection.

I leave Feb. 1. First stop is Kuwait, where the military will process travel orders into Iraq. Then it’s on to Baghdad to get credentialed at the press center. After that, I’ll spend about six weeks covering the National Guard in Balad, Mosul, Ramadi and Baghdad.

My primary assignment is to cover the 81st Brigade, but I’ll also link up with Fort Lewis-based troops. I will be reporting on day-to-day life of our state’s service members. That means anything from Sunday services to the slog of long-range convoy security.

Karen Peterson, our executive editor, wrote about the assignment in her weekly column. Here's her take on the importance of this trip: "While we publish plenty of news service stories about the high-level political and military machinations of the Iraq war, we rarely get the opportunity to share with you a soldier’s-eye view. And it’s almost impossible to see and hear from our local soldiers unless we go ourselves."

I’ll be filing everything – stories, photos and video – to this blog before it appears in the paper, so check back here often. And if you’ve got an idea on what you’d like me to cover, feel free to shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment here. I’ll be checking my messages daily while in Iraq.

Washington’s first war death of 2009 is a Fort Lewis soldier was killed in Iraq on Saturday when he was struck by a forklift, his wife said.

Sgt. Kyle J. Harrington of Swansea, Mass., was serving at Joint Base Balad with a unit of the 593rd Sustainment Brigade. The 24-year-old was scheduled to return from his deployment in August.

“He was amazing,” said his wife, Faith. The couple has two children, 5-year-old Joshua and 2-year-old Kaylee.

Army officials arrived at the Harringtons' on-post housing Saturday afternoon to inform Faith of her husband's death, she said. Neither Fort Lewis nor the Department of Defense has announced the death. Typically officials wait to contact family members before releasing identities of fatalities; the process can take several days.

Harrington is the 309th service member stationed at a Washington installation or who lists Washington as his or her home state to die while deployed since Sept. 11, 2001.

Harrington had previously deployed to Iraq in November 2005. He repaired Humvees and other lightweight vehicles.

Kyle and Faith met in high school and married shortly after graduating in 2002. Kyle enlisted to provide a better life for his family, his mother-in-law told The Standard-Times of New Bedford, Mass.

"He wanted to protect the country so his kids could live in a country that was free," Debra Ryan said.