Service members and their families who live on the west side of the Narrows bridges no doubt would prefer to use the brand-new St. Anthony Hospital, in the event they need a hospital at all.

Unfortunately, they'd be ill advised to go the Gig Harbor hospital right now, except in case of an emergency.

St. Anthony is the newest member of the Franciscan Health System. The system’s other facilities are in the military's TRICARE health-care network. But St. Anthony is not a member and probably will not be until the end of April, at least, according to a spokesman.
 
Until then, TRICARE beneficiaries who use St. Anthony for non-emergencies are responsible for paying their own expenses.

"St. Anthony is in the process of becoming a TRICARE network provider," Gale Robinette, a Franciscan spokesman, told me Tuesday. "There's a lot of paperwork associated with that, and right now we're in the middle of it."

Patients still have several alternatives for receiving non-emergency urgent care in-network: Bremerton Naval Hospital, Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis, St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma, and Tacoma General Hospital.

Tri-West Health Alliance also keeps listings of a civilian network of more than 1,300 healthcare providers in the Puget Sound area. Go to the Website and select the “Find a Provider” tab.

Everyone seems to be getting a piece of federal stimulus money. And Washington’s military installations are a big recipient of the dough.

The Department of Defense released a rundown of where your federal dollars will be going. Click here to check it out.

Washington is in line for $20.1 million in construction and another $129.8 million in "sustainment, restoration and modernization" projects.

A few of the projects include new emergency generator fuel tanks at Fort Lewis ($4.2 million), repairs to the air handling unit in the radiology clinic at Madigan Army Medical Center ($514,000) and repairs to temporary housing at McChord Air Force Base $3.8 million).

From Craig Sailor, The News Tribune's arts and entertainment editor:

A documentary about two brothers serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq opens Friday at the Lakewood Towne Center.

What makes "Brothers at War" unique is that the film was made by a third brother, Jake Rademacher.

Shot both stateside and in Iraq the film covers dramatic action and portrays the effects of the brothers' service on their family and the friends they left behind.

The two Army brothers, Cpt. Isaac Rademacher and Sgt. Joseph Rademacher were both with the 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.

According to a synopsis from the film's website:

Jake embeds with four combat units in Iraq. Unprecedented access to U.S. and Iraqi combat units take him behind the camouflage curtain with secret reconnaissance troops on the Syrian border, into sniper "Hide Sites" in the Sunni Triangle, through raging machine gun battles with the Iraqi Army. Ultimately, the film follows his brothers home where separations and life-threatening work ripple through their parents, siblings, wives and children.

A measure of soldiers' devotion to a fallen comrade is that, long after the memorial ceremonies have ended, they don't forget the sacrifice. In fact they look for permanent ways to preserve their comrade's memory.

Take, for example, a company of soldiers from the 555th Engineer Brigade, well known around Fort Lewis as the Triple Nickel. The 571st Sapper Company had just moved to the Balad Ruz area of southern Diyala province in Iraq last month when word came down that one of the 14th Engineer Battalion's noncommissioned officers had been killed in a vehicle explosion.

Staff Sgt. Sean Diamond, who died on Feb. 15, was the first Fort Lewis soldier killed in action since June. More than that, however, he was a fatherly leader with whom many engineers of the 571st had served on this 15-month deployment. The Sappers stick together as they do the dirty work of clearing and rebuilding Iraq's road network.

Several soldiers suggested that this small, dusty patrol base be named in honor of Diamond. Spc. James Saunders volunteered to make a sign.

Senior leaders agreed. The company commander, Capt. Lou Nemec, wrote his thoughts down recently:

Southern Diyala province is a desolate, war-ravaged portion of Iraq. The opportunities for solace are infrequent. After six years of fighting, a joint security station still offers the kind of necessary respite soldiers require after long hours on the road. In a similar manner, SSG Diamond cared for soldiers, and offered the type of mentorship and care that kept his subordinates safe, motivated and focused on their mission. He will forever be missed by those privileged enough to serve beside him.

Remote patrol bases like this one may become more important as American troops start leaving Iraqi cities this summer under terms of a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement.

The Fort Lewis engineers left their base and relocated to another area on March 17, but not before they officially dedicated it as "Joint Security Station Diamond."

Sean Diamond would have turned 42 years old the same day.

I'm back from Iraq. Thanks for all who helped me along the way during my seven weeks with the guys from the 81st Brigade Combat Team.

This blog will be a bit quieter the next few weeks; I'm taking some time off (I'm sure my wife will appreciate that more than anyone else). But keep looking in the paper for more stories -- a few are queued up and should run soon.

KUWAIT CITY – BMWs and Mercedes sped down Gulf Road past the Kuwait Towers, three spikes rising from the sand adorned with enormous, blue-tiled spheres. On the viewing deck, young men in white dishdashas and women in black burkas on a date looked through the dusty windows at Kuwait’s boomtown skyline, all sleek skyscrapers and cranes. An American family of four, the father wearing a hat emblazoned with the logo of a local telecom company, sat at the snack bar. The workers, immigrants from South Asia, switched seamlessly between Arabic and English.

But even here, a tourist trap 403 feet above the ground, it was difficult to escape the troubles to the north. Frames held faded photos of destroyed rooms and buildings pock-marked with bullet holes. "The Iraqi invaders destroyed all Kuwait Towers utilities," read one. Another, in halting English: "Tanks and light missiles fired the towers by invaders because they want it to destroy Kuwait symbol."

There were more: "The barbaric destruction of Horizon restaurant by the Iraqi invaders in 1990." "Even the air-conditioning control center was harmed by the barbaric invaders."

=> Read more!

BAGHDAD – Sometimes the acronym many people use for The News Tribune can elicit a strange response.

Take, for instance, a conversation I had a few days ago while following Col. Larry Saunders at the Baghdad Police College. He introduced me to one of the instructors.

“This is Scott Fontaine,” he said. “He’s a reporter for the newspaper from my hometown, the Tacoma News Tribune.”

The instructor thought for a second and smiled.

The interpreter let out a giggle before translating: “He said, ‘If you can have a paper called the TNT, I will start a newspaper called the IED.”

Hey, that’s catchy. But has he seen newspaper companies’ stock prices lately?

BAGHDAD – The American military needed buildings in a hurry, and it shows six years after the invasion of Iraq. Desks are often made of unfinished plywood. The walls are corrugated iron. The closest thing to plumbing is the portable toilet outside.

And then there’s the al Faw palace. I Corps’ new home is stunningly ornate. The walls, ceilings and floors are marble. An enormous chandelier hangs from the roof. The bathrooms boast gold-plated fixtures. One of Saddam’s thrones is still there.

I met Brig. Gen. Peter Bayer for an interview on the palace’s third floor. The windows of the conference room looked out on smaller buildings on a sparkling lake that surrounds the building.

It’s almost surreal after months of covering the joes working at dusty FOBs. The American military has installed cubicles -- Scott Adams of Dilbert fame could have a field day with this -- and if you keep your head straight, it looks like any other office. Look up, and you see ornate pink, blue and white marble carvings.

Not a bad place to spend a deployment.

BAGHDAD – They just didn't feel like it.

I sat in the rotary terminal at Baghdad International Airport, awaiting a flight to a small base in the heart of Sadr City. I was going to meet up with Army Reserve soldiers based at Fort Lewis who are working in Baghdad’s most notorious slum.

It was to be my last assignment before leaving Iraq. I thought it wasn’t going to be possible to make it out to see them, but Master Sgt. Rob La Tour hammered out an itinerary: fly into Sadr City, do a battlefield circulation, talk to some folks and then convoy back to the airport (near which I was staying).

I started to put my equipment on when I heard the Black Hawk approach. And then I saw it roll right past a few minutes later. It’s likely refueling, I said.

A KBR employee then made the announcement: “They decided not to have any passengers on this flight.”

=> Read more!

BAGHDAD - The news of the end of stop loss reached the Victory Base Complex -- home of Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry Regiment -- wrought a quickly dashed dream.

Most of the 81st Brigade Combat Team soldiers hadn't heard the story. And the first question was often, "Does this mean I/we/they get to go home early?"

It does not. National Guard units deploying from September 2009 onward will stop using the policy.

Most soldiers, it seem, didn't really care that much. Either they were on stop loss and have accepted the situation or the policy shift didn't really affect them.

One soldier, though, seemed annoyed at the news. The soldier -- not from Charlie Troop but requesting anonymity -- was placed on stop loss just before the 81st Brigade mobilized in August.

"I wanted to get out before they sent me here," she wrote. "I wish they had done this a bit earlier, so I could've gotten on with my life."

(Anyone else out there been stop-lossed and want to talk about it for possible use in a story? Shoot me an e-mail at scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com)

BAGHDAD – Interpreters working with American troops don’t always like their real name being known.

It’s for obvious reasons: Many Iraqis still dislike the American military’s presence in Iraq. And some try to exact revenge on the locals working with the United States by going after their families.

Most interpreters often wear Army-style camouflage but without any patches – but with a nametape with a fun nickname they’ve chosen. It can be anything from Billy to Terp (milslang for an interpreter). But there are a few really good ones.

One guy who works with the 81st Brigade Combat Team in Q-West (that’s him in the photo) goes by the name "Captain Kirk." Even the troops who have worked with him for months still just call him Kirk.

But an Iraqi working at Forward Operating Base Shield in Baghdad has chosen the greatest alias. Ever.

McLovin.

Of course, those folks who haven’t seen "Superbad" won’t get it. But I almost fell off my chair when I first saw it stitched on his uniform.

BAGHDAD – I caught the Rhino from the International Zone (that’s Green Zone for the rest of us) to Camp Victory today.

The armored bus service has a new crew taking over. And check out the patches they’re wearing.

(OK, didn't realize how bad the photo was until I just uploaded it. But it's I Corps.)

BAGHDAD – I just spent the day with Col. Larry Saunders. The former police chief of Lakewood is nine months into his assignment as senior advisor for the Baghdad Police College Transition Team.

The full story will be coming out sometime in April, but I can tell you this: The police academy the Iraqis have built is pretty impressive, and Saunders seems to relish his role.

He has an office at Forward Operating Base Shield in the heart of Baghdad but works next door at the police college, a 142-acre campus of class rooms, laboratories, ranges and living quarters.

I asked him what it felt like to put on the uniform after 10 years away from the military.

"It felt great," he said. "I love being a soldier. It’s a great way to end a career."

BAGHDAD – This city seems to attract a strange bunch of folks.

As I was waiting for the Rhino – that’s the armored bus that ferries folks between Victory Base Complex and the International Zone – I overheard a 20something with a bushy goatee and wraparound Oakley shades bragging about how cool it was to work for Blackwater, the private security firm.

Kinda weird, I thought: The guy didn’t have any sort of weapon on them. Usually the private security folks go out of their way to show off some super-expensive rifle that cost them three months’ salary.

As I walked behind him, I couldn’t help but notice that he had tucked a red lanyard under his shirt. I didn’t need to see what company he worked for (though I could see half of the letters), but the "security contractor" worked for KBR. He probably oversaw local Iraqis installing air conditioners.

Nearby, a couple of guys from Poland were trying to speak with a soldier in the blue camouflage of Turkey. Joes slept in the shade of a palm tree. Brits, apparently playing to well-known stereotypes, discussed soccer.

When the Rhinos pulled up – two ugly, boxy buses covered in black or tan armor – we went over the passenger manifest and filed in. I sat next to a member of the Australian military wearing a tan jumpsuit and sporting a patch from XVIII Airborne Corps (which is operating Multi-National Corps-Iraq). I introduced myself. He just kind of nodded, looked away and put in earplugs.

Ahh, Baghdad.

RAMADI, Iraq – So you return from leave. You just said bye to your family. Probably don’t feel like coming back to Iraq after two weeks at home. And then you walk in your office and notice everything has been covered with neon Post-It notes.

Staff Sgt. Keeley Weeks of Puyallup, the brigade’s senior paralegal and main culprit of the redecoration, summed it up best: “It looks like the ’80s vomited in his office.”

Welcome back to Ramadi, Doug Lineberry.

Lineberry, a major and the judge advocate general for the 81st Brigade Combat Team, arrived to just that scene Monday. He was a bit at a loss for words at first but took it in stride.

"Hey," he told the six people gathered to witness his reaction, "at least you missed me."

RAMADI, Iraq – Apparently this boat washed up from the Euphrates River onto the site of what will soon become the justice center at Hurricane Point.

The folks working construction here have tracked down the company that owns the boat. But it doesn’t want to pay to remove it from the area. So it just sits on land, rusting away.

Such is life in Iraq…

RAMADI, Iraq – One advantage to being away from the United States is not having to worry about these faux controversies – the missing white girl du jour, et al – that the folks at the cable news networks love.

Armed Forces Network Television was broadcasting the feed from “Larry King Live.” The topic was marijuana legalization. A talker, right? So who do they get debating it?

On the pro-legalization side was Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. Guy’s a former presidential candidate, an elected official, has a pretty dedicated group of followers.

The anti-legalization point of view was voiced by “actor” Stephen Baldwin.

Seriously.

And this was after a wide-ranging discussion of Anna Nicole Smith.

I don’t have the instant access to CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and others out here – and that’s not such a bad thing.

RAMADI, Iraq – Chely Wright made a few double entendres, and the crowd roared. She dropped an occasional four-letter word, and they yelled. She told the crowd they were the best of the tour, and they cheered.

It could’ve been a concert just about anywhere in the United States. But it so clearly wasn’t – the crowd was mostly soldiers and Marines wearing camouflage. It started and ended early enough for the fans to be in bed early enough for PT the next day. Guys smoking hookahs in the crowd. No beer. (Well, no real beer.)

But Wright, a country singer from Kansas City, Mo., drew a crowd of hundreds on an otherwise quiet night on Camp Ramadi. A group of South Asians, most of whom work at the chow hall, stood on a picnic table behind the rows of folding chairs and cheered loudly during her songs. Wright’s guitar player elicited laughs when he volunteered to have his shaggy hair shaved into a mohawk.

And after the show, Wright posed for photos with each service member and thanked them for their service.

“We don’t get people like this too often at Ramadi,” said Master Sgt. CathyJo Wings of the 81st Brigade Combat Team as she lined up for an autograph. “And she put on a great show. It’s nice to know people back home remember us and will come out to play for us.”

(Photo by Sgt. Amanda Gauthier/81st Brigade Combat Team)

I was reading this story and found a quote interesting (emphasis mine):

"This is already one of the longest wars in American history. There's nothing new in Iraq," said Steven Roberts, a professor of media studies at The George Washington University. "We've read the stories of instability in the government a hundred times. Every single possible story has been told, and so there is enormous fatigue about Iraq."

That might be true for people who only care to read about instability in the government. But I can attest from plenty of e-mail and conversations that people want to read about what their hometown soldiers are doing. Because while some might forget we're fighting a war in Iraq, it's a daily reality for thousands of soldiers and their loved ones. I could spend a year in Iraq and still not tell all the stories that deserve to be told.

AL NUKHAYB, Iraq – Puppies have more power than most people realize.

I’ve seen folks¹ – from a fresh-out-of-basic private to a grizzled general – melt at the sight of a puppy. The folks at the combat stress center at Camp Ramadi have the right idea: They’ve got a cute little dog living in a kennel just outside.

Her role at the center seems to work on two levels: Playing with a dog can be relaxing, and the pup can be something that attracts others, where they can learn of the services provided.

The folks at the Al Nukhayb outpost in southwestern Anbar province clearly subscribe to the idea. Four Washington National Guard soldiers and 35 Marines living on the tiny base have three dogs and four puppies. (A pack of wild dogs lives just outside the berm, but they’re not exactly stress-relieving.)

A group of us visited Al Nukhayb today, and I don’t think a single person could resist the charm of the pups.

(And why am I blogging about this? Because people like to see photos of cute puppies.)

^{1 - Including a certain brigade commander with the Washington National Guard. For sake of anonymity, let's call him. R. Kapral. Wait, no, that's too specific. Let's call him Ron K.}

RAMADI, Iraq –A duststorm overtook Camp Ramadi today. Quite a few 81st Brigade soldiers said they hadn’t seen it this bad during either deployment. But it made for some cool snapshots:

=> Read more!

RAMADI, Iraq – He's a hell of a guard dog.

MOSUL, Iraq – This is one tired country.

No matter where you are, folks always seem to be trying their damndest to catch up on sleep. As I type this, a dude is sprawled out on a wooden bench next to a runway, using his plate carrier as a pillow.

The passenger terminal at Contingency Operating Site Marez looks like a flophouse. Four soldiers from 1st Cav are sleeping against a wooden table. A junior officer is using four seats as a makeshift bed. And a contractor appears to be catching some Zs while standing up.

Joes will snooze in, on or around just about anything. If you’re riding in the back of certain models of MRAPs, it can be (relatively) comfortable to throw a ruck on the floor, sit on it and recline against your seat, using the SAPI plates for support. On flights across the country, the sight of guys sleeping on a noisy C-130 with no earplugs is common.

And all this is in spite of the cans of Red Bull (or its local knockoff, Big Pull), cigarettes, over-the-counter stimulant pills and gallons of coffee.

(Flickr photo by YourLocalDave)

MOSUL, Iraq – My last meal in Tacoma before I left for the middle East was at the venerable West End Pub and Grill. Anyone who’s known me for about 30 seconds knows I can’t get enough of the iced tea there – the stuff is often as dark as coffee, and I guzzle it by the pitcher.

I purchased a T-shirt during a meal there and promised to take some cool photos with it in Iraq. But apparently I wasn’t alone with my West End-Iraq love. Another guy went a couple of years ago, I learned, and he sent back photos of him in front of a tank.

Skip ahead to this week. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Sabatine of the 81st Brigade Combat Team’s 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment is giving me a windshield tour of Contingency Operating Site Marez. We’re passing the boneyard – the spot of the base where the rusted-out tanks and other military vehicles left over from earlier wars sit and rust away. I mention to Sabatine that I should get a photo of me wearing my West End T-shirt.

I thought he was about to drive off the road.

Turns out, Sabatine is the guy who posed for a photo in front of the tank during his last deployment. He’s a regular at West End. He prefers the prime rib sandwich, while I’m a true believer in the carved turkey bacon melt. He knows most of the staff by name and has been going there for years.

Sabatine – this man of unparalleled taste and restaurant savvy – is exactly the guy we want to be a representative of the United States military in Iraq.

HABUR GATE, Iraq – A corrugated-iron sheet featuring a yellow sun set against bands of orange, white and green stood illuminated at the checkpoint.

Its meaning was clear: The map might still say Iraq, but we just entered Kurdistan.

Within minutes, things looked a bit more normal. The trucks the guys from the 81st Brigade Combat Team's 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment escorted peeled off on their own, no longer needing the firepower the Washington National Guard soldiers provided. The roads were smoother, and craters caused from roadside bombs disappeared. Gas stations with 30 pumps advertised their ability to accept Visa and Mastercard. Brand-new cars sat in lots at dealerships with no visible security (or rolls of concertina wire).

It's hard to think of a tougher contrast of today's Iraq than the convoy Alpha Battery runs: They drive through the heart of Mosul, the most violent city in the country, and end in a semi-autonomous, peaceful area.

MOSUL, Iraq – Capt. Ted Hirning has the best side job north of Baghdad.

Hirning, the personnel officer for the 81st Brigade Combat Team’s 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment coordinates celebrity visitors who make appearances at Contingency Operating Site Marez. Past visitors have included Kid Rock, Kelly Pickler, Charlie Wilson and the Gap Band, NFL players, NFL cheerleaders and more.

He usually gets to hang out with the high-profile visitors and arranges ridealongs on Mine Resistant Ambushed Proteted vehicles (hey, celebrities should suffer too, right?).

He also coordinated the trip for the Purrfect Angelz. Never heard of them? Neither had most people at Marez, but they have a few more fans now. Check out their Web site to see what I'm talking about.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE QAYYARAH WEST, Iraq – Golfing must be a full-blown addiction.

Addicts pay hundreds for new clubs, new equipment and greens fees. They’ll wake unnaturally early, play in weather that would drive Paul Bunyan indoors and then complain shot after shot.

Some of those addicts are apparently at Q-West. The military base in northern Iraq boasts Lone Star Golf, a 9-hole, par-36 course. If you’re looking for finely manicured greens, think again. Lone Star is acres and acres of dirt and dust and mud. After a rainstorm, hitting a long iron can net only 20 yards. During the dry season, the ball will roll and roll and roll. A sinkhole can eat your ball easier than a water hazard.

But the course does boast one major advantage: It doesn’t cost a dinar to play a round.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE QAYYARAH WEST, Iraq – Call it Saddam chic.

The former dictator of Iraq had his likeness everywhere: statues in public squares, framed photos in businesses, paintings in palaces and his smiling mug on the money. But since the fall of Baghdad, Saddam’s image has quickly evaporated.

It might not be fashionable to plaster his face on everything again – though it’s not uncommon to see soldiers buying pre-2003 dinars with the ex-president’s image – but one Washington National Guard unit has at least one remnant of the Saddam-is-everywhere phase of urban planning. On a granite marker outside the building of headquarters battery, 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment at Q-West sits a faded chiseling of the former dictator. His face has all been washed away, but it’s almost certainly Saddam.

Or, as one battalion commander said, "If that’s a pre-invasion marker, Saddam wouldn’t have let anyone else’s face be publicly displayed like that."

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE QAYYARAH WEST, Iraq – Some of the Turkish- and Iraq-run shops on military bases are, uhh, interesting.

Take 7-11 for example. The place sells everything from bootleg DVDs to hookahs to cases of nicotine-laced energy drinks to cheap tennis shoes. The guy running it is plenty nice, but the only English he seems to know are greetings and numbers.

His business’ name is no anomaly. Other locally run shops have ripped off more famous companies, too. Some bases sport a Wal-Mart or a Best Buy.

Or, if you’re stationed in Mosul, apparently the base boasts a store that advertises – no joke – flying carpets.