YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER – Spc. Brandon Pollard locked onto the heat signature and pushed a button. A second later, his screen flashed white.

Pollard smiled and exhaled. Sgt. Carlos Cuba, sitting in the driver’s seat of the Humvee, let out a yell and clapped.

"It’s kind of like throwing a touchdown pass," the Oklahoma native said. "It just felt good."

The two Fort Lewis soldiers had trained years for this. As members of 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, they train on Avenger Air Defense System, Humvees equipped with two turret-mounted launchers that can hold up to eight Stinger missiles and a .50-caliber machine gun designed to shoot down incoming enemy aircraft or rockets. It’s the last unit of its kind in the active Army.

At Wednesday’s training exercise, Pollard and Cuba received their first chance to fire a Stinger missile at a drone aircraft flying high above the central Washington desert.

As the fiberglass plane – about 8 feet long with a 15-foot wingspan – buzzed overhead, the Stinger flew from its tube. An instant later, the fiery wreckage of the drone was falling to the earth.

Many of the battalion’s 350 soldiers are receiving their first chance to fire Stingers during the weeklong training at Yakima. Many are new arrivals to the unit or joined as it was training for a deployment to Iraq. Others have been with the unit longer but haven’t had a chance to shoot a missile, which are often in too short of supply. Squads often compete to have the opportunity to fire one.

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Click here to check out some photos from Avenger training with 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment.

Several military, diplomatic and economic experts on China will come together in Lakewood Friday for the 2009 Pacific Northwest Security Forum, an annual event that invites the public to learn about pivotal geopolitical issues.

China was chosen as this year’s theme because the country is so much in the spotlight, from last summer’s Beijing Olympics to Washington state’s close trade ties with the Chinese, said retired Army Lt. Col. Doug Adams, the chairman of Friday’s program.

“It’s a little bit of a different look for us because we have been a national-security-focused forum in the past,” Adams said. “But the U.S.-China relationship is more than just national security.”

THE MAIN EVENT: The 11:30 a.m. lunchtime keynote presenter is former U.S. Ambassador Darryl Johnson, whose topic will be: “U.S. and China: Conciliation or Confrontation?”

Johnson grew up in the Puget Sound area and studied at the University of Washington and the University of Puget Sound. He is a guest lecturer at the UW Jackson School of International Studies.

AFTERNOON PANELS: The U.S. has a hot-cold relationship with China, and that duality will be reflected in a pair of panels.

Partnership is the word that best describes the 1:30 p.m. panel. It will feature Joe Borich, president of the Washington State China Relations Council, and Ron Chow, a Lakewood businessman who works closely with local sister city delegations and goes to China four to five times a year.

The discussion shifts to competition with China during the 4 p.m. panel. Participants include Dr. Phillip Saunders, senior research fellow for the National Defense University Institute for National Strategic Studies; Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock of Spokane, a former defense attaché to China; and Brig. Gen. Jeff Mathis, Fort Lewis’ deputy commanding general and a former special operations soldier with East Asia experience.

WHERE: The last three years, the forum was held in downtown Tacoma. This year it moves to Lakewood at the Sharon M. McGavick Student and Conference Center, Clover Park Technical College, 4500 Steilacoom Blvd. S.W.

COST: $45 for the keynote luncheon and afternoon panels. There’s no charge for those who show up only for the panels.

WHO’S ATTENDING: Active duty and reserve service members, veterans, civic and business leaders, and ROTC students are expected to attend. But anyone is welcome.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Click here.

Matt Misterek: 253-597-8472