The New York Times' Baghdad Bureau blog has a piece about a clearing barrel at FOB Prosperity in Baghdad's International Zone painted like a pig with the phrase "Shoot 'Em in the Face" painted on it.

Why, it sounds like the Gray Lady made a stop with the 81st Brigade Combat Team's own Bravo Troop, 1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry Regiment. 1st Sgt. Terrence DeFever told me a couple of months ago that they grabbed one of the clearing barrels during premobilization training at Fort McCoy, Wis., painted it pink, added some flair and brought it to Iraq with them.

Bravo Troop provides security for the U.S. State Department. Like the rest of the brigade, it is expected to return home this summer. Until then, the joes will keep clearing their M-4s in the snout of a metal pig.

An Islamist insurgency terrorizes Somalia. Terrorist organizations named Al Qaida operate on the Arabian Peninsula and the deserts of North Africa.

And with the nation’s military and intelligence resources focused on fighting two wars, the threat posed by Islamic extremism in other parts of the world is rising, U.S. Rep. Adam Smith told The News Tribune on Friday, days after returning from a six-nation trip to Africa and the Middle East.

“It’s a growing problem,” the Tacoma Democrat said in a phone interview. “All of our resources are focused on Iraq and Afghanistan. We don’t have the same coverage to track (Al Qaida) operatives on the ground in places like Somalia, Mali, Mauritania, Algeria and Yemen.”

Smith, the chairman of the House subcommittee dealing with terrorism, met with diplomatic, military and intelligence officials on the trip, which included four other congressmen. They visited Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Burkina Faso.

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The Hill newspaper reports that National Guard adjutants general from around the country -- Washington's included -- are asking Congress for funding for Strykers in the emergency war funding bill. They're asking for $1.4 billion, enough to buy 549 Strykers.

Specifically, they want the medical evacuation variant. They're playing up the fact they can be used during domestic emergencies too.

From the article:

The adjutants general from Mississippi, North Carolina, Montana, Minnesota, Washington State, Oregon, California, Idaho, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Tennessee wrote to lawmakers arguing that the Stryker ambulances "will have significant influence on the domestic support [the National Guard] can give to out citizens at home," and could assist "all regions of our nation in innumerable disaster scenarios."

The Yakima Training Center is dedicating a memorial and renaming a range in honor of a hometown soldier killed in Iraq in 2004, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.

Staff Sgt. Kyle Eggers, 27, was killed when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle on Dec. 5, 2004. He was serving in Iraq with the 2nd Infantry Division.

The pharmacy service at Madigan gets a facelift. Click below to check out the release:

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