The folks who are running the Soldiers Project NW are looking for psychotherapists and other medical personnel who can help service members and their loved ones.

Organizers are hosting a meeting tomorrow at St. Leo’s Church in Tacoma to teach about the project, which offers confidential counseling to active-duty personnel, veterans and family members.

Kathryn Kosko, a military family life consultant at Fort Lewis, will speak on the emotional cycles of deployment, according to organizers.

What: The Soldiers Project NW informational session
Where: St. Leo’s Church, 710 S. 13th St., Tacoma
When: 7-9 p.m. Wednesday
RSVP: soldiersprojectnw@yahoo.com or 206-290-1035

Michele Bostic didn’t know much about the Stryker armored vehicle before Tuesday. But there she was, along with 21 other business and civic leaders from Lakewood, wearing body armor and a Kevlar helmet while riding in the back of the eight-wheeled vehicle as it tore through the mud of Fort Lewis.

Later that afternoon, as she and the others sat down for lunch at the headquarters building of 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Bostic was raving about the experience.

"It was phenomenal," the Graham resident said. "I had no idea what it would be like."

Bostic and her husband, Meco, took part in the half-day event that links the brigade with its partner city in the community connections program. The participants received a briefing on the history of 4th Brigade, rode to the range on a Stryker, watched squad-level exercises where the soldiers reacted to a mock roadside bomb strike and then had a chance to check out the different Stryker variants. Soldiers were on hand to answer their questions.

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More than $50 million in stimulus money is coming to Fort Lewis.

The Department of Defense has allocated $54.696 million to the Army post for infrastructure repairs, including upgrades to roads, small-arms ranges and heat-distribution piping. The money is part of the $787 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

"Investing in our military infrastructure here in Washington state is absolutely critical as we work toward economic recovery," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement. "This funding will provide a boost to our economy while ensuring that our men and women in Fort Lewis have safe and modern facilities."

Here’s how some of the money will be spent:

Small-arms range repairs: $1.5 million
Major range road repairs: $2.226 million
Heat distribution piping repairs: $10.57 million
Transformers and vaults repairs/replacements: $2 million
Fire suppression systems repairs/upgrades: $3.5 million
Boiler plants stack replacements: $3.4 million