Protesters who previously rallied at military shipments at the Port of Tacoma are again hoping to make a statement as another Fort Lewis Stryker brigade ships its equipment overseas. But they’ll have to find another place than the loading terminal.

Tacoma police officers blocked the only entrance to the dock where vehicles and equipment from 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division were being loaded Saturday night. Just before 10 p.m., a convoy of Strykers rolled through the mostly abandoned streets. Police vehicles with their lights flashing escorted the convoys while other officers blocked entrances to the street.

The brigade is headed to Afghanistan this summer for its first deployment. The ships’ final destination – and how the vehicles ultimately will arrive in the hard-to-reach Asian nation – isn’t known. A spokesperson for the Army command who coordinates that couldn’t be reached Saturday.

=> Read more!

Susan Galleymore knows war and its effect. For the past five years, the author has traveled across the Middle East and South Asia to witness the effects fighting can have on those not directly involved.

"We fight because we’re avaricious – we’re greedy," she said. "But we also fight because we love. We love our opinions."

She recorded countless discussions with women who have suffered – many have lost children – during war, and the California resident was in Lakewood on Saturday to promote her published collection of those interviews, "Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak About War and Terror."

The talk took place at Coffee Strong, a café created by veterans that sits just outside the gates of Fort Lewis that its owners started as a place for soldiers and veterans to talk openly about the military and the war. About 30 people, many of whom voiced their skepticism with the war in Iraq, attended the event.

=> Read more!