From the Department of Defense;

Rear Adm. (lower half) Timothy M. Giardina, who has been selected for promotion to rear admiral, will be assigned as director, readiness and training, N4/N7, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Norfolk, Va. Giardina is currently serving as commander, Submarine Group Nine/commander, Submarine Group Ten, Silverdale, Wash.

Madigan Army Medical Center will receive a new commander in August as the Army divides the duties of running the hospital and its regional command.

Col. Jerome Penner III, currently commanding U.S. Army Medical Department Activity in Fort Drum, N.Y., will take command Aug. 13. Madigan’s current commander, Maj. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, will remain at Fort Lewis as commander of the Western Regional Medical Command, which oversees Army medical facilities across seven states.

“The Army decided it’s going to try to split away from Gen. Horoho’s current double-hatted position,” Madigan spokesman Jay Ebbeson said Monday.

The Medical Department Activity at Fort Drum provides health services to more than 43,000 people across nine states. Penner previously deployed to Iraq as deputy commander of a medical task force in Baghdad, according to an online biography.

Horoho has commanded both the hospital and the medical region command since arriving at Fort Lewis in July. Horoho is also chief of the Army Nurse Corps, a position she will continue to hold.

The Seattle Army Recruiting Battalion is teaming up with pro sports teams and the City of Lakewood to hold a two-day fitness expo at Fort Steilacoom Park this weekend as part of SummerFest 2009. And here’s the best part: It’s free.

Among the events offered: sports clinics hosted by players, coaches or reps from the Seahawks, Storm, Sounders, Thunderbirds and Rainiers; a dance and cheer clinic; a 5-kilometer fun run; informal "boot camp" fitness sessions; and fitness competitions with age-group medals.

Full press release after the jump:

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A few local troops made it into the news this weekend:

The Columbia of Vancouver offers a nice feature on an Army Reserve captain who's a nurse with the 396th Combat Support Hospital.

And DVIDS, where many stories written by public affairs officials are posted, offers a few stories:

Soldiers Hear Message, Address Important Issues to Senior Leader [I Corps]
Highlander Combat Medics and Balad Airmen Deliver Medical Aid to Balad Iraqis [81st Brigade Combat Team]
Medical Treatment at Fort Polk [4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division]
4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Offload at Rail Head Station

Usually any press release that begins, "In honor of the troops from Fort Lewis currently preparing for deployment overseas, The World Bikini Football League…" will catch a reporter’s attention.

But, alas, The News Tribune could not make it to Friday’s event at the Sprinker Recreation Center in Spanaway, where more than 30 scantily-clad women scrimmaged some Fort Lewis troops from 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. The players also helped put together care packages for troops being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, and J&D's Foods passed out their trademark bacon salt (and supplied a guy in a rockin' bacon outfit).

The folks from the league were kind enough to send along some photos from the event. Click below to check out a few of them.

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