Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek shared this story he wrote for the Northwest Guardian about Fr. Tim Vakoc when the two were deployed to Iraq in 2003.

Soldiers gather for Christmas services

By Lt. Col. Joseph Piek
3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division

FOB PACESETTER, Iraq – As Arrowhead Brigade soldiers kept round-the-clock pressure on non-compliant enemy forces in the nearby town of Samarra, many 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Soldiers gathered from across the base camp to pause for Christmas services.

For one relatively silent night, the long-abandoned and cavernous Iraqi air force hangar that serves as a dining facility by day was transformed into a cathedral-like chapel.

Chaplain assistants from across the brigade as well as 296th Brigade Support Battalion volunteers arranged rows of plastic patio chairs like pews, as the praise band greeted churchgoers with familiar Christmas carols. Others passed out candles from a box deployed from Fort Lewis to mark the occasion.

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The Air Mobility Command Rodeo returns to Fort Lewis next month. From the public affairs office:

MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. - More than 100 teams and 2,500 people from the Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, as well as allied nations, are expected to participate in Rodeo 2009, Air Mobility Command's premier mobility competition, set to take place July 19 - 25, 2009 here.

"This year will mark the thirtieth anniversary of this competition with our international partners," said Lt. Col. Philip Kase, Rodeo 2009 McChord director. "We are excited to continue this important friendship and look forward to an unforgettable Rodeo."

The international competition focuses on readiness, and features airdrops, aerial refueling and other events which showcase the unique and wide-ranging capabilities of military security forces, and aerial port, maintenance and aeromedical evacuation personnel.

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A Catholic priest who was critically injured while deployed with his Fort Lewis unit died Saturday, more than five years after his Humvee struck a roadside bomb in Iraq.

The Rev. Tim Vakoc becomes the first chaplain to die of wounds sustained during the war in Iraq. The former major from Minnesota – known to most as Father Tim – suffered brain damage and lost an eye from the May 30, 2004, attack. He had most recently lived at a nursing home in New Hope, Minn.

"He was a great man of God," said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek, who served with Vakoc on the fateful deployment to northern Iraq. "He was universally known and universally loved by the soldiers."

According to an online journal that tracked Vakoc’s recovery, the 49-year-old died Saturday night while surrounded by friends and family. No further detail on the cause of the priest’s death was given, and family members couldn’t be reached Monday.

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Brian McGovern, a Fort Lewis public affairs NCO deployed to Afghanistan, offers this piece about Father's Day in South Asia.

When I heard someone mention that it was Father's Day. Huh... I had completely forgotten. My thoughts went to my dad, who is bravely suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. And then I thought about my kids. But I couldn't call or email anyone, since we were under a commo blackout.

His post -- like most of his blog -- is worth your time.

For this following the deployment of 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, this could be interesting: Small Wars Journal copies Gen. Stanley McChrystal's initial guidance to the troops upon taking the top military job in Afghanistan.

It begins:

The situation in Afghanistan is serious. The outcome is important--and not yet decided. Our actions this year will be critical. We must, and will, succeed.

Success will be defined by the Afghan people's freedom to choose their future--freedom from coercion, extremists, malign foreign influence, or abusive government actions.

The outcome will be determined by our ability to understand and act with precision, the values we display, our unity of purpose, and our resolve.

To lead the daily roundup of newslinks about local troops, I submit a source that hasn't been seen in these parts too often. The Pakistan Observer -- which bills itself as the "eyes and ears of Pakistan" and "widely read and trusted daily" reports about the American troop buildup in Afghanistan.

Here's part of what it has to say about 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which is leaving for South Asia:

The US Stryker Brigade presently under deployment in Kandahar will operate alongside the Canadian Task Force that is struggling to stem the Taliban resilience to evict the occupation forces in the province for the past four years, losing 119 dead and several hundred wounded in the process. A key objective of this troop reinforcement is to impose a greater authority over the southern provinces before the Afghan presidential election on August 20. Taliban leaders have boycotted the ballot, declaring any vote under foreign occupation to be illegitimate.

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