Fort Lewis will break ground next year on a $110 million complex for the Warrior Transition Battalion as part of the Army’s push to better healthcare for soldiers recovering from injuries.

The facility, which includes barracks, a headquarters building and a soldier and family assistance center, should open in about three years. The building will be erected on an eight-acre site near Madigan Army Medical Center; the battalion’s executive officer said the goal of the new complex is to put everything a wounded soldier needs within walking distance.

"We want to make it a bit of a one-stop shop," Maj. Edward Ekstrom said last week. "A soldier can wake up in the barracks, go to formation nearby, head to Madigan for treatment and go to the (assistance center) to take care of whatever they need, all a few minutes from each other."

Lawmakers provided $488 million for nine warrior transition unit complexes in last month’s supplemental war funding bill. Defense officials project Fort Lewis will be home to the largest warrior transition unit in the military, Ekstrom said.

The Army-wide Warrior Transition initiative was born from the poor medical conditions revealed at Walter Reed Medical Center in early 2007. As the scandal rippled across the country, soldiers at the old "medical hold" companies at Madigan Army Medical Center complained of mistreatment, confusion and delays.

In the newly created units, soldiers moved into refurbished barracks and were assigned a primary care specialist, a nurse case-manager and a squad leader to make sure they get proper treatment. The soldier and family assistance center helps soldiers with an array of military- and civilian-related issues, ranging from veterans claims to day care to online college courses.

The construction plans call for 408 beds inside the complex barracks, about equal to the number of troops in the unit today. That number tends to fluctuate and is almost certain to rise with three Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigades deploying this year to Iraq or Afghanistan.

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About 160 Fort Lewis soldiers from the 571st Military Police Company marked their upcoming yearlong deployment to Iraq with a colors-casing ceremony Monday morning.

The company, part of a 504th Military Police Battalion, will conduct personnel security missions and escort operations throughout the country. It’s the fourth time the 571st has served in Iraq.

On its last deployment, a 15-month tour that began in October 2006, the company trained more than 6,100 Iraqi policemen, supported nine combat operations and managed more than $10.2 million in contracts to construct and improve police stations in Diyala province.