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The Washington Post this weekend published an obituary on retired Army Col. John J. Madigan III.

Local folks might recognize that last name...

The temporary closure of a runway in Moses Lake will mean more Air Force jets flying the night skies of Pierce County.

Contractors working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin working Monday on Grant County International Airport’s "assault strip" – called such because it is reinforced to handle C-17 Globemaster III cargo jets landing at a steep angle.

Crews from McChord Air Force Base and other installations use the runway for nighttime landings. But with the runway’s monthlong closure, some of those training flights will land at McChord. Other Air Force bases across the Western United States will accept some of the flights as well.

The actual number of extra flights coming into the base hasn’t yet been determined, a spokesman for the 62nd Airlift Wing said Wednesday.

"We’re looking at other options," Tech. Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson said. "We’re looking at sending some of these flights as far away as Wyoming. So we don’t have a number right now."

=> Read more!

UPDATE: The newest version of the story from the Associated Press confirms the two were embedded with 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division:

Bad news from the Associated Press:

KABUL – A bombing has wounded two Associated Press journalists embedded with the U.S. military in southern Afghanistan.

Photographer Emilio Morenatti and AP Television News videographer Andi Jatmiko were traveling with a unit of the 5th Stryker Brigade of Fort Lewis, Wash., when their vehicle ran over a bomb planted in the open desert terrain, the military said.

Both men were immediately taken to a military hospital in Kandahar. Jatmiko suffered leg injuries and two broken ribs. Morenatti, badly wounded in the leg, underwent an operation that resulted in the loss of his foot.

The attack took place in open country 15 miles north of the town of Spin Boldak near the Pakistani border, and 120 miles southeast of Dahaneh, a Taliban-held town where helicopter-borne U.S. Marines launched an operation before dawn Wednesday to uproot the militants.

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. Been busy with some longer-term stuff I'm working on.

But I do want to point you to a few stories. The Canwest News Service has a reporter in Kandahar province, where 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is located. Here are a couple of stories to get you up to date with what's going on:

Canada, U.S. divvy up turf in Afghan war

Canada handoff of Afghan battle zones marks 'new era.'

UPDATE: The AP has a reporter with the troops too. Heidi Vogt writes about their cultural education crash-course.

Fort Lewis' 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are in southern Afghanistan. An Associated Press photographer is embedded with the unit, and we've strung together a slideshow. Check it out here.

Meanwhile, KFDM-TV reports about the Strykers of 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division receiving extra armor at the Port of Beaumont before they're put on ships and sent over to Iraq.

Another 60 soldiers from the Washington National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team are returning home tomorrow. The soldiers are expected to arrive at McChord Air Force Base at about 11:20 a.m.

The brigade is in the midst of its slow trickle back home from Fort McCoy, Wis., where they are undergoing a demobilization process that includes briefings on pay and benefits and help transitioning back into civilian life. The entire brigade is expected home by mid-August.

UPDATE: The arrival time has been updated to 3:30 p.m.

Forty soldiers from the Washington National Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team will arrive at McChord Air Force Base tomorrow morning.

The brigade of 3,500 soldiers – 2,400 of whom are from Washington – was mobilized in August and deployed to Iraq in October, where it primarily performed convoy security missions.

A charter airplane from Fort McCoy, Wis., will land at McChord at about 3:30 p.m. A bus will take the soldiers to Wilson Gym on North Fort Lewis, where they will be reunited with their families.

More information on how to attend the homecoming ceremonies is here.

Military Times is reporting the Post-9/11 GI Bill might not be so sweet for National Guard soldiers who have been mobilized:

According to the (National Guard Association of the United States), 30,000 to 33,000 National Guardsmen who served during the post-9/11 era in homeland defense roles don’t qualify for the generous program, which completely covers the full in-state cost of a college education for nearly everyone who has served more than three years on active duty since Sept. 10, 2001.

The group says that’s because the Guardsmen were activated in a Title 32 status — which governs Guardsmen activated for federal duty under the control of a governor, but paid with federal dollars — instead of under Title 10, under which troops, no matter what their affiliation, are on full-time active service under the control of the president. The legislation that enabled the Post-9/11 GI Bill provides the benefit only to those who were or are in a Title 10 status.

The VA Puget Sound has sent one of its public affairs officials to Fort McCoy, Wis., to cover the demobilization process for the Washington National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team. Here's the homepage for Shane Suzuki's work -- he's shooting photos and writing some blog posts.

An excerpt from yesterday:

A quick success story from Tommy Carson, an employment transition counselor here. He just stopped by to tell me the story of a soldier who, in the best of situations, would be considered incredibly unlucky - until he came to the team of professionals who helped him get his life on a new and better track.

While deployed to Iraq, his girlfriend began seeing someone else. Sad, but not uncommon. The only problem is, they have a child. In many cases, this means the soldier loses everything and is sent into a depressing downward cycle.

This is where this new model of conversation and hands on transition assistance comes into play. Instead of sitting through a bunch of briefs with phone numbers to call and then sent back to a depressing situation on his own, this soldier talked about his lack of job, home and family to one of the counselors here. Now, instead of coming home to nothing, the counselors here found him a place to stay, a new job to return to, and has heard from his daughter that she wants to live with him because she doesn’t like what her mother did.

This Domino Effect of a returning soldier’s life falling apart one piece at a time is what, in many cases, leads to the terrible news stories we’ve all read in the press. This intervention thankfully averted a terrible story we will never have to hear.

According to Tommy, "These information stations and the people sitting behind them these opportunities are life changing and life altering. That’s why we are here, that’s what this day is all about."

The folks at VA Puget Sound also have launched a Twitter feed (@vapugetsound). And while you're logging on Twitter, don't forget to add the TNT's military feed (@tntmilitary).

A couple of World War II stories caught my eye today.

The Spokesman-Review has a piece about the dog tag of a Spokane soldier killed in the battle of Guadalcanal making it to his sister 66 years after he was killed. Cpl. Walter Raymond Hahn was serving with the Washington National Guard's 161st Regiment when he was killed on Jan. 18, 1943. The story about the return of the dog tag is pretty dang interesting.

And this other story isn’t local but is interesting nonetheless: The Washington Post writes about Congolese soldiers conscripted into fighting against Germany. (Congo was then a Belgian colony.) There are legions of soldiers who have fought on behalf of other nations and often get forgotten when the war is finished. For those who fought in World War II, there numbers are swiftly dwindling.

Another 160 soldiers from the Washington National Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team will arrive at McChord Air Force Base tomorrow afternoon, ending an 11-month mobilization that saw them serve in Iraq.

A charter airplane from Fort McCoy, Wis., will land at McChord at about 4 p.m. A bus will take the soldiers to Wilson Gym on North Fort Lewis, where they will be reunited with their families.

More information on how to attend the homecoming ceremonies is here.

UPDATE: Soldiers from the following units are expected to be on the plane:

Headquarters, 81st Brigade Combat Team
181st Brigade Support Battalion
1st Squadron, 303rd Cavalry Regiment
2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment

The new bill has a lot more perks (and money) than its predecessor. I'm brewing up a story for when schools return in the fall, and plenty of colleges in Pierce County are expecting a big bump in enrollment because of it.

In a speech to the 250 soldiers of the 81st Brigade Combat Team who returned home Saturday, Gov. Chris Gregoire repeated a theme that has been a constant of almost every address she has given to the Washington National Guard’s largest unit since it left for Iraq last year.

"As you come home, we are here to help you," she said at a homecoming ceremony on North Fort Lewis. "And to your family and friends who are here to greet you, we are here to help you in any way possible."

The help began at Fort McCoy, Wis., at a demobilization process that helps them ease back into civilian life. Washington is the first state to use the program for its soldiers.

But some of the soldiers who have returned complain the six-day process at Fort McCoy takes too long and is at the wrong time, while state officials say it’s the best way to reach everyone who needs help.

"It’s a painstaking process," said Spc. Frank Bonafe, a Washington D.C. resident serving with the 81st Brigade. "I’m not impressed by it. I like the idea of demobbing in your home state. (At Fort McCoy) You can’t go anywhere. You don’t know anybody. You just want to get out."

=> Read more!