The upcoming deployments of three Stryker brigades from Fort Lewis are sparking protests from the local anti-war community.

On Thursday afternoon, members of Port Militarization Resistance will be marching in downtown Tacoma to protest the use of the Port of Tacoma to ship Strykers to Afghanistan.

From a release: "Join us as we take back the streets of Tacoma this Thursday! To no one’s surprise the gears of the war-machine are still spinning after the election of Barack Obama. We must show the city of Tacoma that if they continue to allow the military to use their port we will continue to cost them money."

And at noon Saturday, a rally protesting the stop-loss policy will take place at the Freedom Bridge over Exit 122 on Interstate 5. The group Iraq Veterans Against the War will participate.

"We will assemble with soldier’s families and community groups to rally against the systematic mistreatment of soldiers by the Pentagon, which maintains stop-loss as a backdoor draft," said Seth Manzel, the director of the group that runs nearby Coffee Strong in Tillicum.

The Seattle Indymedia Center has its own wrap up of last week's events at the Port of Tacoma and outside Fort Lewis, from the protesters' perspective.

Fort Lewis officials say they've completed the movement of all of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's vehicles and cargo containers from the Port of Tacoma back to the post.

The operation occurred without the significant public disturbances that marked the return of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's equipment last November at the Port of Tacoma Olympia, and the departure of 4th Brigade's trucks through the Port of Tacoma in March 2007.

Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek said Tuesday that 260 Strykers, more than 400 other vehicles and about 700 cargo containers "were successfully and safely moved to the installation using both military and civilian transport."

Detective Tom Williams, a Tacoma police spokesman, said Tacoma officers arrested three persons near the port during the six nights of protests. Lakewood police arrested another five near freeway overpasses leading to Fort Lewis, he said.

UPDATE: Lakewood police spokeswoman Heidi Hoffman said her department's officers made nine arrests, all on the freeway ramps and overpasses. There were three on Friday, three early Saturday and three Sunday night.

That makes a total of 12.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Comparing notes with Lights & Sirens we come up with 14.

The Port Militarization Resistance version is here. The protesters said there were 15 arrests; we could not immediately account for the difference.

Earlier posts from Lights & Sirens are here and here.

That's basically the question I put to the spokesman for the Army Surface Deployment and Distribution Command at Scott Air Force Base, where they make the decisions about how to move Army gear to and from the United States from Iraq, Afghanistan and everywhere else.

The short answer: Not really.

Actually, what I asked was: In light of the increased security issues at recent operations at the ports of Tacoma and Olympia, did the SDDC consider sending this latest shipment home via some other port – Beaumont, Texas, or Port Hueneme, Calif., for example? And how much more would it cost to move all that stuff – 900+ vehicles and 300+ cargo containers -- to Fort Lewis by rail?

Via e-mail, response from spokesman Ken Holder:

"First and foremost, we do what's best for the Warfighter to get their equipment to the point of need quickly and safely. We conduct analysis of the following criteria when we're selecting an off-load port -- port congestion on the day the ship is scheduled to discharge; geographic location of the port as it relates to the Warfighter; intermodal solutions (truck and rail); and port operating capability -- meaning the seaport infrastructure is able to upload or discharge the Warfighter's equipment. Cost is always a concern, but not the deciding factor. We continually strive to be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars, however operational requirements are sometimes the priority.

... While cost is always a concern, it is not the deciding factor when we're selecting where a ship would offload cargo -- we look at port congestion, port operating capability, intermodal solutions, geographic location of the port in relation to the Warfighter and what's best for the Warfighter.

The sooner the Warfighters have their equipment, the sooner they can get about the task of getting it ready for any future contingency."

Meantime, see Lights & Sirens for coverage of what's going on down at the Port of Tacoma.

A Stryker armored vehicle rolls down the ramp of the USNS Brittin at the Port of Tacoma on Wednesday. It's one of an estimated 900 Strykers, Humvees, trucks and other vehicles back from the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's nearly 15-month deployment in Iraq. Photo: Russ Carmack/The News Tribune

Local authorities are bracing for a repeat of the March 2007 demonstrations that accompanied the departure of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's rolling stock for its combat deployment to Iraq. The brigade's Strykers, trucks and Humvees – more than 900 vehicles in all – arrived at the Port of Tacoma yesterday aboard the USNS Brittin.

Fort Lewis officials said soldiers will be moving them back to the post during non-peak traffic hours. Otherwise, they're not saying much about it.

Tacoma police and 10 other public safety agencies said they spent a total of $1 million on staffing and overtime during the 12-day loadout last time.

The Port of Tacoma billed the Army about $324,000 in wharfage fees and another $204,000 in longshore worker labor for the March 2007 loadout, according to port billing records.

Olympia and Tacoma-based anti-war activists say they are preparing to demonstrate at the return of the vehicles, just as they did at the brigade's departure.

The Olympia Port Militarization Resistance objects to public ports in Washington being used to ship military cargo to and from the war in Iraq on the grounds that it believes the war to be immoral and illegal.

The group has organized protests at all of the recent military shipments into and out of the ports of Tacoma, Olympia and Grays Harbor.

"If there are any demonstrations we are hopeful that the demonstrators will conduct themselves lawfully," said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek, "... and that we can complete the mission in a safe and secure manner."