Family members of deployed or deploying service members would be guaranteed two weeks of unpaid leave under legislation introduced Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Adam Smith.

The bill, named the Military Family Leave Act of 2009, provides two weeks for the spouse, children or parents of a service member who received notification of a deployment or is currently deployed.

Current law allows military families similar time off for various reasons connected with a deployment, but not all employees are eligible. The proposed legislation, also pending in the Senate, would close that loophole.

"As a member of Congress who represents thousands of military personnel and their families, I see the stress deployment can put on a family," Smith, D-Tacoma, said in a statement. "Military families make a tremendous sacrifice for our country and they should not have to be concerned about how their employer will respond if a loved one is deployed. This bill relieves some of that stress by ensuring family members have adequate time away from work to spend time with their deployed or deploying loved one, allowing them ample time to handle issues that arise over the course of a deployment."

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.

One of the Internet’s greatest achievements (and curses) is that it allows people to debate just about any topic and propose any solution, no matter how outta-left-field it might seem.

A Facebook group seems to exemplify this: More than 90 members have joined a group advocating sending a Stryker brigade to the Darfur region of western Sudan.

(If you need a crash course on Darfur, Wikipedia provides a comprehensive crash course on a topic.)

The group's three administrators all are soldiers (according to their profiles) and say they live in the Seattle/Tacoma area. Here’s what they advocate:

Did you ever occur to activists that throwing aid money and food will not make a problem go away? Well here is a solution. Send a Stryker Brigade Combat Team in and make zone of separation between the janjaweed militia and people of the Darfur region of the Sudan. Once this is established. Anyone entering the zone of seperation without authorization will be terminated. This will allow the activists to then come in and help rebuild Darfur in addition to helping them eventually provide for their own defense.

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More than $50 million in stimulus money is coming to Fort Lewis.

The Department of Defense has allocated $54.696 million to the Army post for infrastructure repairs, including upgrades to roads, small-arms ranges and heat-distribution piping. The money is part of the $787 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

"Investing in our military infrastructure here in Washington state is absolutely critical as we work toward economic recovery," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement. "This funding will provide a boost to our economy while ensuring that our men and women in Fort Lewis have safe and modern facilities."

Here’s how some of the money will be spent:

Small-arms range repairs: $1.5 million
Major range road repairs: $2.226 million
Heat distribution piping repairs: $10.57 million
Transformers and vaults repairs/replacements: $2 million
Fire suppression systems repairs/upgrades: $3.5 million
Boiler plants stack replacements: $3.4 million

An Islamist insurgency terrorizes Somalia. Terrorist organizations named Al Qaida operate on the Arabian Peninsula and the deserts of North Africa.

And with the nation’s military and intelligence resources focused on fighting two wars, the threat posed by Islamic extremism in other parts of the world is rising, U.S. Rep. Adam Smith told The News Tribune on Friday, days after returning from a six-nation trip to Africa and the Middle East.

“It’s a growing problem,” the Tacoma Democrat said in a phone interview. “All of our resources are focused on Iraq and Afghanistan. We don’t have the same coverage to track (Al Qaida) operatives on the ground in places like Somalia, Mali, Mauritania, Algeria and Yemen.”

Smith, the chairman of the House subcommittee dealing with terrorism, met with diplomatic, military and intelligence officials on the trip, which included four other congressmen. They visited Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Burkina Faso.

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Defense Secretary Robert Gates will speak at the University of Washington’s commencement at Husky Stadium on June 13.

Gates is no stranger to academia: He was Texas A&M University's president before taking the military's top job in December 2007. That followed a meteoric rise in the Central Intelligence Agency, where he became the only person to start in an entry-level job and reach the post of director.

Gates also has (deservedly) received much of the credit for using quiet strength to bring about necessary changes in the military after the war in Iraq began falling apart.

It's worth asking: If he'll be an hour away from Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base, might he make a detour?

Full press release after the jump:

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The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, which aims to streamline the process of military kids transferring to schools in different states, has been passed by both houses of the state legislature.

It's just waiting the signature of Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Here's a bit more information from Mark San Souci, the Department of Defense liasion who has worked tirelessly on this issue:

The House amendment struck the null & void clause for funding that was in the senate's original bill. The fiscal note will indeed be funded at $49,000 annually, out of the state budget.

As the seventh largest military state, our 29,000 active duty military school children, and activated guard/reserve member school children, will now join at least 14 other states (the compact is now on the governor's desk in Alaska, Maryland, and Hawaii, respectively, with other states to follow) as a compact state seeking a level playing field for the difficult school transition issues that arise when military families move from state to state while serving our nation. …

The effective date of the bill is 90 days after adjournment of the legislative session in which the bill is passed. Hence, July 25, 2009.

In case you haven't heard, President Barack Obama made a surprise trip to Baghdad today.

His visit included a stop with Multi-National Corps-Iraq, better known around these parts as I Corps.

Here's the press release:

BAGHDAD - In an unannounced visit, President Barack Obama addressed approximately 1,500 United States service members, government civilians and contractors assembled in the rotunda of Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, the headquarters of Multi-National Corps - Iraq, this evening.

During his remarks, the President lauded U.S. troops and government employees for their professionalism and sacrifice, telling them, "You have performed brilliantly in every mission that has been given to you."

The President praised the assembled service members for their steadfast focus on the task at hand: "Through controversy and difficulty and politics, you kept your eyes focused on just doing your job."

President Obama acknowledged that work remains to be done in Iraq, but told the service members that through their service, they have been critical in ensuring that Iraq no longer remains a haven for terrorists. "You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country. That is an extraordinary achievement, and for that you have the thanks of the American people," he said.

In closing his remarks, the President assured the audience that "we have not forgotten what you have already done; we are grateful for what you will do; and as long as I'm in the White House, you're going to get the support you need, and the thanks that you deserve, from a grateful nation."

Everyone seems to be getting a piece of federal stimulus money. And Washington’s military installations are a big recipient of the dough.

The Department of Defense released a rundown of where your federal dollars will be going. Click here to check it out.

Washington is in line for $20.1 million in construction and another $129.8 million in "sustainment, restoration and modernization" projects.

A few of the projects include new emergency generator fuel tanks at Fort Lewis ($4.2 million), repairs to the air handling unit in the radiology clinic at Madigan Army Medical Center ($514,000) and repairs to temporary housing at McChord Air Force Base $3.8 million).

A bill introduced in the state House of Representatives could be the first step to adding to the capitol campus a memorial to Washington service members killed or declared missing in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The measure, which has 38 co-sponsors, directs the State Department of Veterans Affairs to coordinate the design, construction and placement of the memorial. And it sets up an account with the treasurer’s office for private donations. But there aren’t many more details, such as the memorial’s proposed cost or a timeline for creation.

And as of right now, there isn’t a corresponding Senate bill.

Command Sgt. Maj. Steven Winters received his orders last June to report to Fort Lewis. The Army gave him 30 days to move.

It was Winters’ 11th move in 18 years. He was accustomed to the routine. The biggest headaches may very well belong to his four children.

His son, Steven, had trouble getting into advanced-placement classes at Bethel High School despite a 3.75 grade-point average because a Texas school district lagged in sending official transcripts.

His 15-year-old daughter, Haley, also faced obstacles when her parents tried to enroll her in AP courses.

“When you only get 30 days’ notice to leave, the schools don’t react that quickly,” Winters told a meeting of the Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education in Olympia on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old is a top enlisted leader in the 296th Brigade Support Battalion, a unit of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. He shared his story with state senators, urging them to pass the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.

The compact is a binding agreement among states that aims to address an array of disruptions military children face when they move, including graduation requirements, standardized testing, eligibility rules for sports and immunization regulations.

Entering the agreement would cost Washington $102,500 next fiscal year, according to a state estimate.

“Local school counselors don’t understand the problems military children face,” said Winters, whose son was on track to graduate early until graduation requirements in his new district intervened.

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There was no ballroom jammed with projection screens, balloons and red-white-and-blue confetti. No congratulatory drinks or trays of catered snacks. No campaign signs plastered on the walls.

Instead, Washington service members serving in Iraq watched the inauguration of President Barack Obama, their new commander in chief, Tuesday in familiar settings: in conference rooms, company headquarters buildings or their rooms.

“(It was) mostly just another day in Iraq,” Lt. Col. Paul Morgan, the brigade executive officer of the Washington National Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team, said in an e-mail.

Morgan, a 45-year-old Snohomish resident, watched the festivities with another member of the 81st from a conference room in the unit’s headquarters at Camp Ramadi. He wasn’t aware of any large-scale watch parties at base in western Iraq.

The brigade of 2,400 Washington residents and about 1,000 others provides convoy security and run day-to-day operations at several bases across western and northern Iraq.

“We probably had more discussion about upcoming Iraqi elections (on Jan. 31) than the U.S. inauguration,” he wrote. “The Iraqi elections have the potential more a more immediate effect on our operations.”

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