A reminder: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will speak at the University of Washington’s graduation ceremony this weekend.

More than 43,000 people are expected to be in attendance at Husky Stadium on Saturday for the ceremony. The event begins at 2 p.m.

If you can't make it, the ceremony will be broadcast on UWTV from 1:30-4:30 p.m. UWTV can be found on channel 27 throughout much of the Puget Sound region, and it's also streamed online.

Several military, diplomatic and economic experts on China will come together in Lakewood Friday for the 2009 Pacific Northwest Security Forum, an annual event that invites the public to learn about pivotal geopolitical issues.

China was chosen as this year’s theme because the country is so much in the spotlight, from last summer’s Beijing Olympics to Washington state’s close trade ties with the Chinese, said retired Army Lt. Col. Doug Adams, the chairman of Friday’s program.

“It’s a little bit of a different look for us because we have been a national-security-focused forum in the past,” Adams said. “But the U.S.-China relationship is more than just national security.”

THE MAIN EVENT: The 11:30 a.m. lunchtime keynote presenter is former U.S. Ambassador Darryl Johnson, whose topic will be: “U.S. and China: Conciliation or Confrontation?”

Johnson grew up in the Puget Sound area and studied at the University of Washington and the University of Puget Sound. He is a guest lecturer at the UW Jackson School of International Studies.

AFTERNOON PANELS: The U.S. has a hot-cold relationship with China, and that duality will be reflected in a pair of panels.

Partnership is the word that best describes the 1:30 p.m. panel. It will feature Joe Borich, president of the Washington State China Relations Council, and Ron Chow, a Lakewood businessman who works closely with local sister city delegations and goes to China four to five times a year.

The discussion shifts to competition with China during the 4 p.m. panel. Participants include Dr. Phillip Saunders, senior research fellow for the National Defense University Institute for National Strategic Studies; Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock of Spokane, a former defense attaché to China; and Brig. Gen. Jeff Mathis, Fort Lewis’ deputy commanding general and a former special operations soldier with East Asia experience.

WHERE: The last three years, the forum was held in downtown Tacoma. This year it moves to Lakewood at the Sharon M. McGavick Student and Conference Center, Clover Park Technical College, 4500 Steilacoom Blvd. S.W.

COST: $45 for the keynote luncheon and afternoon panels. There’s no charge for those who show up only for the panels.

WHO’S ATTENDING: Active duty and reserve service members, veterans, civic and business leaders, and ROTC students are expected to attend. But anyone is welcome.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Click here.

Matt Misterek: 253-597-8472

Author and McClatchy military columnist Joe Galloway will be at the Fort Lewis PX 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to sign copies of his new book, "We Are Soldiers Still." (Review here.)

It's a followup to his "We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young" with retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore.

If you don't have a Department of Defense sticker or ID, but you want to get a signed copy or meet the author, you can still get on Fort Lewis. Go to the visitor center at the main gate – Exit 120 off of Interstate 5 – and present your driver's license, proof of insurance and registration to get a visitor pass. Everybody over the age of 16 needs to present photo ID.

The USO Puget Sound holds its big annual fundraiser – a black-tie gala and auction featuring country music star Jake Owen – on Oct. 3 at Qwest Field in Seattle. Tickets are $175. For more information see the USO web site via the link above or call 1-206-246-1908.

DuPont is hosting a military appreciation celebration this weekend.

It’s called Operation We Love Our Military, and it’s running tonight and Saturday.

The cause for the party?

“The military and their families live in and around the community and help to keep local businesses in operation,” according to a press release. “Needless to say, the businesses of DuPont are very appreciative for their military neighbors and their families.”

The celebration begins tonight at Ross Plaza with a hot dog barbecue and a screening of “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” at dusk, or about 8:45 p.m.

On Saturday, a pancake breakfast from 8-11 a.m. kicks things off. Gifts will be raffled off, and there’s a bounce house and face painting for the kids. Farrelli’s Wood Fire Pizza is hosting a music stage and beer garden in its parking lot beginning at 11 a.m. Admission is free.

RecruitMilitary, the U.S. Department of Labor and the American Legion are sponsoring a career fair 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center. Click here for the news release and here for the flier.

Technically the U.S. Army Reserve turned 100 on April 23rd but it has been celebrating its centennial with events all around the country. The Puget Sound-area version comes this Saturday at the Ballard Locks in Seattle.

A combined performance begins at noon by the 70th Army Band and the 104th Division Band. They'll do a re-enlistment ceremony, present Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve awards to several employers, and the 70th Regional Readiness Command boss, Maj. Gen. Chris Ingram, will cut the birthday cake with his sword.

There will also be static displays of military vehicles and equipment, a rock climbing wall and loads of other stuff for the kids. The event runs through 5 p.m.

Association of the United States Army members from six western states will gather Thursday through Sunday in DuPont and Lakewood for the association's Region 6 convention. The AUSA Fort Lewis chapter is the host.

They'll have work sessions Friday and Saturday and a black-tie dinner Saturday night at the Great American Casino at State Route 512 and South Tacoma Way. The guest of honor and keynote speaker is Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command.

They'll also get briefings from various operations at Fort Lewis, including the 17th Fires Brigade and the Warrior Transition Battalion.

Region 6 covers Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Idaho, Nevada and Montana.

Speaking Tuesday at Fort Lewis, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said U.S. troops are well on their way toward handing over security responsibility to Iraqi forces, but he declined to set a timetable for how long that process will take.

Gates toured McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis on Monday and Tuesday, his first visit to the local installations since he became secretary in late 2006.

Speaking to reporters after a briefing with Stryker brigade soldiers, Gates said the U.S. mission began changing in Iraq after the withdrawal of the first surge brigade last December.

“I think this transition of control and responsibility ... for security is a process that is already well under way, and based on everything that I’m hearing, we’ll be able to continue,” Gates said.

“However long that takes really will depend on the situation on the ground, but things are going very well at this point.”

He declined to comment specifically on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s call for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from his country.

Gates likewise did not offer on a question about whether he could live with a short-term agreement to keep U.S. forces there past the end of this year, rather than pressing ahead with what have apparently become contentious talks with Iraqi leaders over a long-term pact covering the presence and status of U.S. troops.

“Ambassador Crocker is in charge of those negotiations,” Gates said, referring to Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, “and I am principally concerned with having an agreement that will allow our forces to continue to do their job and to support the Iraqi government.”

Otherwise, Gates said he spent the majority of his time at the two installations speaking with service members and their family members, getting his picture taken with newborn babies at Madigan Army Medical Center, and lunching with McChord airmen.

It was the first local visit by a defense secretary since Donald Rumsfeld came to Fort Lewis in April 2002.

Gates and his wife Becky own a home at Big Lake near Mount Vernon, where they spent the Independence Day weekend. His aides said he scheduled the McChord and Lewis visits on his way back to the Pentagon.

“It’s been very useful,” Gates said of his visit. “The conversations with (noncommissioned officers) and their wives are always instructive for me, and I’m always impressed with their dedication and commitment.”

Tuesday morning he and his senior military adviser, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who is soon to become vice chief of staff of the Army, talked with crews from four different Stryker variants from the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

Sgt. Eric Shuty showed him the latest version of the eight-wheeled armored truck, the Mobile Gun System, fitted with a 105mm gun.

Shuty is just back from Iraq where he served nearly 15 months with the first crews to use the MGS in combat, in B Company of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.

“There are only so many people who have real, functional downrange experience with the truck,” Shuty said. “And as one of them, I was glad to come out here and tell him it’s a good vehicle. Buy more.”

My colleague Christian Hill at the Olympian compiled short profiles of each of the 37 soldiers from the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division who were killed during the brigade's 15-month deployment in Iraq.

The Fort Lewis public affairs office has also posted the award citations for Spc. Rodny Yefune and Cpl. Luke Runyan.

Click here for the speech by 4th Brigade commander Col. Jon Lehr and here for the remarks by Fort Lewis and I Corps commanding general Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby, Jr.

And there's also the script for the ceremony, which includes a blow-by-blow narrative of the brigade's accomplishments over the course of the deployment.

Finally, I don't have a link or a photo just yet, but at Tuesday's ceremony Steilacoom artist Patrick Haskett unveiled a new piece he did for the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment. It's called "Let 'Em Come," the Rock of the Marne regiment's motto, and depicts a Stryker Mobile Gun System truck preparing to fire while infantrymen take up positions around it.

Haskett said he is arranging to have prints made so that he can give away one to each of the 800 or so soldiers in the battalion.

Katherine Mackin, who is almost 3, was pleasantly unconcerned with all the military pomp going on around her Tuesday as Fort Lewis formally welcomed its latest Stryker brigade to return from the war in Iraq.

The 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is home after nearly 15 months over there.

Katherine had a little song for the part that mattered most to her.

"My daddy's back," the little girl sang, skipping in Sponge Bob rubber sandals around her mom, Sandy.

"My daddy's ba-a-ack."

Lt. Col. Patrick Mackin, the brigade intelligence officer, and about 4,000 other soldiers were in the ranks Tuesday. The brigade closed the books on its Iraq deployment, reunited with some of its wounded, paid tribute to its 37 fallen and recognized two of its most valiant – one of them posthumously.

It was a mission that began ahead of schedule, when the brigade's departure was moved up a month to April 2007 to be part of the surge of U.S. forces into Baghdad. Over time most of its troops would move up to Diyala Province, a stronghold for insurgent fighters.

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Friends of the fallen Tacoma Marine will hold a golf tournament Aug. 1 at the North Shore Golf Course. Details here.