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Town bonds with brigade

Oct- 3-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By EIJIRO KAWADA; The News Tribune

It was around midnight, and Puyallup Mayor Kathy Turner was trying not to fall asleep as she sat with her husband, Gary, in the bleachers of a Fort Lewis gymnasium. [...]

In March 2000, Lt. Gen. James Hill, then-commander of I Corps and Fort Lewis, began Community Connections, a program designed to build closer ties and mutual understanding between Fort Lewis and its neighbors.

The program partners 15 colonels – commanders of units stationed on the post – with area municipalities.

In 2002, Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, then-commander of Fort Lewis, told Brown to go to a meeting in Puyallup held by the Chamber of Eastern Pierce County.

Brown was puzzled.

“I thought, ‘What the heck am I doing at a Chamber of Commerce meeting when I’m trying to get my brigade ready for combat?’” Brown recalled.

But he was struck by the enthusiasm of Mayor Turner, who had never been around things military, as she sought to learn what a brigade of soldiers does.

Brown began attending community meetings and events. He came to the opening of the Puyallup Public library in 2002. He was the keynote speaker at the city’s Memorial Day event last year, shortly before his troops left for northern Iraq.

In turn, Brown invited Puyallup officials to an open house and other events at Fort Lewis. His soldiers volunteered, cleaning city cemeteries and taking retirement home residents to the Puyallup Fair.

When the Strykers deployed overseas a year ago, Puyallup beefed up its efforts to support them. [...]


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