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The impact of JBLM troops coming back - The News Tribune
By the fall, nearly 18,000 men and women from various local units will have returned this year – the largest incoming tide since both wars started.Just between Thursday and Sunday, some 800 troops were scheduled to come home to holiday weekend embraces.
For military families as well as surrounding South Sound communities, deployment —and preparing for a homecoming — can take on a familiar rhythm.
Police agencies prepare for young soldiers eager to taste freedom again. Schools gear up for more children, colleges for adult students seeking new skills. Everyone braces for more freeway traffic. And businesses get ready for returning customers.
FOB Tacoma - Moving on The News Tribune Blogs, Tacoma, WA
After 3 1/2 years at The News Tribune (including the last year and a half on the military beat) I'll be leaving the paper next week. My wife and I both received jobs in Washington, D.C., so I'm in the midst of packing up our home in University Place ahead of the big move. My last day at the paper is April 9.
Best of luck, Scott!
Over the weekend The Olympian and The News Tribune published a series of articles on the difficult subject of suicide in the military. This also provides an opportunity to pass along the suicide hotline number if you or someone you know is in crisis: 1-800-273-TALK.
The Army and the VA have redoubled their efforts to prevent suicides. Both have expanded services and launched initiatives aimed at suicide prevention.The Army is hiring dozens of counselors and has developed an interactive video so soldiers can identify warning signs and help a distraught colleague through various scenarios. The Army and the National Institute of Mental Health recently announced a five-year, $50 million research program into the factors behind soldier suicides.
The VA, meanwhile, is taking steps to improve its screening among veterans diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and increase training so chaplains can look for warning signs. In July 2007, it launched a national suicide hotline, which receives thousands of calls each month, Blow said.
Mike Gilbert, the military reporter for The News Tribune, announced he was leaving the paper after 21 years. For my money he has been the best reporter covering Ft. Lewis and its Stryker Brigades. I hope you join me in wishing him the very best. Thanks Mike.
Mike Gilbert has a nice write-up in The News Tribune about Secretary of Defense Robert Gate's recent stop at Ft. Lewis. Excerpt:
Making his first public visit to Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base, Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Army Rangers and military spouses over two days.He lunched with airmen, checked out the Strykers and got his picture taken with newborn babies and their moms at Madigan Army Medical Center. [...]
It was the first local visit by a defense secretary since Donald Rumsfeld came to Fort Lewis in April 2002.
Related:
Gates at Fort Lewis - FOB Tacoma
Gates Visits Troops in Washington State - AFPS/NW Guardian
Photos: Gates Visits Fort Lewis, Washington - US Department of Defense
Provided below are links to a number of articles and blog entries related to Adm. Mike Mullen's, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visit to Ft. Lewis.
Mike Gilbert at The News Tribune takes a look at the recent rotation announcement and suggests what this might mean for future 3/2 and 5/2 SBCT deployments.
By MICHAEL GILBERT, The News Tribune
A group of mental health care providers in Washington is offering free help to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families who either can’t or don’t want to go through traditional channels for care.
The Soldiers Project Northwest is modeled after a similar effort in Los Angeles, where volunteer therapists since 2004 have seen clients without charge for help with their war-related problems.
“The war just feels so big. The problems of the country feel so big. This is something that I can do,” said Tim Mallon, a University Place mental health counselor who is taking part in the Northwest effort. “I’ve got the training to do it, and the need is there. It’s pretty simple, really.”
News Tribune staff and news service reports
The U.S. Army said Friday that it will immediately repair barracks at eight facilities in the wake of inspection at bases worldwide. A small fraction of the rehab money will go to Fort Lewis.
The post south of Tacoma will receive $7.4 million – part of an overall $248 million package of emergency funds announced by Army Secretary Pete Geren.
By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press
Soldiers at Fort Lewis live in buildings that date back as far as 1927, but base officials say an ambitious barracks construction and renovation project is keeping soldier housing entirely hospitable.
Fort Lewis, base for about 28,924 soldiers, has been building new barracks and upgrading old ones for the past seven years, mostly to accommodate population growth as new Stryker brigades are formed or moved to Washington state.
FORT LEWIS — Pride Week traditionally has involved soldiers cleaning the post and removing debris from training areas.
Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby Jr., commanding general of Fort Lewis and I Corps, expanded this year's weeklong event to celebrate what soldiers have done and can do together.
For the first time, Pride Week includes unit-sponsored competition, including marksmanship, boxing and weightlifting, in an effort to build camaraderie and morale.
This summer, post exchange and commissary patrons may find the stores a little more crowded, traffic may be a little thicker and unit operations officers may have to plan a little further ahead to use high-demand training facilities on post.
That’s because Fort Lewis will welcome about 6,500 Soldiers home from deployment between May and September, hiking the post’s troop population to almost 29,000 in what many are calling the “summer surge.”
But Fort Lewis garrison officials have been hard at work for eight months, planning to accommodate the returning units with many new unit buildings, facelifts for existing barracks and facilties, and and a delicately crafted plan to ensure Soldiers, families and units get the support they need during the surge.
The News Tribune has a number of items related to the 5th Anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.
Follow the link for video as well.
By Keith Eldridge, KOMO 4 News
FORT LEWIS -- This base is 6th on the list of military bases with the most casualties in the war in Iraq. But the soldiers at Fort Lewis say they want to make sure each and every soldier is honored for their supreme sacrifice.
When the fighting in Iraq began, it was everyone's hope that the U.S. could get through the conflict with very few soldier deaths, and have it be over and done with quickly.
That was five years and 179 Fort Lewis casualties ago.
Time and again, soldiers, their families and friends have gathered to pay honor to those who've fallen.
On this 5th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, the soldiers and their commanders say the deaths that happen today are just as hard to take as those back in 2003.
[...]
FORT LEWIS — Before bombs dropped on Baghdad in 2003, Fort Lewis already was on the forefront of change in the Army, developing and fielding a new, cutting-edge combat brigade.
And little around the installation has remained the same since.
Like other military posts, Fort Lewis has adjusted to the demands of fighting two protracted conflicts five years in Iraq and nearing seven in Afghanistan. Those demands include improving the care of wounded soldiers and increasing the number of services and programs available to families to help them through the stress of long periods of separation.
Some changes are unique to Fort Lewis, including an assessment program to ensure that any lingering effects from combat aren't ignored. The war has accelerated the development of the Stryker combat brigades; three of the Army's seven Stryker brigades are based at Fort Lewis.
[...]
Dubik was the top commander at Ft. Lewis until his recent assignment in Iraq.
FORT LEWIS, Pierce County — For three years, thousands of Army soldiers from this Western Washington post patrolled the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. More than 40 lost their lives.
With the security situation improved, the last of three Fort Lewis Stryker brigades withdrew in mid-2006, but during the past year, as U.S. forces clamped down on al-Qaida activities farther south, Mosul has once again emerged as a violent center of insurgent activities, a key U.S. commander said on Thursday.
The experience in Mosul offers a cautionary note as the U.S. military nears the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war amid a drawdown of American troops.
By Gregg K. Kakesako, Honolulu Star Bulletin
Despite the insistence by local environmental groups that Fort Lewis is a better location than Schofield Barracks, Army planners say there is no room at the Washington state base for another 4,000-member Stryker Brigade Combat Team and their family members.
Fort Lewis was the home of the Army's first combat unit built around the 320 eight-wheeled, 19-ton vehicles. Opponents like environmental lawyer David Henkin believe the Washington facility has the necessary room and its location near an Air Force transport base makes it a better choice than Schofield Barracks.
Mike Gilbert of The News Tribune has a nice photo and brief overview of the final version of the 3/2 SBCT's memorial for the soldiers who died during its two deployments to Iraq.
Journalist Michael Yon recently sat down with General Dubik in Iraq. Dubik was the top commander at Ft. Lewis while the first Stryker brigades were being formed there and is now in charge of the coalition effort to train Iraqi Security Forces. One of the topics of their conversation was the Stryker concept. Excerpt:
Years ago, LTG Dubik was chosen to form the first Stryker brigades from scratch. The Stryker has been a subject of controversy. I’ve spent about eight months on combat operations in Strykers, and perhaps a year in other modes of transportation such as Humvees, Bradleys, and boots. Over the course of that time, I became a firm believer in Strykers because what a lot of Stryker critics don’t seem to understand—presumably because they have spent little time in combat with numerous units—is that it’s not all about the vehicle. Yes, the Stryker itself is fantastic. (History might be less kind to the new MRAP.) But the biggest factor in its effectiveness is not in the vehicle, but in the way that soldiers who use it have learned to fight. The critiques I read all focused on the Stryker vehicle and totally missed the fact that Stryker brigades fight Kung Fu-style, while Humvee fighting is more like street brawling. Stryker brigades fight faster and with greater agility. Soldiers have more information. As a consequence, decision-making is distributed and responsibility pushed farther down the chain of command during fighting.
Mike Gilbert of The News Tribune has published a long list of resources available to military families looking for support. While it is geared towards the Ft. Lewis community it is still relevant to everyone.
LES BLUMENTHAL; The News Tribune
WASHINGTON – About 2,000 more active-duty soldiers will be stationed at Fort Lewis during the next five years as the Army increases its forces, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Now, 28,000 soldiers are stationed at the post outside Tacoma. The additional troops and 5,000 more civilian personnel will bring the levels at Fort Lewis to about 35,000 by 2013.
“This is going to be big,” said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, a senior member of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. “We always like to go in the plus direction.”
The following article profiles the Fisher House facility at Ft. Lewis. I know a number of Stryker families have taken advantage of the organization's housing at Ft. Lewis and elsewhere.
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Like a lot of Army spouses, Sora Oakes figured she’d be better off staying back home with her family while her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Don Oakes, was in Iraq.
So when he deployed in April, she and their son Connor moved out of their quarters at Fort Lewis and in with her folks in Tennessee.
That worked fine – until Oakes got hurt Nov. 9. He suffered a badly broken leg when a wall collapsed onto him during a mission in Diyala province.
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Behind the thousands of local service members who have gone to Iraq or Afghanistan, there are nearly the same number of children left behind to ask questions, including these three big ones:
Will Mom or Dad be safe? Will I be safe? And who will take care of me?
More than 450 educators, counselors and others who work with youths gathered Friday for “Supporting Military Kids – A Day of Awareness.”
Organizers believe the event at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center was the first of its kind in the nation. They hope it will become an annual conference geared to the larger community beyond the boundaries of the region’s numerous military bases.
LES BLUMENTHAL; The News Tribune
WASHINGTON – The House late Tuesday passed a mammoth military construction bill that provides $378 million for projects at Fort Lewis.
The increase would cover the cost of additional housing and operation projects resulting from the decision to add 65,000 soldiers to the Army’s active-duty force in the next several years.
Fort Lewis is now considered one of the Army’s mega-posts, along with Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Campbell in Kentucky and Fort Hood in Texas. With three Stryker brigades and the shift of troops back to the United States from Germany, roughly 30,000 troops are expected to be based at Fort Lewis. Other additional units include a new artillery and rocket brigade and a Special Forces aviation battalion.
The NW Guardian is the official newspaper of the Ft. Lewis community, and they have consistent coverage of the various Stryker Brigades. We haven't done a very good job of featuring their stories, but we'll try and correct that in the future. Right now they have a number of stories online regarding 3/2 SBCT homecoming activities. Stop by their website, spend a few minutes browsing their content, and bookmark it for future reference.
FORT LEWIS -- In "Mr. T's" kindergarten class at Evergreen Elementary, 5-year-old Annika and her classmates are scribbling lines in their journals. The assignment is a daily question, and today's seeks a few thoughts about their favorite "math stations" exercise.
Annika, however, is more focused than most upon filling her page.
When her teacher, Jeff Thompson, reaches Annika and asks her to translate what she has busily used her pencil to create, Annika tells him about her favorite math station.
Then she reads for him about a more significant part of her life:
"My daddy, I'm missing him so much because he's in Iraq," she says, running her finger over penciled lines as she interprets them for her teacher.
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Just like past Fort Lewis commanders, Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr. is responsible for training the post’s troops and taking care of their families.
He has 11,000-plus Fort Lewis soldiers now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, more troops deployed than at any time since the Vietnam War.
He also has the job of maintaining relations with the military leaders of U.S. allies across the Pacific, and ensuring that the Army is a good neighbor to communities around Fort Lewis.
The names of eight members of the armed forces from Washington killed in Iraq in July will one day be inspiration for quiet thought at the 10-acre Reflection Park being created in the historic garrison section of Fort Lewis.
The names and dates of all the fallen from this state's towns and military bases, from every service branch in every war beginning with World War I, will be engraved on granite walls set amid the sound of trickling water.