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Three soldiers have been arrested over the fatal stabbing of one of their comrades in what was originally described by officers as a 'hate crime', it emerged today. The trio were held at the weekend when one of them allegedly bragged to a friend that he had murdered somebody and cut his hand on a knife. Tevin Geike, 20, was left for dead in a parking lot near his base in Lakewood, Washington in the early hours of Saturday morning. Previously police said they believed the attack was racially motivated because the attackers - a group of five African American...

LAKEWOOD, Wash. - A 20-year-old active-duty soldier was stabbed to death in a parking lot at the 12500 block of Pacific Highway Southwest around 2:30 a.m., officials say. Three soldiers were walking from Joint Base Lewis-McChord along Pacific Highway SW when a group of men in a car drove by and someone inside shouted a racial comment toward the white soldiers, the Lakewood Police Department said. "One of the soldiers yelled back something about the suspects treating combat soldiers with disrespect," Lt. Chris Lawler said. The vehicle turned around, and five black males got out of the car and confronted...

An active duty combat veteran is dead, a victim of black mob violence. The soldier, who has yet to be identified, had been celebrating his safe return from combat and his imminent release from the military. He was walking to his hotel early Saturday morning near a Seattle area military base where KOMO-TV news picks up the story: A group of men in a car drove by and someone inside shouted a racial comment toward the white soldiers, the Lakewood Police Department said. “One of the soldiers yelled back something about the suspects treating combat soldiers with disrespect,” Lt. Chris...

LAKEWOOD, Wash. - A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier was stabbed to death in a parking lot at the 12500 block of Pacific Highway Southwest around 2:30 a.m., officials say. 20-year-old Tevin Geike was walking with two other soldiers along Pacific Highway SW when a group of men drove by and SHOUTED A RACIAL COMMENT toward the soldiers, the Lakewood Police Department said. "One of the soldiers yelled back something about the suspects treating combat soldiers with disrespect," Lt. Chris Lawler said. . . . ."The initial remark that started the encounter seemed derogatory in nature, said Lakewood police Lt. Chris...

The Army says four more soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state have been charged with premeditated murder in the killing of three Afghan civilians earlier this year. In all, five soldiers have been charged. All are assigned to the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

WHAT COULD THIS MEAN ! IS MARTIAL LAW RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER ?

ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan — More than six years after sending the first Stryker armored vehicles into desert combat, the Army has decided that it’s probably a good idea to start painting them tan so they will blend in with the environments in Afghanistan and Iraq. “Safeguarding soldiers is the primary purpose for this color change,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Peter Butts, commander of the 1st Battalion, 401st Army Field Support Brigade, who announced the change in a news release from Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, earlier this month. “Strykers will blend into surroundings better. They’re less likely to stand out...

<p>Breaking News Alert, Police on scene at Fort Lewis PX Shooting. 2 people shot reported.</p>

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,...

Plenty of former officers have criticized the Iraq War, but there's only been one active duty career soldier who's not only come out against the War but also refused to go and fight in it. (He said he would go to Afghanistan instead, but that the Iraq war is "illegal"). That soldier is Lt. Ehren Watada, 30, a junior Army officer from Hawaii who's become a poster child for the anti-war movement. He's also become persona non grata within the military and is facing a possible sentence of six years in prison. Our friend Tara McKelvey is the first journalist...

It was two years ago yesterday that 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, a 1996 Kalani High School graduate, declared publicly that he would not deploy to Iraq with his Stryker brigade combat team. Today, Watada is still in the Army working at a desk job at Fort Lewis, Wash., while his case is tied up in federal court. Ken Kagan, Watada's attorney, told the Star-Bulletin that federal judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma will probably take up the matter early this fall. In November, Settle ruled that no court-martial will be held for Watada pending the outcome of his claim that it...

The U.S. Army said Friday it will immediately repair barracks at eight facilities in the wake of inspection at bases worldwide. The inspections were done the last week of April and covered nearly 150,000 barracks rooms. They found that 45 repairs needed priority attention, including new heating and cooling equipment, repainting, mold removal and other work. Army Secretary Pete Geren has said that $248 million in emergency funds has been appropriated to fix problems found during the inspections. The Army on Friday identified eight installations that will get priority attention: Fort Polk, La.; Fort Gordon, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort...

NEWARK — The fourth annual American Muslim Voice peace convention brought many speakers of various backgrounds to provide a blueprint for protecting civil rights in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, era. Visitors at the Chandni Restaurant in Newark on Sunday evening cheered and listened to guest speakers, such as anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, Muslim convert Brandon Mayfield and Ron Takaki, an ethnic studies professor at University of California,Berkeley. The conventions theme was building a beloved community, which included topics such as Fighting for the American Constitution and America, One Nation under God? These topics were discussed by a group of panelists...

BAGHDAD, Nov. 15, 2007 – The 514th Medical Company from Fort Lewis, Wash., held the first event of a basic medical skills training series with four Iraqi soldiers Nov. 11 at Camp Liberty here. The Iraqi soldiers and their American counterparts, spent the day together reviewing proper techniques and procedures for safely moving a casualty from the point of injury to the transport vehicle and then on to the medical treatment facility safely and efficiently. The training also included each step of the basic trauma assessment that should be executed prior to casualty movement. Army Capt. Rodemil Fuentes, commander of...

Anti-war protests have returned to the Port of Olympia with the unloading of a military ship bearing Army gear from a Stryker Brigade that recently returned to nearby Fort Lewis from Iraq. According to an initial news release Sunday from Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, the group at first did not plan to try to block cargo from being sent from the port to the Army post ... Late Monday, however, after the arrival of 950-foot roll-on, roll-off cargo vessel, group leaders said a series of votes and discussions resulted in a change in strategy. "As long as the war in...

Emotional ceremony officially welcomes Stryker soldiers home The soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division got their formal welcome home Thursday at Fort Lewis in an emotional ceremony that saw dozens of their wounded rejoin the ranks, and seven of their heroes decorated for valor – one of them posthumously. “I am as proud of these soldiers in front of you as anything I’ve been associated with in my life,” their commander, Col. Stephen Townsend, told several thousand friends and family members who attended Thursday’s celebration at Gray Army Airfield.“I know you all are just as proud of them.”Nearly...

FORT LEWIS, Wash., Aug. 30, 2007 – Members of the Fort Lewis community paid a somber tribute yesterday to two of their own killed in recent combat operations in Iraq. About 250 friends and family, fellow soldiers and community members gathered in the base’s Evergreen Chapel to honor Cpl. Shawn D. Hensel and Cpl. Willard M. Powell. Both soldiers were members of the 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team’s 4th Brigade, both hailed from the Hoosier state and both were buried Aug. 25 near their respective hometowns. Hensel, 20, of Logansport, Ind., was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry...

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — It was 3 o’clock on a January morning when a convoy of Stryker vehicles rolled out of this protected American base near the main Baghdad airport. The discovery of 27 bodies on a part of Haifa Street, a meandering road that also goes through the Green Zone or, as it is now called, International Zone, meant it was time to help the Iraqis take back what has been called one of Baghdad’s meanest and toughest areas, a place, according to news reports, even henchmen of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein avoided. Sgt. Holly Jensen of the...

Fort Lewis deserter arrested in crash that killed young boy Joshua Beadle is seen in this undated police booking photo. YouNewsTV™ Story Published: Aug 8, 2007 at 12:56 PM PDT Story Updated: Aug 8, 2007 at 5:06 PM PDT By KOMO Staff Watch the story WESTMINSTER, Colo. -- Investigators here say an Army soldier who deserted from Fort Lewis, Wash. is suspected of crashing into another vehicle and killing a 10-year-old boy. Westminster police arrested Joshua Beadle, 21, for investigation of vehicular homicide and driving under the influence. Officials say Beadle ran a red light on Friday and slammed into...

BAQOUBA, Iraq –    Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Labrosse, a platoon sergeant in Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, scans rooftops in Baqouba, Iraq, for insurgent activity April 23. Soldiers of 5-20 Inf. Regt., 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash., began the clearing operation with Iraqi Army soldiers April 23 to rid the Tahrir neighborhood of insurgents. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Antonieta Rico, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment) Spc. Edwin Kane of Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, and a soldier from 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, move...