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FORT LEWIS, Wash. (Army News Service, Oct. 23, 2006) – In a show of support for troops, the man who coined the terms “kicked up” and “Bam!” held a book-signing event at the Post Exchange Oct. 12 as part of his current book tour. More than 3,500 people comprised the line that snaked around the building to have Chef Emeril Lagasse’s books signed, including his most recent release, “There’s a Chef in my World,” a children’s cookbook. “It’s more than a cookbook – it’s about reading, it’s about mathematics, it’s about weights and measures,” said Lagasse, who wrote the book...

FORT LEWIS, Wash. (Army News Service, Aug. 29, 2006) – A long wait is over for Stryker Mobile Gun System (MSG) crews of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. The 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry, received its complement of MGS vehicles last month after more than a year of waiting. They are the first vehicles to be fielded in the Army. “I think its going to give the infantry a whole new dimension of what they can do. Armor and infantry have kept each other at arm’s length for years and years," said Sgt. 1st Class David Cooper, an MGS platoon...

Shortly after returning from Iraq last year, Army Sgt. Ricky Clousing gathered a few belongings and sneaked out of Fort Bragg, leaving only a note quoting Martin Luther King. After six months spent seeing the "daily physical, psychological and emotional harassment of civilians," the 24-year-old said he was confused and disenchanted with the United States' role in the war.

FORT LEWIS, Wash. (Army News Service, July 10, 2006) – Charges were preferred July 6 against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, for his refusal June 22 to accompany his unit to Iraq and for actions related to that refusal. The charges arose from an initial investigation conducted in the two weeks since the incident. According to Fort Lewis officials, Watada faces charges for three separate violations: missing movement, contempt toward officials and conduct unbecoming an officer. If found guilty on all charges, Watada faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, forfeiture of all...

SEATTLE - As thousands of Fort Lewis Army troops prepare to head back to Iraq, one of their officers is making a stand. A lieutenant says he is going to refuse to go, saying it's an unjust war. Anti-war groups are rallying to his defense. Lt. Ehren Watada of the Stryker Brigade writes, "I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to watch families torn apart, while the President tells us to ‘stay the course.’ I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. "I wanted to be...

All the major training is done. The vehicles will be loaded onto ships later this month at the Port of Olympia, and by the end of next month, the Army’s first Stryker brigade will be on its way back to Iraq. Nearly half the 4,000 soldiers in the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division were with the unit the first time it went over in November 2003. Their experience, and that of the two Stryker brigades that succeeded them, have informed preparations different from the last time, the Fort Lewis-based soldiers say. “Before, we went over thinking we knew what was...

Associated Press FORT LEWIS — After logging thousands of miles during their first two years in Iraq, the Army's Stryker vehicles are getting an overhaul before being sent back with soldiers. The eight-wheeled, armored vehicles are being worked on by mechanics from General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc., which made the Strykers and has a $69 million Army contract to restore them. Maintenance is taking place at this post south of Seattle and at a company yard in Auburn. The Strykers arrived home by ship in late October. They were used for a year in Iraq by the 3rd Brigade, 2nd...

FORT LEWIS, Wa. (Army News Service, Aug. 12, 2005) - Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, have been rotating to Yakima Training Center this summer to train on the first Stryker Mortar Carrier version B, the latest variant of the Stryker to arrive for duty. Brigade units will field the MCV-B, essentially a Stryker with a 120mm mortar mounted in what would normally be the crew compartment, during the fall. “It allows us to be accurate more quickly, to fire fewer rounds to hit the target,” said Spc. Timothy French, a mortar vehicle commander with B Company, 1st Battalion,...

Crawford, Texas (AHN) - Pressure mounted against anti-war protester and mother of fallen Army Spc. Casey Sheehan Friday from millions of bloggers as well as cable news and talk radio outlets began to rip her intentions as well as her motivations to shreds. Ms. Sheehan is camping out on the road that leads to President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch for the entire month of August where Bush makes an annual visit. The President continues his day-to-day business with daily briefings, trips to sign bills around the nation, and meets with organizations across the country while returning to the ranch by...

<p>The photo Cindy Sheehan did not want the world to see: President Bush plants a consoling kiss on the cheek of grieving antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan last year at Fort Lewis, Washington.</p> <p>Mrs. Sheehan is staging a protest vigil in Crawford, Texas demanding a second meeting with President Bush to demand an explanation for why her son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq a year ago April.</p>

FORT LEWIS, Wash. (TRADOC News Service, Aug. 4. 2005) – The population of Fort Lewis grew by more than 8,000 people this summer as Army ROTC cadets, Army Reserve and National Guard Soldiers, and ROTC college staff members are participating in Operation Warrior Forge, also referred to as the Leader Development and Assessment Course. Every year, Warrior Forge helps the U.S. Army Cadet Command provide more than two-thirds of the Army’s new officers, invigorates the local economy – both on post and off – and provides added training for active-duty Army and Reserve units. More than 4,500 cadets from all...

AL-JAZIRAH DESERT, Iraq – Two young cavalry leaders rode hard through the western border country, pushing their Fort Lewis troops nearly 185 miles from Tal Afar to the Euphrates River, then back again. Their faces caked with dust stuck to a week’s worth of sweat, Capts. Keith Walters and Vince Maykovich watched the horizon unfold at 35 mph from the rear hatches of their Stryker. Their troop of 15 vehicles rumbled over scrubland and dry lake beds, slowing now and then to clamber across the wadis – narrow desert gorges where water flows during the rainy season. The longtime friends...

On a day of carnage, it was an intimate image: a soldier clutching a child in his arms. When Amy Bieger, mother of three boys, wife of an infantryman in Iraq, saw the picture on the Internet on Tuesday night, she stared at the little feet dangling in the nook of the man's arm, at the soldier's helmeted head pressed to the child's face. She stared and tears welled up. "I said 'Oh my God, it is one of our soldiers,'" Bieger, 34, said yesterday from her home outside the Fort Lewis, Wash., Army post. "Then I stared at the...

Pfc. Sam Huff decided at age 16 she would enlist in the Army. On Monday she was killed when a roadside bomb detonated next to her Humvee in Baghdad. Eighteen-year-old Pfc. Sam Huff was born with a man's name. But she was a consummate "girlie-girl," said her father, Robert Huff. She liked to wear false eyelashes and played flute in her high-school band. Last July, she joined the Army, the first step in a career she hoped would take her to the FBI. On April 18, Huff, an only child, became the 37th U.S. female to die in combat since...

Just mentioned on FNC: Dining facility on U.S. Base in Iraq hit by rocket attack- 10 dead Waiting for more info...

Two Stryker soldiers killed Insurgents ambush troops from mosque MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune Last updated: December 5th, 2004 03:04 AM (PST) Two Fort Lewis soldiers were killed Saturday in Mosul, Iraq, when insurgents attacked another Stryker patrol, once again firing from a mosque, a U.S. commander said. Stryker troops responding to the ambush routed and killed an undetermined number of the gunmen, said Col. Robert Brown, commander of the Fort Lewis-based 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. They found weapons and ammunition in the mosque and in a nearby hospital, he said. Four other Stryker soldiers were wounded and taken...

I just went and got a haircut. My barber is a very nice Thai lady whom I've been seeing for about ten years. Her son is in Iraq. He called to let her know he has been ordered to Mosul. Please put him on your prayer list. His name is PFC Peter T. Notkin, C Co 1/24 INF. He drives a Stryker armored vehicle. Please keep him and ALL our kids in prayer. His mother is very proud of him and terrified at the same time.

November 6, 2004 FLC faculty ask Bartel to reconsider By Mary Ann Lopez Herald Staff Writer The Fort Lewis College Faculty Senate passed a resolution this week seeking the reinstatement of part-time employee Maria Spero, who resigned after an off-campus incident involving a student. Bartel Tina Evans, Faculty Senate president, would not comment on the resolution adopted Wednesday except to say: "We are not as a faculty completely at odds with (xollege president) Dr. Bartel. We are in dialogue with him on this issue and just offering discussion. "The faculty resolution in no way condones physical violence to anybody," Evans...

Father Tim Vakoc was severely injured in Iraq on May 29, when the Humvee he was driving back to his base at Mosul Airfield in Iraq detonated an explosive device. He continues to recover at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Vakoc is believed to be the first military chaplain wounded in Iraq. Vakoc suffered a severe brain injury and lost his right eye. He will most likely be permanantly paralyzed on the right side of his body. As of 9/22/04 he was in critical but stable condition.

The Bridge People Regulars of Outpost 122 - the folks out every weekend at the Camp Murray/Madigan Army Medical Center overpass at Interstate 5 - will have a 48-hour "Vigil for Victory" beginning at 6 p.m. today. The group is also trying to collect 1,000 "Letters for Liberty" - letters from citizens around the community to soldiers in Washington state-based units in Iraq, organizer Florence Dix said. She said the group is especially trying to reach area residents who don't have loved ones deployed with the military who might be looking for a way to support the troops. Dix said...