Free Republic

JBLM Army doctor was formally arraigned on Friday in what has been described as the largest sexual assault case of its type in military history. Michael Stockin said little during the brief arraignment at the Cascade Courthouse Complex as part of an Article 120 hearing. He stands accused of sexually assaulting at least four dozen men during his time as a pain management doctor at Madigan Army Hospital at JBLM. Stockin deferred entering a plea during his first court appearance Friday, which is allowed in military court. A charging sheet obtained by KOMO News claims that Stockin abused the soldiers...

Last month the Pentagon sent a tough signal to its fastest-growing rival in Asia when a U.S. Navy warship sailed close by an artificial Chinese island in the contested waters of the South China Sea. The message: The U.S. will stand by its allies as they confront China's increasingly muscular military. This month, the Defense Department picked Joint Base Lewis-McChord for a friendlier exchange between the two world powers. The Army is opening up the South Sound base for a weeklong exercise with its Chinese counterpart, the People's Liberation Army. It's fairly small compared with some of the standard engagements...

SHELTON, Wash. -- A soldier at Joint Base Lewis-McChord died Friday afternoon during a skydiving training exercise, military officials said. The soldier, who has not been identified, is part of a special forces unit, according to Major Tim Chavez. Members of the unit were doing air drop training around noon when the soldier was forced to deploy his reserve chute somewhere over Mason County.

Here's a dip of the flag and a big bravo zulu to the soldiers of Joint Base Lewis/McChord (JBLM). I was driving north on I-5 at about 12N today. Just south of the main gate, a small grass fire was burning along the fence line and expanding fast. Traffic was at a crawl. Many cars ahead of me pulled over and one by one, soldiers en route to some where, jumped out and ran back to the fire. As I got up to the fire, I could see 8 to 10 soldiers - men and women both - literally stomping...

Three black soldiers arrested for stabbing white comrade to death 'called him a cracker' - so why are police now so sure it was NOT a hate crime? Police today said the stabbing death of a white Army soldier allegedly at the hands of a group of African American comrades was not a hate crime - despite witnesses claiming they called him a 'cracker' during the confrontation. Tevin Geike, 20, was left for dead in a parking lot near his base in Lakewood, Washington, in the early hours of Saturday morning and three soldiers have been arrested over the killing....

SEATTLE (AP) -- A former platoon leader for the soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians says the allegations are "100 percent out of character" for the man, whom he described as a "very solid" noncommissioned officer who has saved other soldiers' lives. Army Capt. Chris Alexander was Robert Bales' platoon leader during a deployment to Iraq.

Senior US officials told the BBC the name of the suspect as he was heading back to the US to face charges. He is being flown to Fort Leavenworth, in Kansas, from Kuwait. His lawyer, John Henry Browne, said on Thursday that the suspect was a 38-year-old man who had been injured twice while serving in Iraq. He also said the accused had witnessed his friend's leg blown off the day before the killings. That incident has not been confirmed by the US Army. The Taliban called off peace talks in the wake of Sunday's deadly rampage - in which...

Long before the US soldier suspected of slaying 16 Afghan villagers was identified as an Army sergeant from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the installation had earned a reputation as the most troubled outpost in the American military. The Army station near Tacoma, Washington, has come under scrutiny as the home of several soldiers involved in wartime atrocities in 2010 and a base scarred by a record number of suicides last year. It has deployed troops repeatedly to Iraq, and late last year, sent soldiers to Afghanistan. The independent military newspaper Stars and Stripes in December 2010 called Lewis-McChord "the most troubled...