An injured soldier from Castle Rock met one of his last goals as he prepares to leave the Army when he cleaned up at the Warrior Games this month, earning two medals in the annual athletic competition for veterans.

Sgt. Josh Andrew, 26, won a gold medal for the shot put and a silver for his discus throw.

He’s assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Warrior Transition Battalion, where he is receiving treatment for repeated knee injuries he sustained on deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for concussions he suffered from explosions in combat.

Andrew plans to …

Read more »

An Army judge on Thursday handed down the toughest sentence he could to a soldier who murdered five fellow service members at a Baghdad combat stress clinic four years ago.

Sgt. John Russell will serve life without parole for shooting to death two care providers, two patients and an escort at the clinic in Baghdad’s Camp Liberty on May 11, 2009.

“You are not a monster,” Army Judge Col. David Conn said at Russell’s sentencing, according to Reuters. “But you have knowingly and deliberately done incredibly monstrous things.”

“Sgt. Russell, you have forced many to drink from a bitter cup. …

Read more »

A new report from the Government Accountability Office shows that the number of civilian and military employees at Joint Base Lewis-McChord has increased by almost 64 percent since 2006, a pace that marked the fifth-fastest clip for any domestic military installation.

The base added about 20,600 civilian and military employees in that period, giving it a payroll of some 52,800 service members and civilians as of last year.

Lewis-McChord caught the attention of the GAO for a report looking at military bases that added or lost significant numbers of service members in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure round. …

Read more »

An Australian two-star general is visiting Joint Base Lewis-McChord this week with a message about the Army’s reinvigorated focus on the Pacific.

“It’s good to have you back,” said Maj. Gen. Rick Burr.

Burr is making the rounds in the Northwest as the deputy commanding general for U.S. Army Pacific in Hawaii. It’s a new position, and it’s intended to be reserved for Australians in the years ahead.

U.S. Army Pacific leads about 60,000 soldiers in Hawaii, Alaska, South Korea and at Lewis-McChord. It answers to the Defense Department’s Pacific Command under Adm. Samuel Locklear.

Burr’s position is one of …

Read more »

A Tacoma doctor and a medical ethics advocacy group are petitioning the Defense Department to halt exercises at Joint Base Lewis-McChord this week and later this month that call on airmen to use live animals for training.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine wants the Defense Department to move away from employing four-legged mammals for medical exercises and instead make more use of simulators that provide better training for doctors.

The group sent its request to Air Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Thomas Travis this week. It’s asking the Air Force to nix the exercises on the grounds that they …

Read more »

Thousands of Defense Department employees in Pierce and Thurston counties are still facing the likelihood of unpaid time off this summer, but not as much as the Pentagon initially proposed.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday released a plan requiring about 680,000 civilian employees across the country to take 11 furlough days through the end of September.

The furloughs are scheduled to begin July 8 unless Congress allocates money to prevent the spending reduction, meaning workers will take off about one day a week for three months.

That’s down from an initial Pentagon furlough proposal that would have mandated 22 …

Read more »

The city of Lakewood is accepting donations to assist single soldiers assigned to a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker brigade set to return home this summer.

Residents interested in making donations can drop items off at the front counter on the third floor of Lakewood City Hall, 6000 Main St. SW, or at the Lakewood Police Department, 9401 Lakewood Dr. SW. Donations will be accepted through the end of June.

The donated items will be forwarded to the family readiness groups for the Dragoon Raiders brigade who will place them in the soldiers’ barracks before they return. Residents can also learn …

Read more »

Sgt. John Russell grew increasingly paranoid in the days before he killed five fellow U.S. service members at a Baghdad combat stress clinic, soldiers who knew him testified today.

His belief that his unit was trying to kick him out of the Army was one of the reasons his commander, Capt. Mark Natale, referred him to counseling instead of disciplining him for an insubordinate, expletive laden outburst in early May 2009.

If he could go back to that moment, Natale would not be so generous.

“If I would’ve known what I know now, I probably would have zip-tied his (butt) …

Read more »