The Army posted two more videos of 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment soldiers working in the Baqouba area. The footage was shot by Army public affairs photographers.

This one shows troops methodically working their way through a palm grove. If you remember the first trip, it looks a lot like the groves along Ambush Alley in Duluiyah.

And this one shows soldiers moving house to house in an urban area called Buhriz Station.

U.S. military officials in Baghdad also posted this press release Tuesday about 5/20 operations in Baqouba.

Also, blogger Bill Roggio

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The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Midgett made it home to Seattle on Friday after a six-month spin around the world that saw them catch smugglers in the Caribbean, enforce the laws of the high seas in the Middle East and trained sailors from Jordan, Djibouti, Yemen and Pakistan.

The

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We ran this story from an embedded Associated Press reporter with the 3rd Brigade element that moved up to Diyala Province. It’s tough stuff – but also a reminder that this is exactly what the brigade commander meant when he said his troops would serve as the theater-wide strike force.

The Army posted some video of Wednesday’s operations. It’s pretty much raw camera footage with some brief comments at the end by a soldier, Staff Sgt. Dewey Knapp, but it gives a good visual sense of what the area is like.

Update: The Army released two

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There doesn’t appear to be a ton of chatter out there regarding Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik’s successor as boss at I Corps and Fort Lewis, but you can scratch two who might otherwise have been reasonable candidates — Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli and Maj. Gen. William Caldwell.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced today that Chiarelli, who led the 1st Cavalry Division for a year in Baghdad then returned as commander of the Multi-national Corps Iraq, will be his senior military assistant. The Seattle University man is currently assigned as special assistant to the commander at the U.S.

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No, really. The zoo. No smoking near the monkeys.

Another letter home from Lt. Col. Matt Green of DuPont.

I sat in COL B’s office drinking chai. We drink lots of chai. His office is typical, a desk at one end, adorned with a standard western style collection of name placards, blotters, phones, and memorabilia. It is rarely used. The work is always done in the couches that line the walls. A collection of one, two, and three person overstuffed low slung couches, all brand new line two walls. He has spent a good chunk of cash on them I am sure. The fourth wall is the home of the obligatory TV. Depending on the time of day, it alternates between the news and the ever popular Arabic or Indian Music Videos. I am for more in tune with Bollywood than Hollywood these days. The room is rounded out with a set of three low tables that are in constant motion around the room as guest come and go and are served various meals. I average at least one meal here a day. I try to bring deserts or snacks with me when I can…I hate that they are paying out of pocket to feed me…and they hate it when they don’t have the opportunity.

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The Washington Post’s “In the Loop” columnist Al Kamen had an interesting item Friday that provides some insight into how the media handlers at Army posts around the country are provided the same sheet of music.

The Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs – that’s OCPA to you and me – tasked public affairs officers around the country to ring up their local Army hospitals to find out if they’ve got any lurking issues that might make headlines.

The memo also advised the PAOs to be “painfully transparent” about medical care issues, and passed on talking

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Soldiers from the Stryker Brigade’s 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment are in the middle of the push into Sadr City.

The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Avanulas Smiley of Tumwater, was featured in a segment Thursday on NPR’s “All Things Considered” talking about the ‘soft knock’ approach U.S. and Iraqi troops are trying as they make their way through the massive Shiite slum — home turf to Moqtada al Sadr’s Jaish al Mahdi militia. (Although the picture caption on the NPR web site seems to confuse Tomahawk 6 with the radio talk-show host Tavis Smiley.)

The Army, meantime,

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