Naturally, I could only get in a fraction of what Lt. Gen. Jim Dubik talked about during his 50-minute round-table with reporters Friday at the Fort Lewis and I Corps headquarters. Journalists from the Associated Press, the Olympian, the Fort Lewis Ranger, KOMO-TV, National Public Radio and the post newspaper, the Guardian, took part.

Some highlights that didn’t make the paper:

&bull He said he didn’t know how hard the job of building the Iraqi military and police forcese, and the institutions to support them, will be until he gets on the ground in Baghdad and starts doing the job, but he said it’s sure to be hard.

“I think it’s a very hard, tough, complex problem but none of the difficulties mitigate the importance — the importance to them and to us,” he said. “A Middle East that is unstable, that continuess to fight for a decade, or more, is not something that is in the interest of this country or the in the of the west. We need to put our eyes on our national interest, and put our eyes on what the enemy wants.”

He added: “The enemy attacked us. They have declared war on this country. They have declared that their goal is to weaken or disolve our economy and change the way we live, And they’re doing it. This is a serious enemy that deserves our national attention.”

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Fort Lewis has more than just two of its Stryker brigades deployed to Iraq. Here’s a rundown of all the post’s units in Iraq — about 9,400 soldiers in all — and in Afghanistan — a little more than 600. That makes a total of about 10,000 Fort Lewis troops in harm’s way at this moment.

In Iraq: The two Strykers –- the 3rd and 4th brigades, 2nd Infantry Division — along with the 593rd Corps Support Group headquarters, the 513th Transportation Company, the 497th Transportation Company, the 520th Medical Company, the 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion, Detachment A of

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The Government Accountability Office came to Fort Lewis as part of its most recent update on the quality and availability of body armor for soldiers and Marines. The GAO’s findings, released Friday: the services have enough sets on hand to meet requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan, testing shows it works, and the two services are talking to each other about quality and testing.

Gen. George Casey, the new chief of staff of the Army, will be at Fort Lewis on Thursday for a quick visit – his first since he was installed in the Army’s top job earlier this month.

A Fort Lewis spokesman said Casey is on a trip to visit installations across the Army and will be at FLWA less than day. He’ll meet with commanders and get a quick overview of what’s going on at the post.

No press.

UPDATE: Word was the CSA was going to meet this afternoon will family members at a

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When Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik relinquishes command Monday at Fort Lewis and heads to Baghdad to take over the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, he’ll be taking the Fort Lewis and I Corps public affairs officer, Lt. Col. Dan Williams, with him. (Perhaps he will improve their web site?)

The PAO is the public face of the installation and plays a big part in the post’s relations with surrounding communities and especially us media types.

Williams will be succeeded by Lt. Col. Ken McDorman, currently assigned as the 8th Army spokesman and commander of the Armed

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Another installment in the adventures of Fort Lewis’ favorite Iraqi police adviser.

Voices echoed off the ridiculously tall ceilings of the palace. Unfortunate really, the intricate Moroccan designs carved into the ceiling are almost too far off to appreciate. I leaned up against the frame of huge handcrafted wooden doors with several other members of my team. We had been cooling our heals in a back room for over an hour and then hastily rushed to the lobby of the main conference room. The Iraqis were all ushered inside and the Americans stripped off the tail of the procession as the large doors closed with some urgency.

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A McChord airman was awarded the Bronze Star medal Friday for his valorous actions while gathering intelligence on roadside bombs in Iraq.

In a separate ceremony at the base, a retired tech sergeant finally received the Purple Heart he earned in Vietnam nearly 36 years ago.

Godin	Hogue
U.S. Air Force photos/Abner Guzman

Tech. Sgt. Lawrence Godin, assigned to the 62nd Operations

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About 20 soldiers from the Washington National Guard’s 81st Brigade Combat Team are due home Saturday after a year in Afghanistan, where they spent the past year as augmentees with the Connecticut National Guard’s 102nd Infantry Regiment, the Washington guard says.

In Afghanistan the 81st soldiers worked mainly to protect the provisional reconstruction teams working in the southern part of the country.

UPDATE: The USO Puget Sound chapter is throwing a welcome home party at the mezzanine level auditorium at Sea-Tac Airport beginning about 9 a.m. All are welcome to come out and support the troops, organizer Carrie

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