Digging out from the stuff that piled up while I was on vacation. … You probably saw a couple weeks back that Maj. Gen. Carter Ham – he commanded Task Force Olympia from Fort Lewis in northern Iraq – has been nominated for a third star and appointment as the J-3, director of operations, on the Joint Staff.

This is a big dang deal for a guy who started out as an enlisted joe and who was responsible for thousands of Fort Lewis troops who were there when things went to hell in Mosul in 2004-05.

He is currently

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As promised, Fort Lewis boss Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby held a roundtable with newsies on Wednesday at the I Corps conference room. He apologized for not having done it sooner – like right after he assumed command last month – but at the time he said his immediate concern was getting his elderly mom out to Lewis to witness what he figures might be his last promotion, and then safely back home to Florida.

Full disclosure: I brought my digital voice recorder to the session. But like a D.S., I seem to have lost it somewhere here at the TNT

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Fort Lewis’ commanding general, Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, Jr., will talk to reporters for the first time Wednesday in a media roundtable session that’s scheduled to last an hour.

Got any questions for him?

Back in the saddle after two refreshing weeks of vacation. …

Fort Lewis and I Corps welcomed its new deputy commanding general Monday in a ceremony under the flagpole.

Brig. Gen. Donald M. Campbell, Jr., — bio and mugshot here — has spent the better part of two of the past four years in Iraq, first as commander of the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, then as the Ivy Division’s chief of staff, and then from January to December 2006 as the Multi-National Corps-Iraq chief of staff when it was V Corps’ turn to run the

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Fort Lewis and its housing contractor, Equity Residential, say they’re going to break ground Friday morning on a new park on post to remember fallen service members from Washington and Fort Lewis’ contribution to conflicts going back to World War I.

This drawing shows an aerial view of the park, which would appear to be several blocks long. Officials say it will be built

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Notes from a day spent following Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody around Fort Lewis:
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The vice checked in with commanders and soldiers from the Army’s latest Stryker brigade, the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. He presided over promotions, awards and re-enlistments at the 555th Engineer Brigade, and lunched with the engineers.

He met for more than 90 minutes with about 50 spouses from several family readiness groups, mostly from the post’s two deployed Stryker brigades.

Then he headed over to Madigan Army Medical Center for a briefing with senior hospital officials for a progress report on his Army Medical Action Plan. Then it was more awards, promotions and re-enlistments at Madigan, then a town hall meeting with wounded and injured soldiers, and then a visit up on the 7th floor with three wounded soldiers.

And finally, it was off for more awards, promotions and re-enlistments at the 62nd Medical Brigade, which is heading out in a few weeks for its third Iraq deployment.
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At the town hall meeting, one reserve major asked how he could get put back on active duty now that his health issues have been cleared up and he’s been declared fit for duty.

Cody thought about it for a minute and then said the easiest way would be for the major to send him an e-mail.

But then he thought about it a little more. Maybe it would be best if the major went through channels.

"I’m a large-caliber weapon system," Cody said. "I tell a one-star general to do something, he’ll do it. But you’ll pay for it the rest of your career."

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