The hometown Baltimore Sun had a follow up today on the death of Staff Sgt. Joseph Curreri, the communications sergeant with an OD-A team out of 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group who died Friday in the Philippines.

According his biography released by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Curreri was an impressive young man – a graduate of the University of Southern California and an accomplished competitive swimmer who enlisted in the Army and went straight into the Special Forces. Unanswered was how he could he have drowned.

The Sun quoted his father:

The

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A couple hundred soldiers from the 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion are due back from 15 months in Baghdad.

A Fort Lewis press release said “they collected human and signal intelligence and provided intelligence analysis for Multi-National Corps – Iraq.”

There’s one return ceremony scheduled for Monday afternoon and another on Tuesday.

From the ‘I Did Not Know This’ File: Washington state law requires public schools to spend at least 60 minutes in the week before Nov. 11 on “educational activities suitable to the observance of Veterans’ Day.”

RCW 28A.230.160 says, in part:

The responsibility for the preparation and presentation of the activities approximating at least sixty minutes total throughout the week shall be with the principal or head teacher of each school building and such program shall embrace topics tending to instill a loyalty and devotion to the institutions and laws of this state and nation.

So

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The Washington Post, the New York Times and The Associated Press all had stories today about Adm. Mike Mullen’s visit Tuesday with artillery officers at Fort Sill, Okla. The new chairman of the joint chiefs of staff was on a quick tour of a couple Army posts to get the soldiers’ view of how the service is holding up under the strain of the wars.

Mullen met mostly with captains, most of them combat veterans.

From the Post:

Mullen acknowledged that troops in Iraq are tired and “ready to come home.” He said his goal

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The Los Angeles Times has a good story today about Darrell Griffin, Sr., father of a Fort Lewis Stryker soldier killed in Iraq last March.

The elder Griffin went to Iraq himself to research a book he is writing about his son, Staff Sgt. Darrell Griffin, Jr., who died March 21 in Baghdad.

The Cramer family pictured at home in Okinawa on the day — Oct. 21, 1957 — that Capt. Harry G. Cramer would become the first the first U.S. service man killed in Vietnam. Young Hank, age 4, clutches a hat between his sisters, Kainan, left, and Anne, right, mom Anne, and their nanny, Imiko.

Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the death of U.S. Army Capt. Harry G. Cramer, who depending how you look at it, can be seen as the first U.S. combat death of the war in Vietnam. Cramer was

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The Department of Defense today confirmed the news about pending callups and deployments for eight National Guard brigades — including Washington’s 81st Brigade Combat Team.

These units are currently scheduled to begin deployment in the summer of 2008. They are receiving alert orders now in order to provide them the maximum time to complete their preparations. It also provides a greater measure of predictability for family members and flexibility for employers to plan for military service of their employees.

That said, the alert order the Washington Guard received last night still is only an alert, and

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Here’s that message that went out Thursday afternoon that put the 81st Brigade Combat Team on alert.

G3 18 October 2007

S: 0800(L), 19 October 2007

MEMORANDUM FOR Commander, 81st HBCT WQYQFF

SUBJECT: ROARING BULL message for NGB Mobilization Alert Order number XXX-XX

1. Reference. NGB Mobilization Alert Order number XXX-XX "Operation NOBLE EAGLE/ENDURING FREEDOM/IRAQI FREEDOM" for Partial Mobilization dated 19 xxxxZ OCT 07.

2. This is a ROARING BULL message effective 18 1600(L) OCT 07. This message is applicable to all units associated with WQYQFF (WQYQAA HQ 81st BCT, WQYTAA 181st BSB, WPRJAA

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