The Army will get an eighth Stryker brigade.

Three of them have their home stations here at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Another is based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, another at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; another with the Pennsylvania National Guard; and another in Vilseck, Germany.

Word came down Friday that the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, will convert from a heavy brigade to a Stryker combat team. The unit is now in the latter stages of its third deployment to Iraq; the conversion becomes effective in 2011, and the brigade will be trained …

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Seattle Seahawks players Josh Wilson and Jamar Adams will be paying a visit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Monday. On the agenda will be taking a ride in the C-17 simulator at McChord Field, checking out a real C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and signing autographs for military personnel at McChord Field Base Exchange. The two players will be on the base from noon to 3:30 p.m.

Read the press release issued from McChord:

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Nearly a decade after the 2001 Nisqually earthquake damaged the old building, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday will celebrate a new 83-bed residential center at the American Lake VA in Lakewood. It includes a hospice unit, a rehabilitation unit and an Alzheimer’s disease/dementia unit.

The new 79,000-square-foot lakeside Community Living Center also has a full-service kitchen/dining facility to serve the entire VA campus, plus a private dining area for Alzheimer’s/dementia patients, according to officials with the VA Puget Sound Health Care System.

The 55 current residents will move in later this summer, after …

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By Danny Serna
Staff writer
It’s been a long year for Helen Lowery.
During a summer getaway to Maui last year, then-boyfriend Capt. Nick Harrison proposed to her just before he began a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in July 2009.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,” Lowery said. “But it’s worth it, because he’s amazing.”
The couple were reunited Monday night during a ceremony in a packed Wilson Gym at Lewis-McChord – a scene replayed around 250 times as the first big batch of troops from the …

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The Collings Foundation this year again brings its Wings of Freedom tour of historic aircraft to the Tacoma Narrows Airport near Gig Harbor.

For the next three days, you can see and learn about planes including the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator and the P-51C Mustang, also known fondly as “Betty Jane.” For $425, you can even take a flight on the B-24 or B-17.

On Monday, you can take a walk-through tour from 2 to 5 p.m.; on Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and on Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Click …

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Staff Sgt. Shane Gallagher of the 2-23 Infantry Stryker Brigade based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord was on leave in the middle of his third deployment to Iraq. Despite just having 15 days at home in Dallastown, PA., he paid a special visit to a company.

He wanted to thank the employees of Industrial Distribution Group Inc. in York, PA. The company has sent countless care packages for holidays, birthdays and other occasions to two squads of the brigade.

Employee Christine Hivner says eighty percent of the staff has participated in the drive so far. Some of the workers have become …

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The first major flight of returning soldiers from a battle-hardened Stryker brigade in Afghanistan will arrive at Joint Base Lewis-McChord Monday night, officials say.

About 250 troops from the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division will reunite with their
families and friends at a ceremony scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Monday at Sheridan Gym. The arrival time might push back, however, due to the complexities of military transport.

The brigade deployed last July to Afghanistan, where it has faced hard fighting primarily in Kandahar province in the south. Most of its nearly 4,000 soldiers will round out the year-long deployment by …

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About 200 soldiers belonging to two units that deployed separately for a year to Iraq were reunited with loved ones at homecoming ceremonies Thursday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The 571st Military Police Company and its nearly 140 soldiers returned from Baghdad, where they handled security operations in the international zone and did escort missions. This was the company’s third Iraq tour since 2004.

In a separate homecoming event, about 60 members of the advance party for the 17th Fires Brigade were greeted Thursday afternoon.

Lewis-McChord officials said the remaining troops in the brigade’s headquarters and field artillery battalion will return …

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