Secretary of the Army John McHugh is visiting Joint Base Lewis-McChord Thursday to make announcement on a “force alignment” decision that will impact the military community south of Tacoma, the Army said today.

McHugh’s visit appears different from recent trips made by other senior Army leaders to Lewis-McChord in the past two months in that the Army says McHugh has a “basing decision” to release tomorrow. That’s different from the Army leaders who visited Lewis-McChord to answer questions about the base and the state of the force, but not to break news.

Recently, defense experts have suggested Lewis-McChord is ready …

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If you’ve been slowed by traffic on Interstate 5 through Joint Base Lewis-McChord, you might have noticed  lost trees, orange construction fence and an assortment of heavy equipment near the old logistics gate (near Exit 123).

Construction has begun on an estimated $109 million center that will centralize the maintenance, repair and upgrading of military vehicles and equipment that occurs at more than 20 World War II-era work sites spread throughout the joint base.

The so-called Regional Logistics Support Complex will be built in four phases, of which two are funded.

The first two phases will construct two state-of-the-art maintenance …

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KABUL – Army Command Sgt. Major John Troxell is one of the highest ranking, most experienced U.S. soldiers fighting in Afghanistan this year. His counterpart in the Afghan army has the same prestige.

They trust each other, but whenever they meet one another, each soldier brings a personal security team.

“I always have someone locked and loaded, passively watching,” Troxell said.

His safety precautions are being replicated throughout the NATO headquarters where he works and its connected bases around Kabul.

They grew in importance this year in the wake of a string of incidents that left 17 NATO service members …

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KABUL – Sgt. 1^st Class Ricky Irvin took a look at the gym at the NATO headquarters here when he arrived last summer and knew he wanted something a little more intense. He had a long year ahead of him working odd hours in a communications shop for the war’s commanders.

He led a push to create a CrossFit gym just across a pathway from where some of the Afghanistan War’s top commanders make their decisions to shape the conflict. It was a hit, with about 50 people or more each day heading over for the short, high-intensity workouts for …

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Well, this is an interesting day to get to Kabul.

Peter and I were in a bubble today when insurgent attacks broke out in Kabul and in several other provinces. We were flying from Kandahar Air Field to Kabul International Airport to connect with the war’s commanders from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s I Corps.

At the time, we thought our main conflict for the day was going to be the guy from KBR who didn’t want to let us through his terminal to the French air force cargo plane that was booked for the Kabul flight. We made it, …

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No one goes hungry at the big NATO bases here in Afghanistan. Some of the most developed ones have ice cream, stir-fry dinners and elaborate salad fixings. There’s something for everyone, and the menu changes every day.

It’s tougher to get a tasty fix at small outposts where fewer than a couple hundred soldiers are stationed. The food gets monotonous, and eating can become a chore even for hungry troops. Whenever they can, soldiers buy Afghan bread from bakers or beg it off Afghan soldiers if they can’t purchase it.

“My guys will eat that up,” said Capt. Joe Mickley …

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Adam Ashton and Peter Haley in Kandahar

Peter and I are back at Kandahar Air Field en route to an embed with Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s I Corps in Kabul.

We’re putting the finishing touches on a couple more feature stories from our time with Lewis-McChord’s 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division and they should be out in the paper within the next two weeks.

Kabul is bound to be a major difference for us. Zabul Province is rural and remote. It has one paved road. I’m sure the capital will look like a different nation to us after our weeks in the countryside.

Our main stories don’t show …

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