A lacrosse team in Alpharetta, Ga., recently raised more than $2,750 in memory of Capt. John L. Hallett III, a member of 5th Brigade, 2nd Infanty Division killed in Afghanistan last year.

“The Junior Raider team, composed of students in middle school, conducted a 12-hour “lacrosse-athon” Feb. 6, playing non-stop lacrosse through sleet, rain and snow from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m.,” the article reads. “Players solicited donations from neighbors, friends and family for the Wounded Warrior Project after learning of the connection between (varsity player Cal Swanson and his cousin) Hallett.”

Other local links:

2nd Battalion, 75th …

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The mother-in-law of a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Army Ranger killed in Afghanistan wrote an eloquent, emotional post about what it was like to attend the memorial service on base.

Sgt. Joel D. Clarkson of 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment died from wounds sustained during a firefight on March 13. The 23-year-old Alaska native died three days later at the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

His mother-in-law, Doni Turner, wrote beautifully about the service. “Orion and I sat down in the quiet church, only soft piano music playing, and he took down a bottle and nestled into me,” she …

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The Pentagon confirmed today the death of a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Army Ranger from wounds he received in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Joel D. Clarkson of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, came under enemy fire on March 13. He was wounded (his uncle told the Whidbey News-Times of Oak Harbor he was shot in the head), treated on the battlefield, evacuated to a nearby medical facility and later flown to the American military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

The 23-year-old Alaska native died in Germany on March 16.

One point of correction: Clarkson was critically injured in Farah province. His family has told other newspapers – which The News Tribune repeated – that the 23-year-old Alaska native was hurt in Helmand province.
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If you haven’t had a chance — and the news of the health-care reform bill passing the House has pushed it down our homepage — check out the story of some local Women Airforce Service Pilots. I got a chance to interview two of them, and I had more fun during those two sit-downs than with almost any other interview in a long time.

Other local links:

Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Fort Lewis unit detonates 1930s-era mortar shell near Kelso airport [The Daily News]
City of Olympia, port focus on military cargo [The Olympian]

2nd Battalion, …

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An Army Ranger from Joint Base Lewis-McChord has died after being critically wounded in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Joel D. Clarkson, a 23-year-old Alaska native, died Wednesday after being injured by small-arms fire during a mission in Helmand province March 12. Clarkson was a member of 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and was on his fifth overseas tour.

He is survived by his wife, Cassandra, and their f9-month-old son, Orion. The couple lived in Puyallup.

Eleven soldiers from 2nd Ranger Battalion have been killed during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Clarkson is the first member of the Special Operations battalion to die in combat since June 2008.

The Pentagon has yet to confirm Clarkson’s death, but relatives spread the news on a Facebook page created shortly after he was injured. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell also acknowledged it in a statement late Friday evening.
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The former Fort Lewis-based Ranger already serving 24 years for a takeover-style robbery of a Tacoma bank has been sentenced to another 20 years in a federal lockup for trying to hire a hit man to kill an assistant U.S. attorney.

Luke Elliott Sommer, 23, also shanked a co-defendent at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac. But, he told the judge, it was all to build some prison cred.

According to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release, Sommer pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and solicitation of a crime of violence. The British Columbia native is …

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The Fort Lewis public affairs office has alerted the media that an exercise beginning today that involves special operators could get loud. And it’s not just limited to Lewis or the Yakima Training Center.

The exercise will involve troops from 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment; the 160th Special Operators Aviation Regiment and the Air Force Special Operations Command. They’ll be working in Fort Lewis, the Yakima Training Center, the Snoqualmie National Forest and “surrounding communities.”

The training isn’t open to the media – hey, the Rangers are pretty typically mediaphobic – but Fort Lewis assures us it’s gonna be high-intensity. …

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The long list of stories from over the weekend starts with deaths from 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. The Pentagon released the names of three soldiers from the unit killed Thursday.

5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division:
Soldier knew ‘duty and desire’ [The News Tribune]
Bellevue man among three soldiers killed in Afghanistan [Seattle Times]
As death toll rises, Ft. Lewis soldiers honored [KOMO-TV]
Area soldier killed in Afghanistan [Columbus Dispatch]

2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment:
The night that changed Hilltop [The News Tribune]

3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division:
…

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