Not too much in today’s local links:
Madigan Army Medical Center:
Simplified criteria reduce trauma over-triage without compromising patient outcomes [Reuters]
Veterans:
Bravery honored at VFW event [Tacoma Weekly]
17th Fires Brigade:
Al Quibla Market Helps Bring ‘sense of Normalcy’ to Basrah Neighborhood [DVIDS]
446th Airlift Wing:
Blade Saw [DVIDS]
Local service members:
Victory Cigar Club [DVIDS]
Our Washington correspondent, Les Blumenthal, writes today about the latest in the Air Force tanker contract. (You know that one — it’s the one that imploded in a spectacular fashion last year.)
Other local links:
I Corps/Multi-National Corps-Iraq:
Lesser role spurs talk of faster exit from Iraq [Stars and Stripes]
3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division:
Iraqi Soldiers Learn First Aid [DVIDS]
104th Training Division:
Honoring service [The Columbian]
Hal Bernton in Afghanistan:
For this Seattle woman, an Afghan homecoming [Seattle Times]
446th Airlift Wing:
Inspectors assess readiness of aerial …
Our links today begin with more coverage of Sgt. Andrew McConnell, who was killed Monday in Afghanistan:
5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division:
Soldier’s loss hits harder in Carlisle [Patriot-News]
Family remembers fallen soldier [The Sentinel]
Warrior Transition Battalion:
Lakeport’s city manager resigns; new recruitment to begin[Lake County News]
17th Fires Brigade:
Soldiers Talk With Locals During Mission [DVIDS]
446th Airlift Wing:
Pot Holes [DVIDS]
Keeping spirits high [446th AW]
Fairchild Air Force Base:
Chaplain Veers From Straight, Narrow Care [DVIDS]
We lead today with more bad news from Fort Lewis’ 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Two soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in southern Afghanistan.
And the news comes on the same day that friends gathered at Fort Lewis to mourn three others.
Other local stories:
5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division:
‘You made us proud’ [The Patriot-News]
Final remembrance [Fort Lewis Ranger]
‘It was like a slow-motion day all day’ [KOMO-TV]
Three fallen Stryker soldiers remembered at Fort Lewis [KOMO-TV]
1st Special Forces Group:
…
Today’s local links kick off with the funeral of a Fort Lewis Stryker soldier killed in Afghanistan:
5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division:
Burnsville soldier remembered as a patriot [St. Paul Pioneer Press]
Soldier’s loved ones mourn Burnsville’s ‘Captain America’ [Star-Tribune]
81st Brigade Combat Team:
Boyfriend Accused Of Accidentally Shooting Girlfriend In Chehalis [KIRO-TV]
I Corps/Multi-National Corps-Iraq:
Army Picks Up Tab for Million Dollar Baby [DVIDS]
446th Airlift Wing:
McChord Reservist performs at Dover with dignity, honor, respect [446th AW]
Naval Base Kitsap:
Mooring Lines [DVIDS]
Washington service members:
…
Today’s links start with a dispatch from our D.C. correspondent, Les Blumenthal, who writes about a recent trip by U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The congressman — who sits own both the House Intelligence Committee and the armed services subcommittee that overseas special operations forces — stressed the importance of winning the AfPak fight.
“This is ground zero for al-Qaida,” Smith said. “They are still there, they are still plotting against the West. We have to deal with that threat. As much as we would like to avoid it, we can’t.”
Other local links include: …
About 40 civil engineers assigned to a McChord Air Force Base reserve unit left Friday for Iraq.
The members of the 446th Civil Engineer Squadron will perform maintenance – like repairing electrical and plumbing fixtures – on military bases across Iraq. The unit will also train Iraqi counterparts.
The airmen are expected to return in spring 2010.
This is the first mobilization for the unit – which draws airmen from across Washington and beyond – since 2007. The deploying electricians, plumbers, masons and carpenters are rated as masters in their civilian careers, according to a McChord press release.
“This is …