Capt. Jason Sapp’s worst moment in Afghanistan? The afternoon of Aug. 25, when he first learned a roadside bomb had detonated underneath a vehicle carrying soldiers returning from a humanitarian medical mission,.

The soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment were responding to a cholera outbreak in the Shah Wali Kot district of southern Afghanistan. The bomb exploded on their way back to battalion’s headquarters, killing four people.

“The deployment was tough at times,” said Sapp, a Madigan Army Medical Center doctor who deployed as the 1-17 Infantry’s battalion surgeon. “You see people you work with, people you take care of get killed or get injured. (The Aug. 25 attack) was the worst, though.”

As the battalion surgeon, Sapp oversaw all medical issues for the 1-17 Infantry – the hardest-hit battalion during the Afghanistan war. The unit, part of the larger 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, has lost 22 soldiers since it deployed in July.
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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 Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers of the 24th Quartermaster Company received a heroes’ welcome when their plane landed for a layover in New Hampshire, seacoastonline.com reports.

Other local links:

17th Fires Brigade
Handling Stress While Deployed [DVIDS]
Radiation Assessment [DVIDS]

42nd Military Police Brigade
New Soldiers Link Up, Prepare With Military Police [DVIDS]

Naval Base Kitsap
Bremerton’s Youngest Sailors Ready to Move Into Fancy New Digs [Kitsap Sun]
Stennis Getting $137 Million Tune-Up for Next Deployment [Kitsap Sun]

5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division
Daisy Scouts help troops …

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Plenty of links this morning:

Madigan Army Medical Center
Thurston County home sales up [The News Tribune]

17th Fires Brigade
Responsible Drawdown, Speaking Logistically [DVIDS]

42nd Military Police Brigade
<a href="Military Police Partner With Iraqi Security Forces to Protect Iraq's Center [DVIDS]

3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division
Arrowhead Best Squad Competition [DVIDS]

Fairchild Air Force Base
Fairchild Senior Airman, Larose Native, Manages Communications Support for Southwest Asia Wing [DVIDS]
Combat Stress Team Strives to Connect With Servicemembers [DVIDS]

5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division
Yakima police to escort …

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From the guv’s office:

Governor Chris Gregoire has directed that flags at all Washington State agency facilities be lowered to half-staff Monday, April 5, 2010, in memory of U. S. Army Private First Class James L. Miller, who died March 29, 2010, in Afghanistan, of injuries he sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. The 21 year old was born in Alaska, but had most recently lived in Yakima prior to enlisting in the Army.

Flags should remain at half-staff until close of business Monday, April 5, or first thing Tuesday morning, April 6.

If you haven’t had a chance, check out my colleague Steve Maynard’s excellent report about families coping with the loss of a loved one during combat.

He profiles the parents of Parkland’s Sgt. Thomas F. Allison, killed in 2002 when his helicopter crashed in the Philippines; the widow of Sgt. Gabriel DeRoo, who was killed by small-arms fire in Mosul in 2006; and the mother of Sgt. Michael T. Washington, the Tacoma Marine killed in 2008 from an IED strike in Afghanistan.

Other local links:

62nd Medical Brigade
Soldiers ‘eager’ to lend hand in Haiti [The News …

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Three Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker brigades are returning home from war this year, and Madigan Army Medical Center will temporarily expand its behavioral-health staff and implement new screening programs to deal with the mental-health issues of deployment.

Hospital staff will be paying particular attention to 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which has lost 35 soldiers and seen frequent combat since it deployed to southern Afghanistan last July.

Piggybacking off post-deployment programs already in place, Madigan officials will collect additional behavioral-health information and screen them again shortly after they return home.

“It’s no surprise the Army is searching for the right answer for this: How do you take care of soldiers and families during this whole cycle?” said Col. Mark Thompson, the hospital’s deputy commander for clinical services.
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Not too much out there today:

Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Soldier jailed for refusing Afghan tour released from Lewis-McChord jail [The News Tribune]

5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division
Senator Patty Murray Comments on Local Soldier’s Death [KIMA-TV]

Local service members
Wives Roll to Range 500 for ‘Jane Wayne Day’ [DVIDS]
Reservist’s Classes Help Promote Fitness to Troops at Arfijan [DVIDS]