There’s no question Sgt. John Russell killed five of his fellow military service members four years ago at a Baghdad combat stress clinic. He already pleaded guilty to shooting a Navy commander and four soldiers in the worst case of fratricide of the Iraq War.
The sergeant who pleaded guilty to killing five fellow U.S. service members at a Baghdad military mental health clinic is back in court today to fight the Army’s contention that he murdered his victims with premeditation.
A Joint Base Lewis-McChord Green Beret who followed his father into the Army’s Special Forces died Thursday at a military hospital in Germany from wounds he sustained in Afghanistan last week.
The Defense Department today identified a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Green Beret who died Thursday at a military hospital Germany from wounds he sustained last week in Afghanistan.
A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier has died from wounds he suffered in Afghanistan, his family in Texas reported to local media this week.
Army recruit Sarah Bower stood in formation with about 150 of the military’s newest service members Wednesday night and swore an oath to serve her country.
What’s 15 months in jail compared to a lifetime without Neil Turner? Leland Turner and Charlotte Cox-Turner of Tacoma are weighing that question now that they’ve returned from a court-martial in Texas where a soldier pleaded guilty to killing their son.
Filmmaker Dan Krauss obtained unrivaled access to three Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers who in 2011 were convicted of murdering Afghan civilians during their deployment to Kandahar Province. His documentary looking at how the soldiers changed from patriotic troops to notorious members of a so-called “kill team last week won first place in its category at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Sgt. Josh Andrew is on the cusp of big changes at home and in his career. The Washington state soldier is preparing for a second baby even as the injured veteran looks to leave the Army by the end of this summer.
Spc. Egbert Keil used to sing backup while his friend strummed a guitar at their small combat outpost in southern Afghanistan. Sgt. Sapuro Nena had the better voice, and sang lead.
Military folks upset by Obama administration proposals to cap pay raises, to phase-in sharply higher co-pays on prescriptions filled off base and to raise Tricare costs on working-age retirees also tend to rail against such changes with arguments politicians can shrug off as stale or in error.
A soldier at Joint Base Lewis-McChord has been charged with raping his girlfriend after she passed out during a night of drinking.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord went Hollywood on Wednesday night as the base hosted a premiere of “Iron Man 3.” More than 900 service members and guests were treated to the movie for free as part of a marketing push involving the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Marvel Comics and Skype.
Attorneys for the Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan civilians last spring are five weeks from a deadline for declaring whether they intend to use a mental health defense at his court-martial.
Sgt. John Russell returned to a Baghdad combat stress clinic "in a rage," seeking out the doctor who he believed had encouraged him to commit suicide that day. He didn’t see the doctor, but he attacked the clinic nonetheless.
A soldier who faced the death penalty on charges he killed five service members at a military mental health clinic in Baghdad reached a plea agreement with the Army last week and is expected in court Monday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
A high-profile Army Medical Command task force charged with improving the health care atmosphere among patients and staff was shut down late last year after an investigation found that it created a “toxic and intimidating working environment” in its own ranks.
Rahm Emanuel, while serving as President Obama’s first chief of staff, once advised not to let a “crisis go to waste” because that’s when politicians will do things they otherwise wouldn’t.
A high-profile Army Medical Command task force charged with improving the health-care atmosphere among patients and staff was shut down late last year after an investigation found that it created a “toxic and intimidating working environment” in its own ranks.
Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson understands that cuts are coming to a downsizing Army leaving a decade of war. He’d like to see the bulk of them fall far from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the military installation that makes up a sizable chunk of his city’s economic base.
A new Madigan Army Medical Center clinic will open today in Olympia to give military families in Thurston County easier access to health care.
Staff Sgt. Brian Guzman is the kind of guy who’d rather sit at the back of the room than be on a stage. He joined Army Special Forces to let his work speak for itself, not to get the public’s admiration.
Zenaida Crisostomo Slemp of Puyallup joined her father’s military heritage organization years after his death. Something called out to her, telling her it was time to learn more about his past.
Trying once more to get military compensation costs “under control,” the Obama administration has asked Congress to cap annual active duty and reserve component pay raises and to phase in over four years a complex formula for raising Tricare fees on retirees of all ages and their families.
Retired Adm. Eric Olson wove affection for his hometown of Tacoma with a call for the military to invest in thoughtful warriors Thursday night during his first public visit to the Puget Sound area since he retired from the nation’s top post in Special Operation Command two years ago.
Spending on military construction in Washington would slow under the Defense Department's 2014 budget request released Wednesday, but it would continue to steer hundreds of millions of dollars toward projects around the Puget Sound.
A Stadium High School graduate who went on to command America's elite Special Operators will speak in Tacoma this week for the first time since the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The U.S. Department of Labor is hosting a job fair for former military service members Friday at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ American Lake site.
With the backlog of compensa-tion claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs having ballooned in recent years, one would expect major veterans service organizations to be among the VA’s harshest critics.
Sgt. Joshua Perlinger didn’t have to think much about how to fix the radio equipment he brought home from his first two Afghanistan deployments. He’d hand it over to contractors who would repair or replace it. Those days are over now that Perlinger is home from his latest combat tour. The Army’s push to rein in spending has him and other Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers getting their hands greasy as they take more responsibility for maintaining gear, from small radios to 20-ton Stryker vehicles.
Coffee Strong is getting out of its namesake business.
Coffee Strong is out of its namesake business.
Smoking-cessation drugs now are available at no charge through the Tricare Mail Order Program for service members, military family members and retirees younger than 65 who want to kick this unhealthy habit.
A road-improvement project beginning next week could cause delays over the next two months for drivers who cut through Joint Base Lewis-McChord to Interstate 5 from Spanaway
McChord Field has been home to several military cargo aircraft going back to World War II: the C-47 Skytrain, the C-82 Packet, the C-124 Globemaster II and the C-141 Starlifter. But none has been called to war for as long as the four-engine C-17 Globemaster III.
Anxiety is rising among civilian workers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, who stand to lose up to a fifth of their pay this year to furloughs if Congress fails to prevent forced federal budget cuts this month, a panel of workers told U.S. Sen. Patty Murray on Wednesday.
The Army, Air Force and Marine Corps will be forced to reopen their tuition assistance programs — and the Coast Guard likely will be pressured to follow — under a late-hour Senate amendment to a stopgap budget bill.
Spc. Ricardo Cerros gave his life when he threw himself in the path of a grenade to protect two fellow soldiers a year and a half ago. They survived, and they credit the fallen 24-year-old soldier for keeping them alive.
Shawn Graves said a final goodbye to the world as he lost consciousness. A man wearing a suicide vest had blown himself up inside a dining hall in northern Iraq. Graves had wounds all over his torso, and he did not expect to open his eyes again.
Here are some fresh developments that feuding politicians have created for the U.S. military in wartime:
The Pentagon is canceling a well-loved international Air Force competition at Joint Base Lewis-McChord this summer, grounding the air mobility “rodeo” to save money.
The Joint Chiefs are breathing a bit easier after the House voted Wednesday to fund the government through September, and included a 2013 defense appropriations bill that would give the armed services more money and budget flexibility to ease the threat of a wartime readiness crisis.
Carol Graham read a news story about a fatal attack on U.S. soldiers one morning eight months after her son took his own life, and she wondered if she had just lost a second son to war. “Never in a million years do you think this can happen again,” her husband, retired Army Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, thought as Carol read the story to him.
The Obama administration pared back its plan to develop a single integrated electronic health record system for the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs because of shrinking defense budgets and rising costs.
Forced Army budget cuts that could be activated Friday would show up in the South Sound and other military communities in the form of slashed paychecks to furloughed employees and reduced opportunities for private companies to work on bases, senior Army officers said Wednesday at a news conference.
CASUALTIES OF WAR
Search our database for service members from Washington or who were assigned from military installations around the state who have died in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere in U.S. military operations since Sept. 11, 2001.
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