McChord Flightline Chatter
The hope that the city of Lakewood and Joint Base Lewis-McChord could affect a land swap has fallen through. An effort to relocate businesses in McChord Field's "impact area," the land most adjacent to the runway, to different property that the Joint Base would offer up, won't move forward as hoped. Development
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Five-year-old Isabelle Poole sat quietly as a barber trimmed her hair. "We're fixing her hair," her mother, Karen Poole, said. "This past Thursday she tried cutting her own hair, so today's event came at a good time for us to stop by," she added with a thin smile. I began to get the
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Cody McCartney stood ramrod straight at attention. In front of him stood a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadet from the University of Washington. The inspector looked and sounded serious. Very serious. One of 21 Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets from South Kitsap High School Wolf Battalion, McCartney, a senior, faced a
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The Aficionado Cigar Lounge serves as a refuge for those seeking a spot to smoke a fine cigar. "This is a great place to come and enjoy one," commented Brian Larson as he relaxed next to Mr. Punch, the wooden statue just inside the front door that greets customers. Mr. Punch, an
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There are 175,000 reasons to shave your head. That number represents the children who are annually diagnosed with cancer. Their fight against this deadly disease is an uphill brawl; more children in this country die of cancer than any other disease. Saturday afternoon in the Joint Base Lewis-McChord MWR Special Events Tent,
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In the orchestra of craft beers, the Odd Otter Brewing Company sits first chair. And those chairs happen to sit in an historic building in downtown Tacoma. Wedged in at 716 Pacific Ave., the building's history and the beers served therein create a sense of connectivity to the community. "Tacoma is
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It looks like Joint Base Lewis-McChord's commander, Col. Chuck Hodges, will be making good on his bet with Lakewood's mayor, Don Anderson. The city and JBLM enjoy a very good relationship that both Anderson and Hodges prize. But that didn't stop them from making a friendly wager on the outcome of
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Technical Sgt. Joe Greene happily returned home to Montana late Tuesday afternoon. "I was ready to get back to my family for Christmas," he said during a telephone interview from his home in Montana. "I missed Thanksgiving with them." One of 15 individuals monitored for Ebola symptoms, Greene spent 21 days in
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Remembrance is a simple experience. At exactly 11 a.m. at the War Memorial Park in Tacoma, several hundred veterans, family members, friends and a handful of elected officials met on a cold and windy morning overlooking the Narrows Bridges to remember all veterans. "We are here to pay honor to those who
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Veterans Day can be described simply as the day set aside to honor our country's veterans. "This is about service, about the sacrifices that give us our rights, liberty and environment," explained Lt. Gen. Stephen Lanza this afternoon to the student body of St. Francis Cabrini School. Invited by the school to
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Star Clayton felt appreciated. "It just good to be here today," said the active-duty member's spouse as her daughter, Emily, had her bangs trimmed. "This is the first time I've ever experienced something like this, and it's nice to be appreciated by the community." In what has become an area tradition, The Ranger
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The bikers showed up. Some rode in individually; others rode in groups of two or three. All represented Joint Base Lewis-McChord. "It's one team, one fight, right?" commented Senior Master Sgt. Kenneth Morain as we stood in a parking lot next to Memorial Grove at McChord Field and watched as the riders gathered. Morain
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The back blast from the howitzer instantly raised the fine dry desert dust. A 155 mm shell sliced through the warm morning air toward a target miles away - sort of like the way the first sip of a cold beer feels as it goes down on a hot day. As silence
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The 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment cased it colors this mornings in a well done ceremony as it prepares for a nine month deployment to the Middle East. The unit is part of the 17th Field Artillery Brigade, which is commanded by Col. Tim Kehoe. The battalion is no stranger to
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The two soldiers from the North Dakota National Guard crinkled in their black hazardous materials suits as they walked through the darkened and deserted elementary school. Movements were constricted; communication muffled. Condensation streaked their masks reducing visibility. At times, tempers got short. After two hours of searching, the soldiers emerged from the building and
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Working with 4,500 degrees of blue flame can be therapeutic. "This is a great program," explained Lt. Col. Jeff Mosso, commander, Warrior Transition Battalion (WTB). "We are the only WTB in the country to have this type of therapy, and this program continues to grow along with our partnership with the
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The worst-case scenario is that Joint Base Lewis-McChord - the nation's premier West Coast power projection platform - may lose up to 16,000 soldiers and civilian workers as the Army works its way through a reduction in force process. "We are living and operating under a real threat," said Rep. Denny
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Suzanne Gerstner summed up neatly the reason for standing in front of the flagpole at the heart of the Tahoma National Cemetery. "We're here to pay tribute to our fallen spouses," said the Gold Star Wife from Florida. The gold star on her lapel is representative of having lost a spouse serving
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Again, change may be coming to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. In 2013 the Army announced a reduction in force from a wartime peak of around 570,000 in 2010 to 490,000 as well as a substantial realignment of the remaining force. These changes were required to achieve the savings specified in the Budget Control
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Perfect. Nothing brings people out like a well-organized event, and Lakewood's third annual SummerFest did just that. "This is just a great, great event," Mel Smith, a Lakewood resident, said as he cleaned his 1955 Martin alto saxophone. "The citizens of this city cannot ask for a better event." Thousands of area residents converged
