The Clover Park School District will host a grand opening celebration for the new Carter Lake and Hillside elementary schools Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 5:30 p.m. The grand opening, which celebrates the construction and completion of both schools, takes place at Carter Lake Elementary School at McChord Field on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. 

The event will include a ribbon cutting ceremony and self-guided tours of Carter Lake Elementary School. Because it's a school night, the event will end at 7 p.m.

Special guests include former U.S. Representative, the honorable Norm Dicks; Lt. Gen. Robert Brown, commanding general I Corps; JBLM commander Col. Charles Hodges, Jr. and Col. David Kumashiro, commander of the 62^nd Airlift Wing. Light refreshments will be served.

In 2006, CPSD began a partnership with JBLM to evaluate and quantify the conditions and capacity of the six elementary schools on the base. For more information on the new schools, click here.

See Also

Groundbreaking ceremony for the new schools

Pledging that it will never be "about me," Col. David Kumashiro talked about the power of teamwork Wednesday when he became the new commander of the 62nd Airlift Wing during an hour-long change of command ceremony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

In a brief yet poignant 5-minute acceptance speech, Kumashiro pledged to further the rich tradition of the 62nd Airlift Wing.

"It is with faith, courage, passion, patients and humility that I dedicate myself to this great team," Kumashiro said. "This will never be about me. This will always be about us."

Twenty-one years after graduating from the Air Force Academy, Kumashiro, the son of a colonel, replaces Col. Wyn Elder as the commander at McChord for a two-year assignment.

>>> Col. David Kumashiro addressed the crowd during the 62 AW change of command ceremony. Photo credit: Gail Wood

Kumashiro, who has more than 3,400 flying hours in the C-17, C-5A/B and the Predator, is now in command of 2,300 active duty military and civilian personal, along with 48 C-17s.

Read more...

Airmen of the 62nd Maintenance Group saluted their new commander during a change of command ceremony June 14.

Col. Craig Gaddis took command of the 62nd MXG from Col. Thomas Jackson, who will retire after 26 years of honorable service in the Air Force.

"Taking command is an opportunity I don't take lightly," said Gaddis. "I'm humbled to take command of the outstanding Airmen of the 62nd Maintenance Group and confident that we will continue to uphold this group's reputation of excellence."

Read more...

Col. Alan Lerner, 446th Maintenance Group commander, passed the 446th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron guidon to Lt. Col. Maureen Carroll, former 446th Maintenance Squadron commander on McChord Field June 2. In the same ceremony, Lt. Col. Stephen Oliver assumed command of the 446th MXS from Carroll after serving as the 446th Maintenance Operations Flight commander.

Organizers of Alaska Air Cargo's annual "Copper Chef Cook-off" have announced the contestants in this year's chef competition.

(Record scratch sound)

OK, only one to us. Air Force Reserve Master Sgt. Robert Shulman, a 31-year Airman and chef, will represent Joint Base Lewis-McChord's 446th Airlift Wing during the chef competition at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow at Seatac Airport.

(Record scratch sound)

That's right, 6:30 a.m. It's a yearly tradition for Alaska Airlines to fly in the first Copper River Salmon of the season - Alaska's premier wild salmon - touching down before the sun comes up, then forcing the area's best chefs to cook the fish in a competitive atmosphere.

Read more...

The USO has many missions these days. As the wars die down, the organization has amped up its support for the wounded and their families. It has provided thousands and thousands of free phone calls for the troops in Afghanistan. It has even issued public service announcements aimed at bridging the gap between the military and civilian communities. That said, arguably the USO's main mission, since its inception in 1941, is to lift the spirits of troops and their families.

Sometimes, the USO lifts its own spirits, as in the case when the organization awarded its own at the inaugural TellUSO Awards ceremony Wednesday, May 1 at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn.

Local Servicemembers looking for a spirit boost need only to drop by the USO Northwest's Shali Center located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The Shali Center grabbed the Top Center honor in the Military Installation category at the TellUSO Awards.

Read more...

MCCHORD FIELD, Wash.- Almost four years after taking command of the 446th Airlift Wing back in September 2007,  Col. William Flanigan will be passing the wing flag to Col. Bruce Bowers in the middle of June.

Colonel Flanigan will serve as the Crisis Action Team director at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. Colonel Bowers is currently the deputy director, Air Space and Information Operations, Air Force Reserve Command at Robins Air Force Base, Ga.

"Working here didn't feel like work," said Colonel Flanigan. "In fact, it was more fun than anything. I really loved being here."
 
Brig. Gen. Mark Kyle, 4th Air Force commander, March Air Force Base, Calif., will bestow Colonel Bowers the responsibility of organizing, training, equipping, and readiness of the wing with nearly 2,100 people and Reservists who are capable of deploying anywhere in the world, 365 days a year for combat, training and humanitarian efforts.

"(My wife) and I are thrilled beyond words for this assignment," said Colonel Bowers. "It is truly a dream come true. I look forward to working with the Airmen, Soldiers and civilians of the 446th and 62nd Airlift Wings and Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The mission assigned to these great Americans is vital to this nation and to our way of life. I am truly honored."

Colonel Bowers entered the Air Force in 1981 and was commissioned though Officer Training School, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. A senior command pilot, he has more than 9,000 hours flying military aircraft, including the C-17.

The official assumption of command is scheduled for the morning of July 9 on the Reserve weekend.

CAMP MURRAY - The Washington National Guard will bid farewell to the 116th Air Support Operations Squadron in a ceremony on Saturday, March 26 at 6:00 p.m. in Building #92 on Camp Murray.

The unit will serve in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and will be
based in Afghanistan.  Approximately 20 Washington Air National Guard
members will comprise the deploying force of the 116th.

"We are extremely proud of the 116th.  They are well trained, experienced
and ready to accomplish any mission they are given," said Major General
Timothy J. Lowenberg, the Adjutant General and commander of the Washington
National Guard.

The 116th is headquartered at Camp Murray and is part of the Washington Air
National Guard's 194th Regional Support Wing.  The citizen-airmen of the
116th are Tactical Air Control Party members; often considered the furthest
extension of Air Force influence on the Army's battlefield.  TACP airmen
deploy into combat with Special Operations teams and serve as close air
support experts, advising ground commanders on the use of Air Force assets
in combat.  They serve as forward air controllers, winning battles by
guiding weapons onto target.

Pre-deployment training for the 116th began last fall and included events at
Fort Irwin, California and Fort Stewart, Georgia.  The deployment is
scheduled to last approximately four months.  Although individual members of
the unit have deployed previously, this is the first deployment in the
squadron's history of this size.     

This from Air Force Times: A security forces officer and a joint terminal attack controller injured in Afghanistan each received the Purple Heart on Wednesday from the Air Force's top officer.

More than 300 airmen looked on as Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz presented the honor to Capt. Gil Wyche and Senior Airman Brandon Cullen Towle during a visit to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.

Wyche, a security forces officer assigned to the 966th Air Expeditionary Squadron, received shrapnel wounds during an insurgent attack on his base in Jalalabad in mid-November. Fighters using small arms and grenades rushed the perimeter of Forward Operating Base Fenty. Despite the wounds, Wyche and his team repelled the attack.

"We knew where we were going and we knew it was a hotbed," Wyche, deployed from RAF Lakenheath, England, said in a news release. "But, nothing can prepare you until the bullets actually start flying, grenades start getting thrown on top of you, and you start firing back. My guys responded very well."

Towle, a JTAC assigned to the 817th Expeditionary Air Support Operations Squadron, was working out at the gym at FOB Connolly in Nangarhar province in early January when an indirect-fire round exploded near him. Shrapnel pierced his upper thigh. He ran to cover in a bunker, where medics treated the wounds.

Towle then began calling in airstrikes that helped end the assault.

"This wasn't the first time these guys attacked us," said Towle, who is in the fifth month of his six-month deployment from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. "I just wanted to eliminate the threat once and for all."

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- The 446 Mission Support Squadron commanded by Lt. Col. William Pelster was deactivated and the 446 Services Flight commanded by Lt. Col. Patricia Keenan was redesignated, combining both units to form the new 446 Force Support Squadron here, Dec. 1. 

The 446 Force Support Squadron was formally activated in a ceremony at Hanger 9 on Dec. 5. Following a welcome by Col. Gerald Vowell, 446 Mission Support Group Commander, the former MSS and SVF unit flags were retired and the new 446 FSS flag was unfurled, marking Colonel Pelster's assumption of command for the newly formed Force Support Squadron.

Colonel Vowell said the merger between mission support and services flight was part of an effort by the Air Force to streamline processes, increase efficiencies, maximize customer services, and cut costs associated with maintaining two separate organizations. 

"You put these two functions under one command structure and you can only improve customer services which will be a huge benefit to Joint Base Lewis-McChord community," said Colonel Vowell.