Hello August! Get out there and make a splash on this beautiful day. 

Wild Waves brings entertainment to every age in the family. 

Looking to make a less expensive splash? Take the kids to Heritage Park Fountain in Olympia.

Another great splash hot spot is Stewart Heights Pool. 

FROM AP....

A military fighting three wars is staring down budget cuts of up to $850 billion over a decade, some of the deepest reductions since the end of the Cold War.

Yet under the compromise struck by President Barack Obama and congressional leaders to avert the nation's first-ever financial default, the near-term impact on the troops, aircraft, ships and weapons may be far less onerous than Republicans and Democrats fear.

Congress was expected to approve the overall plan to slash more than $2 trillion from federal spending over a decade and permit the nation's $14.3 trillion borrowing cap to rise by up to $2.4 trillion and send it to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Under the compromise, all security spending - money for defense, homeland security, veterans, foreign aid and intelligence - would be cut from the current level of $687 billion this year to $683 billion in next year's budget. Defense would be a share of that $4 billion reduction.

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FROM STARS & STRIPES...

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan -- It's a 10-hour drive from Maj. Mark Noon's rented mobile home near Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., to his house, where his wife and children live near Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

Noon would like nothing more than to rid himself of the underwater mortgage on the Florida home and move his family to his new duty station to live with him. But the housing market crash has made that nearly impossible.

Unlike many civilians, Noon can't walk away from a mortgage or take on debt by selling his house at a massive loss. Heavy debt and bad credit get security clearances revoked, and servicemembers like Noon can't do their jobs without them.

Thousands of other military families stuck with a mountain of housing debt when they were forced to move to a new base have escaped hardship, thanks to a 2009 federal law that funded the Homeowners Assistance Program to reimburse servicemembers for the difference between their purchase and selling prices.

Unfortunately for Noon, he is among thousands of military families who aren't eligible to apply, mainly because of bad timing.

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FROM ARMY WIFE NETWORK...

After our PCS move to California I decided to continue going to school full-time and finish my bachelor's degree in Communications through an online university. I thought this would be a great opportunity to finish school and focus my time between my studies and family, and figured the degree would make me more marketable and make it easier to find work. Come to find out I was in for a rude awakening.

My past employment was with a Mid-Western Medical School where I worked full-time and went to school full-time. My jobs consisted of an administrative assistant and office manager, learning multiple things to add to my resume along with setting myself up with a new position and advancement when my degree was finished. This allowed me to make a lot of great friends and have acquired great references to use as well. It took me one year to finish my degree. On June 10, 2010 my job hunting started. 

Time and finances were on my side as I took the time to organize my job search and chose not to accept the first thing that came along. Past experience taught me settling for the first thing wasn't in my best interests which in turn made me miserable until I found what I was really looking for. My priority with this job search was for me to choose a job that I would be happy with the first time around. With this job search I wanted to find something with advancement and the ability to transfer. So I narrowed it down to the nearest hospitals, city/county jobs, educational institutions and banking institutions.  I applied to the nearest facilities to me and assumed calls would start coming in. Something to consider as a military spouse, we have double the challenges when it comes to finding employment since we are away from support systems and have frequent moves, etc.

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FROM C-9

Defense Health Board, a Federal Advisory Committee to the Department of Defense will hold its next meeting at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Anyone who might be interested is welcome to attend: veterans, retirees, and family members, healthcare personnel both military and civilian.

The Board's Director (government liaison), Ms Christine Bader, expressed a desire to have members of the local community present at the meeting on the 8th. The sessions on the 8th will take place at the Murano Hotel, 1320 Broadway Plaza in Tacoma. There is no fee to attend, the only request is that individuals who wish to attend sign up preferably via the web, (scroll down to the meeting citation), alternately at the hotel prior to the sessions.
SEE THE REST OF THE REPORT HERE

The Defense Department launched a new partnership recently that's intended to expand job opportunities for military spouses by connecting them with employers actively seeking to hire them.

Microsoft, Home Depot, Starbucks and the Navy Federal Credit Union are just a few of the nearly 60 corporations and companies that have signed on with the DOD partnership.

The design of this program is to bring together those spouses who want to work with a web portal where companies that would like to employ our military spouses can find them.

That web portal is Military OneSource - located at www.militaryonesource.com - which also offers job-seeking resources such as resume building. People can call OneSource consultants at 1-800-342-9647.

The partnership is based on memoranda of agreement to hire military spouses. Some 100 job fairs are scheduled, the first in Los Angeles two weeks ago, with 200 companies ready to offer jobs to spouses.

Military spouses bring a lot to the table. They've volunteered and lead different activities on and off our installations. They are skilled, diverse, and know how to operate in a team environment. Their sense of team focus and strong work ethic are some of the attributes and characteristics employers are looking for in a 21st Century work force.

Military spouses have been hit hard by the job market and face an unemployment rate of 28 percent. Of the military's 1.2 million spouses, 80 percent want to work, but have been held back by multiple moves and deployments. A 25-percent wage gap divides military spouses and their civilian counterparts. Because of those factors, the partnership pinpointed organizations that could offer telework options and portable jobs.

In the course of setting up the program's framework, officials asked spouses what they would like to see in such a partnership.

They were told not to "over-engineer things. " Spouses wanted to look for jobs and be empowered."

The program aims at bringing spouses together with employers looking for their skills, as a subset of strengthening military Families.

From an interview with Robert L. Gordon III, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy.

A memorial service to honor Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, who served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997, and who passed away July 23, is scheduled at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center in Tacoma, Wash., Saturday, August 6 at 1 p.m.  The memorial will last about 90 minutes.

The memorial service is open to the general public.  Doors will open at noon.

In lieu of flowers, the Shalikashvili family asks that donations be made to the following organizations:

• USO of Puget Sound (www.usopsa.org)
• The Fisher House (www.fisherhouse.org)
• The American Stroke Association (www.strokeassociation.org)
• Lakewood VA Golf Course (www.veterangolf.org)

Ice cream! Ice cream! We all scream for Ice Cream!

Baskin-Robbins in Lakewood.

Cold Stone Creamery in Lakewood.

Dairy Queen in Tacoma.

FROM AP...

Reality TV is a staple in TV sports. And now it's spread to service academy football: CBS and its Showtime cable channel today formally announce A Game of Honor, a so-called docu-drama on Army and Navy football airing Dec. 21 on Showtime.

The schools had some initial "sensitivity," says Peter Radovich, a show co-producer. "But they were surprisingly open to the idea and to, frankly, using it as a recruiting tool. It was smart on their part because they have nothing to hide. There are no warts there."

Filming began in June, including seeing United States Naval Academy freshman Maika Polamalu, cousin of Pittsburgh Steeler Troy, show up for his buzzcut. The show films at Annapolis and West Point all season, says Radovich, before showing up at CBS' Dec. 10 Army-Navy game with "a zillion cameras."

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Here, he is called Sam 80.

The doctors don't know for sure, but they think he's about 10.

 "The Afghans usually can't tell us an exact date of birth," says Tom Curry, an Army colonel and surgeon based at Fort Lewis, Wash. "But he's about the size of an American 8-year-old, so we figure he's 10."

Sam 80 has big brown eyes, a mop of thick black hair and cheeks that beg to be squeezed when he cracks a shy smile. He likes balloons and magic tricks. He laughs when he's tickled. He rarely turns down candy. He's trusting.

 The staff met Sam 80 in February. He'd been walking home with his brother when one of them stepped in just the wrong place, detonating a buried improvised explosive device.

His brother was somehow spared. Sam 80 took it all.

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