Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. - Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, who served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997, passed away Saturday morning at Madigan Healthcare System, Joint Base Lewis-McChord. He was 75.
"The entire Joint Base Lewis-McChord community is saddened at the news of Gen. Shalikashvili's passing," JBLM officials said in a statement. "Throughout his career, Gen. Shalikashvili was a tremendous leader and mentor to thousands of servicemen and women, and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff he represented our nation and its military with great dignity and success. Locally, he has been a stalwart supporter to our military community, a trusted adviser to military leaders at the base and a friend to the entire region. He will be missed, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and loved ones."
According to The News Tribune, A public memorial service is scheduled for Aug. 6 at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center downtown. Details of the event will be released this week, a family spokeswoman said, and a funeral service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery.

Duane Hardesty's across-the-street neighbor is a lot like anyone else's. He mows the lawn, washes his car and occasionally comes over to sit on the porch and talk.

That's where his neighbor, Sgt. 1st Class Leroy A. Petry, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, was on an evening in May, after the White House announced that he would receive the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry in Afghanistan.

Petry, who lost his right hand throwing a grenade away from his fellow Rangers in 2008, and his wife Ashley, were sitting outside the Hardestys' home in Steilacoom, Wash., when the congratulatory texts and calls started to arrive. But in spite of his recent notoriety, friends and fellow Soldiers say he's the same guy he's always been - and that they couldn't be prouder.

"It's an incredible honor to know them personally and just be able to be a help to them," he said of the Family.

Hardesty, a retired Army colonel, works for a private contractor that assists severely wounded servicemembers. He remembers every detail of the first time he saw Petry without his hand. He had just returned from a business trip when his wife came into his study.

"I thought she'd seen a ghost or something," Hardesty said.

His wife told him Leroy and Ashley wanted to see him. When he came outside, he could see right away his neighbor's hand had been amputated at the wrist.

"I just gave him a bear hug and we cried for a while," Hardesty said.

Staff Sgt. Nathan Norton, 2-75 Rngr., has other vivid memories of Petry. He was part of the mission that day in Afghanistan, but couldn't be at the White House ceremony on Tuesday. Instead, he watched with the rest of D Company (Petry's former company) at Farrelli's Wood Fire Pizza in DuPont, Wash.

"I can't congratulate him enough," Norton said.

He remembers the events of May 26, 2008 as though they happened in slow motion, and knew even then what an incredible thing he was witnessing. There was no question in anyone's mind that Petry deserved to be nominated for the award, Norton said.

Aside from his missing hand, though, not much about Petry has changed. Before, he was known for always joking around - maybe even a little too much. Now his prosthetic arm just gives him another prop to be the goofy guy he always was.

"How the President described him is pretty much how he is," Sgt. 1st Class Aric Daldon, who's known Petry about six years, said after the ceremony.

Now Petry works with other wounded, injured and ill Soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and Hardesty said there's no better man for that job, or to set an example as a Medal of Honor recipient.

"He's so focused on making sure he represents not only the Army, but every warrior (who has) ever worn a uniform," he said.

Hardesty expects that when Petry comes back to the house across the street, he and his Family will be just as humble, dedicated and duty-driven as they've always been. But he knows one thing for certain - the next time he sees his neighbor, he's going to salute him.

"I couldn't be prouder of him if he were my own son," he said.

The Captain Meriwether Lewis Association of the U.S. Army Chapter was notified Tuesday evening by AUSA national that it has won the Best Chapter of the Year award, according to chapter president Carlene Joseph.

It's the first time the chapter has won the award.

"Congrats to the Captain Meriwether Lewis chapter and all of the subchapters ... you rock!," Joseph wrote in an announcement.

Keep reading The Ranger and Northwestmilitary.com for more on this story.

(Stars and Stripes)-- A Marine who repeatedly braved enemy fire in eastern Afghanistan attempting to find and save fellow members of his embedded training team will receive the Medal of Honor, Marine Corps Times has confirmed.

Dakota Meyer was contacted by President Obama on Monday, Marine Corps Times reported. He will be the first living Marine recipient of the nation's highest award for valor since now-retired Sgt. Maj. Allan Kellogg received the medal for actions 41 years ago in Vietnam, according to the newspaper.

Only two living recipients - both soldiers - have received the award for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan: Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta and Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Brig. Gen. Daniel York, commanding general of the 104th Training Division (Leader Training), along with other senior military leaders and elected officials, will dedicate the 104th Training Division Headquarters building Saturday, April 9, in memory of Staff Sgt. Coby G. Schwab, a U.S. Army Reserve Soldier and former member of JBLM's 3rd Stryker Brigade.

The building dedication ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at the 104th Headquarters building located at the JBLM Logistics Center. Family and friends of Staff Sgt. Schwab will be in attendance.

Staff Sgt. Schwab, an Army Reserve Soldier and a Puyallup resident, was killed May 3, 2007, during a recovery operation of a damaged vehicle near a canal. Schwab was returning to his vehicle after reattaching the recovery straps to the disabled vehicle which was threatening to pull both vehicles into the canal when he was killed in a secondary explosion caused by an IED. The incident took place near Ar Ramadi, during his second deployment in Iraq.

Schwab was assigned to Company B, 321st Engineer Battalion, 301st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 416th Theater Engineer Command. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star with Valor Device, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Combat Action Badge. At the time of his death, Schwab was 25.

Schwab served previously as an Infantryman with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, from February 2001 to February 2005. He was a Stryker vehicle commander and team leader and deployed with 3/2 SBCT to Iraq in 2003 -2004. Following that deployment he left active duty and continued his military service by transferring to the United States Army Reserve.

Schwab was passionate about ensuring that Soldiers had proper training and he used his previous active duty deployment experience with the Stryker Brigade to prepare his fellow Reserve Soldiers for duty in Iraq.

Washington, D.C.- The Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee visit Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Saturday.
The bipartisan Congressional Delegation, led by Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.) and Ranking Member Adam Smith(D-Wash.), will meet with I Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, 62nd Airlift Wing Commander Col. Kevin Kilb, and Soldiers and Airmen while on base.
The purpose of the visit is to better understand how the Soldiers and Airmen stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord support the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as counter current or future threats to America's national security. In addition to visiting Joint BaseLewis-McChord, the delegation intends to travel to the Bangor Naval Submarine Base before returning to Washington, D.C.

Prior to arriving in Washington, the delegation of six Armed Services Committee Members is scheduled to visit several military installations in Chairman McKeon's congressional district, including the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Air Force Plant 42 and the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center.    

WASHINGTON (AFPS) -- Defense Department civilian employees affected by the federal pay freeze for 2011 and 2012 will still have the opportunity to receive performance awards, promotions and normal longevity increases, a senior defense official said.

Pasquale M. Tamburrino Jr., the deputy under secretary of defense for civilian personnel policy, said senior leaders are working to ensure that employees are treated fairly during the freeze.

"We value the contributions of our career federal employees, and we value their service to the nation," he said. "Nothing has changed there." 

From the time the pay freeze was announced, the emphasis has been on ensuring all federal employees receive equal treatment, he said.

"Whether you're the most junior civil servant on the first day of the job or you're a member of the executive leadership team, it applies to you," he said. 

Defense leaders, he noted, have been "very clear" in directing that the freeze should affect all employees equally.

"Not everything is covered by statute," Mr. Tamburrino said, noting that heads of agencies have some administrative discretion in some dimensions of pay. 

Guidance on the pay freeze instructs agency heads to manage administrative privileges the same way the president treated general pay increases in the executive order, he said.    

To read the complete story, click here.

Olympia - Retired Rear Admiral Herbert M. Bridge, USNR will deliver the keynote address when the Washington State World War II Memorial is re-dedicated on Tuesday, Dec. 7, on the state capitol campus in Olympia.

The public is invited to attend this event which will take place in a heated structure next to the memorial which is located between the north diagonal and 11th street on the main campus.

Simon Kogan, the Olympia artist who created the memorial in 1999, restored the memorial and recreated the ghost images on the five bronze blades, images which represent members of the armed forces as well as the civilians who participated in the conflict on the home front.

The 14-foot-high blades contain the names of the nearly 6,000 Washington residents killed in the war. The memorial's large granite stones are engraved with major battles fought by year.

The memorial is surrounded by nearly 3,000 granite tiles, which include engraved personal messages from families and friends of those who served during World War II. The tiles were installed last summer, replacing weathered original tiles, which were crushed and used as part of the base material for the new tiles. The summertime project also improved drainage around the memorial.

Parking is limited on the Capitol Campus! Please consider using off-site parking at the Olympia Farmers Market and the Free DASH Shuttle to the Capitol which runs every 15 minutes. Hourly parking is also available throughout downtown Olympia with access to the DASH shuttle on Capitol Way.

For additional information, please contact the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs at 360-725-2180.

This from Marine Corps Times: He's not a hero. Over and over, that's what former Cpl. Dakota Meyer tells people who ask him about the ambush last year in eastern Afghanistan that led to the death of three Marines, a Navy corpsman and a U.S. soldier.

He didn't respond any differently than many other Marines would have, the scout sniper says. He simply did his job.

The Marine Corps doesn't see it that way. In an exclusive, Marine sources told Marine Corps Times that the service has made a formal recommendation that Meyer receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor. Gen. James Conway pushed the recommendation up to the Navy Department shortly before retiring as commandant Oct. 22, a source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the Pentagon does not allow officials to discuss military awards before decisions are finalized. Marine Corps Times first broke the story online Nov. 8.

For more on the story, click here.

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced today that the President has made the following nomination: Army Brig. Gen. Lloyd Miles has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general. Miles is currently serving as deputy commanding general of I Corps at Joint Base Lewis McChord.