Nine Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Afghanistan's bloodiest month

With the Pentagon's announcement Tuesday of the deaths of three more Fort Lewis soldiers in Afghanistan participating in a heightened offensive against the Taliban, U.S. military deaths grew to 47 in August, the bloodiest month ever in that war.

The Fort Lewis deaths drove to nine in two weeks the number of Fort Lewis soldiers killed in the newly arrived 5th Stryker Brigade which quickly entered the fighting aftrer arriving in July.

September has seen the escalation continue. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that in a major blow, a Taliban suicide bomber killed the country's deputy intelligence chief, Abdullah Laghmani, and 22 other people in Kabul, until now considered a relatively safe city.

All nine Fort Lewis deaths have come from the brigade's 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment. The 5th Stryker Brigade is deployed throughout Kandahar and Zabul provinces, while U.S. Marines are in Helmand province.

Killed Monday in Shuyene Sufia, Afghanistan when their unit was attacked by an improvised bomb were Spc. Jonathan D. Welch, 19, of Yorba Linda, Calif and Pfc. Jordan M. Brochu, 20, of Cumberland, Me.

Spc. Tyler R. Walshe, 21, of Shasta, Calif. also died Monday in southern Afghanistan of wounds from an improvised bomb.

With Afghanistani elections as a backdrop last week, U.S. led coalition forces have increased their offensives in the south, the home of the Taliban and a hotbed of fighting.

While the number of U.S. and coaltion casualties have increased, the Taliban has been bloodied as well.

Across the border in Pakistan's Swat Valley Monday, Fox News reported 30 al-Qaeda or Taliban linked insurgents killed in clashes with Pakistani forces after a Taliban suicide bomber killed 17 police cadets. Wednesday, the Daily Times in Pakistan reported 15 Taliban killed and 105 captured in a clash with security forces near Mingora. Meanwhile, at a border crossing between Afghanstan and Pakistan, explosions tore through a line of 16 NATO fuel trucks idled and backed up by a two-dayborder closure dispute over fruit inspections.

The other bomb, near the border crossing, ripped through a line of NATO fuel trucks backed up by a two-day closure resulting from a dispute over fruit inspections. At least one driver was killed and 16 trucks destroyed on the Pakistani side of the Chaman crossing, police official Gul Mohammad said.

Meanwhile, Scott Fontaine of The News Tribune in Tacoma has some personal information about onre of the Fort Lewis soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice on Monday.

Brochu hinted in his MySpace profile at a rough upbringing, listing his heroes when asked as himself.

"My life has been hell and no one thought or cared if I would make it," he wrote, "and I'm still (here) and for once my head is held high."

Brochu was thinking of college but didn't feel ready so decided to serve in the Army. His former guidance counselor, Nancy McLean, told Fontaine "He saw it as a way to do good. It was a way to prepare for the world."

Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times, writing under the auspices of the McClatchy Corp.'s news group, arrived in Afghanistan on the weekend and writes in his blog as he gets oriented to the country.

All three of Fort Lewis's Stryker Brigades, the 3rd, 4th and 5th, are part of the 2nd Infantry Division.

The 5th became the first Stryker brigade deployed to Afghanistan when it arrived in July.

The three soldiers were killed on the final day of the deadliest month ever for American troops in Afghanistan, with 77 coalition military members killed largely in an increased offensive againt the Taliban.

At least 325 men and women in uniform from Washington's hometowns and military bases have been killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

More than 300 foreign troops with the U.S. led coalition have lost their lives in Afghanistan this year, more than any other year of war in Afghanistan, 77 of them in August.

The war in Afghanistan began nearly eight years ago after the al-Qaed, Taliban-complicit terror attacks on U.S. soil of 9/11, but languished and stalled after the Bush Administration diverted forces to start a controversial war in Iraq.

Four Fort Lewis soldiiers killed in Afghanistan

Four soldiers from Fort Lewis's 5th Stryker Brigade were killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the Defense Department said Friday.

Killed Tuesday were Pfc. Dennis M. Williams, 24, of Federal Way; Capt. John L. Hallett III, 30, of Concord, Calif; Capt. Cory J. Jenkins, 30, of Arizona; and Sgt. 1st Class Ronald W. Sawyer, 38, of Trenton, Mo.

KOMO television, the Seattle ABC affiliate, says Williams family told them he was concerned about a lack of ammunition and equipment to fight the war, echoing problems voiced by troops early in the Iraq war.

"What he was told and what he heard is that ammo was low, conserve your stuff, and he just didn't feel that they were equipped like they should have been - like it was a low-budget war," Dennis' brother, David Williams, was quoted by KOMO as saying.

Williams, a Federal High School graduate from the Seattle area, enlisted in 2007 and was on his first deployment.

Jenkins, a Brigham Young University graduate, was a physician assistant, Sawyer a medic. Hallett was a West Point graduate.

The four served with the brigade's 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment.

Fort Lewis's Stryker brigades, considered the most technologically advanced ground forces in the Army, have now suffered six casualties since arriving in Afghanistan in July. It is a key elemenet in the fight against Taliban strongholds in Kandahar and Zabul provinces.

The News Tribune of Tacoma says the deaths push the number of Washington service members killed since 2001 in Iraq and Afghanistan to 323.

A deadly week for local soldiers in Afghanistan

Two Fort Lewis soldiers with the first U.S. Stryker brigade to serve in Afghanistan died last Tuesday in a roadside bomb explosion, the Pentagon said Sunday.

Their deaths bring to three the number of local soldiers killed in Afghanistan last week.

Pfc. Jonathan C. Yanney of Litchfield, Minn., and Spc. Troy Orion Tom of Beclabito, N.M., a member of the Navajo nation, are the first members of the post's 3,900 member 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division to be killed in Afghanistan.

Both soldiers were on their first deployments and died in a roadside bomb attack near Arghandab in Kandahar province, which has seen violence escalate in the runup to elections in Afghanistan.

The 5th, which is Fort Lewis's newest Stryker brigade, deployed to southern Afghanistan in June to battle the Taliban.

Tom, 21, a three year Army veteran, was an infantryman. He is survived by his parents, David and Carolyn Tom, two brothers and a sister of Beclabit, where his father is a delegate to the Navajo Tribal Council, the Daily Times of Farmington, N.M., reported.

"Students really thought highly of him," Paul reportedly said. "He had a great sense of humor, a great smile and he was trusted by his friends. He was a very intelligent guy, and he had passion."

Yanney, meanwhile, was 20 years old and a fire support specialist.

In a message posted on MySpace, Russ Yanney, who identified himself as Jonathan's father, said:

"His unit was en route to assist another unit under fire, and his vehicle struck an (improvised explosive device). He was my first-born son. I loved him very much and he will be greatly missed. His smile and desire to help and learn will always be remembered."

In his own MySpace page that he last used on July 31, Yanney cited his heroes as his father and grandfather. He said of himself simply that he was an honest and hardworking guy but was nervous when first meeting people though he could open up afterwards.

"I'm pretty active, so I don't like just sitting around doing nothing," he wrote on his MySpace page.

The two Fort Lewis soldiers were killed the same day as First Sgt. Jose 1st Sgt. Jose San Nicholas Crisostomo, a Spanaway resident and Vietnam veteran, at age 59 became the oldest member of the U.S. armed forces to die in Afghanistan.

It was the first time that three or more members of the armed forces from Washington's military bases or hometowns died on the same day since Nov. 18,2007, when three members of the 4th Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis died in Baqouba, Iraq.

Crisostomo, originally from Guam but a leader in South Sound's Chamorro community, reentered the Army in 2008 after being away since retiring after a 24 year career in 1994. Crisostomo already had served tours of duty in Vietnam and the 1991 Gulf War, and received two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. The husband and father of three left behind 10 grandchildren. The senior NCO did not serve with a Fort Lewis unit but with International Security Assistance Force Kabul.

Local peace activists allege Army spied on them

Back in February 2006, my former Seattle Post-Intelligencer colleague Paul Shukovsky and I wrote about authorities keeping tabs on local non-violent peace activists in Seattle in the name of homeland security.

Now the New York Times reports, in an item picked up by the Seattle Times, that the Army has opened in an inquiry into an accusation from antiwar groups that a Fort Lewis employee, identified by the post as an intelligence analyst, spent more than two years infiltrating peace groups under a false name.

The story by New York Times reporter William Yardley quotes Stephen Dycus, an expert on national security issues at Vermont Law School.

According to the Times, Dycus said the Army was prohibited from conducting law enforcement among civilians except in very rare circumstances, none of which immediately appeared to be relevant to the Fort Lewis case. Dycus said several statutes and rules also prohibited the Army from conducting covert surveillance of civilian groups for intelligence purposes.

"Infiltration is a really big deal," he said. He said it "raises fundamental questions about the role of the military in American society."

Back in 2006, the story Shukovsky and I reported was based upon public disclosure requests of FBI files that local authorities and the FBI looked for signs of civil disobedience in activists preparing to protest Navy ships at Seafair. And caught in the glare of the public eye were groups like in their vigilance had checked out groups like the Raging Grannies, known for their musical satire, and Quakers, known for non-violence.

As often happens with well-intentioned laws and policies, they evolve and get stretched over time.

Personally, I think we ought to drop "homeland" as a term for the bureaucracy. It has a Third Reich or Soviet ring to it with all the attendant stigmas. Why not "civil security" or something more American, federal folks? "Civil Defense" was good enough for out grandparents and the rest of us who had to conduct those duck and cover drills during the Cold War.

While I'm on a rant, also get rid of "warrior." Who dreamt it up? I take the lead from my late dad on this one, a career Army soldier and at one time at age 22 the youngest master sergeant in the Army.

He served during the occupation of Germany and through the Korean and Vietnam wars and worked in a distinguished intelligence unit. I remember a couple of years ago he was grumbling about the references to "warrior this' and 'warrior that.'"

"Warriors," he scoffed, "sounds like a bunch of spearchuckers. After WW II, in Germany the proudest thing you could hear was 'soldat Amerkaner' -- American soldier," my dad said. "That's what I was, what I am. American soldier."

All three of Fort Lewis's Stryker Brigades deploy this year

Fort Lewis's 4,000 member 5th Stryker Brigade, the post's newest and which had never been deployed, left for Afghanistan last month, becoming the first Stryker brigade ever to serve there.

Four thousand more soldiers from the 4th Stryker Brigade are preparing to leave in September for Iraq for their second tour, and some observers predict it will be the last American brigade sent there.

Meanwhile, the 3rd Stryker Brigade last week began readying for its third tour of duty to Iraq, casing its colors last Friday as it mobilized to leave.

The deployments will leave the 30,000-soldier post at about half its Army population this year. Other smaller units from the post also are expected to deploy to war zones this year.

With the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, the missions are expected to change. The News Tribune talks about some of the changes in its FOB Tacoma blog, and caught up with a 3rd Stryker Brigade soldier, Staff Sgt. Jason Hill, who is preparing for his third trip to Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Defense Department's public relations folks released some videos of the 5th Stryker soldiers landing at Kandahar July 13.

Two dead in apparent Fort Lewis murder-suicide

The Armed Forces Press Service and The News Tribune say a 59-year-old retired soldier who shot a civilian vendor to death at the post exchange Wednesday has died.

The shooting occurred in the corridor area of the main post exchange at Fort Lewis at about 11:20 a.m. Wednesday when the post shopping center was jammed for the lunch hour. At least five shots reportedly were fired, sparking panic as shoppers and lunchgoers scrambled for cover.

The woman, a civilian vendor who worked at a kiosk in the corridor but was not an exchange employee, was pronounced dead after being rushed to Madigan Army Medical Center.

The News Tribune identified her as Sharlona White. Rose Braggs, White's mother, told the newspaper that she learned through news reports that her daughter, who was in her 30s, had died after being shot about 11:30 a.m. while working at her kiosk at the PX.

According to the News Tribune, Braggs in a telephone interview said “He killed my baby. My baby’s gone.”

Braggs told the News Tribune she believed the man who shot her daughter was a former boyfriend who White had left seven months ago.

“She didn’t want him,” Braggs told the reporter. “She was trying hard to get away from him. He just wouldn’t give her up.”

Braggs told the paper the ex-boyfriend had ­threatened her daughter before and had told her he was going to kill himself.

“We called the police and everything,” she was quoted as saying. “We kept on saying (to her) get a restraining order.”

Braggs said her daughter, a Foss High School graduate, worked “all the time, seven days a week” to support herself and her two children, ages 10 and 14, the paper reported.

“She was a wonderful person,” Braggs said.

The man, who retired from the Army in 1952, died at Madigan about 4 p.m. from a gunshot wound to the head.

Preliminary indications are that the man shot the woman and then turned the gun on himself, officials said.

The FBI is investigating with Fort Lewis law enforcement and the Army's Criminal Investigation Command participating.

The victim’s identities were withheld pending notification of their families.

Fort Lewis military police secured the scene, and people in the area were evacuated, post officials said. Loaded firearms are not allowed to be brought onto the post, Maj. Mike Garcia told the Seattle Times.

The News Tribune interviewed two who were there, Kathy Johnson and her mother, Kazui Miller, who were shopping on opposite sides of the PX when the shooting started.

According to the Tribune's story:

“Everyone ran in every direction,” said Johnson, a 44-year-old Tacoma native who now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Everyone was yelling, ‘Call 9-1-1!’ ”

Johnson dived under a rack of women’s clothes and tried calling the police. The line was busy. She tried again.

“It just rang and rang and rang,” she said. “So I called my husband back home, and he called 9-1-1 and was patched through to the Fort Lewis operator.”

A woman sat beside her under the rack, screaming and sobbing uncontrollably, Johnson said.

“Everyone in the store thought it was a mass shooting because of the number of gunshots,” she said. “My heart was racing. We weren’t sure if a gunman was coming for us.”

The woman next to Johnson was still in hysterics.

“She kept saying, ‘Oh, my God, I’m about to die,’ ” Johnson said, adding she shook her enough to run out of the store with her.

In a written statement, Fort Lewis officials expressed condolences to the victims’ families and commended the quick reaction by PX employees to evacuate the facility quickly without further injuries.

White also worked at McChord Air Force Base selling fashion accessories and jewelry.

The Tribune said she opened a custom fashion store in Fife named ZnZWear, named for her two children whose first names begin with Z. It closed last year but White retained a goal of one day owning several stores and entering manufacturing.

White also lent her talents to charities, helping the Boys & Girls Clubs with a fashion show every year, and assisting a Ugandan family by selling their handmade neckties in her store.

Fort Lewis is the nation's largest Army installation west of the Mississippi, with 30,000 soldiers. It is home to the nation's first Stryker brigades, which were first developed there in the late 1990s.