Resources
As the holiday season nears, overseas shoppers used to the convenience of ordering online may encounter an irritating roadblock: Some retailers don’t ship to military post offices overseas. Even with major vendors such as Amazon.com, it’s hit or miss. The company will ship some electronic products to Army and Fleet post
Focus
In 1979, two things happened to Gary Schamel. He was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and he started volunteering. A retired Air Force master sergeant, Schamel’s reasons for volunteering were threefold. He wanted to give back to less fortunate people, stay busy, and meet new people. “I was inspired to volunteer by
Roll Call
The Fort Lewis Ranger is hosting a Valentine’s Day party for spouses of deployed soldiers and is looking for military wives and significant others who would like to be in the fashion show during the event. All sizes and shapes of women wanted — no experience is necessary. Interested women
Roll Call
The 56th Army Band, along with Navy Band Northwest, will present a holiday concert Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. in Carey Theater. Enjoy all your holiday classics and get the season started in the finest style. Admission is free.
Roll Call
The Fort Lewis community is invited to a holiday tree lighting with a visit from Santa on Dec. 8, 4:30 p.m. in front of I Corps headquarters. Santa will be on hand with elves handing out candy canes. There will also be a reception at the Family Resource Center from
Roll Call
Enlisted Spouses Club annual gift wrap at the Fort Lewis Main PX started Tuesday and continues until Dec. 24, daily, except for Thanksgiving Day. Help the ESC by coming out and getting your gifts wrapped, the cost is whatever you choose to donate. The funds raised go back out to
Focus
Sgt. Rachel Strong exemplifies the finest qualities of what a citizen-soldier contributes to society. “She’s an outstanding soldier,” wrote Lt. Keith Kosik, a Guard spokesman, in an e-mail. “She is an outstanding example of the citizen-soldier.” Serving for the past five years with the 341st Military Intelligence Battalion, 96th Troop Command, Washington
Focus
If you've lived in the Puget Sound area and have attended any kind of sporting event in the last 13 years - from high school up to the professional level - the odds are good you've probably seen Master Sgt. Marvin Shields Jr. sing the national anthem. Shields Jr., a Western
Support
The idea sounds honorable -- send a Christmas card to a wounded soldier to show your support and appreciation of their service. But ConsumerAffairs.com has learned there's incorrect information in an e-mail now circulating around the Internet that suggests Americans send holiday cards to "A Recovering American Soldier" at the Walter
Focus
Hanging on the wall inside a conference room at the 5th Air Support Operations Squadron's headquarters at Fort Lewis is a giant framed glass case with inscribed plaques neatly aligned in rows. Each of the plaques is inscribed with the name of a 5th ASOS airman who's been awarded a Bronze
Food Matters
WINE DINNERThe Dockside Bistro and Wine Bar in Olympia hosts a wine dinner with Washington winery Anelare Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. Reserve your space at 360.956.1928.STEAK NIGHTPaddy Coyne's in downtown Tacoma serves a $3.99 steak and chips dinner every Monday.ANOTHER BIKINI BARISTA SHACKThe Foxy Lady Café has opened
Food Matters
Thursday, Dec. 3 Wine tasting, five pours for $5, Vinum Coffee and Wine Lounge, 1001 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.8215. Ladies Night featuring half off all wine flights and $5 house pours, Sip, 4793 Point Fosdick Dr. N.W, Gig Harbor, 253.853.3020. Wine tasting, noon to 6 p.m., complimentary, Walter Dacon
Archives
The latest in cooperative art galleries, Impromptu Gallery next to the Grand Cinema in downtown Tacoma, had its debut this month with an eye-pleasing multi-artist show. The gallery cooperative is not a new concept — it’s one that allows member artists more control over the space they show in and
Focus
(Army News Service & AFNS) — Soldiers who don't agree to extend their enlistments in units slated to deploy on or after Jan. 1 may be involuntarily separated up to three months early. While on the Air Force side, officials here announced Nov. 16 measures to meet the fiscal 2010
We Recommend
The moment you tour as the great Wanda Jackson's backing band, as the Dusty 45s recently did, I'd say all bets are off. That's a lifetime of argument-ending, "Oh yeah, well, we were Wanda Jackson's backing band," moments. As a band in their own right, the Dusty 45s produce mostly
Focus
In November 2008, Brig. Gen. Peter Bayer, Multi-National Corps-Iraq chief of staff, stood before the Corps Analysis and Control Element at Fort Lewis, to wish the soldiers of I Corps' CACE well as they prepared to head to Iraq. On Nov. 20, he stood before the soldiers again — this time
We Recommend
For years, Paris Spleen was a fixture in the Tacoma music scene, and its members were part of the local music collective, Team Unicorn. The band's music was dance-punk, with a lyrical flair that tended to bend toward the overtly sexual - They may be the first and last Tacoma
Focus
WASHINGTON (AFNS) — Maintaining peak combat readiness begins and ends with healthy, motivated and well-trained Airmen. On Nov. 19, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel announced the new Air Force fitness standards will officially begin July 1, 2010. Lt. Gen. Richard Y. Newton III said the service's
Focus
FORT BENNING, Ga. (The Bayonet) — The U.S. Army Combatives School has adopted a new teaching plan. The Army is revamping the curriculum to take lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan and build more effective close-quarters fighters, said Matt Larsen, the school's director. The goal is to push advanced techniques down
We Recommend
Scout Niblett, originally hailing from England, manages to wring more tremulous menace out of her guitar than seems quite possible. A singer/songwriter with a taste for the ominous, Niblett has a way of making songs that straddle the line between intimate and violently standoffish. The moment her vocals lull you