Lt. Gen. Stephen Lanza understands perfectly well the function of a town hall meeting.

"This brings us together," the commander of I Corps at Joint Base Lewis-McChord said this morning.

"Members from the business community, academia and local government are here," he said to the nearly 100 listeners.

Eagles Pride Golf Course at DuPont hosted the two-hour event. 

In a candid, clear and relaxed manner, Lanza talked about the trust the Army and JBLM have built with the local area and the sustainment of the force as the country faces uncertain economic times.

"We will sustain the trust we have built with this community," Lanza said.  "Forums like this build on that trust."

Read more...

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.10.2014 >>>

Five American Special Operations service members were killed in southern Afghanistan.

More violence erupts near Pakistan's busiest airport, Taliban vows full-out war.

Islamic militants overran parts of Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, today, driving security forces from their posts and seizing the provincial government headquarters, security bases and other key buildings.

A Navy ship with Marines aboard became a rescue craft in the Mediterranean, coming to the aid of passengers aboard a sinking boat.

The Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general is investigating 69 medical facilities for manipulation of appointment wait times and has contacted the Justice Department in cases where staff has found evidence of potential criminal or civil wrongdoing.

Developments over the past couple of weeks have led analysts to expect "a wave of attacks" by the Pakistani Taliban, of which the assault on the airport in Karachi from Sunday night into Monday appears to be the first.

The House Armed Services Committee will investigate the Obama administration's swap of an American prisoner held for five years for five Taliban leaders that caused a political firestorm over the lack of congressional notification and fears the high-level Taliban could return to the Afghanistan battlefield.

NATO launched one of its largest military maneuvers in the Baltic states since tensions spiked with neighboring Russia over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

America's ultimate strategy in a clash with China.

Chinese weapons that worry the Pentagon.

Army kicks off first-of-many 239th birthday events.

Army-licensed action figures, minus the firepower, target preschoolers.

The interior of the VG-22 Osprey could have been used in Aliens.

Guy jumps from speeding truck into 328-foot-deep gorge.

The masterful 360-degree long shot in Sunday's Game of Thrones.

Watch the trailer for Jeffrey Brown's new book, Goodnight Darth Vader.

Watch Arcade Fire cover Echo and the Bunnymen's The Cutter - with Ian McCulloch.

What?: Will The Kinks reunite?

Hear Morrissey perform a new song.

List: Movies that were shelved for years before they were released.

Finally: Ghostbusters infographic.

Getting excited for the World Cup? The whole world is! So much so that they're doing ridiculous things like playing soccer with flaming coconuts that basically shoot out flames whenever they kick it around. Oh and they're doing all that kicking barefoot.

LINK: Original photo by Spc. Joshua Edwards

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.9.14 >>>

Pakistani Taliban Attacks Karachi Airport: Militants armed with grenades and assault weapons dressed as security guards, killing 18 people in a retaliatory siege that lasted more than five hours.

Top 10 conclusions about the VA crisis.

U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has told people treating him at an American military medical facility in Germany that he was tortured, beaten and held in a cage by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan after he tried to escape.

Hillary Clinton says she gave "very direct instructions" to security experts during the 2012 Benghazi attack in an effort to secure the U.S. mission.

U.S. sends stealth bombers to Europe.

House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) said acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson is "doing a great job."

Supporting the troops does not start when they return from war.

Army continues the rapid development of the cutting-edge boost-glide Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) missile program.

The Chinese engineer who helped Tehran develop its ballistic missiles is one of America's most wanted, with a $5 million reward on his head.

Why no female Blue Angels pilots?

Unmanned intel app could keep small units informed.

A computer has successfully managed to fool a bunch of researchers into thinking that it was a 13-year-old boy named Eugene Goostman.

Amazon has a new best-selling author list that's updated hourly.

Another day, another Ant-Man director ...

List: Best '90s soundtrack albums

List: Twenty-one Things You Might Not Know About Gremlins

Watch Sir Mix-A-Lot perform Baby Got Back with the Seattle symphony.

George Strait has broken the Rolling Stones' record for concert attendance.

Nice: The drummer for Weezercaught a Frisbee during a show - and never stopped playing!

Teen invents footwear that will charge your phone as you walk.

In our thoughts ...

Astronaut Jones by djgreenuts

LINK: Original photo by Spc. Ryan DeBooy

The Lakes High School students sat and listened carefully to Staff Sgt. Ty Carter.

A Medal of Honor recipient, Carter talked about his life experiences in pointing out to his young audience the attributes of true character.

"I am no different than you," he began. 

Bringing Carter, who currently serves at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, to Lakes was the idea of Republican State Senator Steve O'Ban.

The majority of students attending acknowledged that they had a family member serving at JBLM.

O'Ban sponsored Senate Resolution 8713 to honor Carter's valor in Afghanistan was instrumental in bringing him to Lakes High School to give the students the opportunity "to meet a genuine hero and to learn from his life experience."

He also pointed out that Carter is the first Medal of Honor recipient to be honored by the legislature.

When Carter spoke, he did not disappoint.

At ease with the students as he paced back and forth across the stage, Carter briefly told them of his service in the Marine Corps and the Army.

Then he turned to his point - the value of character.

"You must understand what you do with your future," Carter stressed.  "You control what you do in your future."

>>> Staff Sgt. Ty Carter, recipient of the Medal of Honor, shakes hands with a Lakes High School student. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

At times he alluded to the Oct. 3, 2009 battle at Combat Outpost (COP) Keating in Afghanistan's Nuristan Province. 

More than 300 insurgents had surrounded the COP and the 53 soldiers stationed there.  Eight soldiers were killed; 25 were wounded, including Carter.

During the fight, Carter engaged enemy troops, resupplied ammunition to his fellow soldiers, rendered first aid and risked his life to save an injured soldier who had been pinned down by barrage of enemy fire.

"You work for and with each other," he explained at one point.  "Everyone has to work together," he added when asked about the fight.

Students soon engaged Carter with questions.  One question addressed an issue of concern to Carter.

Post Traumatic Stress.

"My goal is to remove the D from PTSD," Carter said.  "It's not a disorder. It's a normal human reaction to trauma."

Another question centered the wearing of the Medal of Honor.

Carter's answer is character revealed.

"It is a representation," he began.

"Behind it is every man who fought, behind it are the eight men who died and the Gold Star families.  And every time I make a mistake while wearing the medal I have insulted the memory of those who fought and died."

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.5.14 >>>

A Navy jet crashed into the sea as it prepared to make a late-night landing on an aircraft carrier, but the pilot ejected and was listed in stable condition.

A Marine jet crashed into a residential area and destroyed two homes in a Southern California desert community Wednesday, but no one was injured.

Criticism over troop withdrawal emerges from beyond G.O.P.

The top Afghanistan war commander, Gen. Joseph Dunford, said he is confident that NATO members will contribute at least 4,000 additional conventional military forces to the post-war mission in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military said about 1,800 of the nearly 10,000 U.S. troops the U.S. plans to leave in Afghanistan at the end of the year would be conducting counterterror operations.

The top man reportedly being considered to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs was recently quoted criticizing the administration's signature healthcare law.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) has introduced a bill that would allow veterans to sue Department of Veterans Affairs employees who have falsified medical records.

The top U.S. military official in South Korea said a hacking incident might have compromised the personal information of thousands of South Koreans employed by the American command.

The bizarre club of war zone deserters.

A rare look inside the Air Force's drone training classroom.

The End of An era: 376^th Air Expeditionary Wing inactivation ceremony.

The small Idaho hometown of released captive Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has canceled plans for a celebration later this month.

Sgt. Bergdahl could be entitled to about $300,000 in back pay and special compensation following his release as a prisoner.

The last of the 29 Navajos who developed an unbreakable code that helped win World War II has died.

Hidden tricks and features that are going to make iOS 8 a powerhouse.

The most amazing infinity pool ever seen.

Watch Jack White's new music video.

Vanity Fair has a piece about the making of Ghostbusters.

The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting roundtable with Chuck Lorre, Mike Judge, Jenni Konner, Mike Schur, Armando Ianucci and Marc Maron about what it's like to run a TV comedy.

Finally: Tom Cruise hair quiz.

Are you better than Don Draper from Mad Men?

LINK: Original photo by Sgt. Giancario Casem

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.4.14 >>>

Ayatollah Ali Khameni said in a speech he believes President Obama will not use force to stop Iran's nuclear program.

Putin looks east to bolster ties with North Korea.

The U.S. Air Force plans to temporarily deploy heavy bombers capable of delivering nuclear weapons to Europe one day after President Barack Obama announced he would increase the U.S. military presence in the region.

Video: A dazed Bowe Bergdahl is led by two militants to a Blackhawk helicopter in eastern Afghanistan ending his five years' in captivity.

The hero who died looking for Bowe Bergdahl.

Prisoner swap blows up on White House.

An internal military investigation found that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl intentionally sneaked away from his forward operating base in Afghanistan just before he disappeared in 2009 - and that may not have been the first time he left the post without permission.

Senate Republicans said they would offer legislation to allow veterans to go to any hospital within 40 miles of their home to get healthcare.

An armed Russian fighter jet flew within 100 feet of a US Air Force RC-135U and taunted the intelligence-gathering aircraft with an aggressive maneuver over international waters north of Japan.

Terrorism is and remains the top threat to the United States, Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Mike Vickers said.

NSA Chief: Snowden "probably not" a foreign agent.

Report: Blue Angles boss tolerated porn, lewdness.

From 1914 to 2014, here's what a hundred year difference looks like after the siege of Antwerp.

The New York Times has a piece about anonymity on social media.

TMZ has posted 22 more secret behind-the-scenes photos from the Star Wars Episode 7 secret production studio in the UK

Amazing bowling tricks.

Stream Jack White's new album on iTunes.

Finally: Comic book movie comment section bingo

The FCC does not like John Oliver. The reason why below ...

LINK: Original photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan David Chandler

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.3.14 >>>

President Obama said he will ask Congress for $1 billion to bolster security for Poland and other nations in Europe in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Report: Chinese cruise missiles could pose biggest threat to U.S. carriers.

The Department of Veterans Affairs official internal data show it failed to treat three out of five veterans within its 14-day target period for care.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey said today that the Army may pursue an investigation that could lead to desertion charges against Bergdahl.

The White House defended the release of five Guantanamo detainees in exchange for a US soldier held by the Taliban, as many ordinary Afghans criticized the deal for emboldening the militants.

When throngs of people converge along the beaches of Normandy, France, to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, U.S. soldiers will be there, in dozens of ceremonies and many of them in the most dramatic spectacle on the calendar.

The Air Force announced two major awards, awarding Lockheed Martin the contract for its Space Fence program and Raytheon the winner of its Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) system.

The Pentagon has ambitious plans to develop a prosthetic for the brain that would restore memory functions.

Computer security experts from academia, industry and the larger security community have organized themselves into more than 30 teams to compete in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Cyber Grand Challenge.

Military fast food fans will benefit from the easing of new Labor Department wage rules that threatened to cause the closure of many such eateries on installations.

Solar roadways will not happen anytime soon.

Roller coaster ride looks like a trip out of this planet.

Nice one, nature!

The brand new OS X Yosemite is perhaps the most dramatic redesign of Apple's operating system to date.

List: Bands that make more than $50,000 a show.

What?: Pamela Anderson appears in Morrissey's new spoken-word video.

College radio is dying - and we need to save it.

Preview Dave Grohl's new HBO series, which coincides with a new Foo Fighters album.

Spin names the best albums of the year so far.

IFC's Garfunkel and Oates series premieres in August.

Gangnam Style broke two billion views on YouTube ...

LINK: Original photo by Army Sgt. Dayan Neely

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.2.14 >>>

New research links Iraqi dust to sick soldiers.

The release yesterday of former prisoner of war Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, after a years-long international effort to free him from nearly five years of captivity in Afghanistan, was an important day for U.S. troops and for the United States.

Those who worked for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's release face mounting questions over the prisoner swap that won his freedom.

The Afghan president is angry at being kept in the dark over a deal to free five Taliban leaders in exchange for a captured U.S. soldier, and accuses Washington of failing to back a peace plan for the war-torn country.

Some of the veterans and soldiers who served with Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl call him a deserter whose "selfish act" ended up costing the lives of better men.

The chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs committee has released details of a refashioned bill to address the problems plaguing the federally run veterans' health care system.

Al-Qaida has decentralized, yet it's unclear whether the terrorist network is weaker and less likely to launch a Sept. 11-style attack against the United States, as President Obama says, or remains potent despite the deaths of several leaders.

The Defense Department is pushing for more transparency in providing information on international drone strikes in countries such as Yemen, while still not releasing drone strike data for its continued operations in Afghanistan.

The U.S. defense sector is having a remarkable year on Capitol Hill. In fact, it is batting 1.000 so far, with three of four congressional defense panels protecting weapon programs and adding funds to buy platforms the military didn't even request.

A U.S. House of Representatives panel that oversees defense spending has added funding next year for EA-18 electronic warfare jets, but not A-10 attack planes.

As his West Point speech reaffirmed, President Obama doesn't have his own brand of foreign policy.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's go-to weapon system is not found on any base, in any hangar or aboard any ship. It's a review.

MacArthur Leadership Awards go to 28 officers.

Air Force Academy grad follow sisters - alums of West Point and Annapolis.

Can "Spidey Sense" be taught?

Star Trek is hilariously ridiculous when you eliminate the camera shake.

How to take eye-popping pictures of tiny bugs.

Sad News: Ann B. Davis (Alice from The Brady Bunch) has died.

Only 564 days to go to Star Wars Episode VII.

Cameron's house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off sold (for less than expected).

Arsenio Hall's show has been canceled.

Good morning!

LINK: Original photo by Staff Sgt. Chrissy Best

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 5.31.14 >>>

Soldier dies in aircraft accident in Afghanistan.

The United States and China squared off at an Asian security forum, with the U.S. defense secretary accusing Beijing of destabilizing the region and a top Chinese general retorting that his comments were "threat and intimidation".

Ukraine's government vowed on Friday to press ahead with a military offensive against separatists.

Just three months after being named Veterans Affairs deputy secretary, Sloan Gibson is taking the helm - albeit temporarily - of an embattled Cabinet department.

For many in military, Shinseki remains an American hero.

More than 60 percent of Veterans Affairs health facilities surveyed in an audit directed by senior VA leadership were found to have toyed with appointment dates and, in some cases, schedulers were pressured to game wait times to make them appear more favorable.

It's one of the more disturbing revelations to arise from an investigation into fatal delays in care at Veterans Affairs medical centers: Employee bonuses appear to be one factor behind the manipulation of patient wait times in at least one hospital.    

The Associated Press reached out to veterans in Arizona and several other states to recount their experiences with VA care.

One U.S. cybersecurity expert is arguing that world nations should jointly pledge they will spare civil nuclear facilities from computer attacks for humanitarian reasons.

With no sign that the sequestration-imposed budget cuts are going away, the Air Force is going to have to change how it handles its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance architecture.

Land Power: A personal theory of power.

Man stuck in South Korea after his kid doodled all over his passport.

iOS8 Wish List: What we want (and what we'll get).

Skin Deep app points out harmful ingredients in the beauty products we use every day.

The story of the largest T-Rex fossil ever discovered is certainly worthy of the documentary treatment.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Flavor Creme Oreos go on sale June 9 nationwide.

You don’t see this everyday …

LINK: Original photo by Sgt. Aaron Rooks

GRAB A COFFEE AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 5.30.14 >>>

At least 100 members of Congress have called for the resignation of Eric Shinseki, the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, over mismanagement of veterans' health care, but so far the White House is unmoved.

Hagel says "indispensable" U.S. still not the world's police.

A House bill that passed will restore autonomy to a Gulf War illness board that had been stripped away by the Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this year.

U.S. House defense appropriators moved one step closer to approving $570.4 billion in base and war spending for the Pentagon, including funds for an 11th aircraft carrier and electronic-attack planes.

The move to bring all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan at the end of 2016 will mean major cuts in supplemental funding.

Senate Democratic leaders are planning a two-pronged legislative response to the scandal embroiling the Veterans Affairs Department, which has become an issue in several Senate races.

The gap between supply and demand for spy planes just got bigger.

The U.S. Marine Corps cannot meet its amphibious assault needs with its current stable of ship-to-shore connectors.

Problem solvers tackle Army complexity.

There have now been 12 successful coups over the past eight decades of Thailand's modern monarchy. But the latest, on May 22 did not follow the usual script, which runs: lock down Bangkok while the rest of the country watches.

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff has rejected the notion that the U.S. is politically exhausted during his visit to the United Arab Emirates this week.

Lockheed Martin reached an agreement to purchase the Space Operations arm of Astrotech, a move that should help the largest defense company in the world grow its launch capabilities.

Virgin Galactic cleared by FAA.

Species of plants and animals are going extinct about 10 times faster than biologists had previously believed.

This terrifying Robo-Raptor will hunt you down at 29 mph.

Led Zeppelin vs. the Beattle: Whole Lotta Helter Skelter

Lukewarm review of Halt and Catch Fire, which premieres Sunday on AMC.

Nice: Dick Van Dyke is still a great dancer.

Cool: The Wonder Years cast has reunited!

The geekiest wedding ever.

List: best sequels of all time

Finally: A GWAR-themed bar.

Finally: Maps of where bars outnumber grocery stores.

Let's call it a day ...

LINK: Original photo by Lance Cpl. Unique Robert