Tagged: Joint Base Lewis-McChord

A team of economists at the University of Puget Sound say strength in military spending and port traffic will help lift Pierce County’s economy this year.

LAKEWOOD, Wash. – Washington Senator Patty Murray has introduced legislation to overhaul the mental health system for war veterans. The move comes in the wake of a scandal at Washington’s Madigan Army Hospital. Doctors there incorrectly told dozens of soldiers they didn’t suffer from PTSD. One of those soldiers was Richard Kellar.

Richard Kellar has entered year six of his fight to regain his life after getting blown up in Iraq. Doctors had to re-attach his nose. He has a Traumatic Brain Injury. And then there are the emotional wounds of war. Flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia.

“Heartbreaking” and “Preventable.” That’s how the mother of an Army helicopter pilot describes the midair crash that killed her son and three others last December. It happened during a nighttime training exercise at Washington’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord. A report released this week finds that commanders knew about radar and radio limitations in the training area where the crash happened. But apparently those communication gaps went unresolved – despite other near misses.

For the first time, the U.S. Army is confirming it was a midair collision that brought down two helicopters last December at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The results of an internal investigation into the crash that killed four pilots was released Monday. It blames pilot error, not a mechanical failure.

The two Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopters were on a nighttime training mission last December 12th. According to the investigation, one of the helicopters flew directly into the side of the second chopper bringing both aircraft to the ground.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — Joint Base Lewis-McChord says an anti-tank weapon that was found at a home in Pierce County is not from the Army base.

A U.S. official says Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who had been stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, will be charged with 17 counts of murder in the massacre of Afghan villagers.

It has also come to light that Bales was accused in a second incident involving alcohol and violence.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. — A top military commander speaking at the base of the soldier suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians says the Army is adequately dealing with mental health and other issues related to multiple deployments.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – A Lieutenant Colonel from Joint Base Lewis-McChord has been charged with threatening to kill his girlfriend, his estranged wife and his Army boss. The allegations come just days after another Lewis-McChord soldier was accused of a murderous attack on Afghan civilians.

Lt. Col Robert Underwood is charged with three counts of felony harassment. According to court documents, he recently told his daughter he was “going to do something crazy and it would be on the news.”

The Army is investigating whether the cost of care and benefits is influencing the diagnosis of soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder at Madigan Army Medical Center.

THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. – The Army isn’t saying yet whether a mid-air collision caused the crash of two reconnaissance helicopters at a training area on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The accident Monday night killed four Washington-based Army aviators.