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FORT BELVOIR, Va. , June 23, 2009 – Beth Reece always dreamed of seeing her name in print. But as a young girl growing up in the sleepy town of Beckley, W.Va., she couldn’t have known how much the military would help her achieve that goal. Reece loved to write and had a passion for words. By the time she graduated high school, she was determined to make a career of writing, but wasn’t sure how she would pay for the college degree that would be her springboard into the world of journalism. So she decided to go to work...

... as they finish 18 holes at the Fort Belvoir Golf Club together on Father's Day, Sunday, June 21, 2009.

President Obama is reportedly playing golf at Fort Belvoir. Your print pooler and a member of the wire pool were left behind today (although we were on time and greeted by the press office wrangler). We were waiting in the briefing room for the pool call -- and have since learned that when the lights are on, the overhead address system bypasses the briefing room. There was a lot of public tour traffic through the briefing room this morning and (you guessed it) the lights were on. The call went out, and the motorcade rolled. This information is intended not...

President Barack Obama hit the golf course after marking his first Memorial Day as commander in chief. The president's motorcade took him to Fort Belvoir in Virginia. That's where he went for a game of golf more than a week ago. Obama grabbed his clubs after he participated in Memorial Day observances at Arlington National Cemetery

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008 – Sunny days will be just around the corner when Elmo and his friends bring “The Sesame Street Experience” to 43 military installations to help children trying to cope with parents’ deployments. Jillian Kules, 13 months, shows Leslye Arsht, deputy under secretary of defense for military community and family policy the new DVD she got June 26, 2008, at the launch of Sesame Workshop's "The Sesame Street Experience." Both the DVD and the live show were developed with the support of Arsht's office to help young military children cope with parents' deployments. Defense Dept. photo...

The former counterterrorism officer for the Defense Logistics Agency's headquarters at Fort Belvoir pleaded guilty yesterday to federal charges that he ordered official police credentials for a business associate. Edward Flanagan, who also had served as a security operations chief at the defense agency, told a co-worker that he ordered the fake credentials as gifts for “future business ventures,” according to filings in federal court in Alexandria. Flanagan, 46, faced felony charges that carry up to 15 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Under sentencing guidelines, his attorney said, he could get 33 to 41 months in prison. U.S....

(AP) FORT BELVOIR, Va. The Army is considering a proposal to allow a private developer to build a military theme park that would include “4D” rides and bars including a “1st Division Lounge.” Military officials said a massive entertainment and hotel complex built next to a national Army museum could draw more than 1 million people a year. But authorities in Fairfax County are objecting because of already traffic-clogged roads surrounding the proposed site.

President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Maliki visited with military personnel and their families at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Click the link to read the president's speech text at Ft. Belvoir or watch the video. The two leaders held a joint press conference.) Bush met with recipients of the 2005 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, at the White House. The president attended a private fundraising event for U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, W.Va. Secretary of State Rice is in Rome, discussing the situation in the Middle East (Hezbollah and Israel, etc.). Condoleezza Rice will perform a piano recital...

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (Army News Service, May 2, 2006) – The 2006 U.S. Army Soldier Show will unveil “Reveille: Answering the Call” during a three-performance weekend May 5 through 7 at Wallace Theater. “The entire idea came from the new Army motto: Call to Duty,” said Soldier Show director Victor Hurtado. “For our civilian audience, it may illustrate why people join. For our military audience, it might remind them why – what their initial reasons were and why they continue to serve.” The bottom line, however, remains the same: “Entertainment for the Soldier, by the Soldier,” the working motto of...

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Jan. 26, 2006 – The agency charged with reducing threats against American forces celebrated the opening of its new headquarters building, the Defense Threat Reduction Center, here today. The new center consolidates five separate locations and more than 1,400 people assigned to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency in the Washington metropolitan area into a single, secure facility. James A. Tegnelia, agency director and host of the ceremony, introduced Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, chief of U.S. Strategic Command, as "part-owner" of the facility in his position as the operational commander responsible for combating weapons of mass destruction....

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - A federal commission voted Thursday to move tens of thousands of military and civilian defense jobs from the close-in suburbs of northern Virginia to military bases outside the Capital Beltway despite concerns that such a massive jobs shift could create traffic nightmares. In May, the Pentagon recommended to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission that 23,000 military and civilian defense employees working in leased office space in the suburbs of Alexandria and Arlington County be relocated to military bases outside the Capital Beltway, including Fort Belvoir, Va., Fort Meade, Md., and Quantico Marine Corps Base, Va....

This morning President Bush nominated Deputy Treasury Secretary Sam Bodman as his choice for energy secretary and later on President Bush helped fill care packages with volunteers at an Operation USA Care Package stuffing facility in Fort Belvoir, Virginia ENJOY YOUR VISIT TO SANITY ISLAND!

Although the complete Land Warrior System -- a modular, integrated fighting system that includes everything an infantry soldier wears or carries on the battlefield -- is not due to be fielded until 2007, troops in the field already benefit from several of its components. The goal of Land Warrior, said Army Col. Ted Johnson, project manager for Soldier Warrior, Program Executive Office Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Va., is to improve a soldier's ability on the battlefield. This, he added, includes enhancing a soldier's mobility, situational awareness (command and control and communications), lethality, sustainability and survivability. The original intent, said the...

<p>Task Force 121, the secret manhunting unit formed for the war on terrorism, is a blend of warriors, aviators, CIA officers and deep-cover intelligence collectors who nabbed Saddam Hussein and now hope to grab Osama bin Laden.</p> <p>"This is tightening the sensor-to-shooter loop," said a senior defense official. "You have your own intelligence right with the guys who do the shooting and grabbing. All the information under one roof."</p>

<p>For those of you keeping score, the dispute between Virginia and Minnesota over who gets a Civil War flag captured at Gettysburg has now lasted six years.</p> <p>The Civil War lasted four.</p> <p>Virginia's attempt to get back the flag with Confederate bars and stripes continued last week. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., and Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-6th, complained to the feds again - and this time Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore joined them.</p>

  Army theater group to perform in Iraq, Afghanistan By Tim Hipps Pfc. Blake Boles says taking BRAVO! Army Theatre Touring Company on the road to perform "Farley Family Reunion" for front-line Soldiers is "bigger than Broadway . . . bigger than the Oscars." Tim Hipps FORT BELVOIR, Va. (Army News Service, Nov. 13, 2003) – BRAVO! Army Theatre Touring Company will present “Farley Family Reunion” during the holiday season to lighten spirits of Soldiers deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Having already performed the hilarious play about family at Fort Belvoir, Va., Nov. 7...

For Your Info. The Army bases currently proposed for closure or realignment in 2005 include: Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; Detroit Arsenal, Michigan; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico; Fort McPherson/Gillem, Georgia; Fort Monmouth, New Jersey; Fort Monroe, Virginia; Fort Polk, Louisiana (to realign); Fort Richardson, Alaska; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Fort Shafter, Hawaii; Lima Army Tank Plant, Ohio; Natick Soldier Center, Massachusetts; Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey; Redstone Arsenal, Alabama; Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois; Sierra Army Depot, California; and Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. Air Force base closures and realignments include: Altus AFB, Oklahoma; Beale AFB, California; Brooks AFB, Texas; Cannon AFB,...

County Board members said that the bumbling and arrogance of Major League baseball officials forced them to cut short debate on whether a professional baseball stadium should be located in the county. At the same time, supporters of a stadium promised to vent their frustrations over the decision at the ballot box in November. With only Jay Fisette dissenting, board members sent a letter July 17 to baseball officials, telling them explicitly that the county should be taken off the list of proposed sites for a stadium in Northern Virginia. “The county [government] has played it very fair,” Vice Chairman...

The cameras are already in place. The computer code is being developed at a dozen or more major companies and universities. And the trial runs have already been planned. Everything is set for a new Pentagon program to become perhaps the federal government's widest reaching, most invasive mechanism yet for keeping us all under watch. Not in the far-off, dystopian future. But here, and soon. The military is scheduled to issue contracts for Combat Zones That See, or CTS, as early as September. The first demonstration should take place before next summer, according to a spokesperson. Approach a checkpoint at...

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Pentagon (news - web sites) is developing an urban surveillance system that would use computers and thousands of cameras to track, record and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a foreign city. AP Photo   Dubbed "Combat Zones That See," the project is designed to help the U.S. military protect troops and fight in cities overseas. Police, scientists and privacy experts say the unclassified technology could easily be adapted to spy on Americans. The project's centerpiece is groundbreaking computer software that is capable of automatically identifying vehicles by size,...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A second U.S. serviceman has died from wounds he suffered in a grenade attack on soldiers in Kuwait, an attack an Army sergeant is suspected of carrying out.Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, based in Boise, was pronounced dead early Tuesday at an Army field hospital in Kuwait, the Idaho Air National Guard said. Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27, of Easton, Pa., also was killed in Saturday's attack, and 14 other soldiers were injured.Sgt. Asan Akbar is in custody. He was shipped to a military jail in Germany on Tuesday after a judge found probable...

The enlisted man who allegedly opened fire after rolling grenades into an officers' tent on Sunday morning, killing a Lehigh Valley native, will be tried before a regular military court and likely will face the death penalty, according to legal experts. The Army has launched a formal investigation into the murder of Army Capt. Christopher Seifert, a Army captain in the 101st Airborne Division. A grenade attack followed by a round of fire took the life of the 27-year-old officer and wounded 15 other soldiers at 1:22 a.m. Sunday at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait. Pentagon spokesmen and Army officials would not...

Vests and helmets that can stop bullets. Kneepads that can cushion 300 pounds of soldier and equipment hitting the ground. Plus night vision goggles, elbow guards, protective gloves and supply vests that can be configured to each mission. In the event of another war with Iraq, soldiers won't be wearing their daddy's uniform, or even their older brother's. Prodded by commercial outfitters and the experience of the last Gulf War, the U.S. military has taken some of the "grunt" out of being a ground troop with lighter, safer and more flexible gear. "There's a great deal of thought being put...