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On Lt. Damon Armeni’s last trip to Iraq, they weren’t sure he’d survive the medical evacuation flight home. Shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade had ripped into his abdomen. He lost his spleen and sections of his colon and intestines. He spent long stretches in the hospital to fight infection. Doctors broke four of his toes and fused the bones together to counter the nerve damage that was causing them to curl up like a claw. And now he’s getting ready to go back to the war zone. He wants to do it. Ever since he was a little kid, he’s...

Associated Press FORT LEWIS — After logging thousands of miles during their first two years in Iraq, the Army's Stryker vehicles are getting an overhaul before being sent back with soldiers. The eight-wheeled, armored vehicles are being worked on by mechanics from General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc., which made the Strykers and has a $69 million Army contract to restore them. Maintenance is taking place at this post south of Seattle and at a company yard in Auburn. The Strykers arrived home by ship in late October. They were used for a year in Iraq by the 3rd Brigade, 2nd...

Fourth Stryker Brigade soldier killed in Iraq MOSUL: 21-year-old Chicago-area private was stationed at Wainwright. By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA Anchorage Daily News Published: November 21, 2005 Last Modified: November 21, 2005 at 02:19 AM A 21-year-old Fort Wainwright soldier from the 172nd Stryker Brigade was killed Saturday while on patrol in Mosul, Iraq, the U.S. Army announced Sunday. Pvt. Christopher Alcozer, from the Chicago suburb of Villa Park, joined the Army last January and had been stationed at Fort Wainwright since May.

One terrorist dead, five suspects detained by MNF (TFF Press Release) MOSUL, IRAQ (July 5, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist and detained five suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq Monday. Read the Entire Entry...» While patrolling in Tal Afar, Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed one terrorist attempting to place an improvised explosive device. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment patrolling in northern Mosul, detained three individuals placing an IED. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in eastern...

MOSUL , Iraq – Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed several terrorists and captured four people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities in northern Iraq Sunday in combined operations with Iraqi Security Forces. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment were attacked by terrorists while conducting a raid in a village in northern Al Anbar Province. Iraqi Army and U.S. 2-14th Soldiers quickly overwhelmed the enemy. Following the attack, the units also discovered a weapons cache inside the building the terrorists had used. The suspects are in custody with no MNF or ISF injuries reported.

MOSUL, Iraq – They’ve uncovered caches of enemy weapons and flushed out a variety of shady characters since coming to Iraq last fall. But the most astonishing find of the war for several Tacoma-area soldiers turned up this week in a secret room behind a bookshelf in a northeast Mosul basement. Following a tip from an Iraqi source, Stryker troops rescued two handcuffed and hooded citizens from a squalid concrete-block room. One of the captives was an Iraqi government official who works closely with American forces. He had been missing 58 days, said officials with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - 0120iraq Iraq's most feared terror leader called on his followers Thursday to show patience and prepare for a long struggle against the Americans, promising in an audiotape posted on the Internet that "ferocious wars ... take their time" but victory was assured. Elsewhere, U.S. troops launched fresh raids around the northern city of Mosul, killing five suspected insurgents, in a bid to rein in guerrillas and safeguard the Jan. 30 national elections. Iraqi forces sealed off main routes into Baghdad a day after a wave of deadly car bombings. The 90-minute message, purportedly from Abu Musab...

I have been posting this elsewhere, but I'm getting so much information (and hope to collect info from others) that I wanted to start a seperate thread to keep you informed and, maybe, help my mental health by sharing.

Just mentioned on FNC: Dining facility on U.S. Base in Iraq hit by rocket attack- 10 dead Waiting for more info...

MICHAEL GILBERT/THE NEWS TRIBUNE FILE Col. Mike Rounds, facing camera, meets Gen. John Abizaid, right, commander of the U.S. Central Command, in Mosul, Iraq, in January. Rounds gave up command of the first Stryker brigade Wednesday. The man who led the Army's first Stryker brigade from the training ranges at Fort Lewis to the streets of Mosul, Iraq, and back again handed over command Wednesday. Col. Mike Rounds led the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division for 29 months. "As much as I'd love to stay, the Army's got a system," the 45-year-old infantry officer said in an interview Wednesday. Brigade...

Alaskans watching the nightly news out of Iraq last week, particularly from the cities of Fallujah and Mosul, might not think there's much of a connection to this state. There is. And while it's not highly visible yet, it could be unmistakable next year. The connection comes in watching and reading about the efforts of the new Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Lewis, Wash. Alaskans should prepare to see this state's Stryker Brigade fighting in a similar situation. The Fort Lewis unit, actually the second Stryker unit deployed from that Army post, encountered heavy fighting in Mosul and...

I just went and got a haircut. My barber is a very nice Thai lady whom I've been seeing for about ten years. Her son is in Iraq. He called to let her know he has been ordered to Mosul. Please put him on your prayer list. His name is PFC Peter T. Notkin, C Co 1/24 INF. He drives a Stryker armored vehicle. Please keep him and ALL our kids in prayer. His mother is very proud of him and terrified at the same time.

Wounded bodies, hero hearts Buoyed by Army iron will, Stryker soldiers and their loved ones struggle to make their families whole when some of the pieces never come home MICHAEL GILBERT; The News TribuneSunday, October 17th, 2004 12:01 AM (PDT) Dean J. Koepfler | The News TribuneSgt. Scott Throson's wife, Tiffany, and daughter, Alyson, visit him in a Washington, D.C., military hospital. b dean j. koepfler/The News Tribune michael gilbert/The News Tribune Tacoma native and Stryker Lt. Damon Armeni, second from left, lost his spleen and parts of his colon and intestine when a grenade exploded Aug. 4 in...

U.S. Army Sgt. Reyes Fernandez was already an American citizen in his heart, now he's one on paper. As an infantryman, Fernandez has been willing to sacrifice his life for a country of which he wasn't a citizen. Fernandez--who moved to the United States from Honduras when he was 10--changed that on Friday. The 27-year-old was among a group that included 10 soldiers from Fort Wainwright, an Eielson Air Force Base airman and seven civilians who took an oath of allegiance to the United States at the post chapel. With their right hands raised, they swore to defend the Constitution...

   First Stryker soldiers return MICHAEL GILBERT The News Tribune It was Lt. Ricky Vittitow’s job to deliver the good news, and then the bad news. “Ladies and gentlemen, the plane has landed,” he announced to the crowd assembled late Tuesday to greet the first 130 or so soldiers to return home after a year in Iraq with the Army’s first Stryker brigade.And then a few minutes later came word that the 130 or so soldiers would have to go through a customs inspection at McChord Air Force Base, a process that could take another couple hours. But after...

   BRUCE KELLMAN | THE NEWS TRIBUNE Some blank-faced, some smiling, soldiers with the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment leave McChord Air Force Base on Thursday for Kuwait. The 400 or so men and women will eventually see combat in Iraq. They replace soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, who start returning next week. Goodbye, ordinary world ANGIE LEVENTIS; The News Tribune Lt. Daniel Burkhart spent the last few days before his deployment to Iraq with his parents who flew in from Massachusetts to say goodbye. His mother, Sandra Burkhart, didn't break down until it was time...

Artillery Soldiers accomplish it all while in Iraq [Link to Article]By Spc. Gretel SharpeeThe United States Army and its Soldiers remain the strongest fighting force in the world due to it’s flexibility to accommodate a changing battlefield. Nowhere is this flexibility more apparent than in field artillery units that are currently deployed overseas, like the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), who is making FOB Endurance their last stop before they redeploy to the states. The 1-37th, out of Fort Lewis, Wash., has spent the last 10 months serving in Iraq...

Tuesday, September 28, 2004 In The Service Of The Queen Here is an e-mail I recieved from my B.C.: CBFTW,Yours is a voice that many have heard. We have not simply heard what you have said; we have, and continue to, listen to what you are saying. Far too often we simply carry on an inner dialogue when someone else speaks to rehearse what we will say when they finish. This war on terrorism will be with us for some time, so I offer an open letter to the generation I will pass this burden on to. I believe...

  Iraqi National Guard and Multi-National Forces foil roadside bomb, collect weapons Mosul, Iraq – The Iraqi National Guard and Multi-National Forces from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) foiled a roadside bomb and collected a variety of weapons and munitions Sunday in northern Iraq when they noticed a 155mm artillery round in the median of the road 20 kilometers north of Qayarrah. The Iraqi Explosive Ordnance Disposal team destroyed the round with no injuries reported. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment discovered a large weapons cache in western Mosul that consisted of one 100mm...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 September 10, 2004Release Number: 04-09-25 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MULTI-NATIONAL FORCES, IRAQI NATIONAL GUARD CONTINUE OPERATIONS IN TAL AFAR MOSUL, Iraq – Multi-National Forces from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and the Iraqi National Guard continued operations in Tal Afar Sept. 9. In other operations in northern Iraq, Soldiers detained 15 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities and foiled a roadside bomb attack. Iraqi Security forces and Multi-National Forces in Tal Afar continue to work to establish...