Gary Brackett posted this on his C-9 Blog:

Darrel Bowman has been named National Veteran Small Business Champion by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Darrel Bowman of Tacoma served in the U.S. Coast Guard before becoming an entrepreneur, community leader, humanitarian, and veteran’s advocate. He is known for his ...
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Honorees include CSM Matt Barnes from JBLM's Garrison.  


Nine awards were recently given to units and individuals at Joint Base Lewis-McChord as part of the Association of the United States Army Sixth Region Awards program.

For many of the winners, the awards served as a reminder of the importance of the Army being linked to local communities.

"We want to roll up our sleeves and work with (the Soldiers), because we're the neighborhood," Captain Meriwether Lewis Chapter President Carlene Joseph said. "We want to be part of their neighborhood."


See the entire story here.
 
MADIGAN ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, Tacoma, Wash. - Active duty family members

stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord will have expanded access to

health care with the opening of an Army community-based, primary care

clinic in Puyallup yesterday.  

The Madigan-Puyallup Community Medical Home is one of two the Army is

opening in the local area; a second clinic will open in Olympia in

October. 

"These clinics allow us to provide quality health care closer to where

patients live," said Col. Dallas Homas, Madigan Healthcare System

commander.  "We're excited to be able to expand the quality health care

our families currently receive at Madigan to these nearby clinics."

The clinics will be in leased space, staffed with civilian employees.

At capacity, the clinics are expected to each provide patient-centered

care to more than 8,000 active duty family members.


 
FREE ADVERTISING. YEP! Lakewood and Lacey Chamber members, and members of PMBA, AUSA or AFA get free listings on JaBLAM.com though 2011. Email your "military discount."email to publisher@ftlewisranger.com. JaBLAM is a site for military to know where to find military discounts in the South Sound.

 
We ran into a new Facebook page trying to help local military spouses promote their home based businesses.  You can find JBLM Small Business HERE.
 
JBLM was selected this week as a Net-Zero base in two categories.  Net-Zero simply means the base will consume as much as it produces and no more.

A  Net ZERO Installation applies an integrated approach to management of energy, water, and waste to capture and commercialize the resource value and/or enhance the ecological productivity of land, water, and air.

A Net Zero WATER Installation limits the consumption of freshwater resources and returns water back to the same watershed so not to deplete the groundwater and surface water resources of that region in quantity and quality over the course of a year.

A Net Zero WASTE Installation reduces, reuses, and recovers waste streams, converting them to resource values with zero landfill over the course of a year.
 
Air Force Magazine Onlinereports Australia has signed the agreement with the US government to acquire a fifth C-17 transport via a foreign military sale,announced C-17 manufacturer Boeing. Boeing delivered Australia's four C-17s between 2006 and 2008.

"Boeing thanks the RAAF, a C-17 customer since 2006, for its confidence in the airlifter's capabilities," said Bob Ciesla, C-17 program manager for Boeing. "We salute the RAAF and its crews, who helped save lives in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. We are proud to serve as their partner." Already this year, RAAF C-17s have supported disaster-relief efforts in Japan and New Zealand as well as at home after floods ravaged parts of Queensland.


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Thirty-three international teams, and many other Air Force teams from around the country will descend on McChord  Field this July.  It's all part of Air Mobility Command's Rodeo, and for the casual observer, other than increased air traffic and seeing through the fences lots of planes on McChord's tarmac, you don't have access to the event.  It is not an air show.

But you can get involved.  First, if you have a hotel or car rental agency, call the Rodeo office immediately - they need 750 cars and 3200 rooms - it should be you.  Email Jonathon Harris at McChord to get connected. 

If you'd like to get a chance to sponsor some activities, you may also start with Jonathon as well.

If you are a chamber of commerce member with Tacoma, Lakewood or Lacey, all three host events for the participants and dignataries.  Be sure to call your Chamber office right away to find out how to be involved.

Finally, we publish an Air Show Guide to help the participants know what to do while they are here.  You may call us to advertise at (253) 584-1212.

Rodeo is a lot of fun - and you get out of it what you put into it.  We hope to see you there.
 
The Defense Department is pulling back a massive contract it awarded in 2009 to provide health insurance services in one of its three TRICARE regions, the military health care agency said Thursday.

The TRICARE Management Activity (TMA), which administers health benefits offered through private medical providers to military servicemembers, retirees and their families, said it had sustained an agency-level protest filed by UnitedHealthcare over the $17 billion contract for its TRICARE West region, which serves 2.7 million beneficiaries in 21 states.

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