Tagged: Military and Defense

Combat brigades at Washington’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord will soon get a new layer of supervision. That announcement from the Secretary of the Army comes nearly two months after a Washington-based soldier allegedly killed 17 Afghan civilians.

U.S. Senator Patty Murray held a field hearing in Tacoma Wednesday. She was listening to vets regarding the challenges they’re facing getting mental health care and jobs.

Seventeen counts of murder. Six counts of assault and attempted murder. Those are the charges filed Friday against 38 year old Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. He’s the Washington-based soldier accused of killing 9 Afghan children and 8 adults in a massacre earlier this month. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Correspondent Austin Jenkins explains the next step is an Article 32 hearing.

Major Christopher Ophardt at Lewis-McChord says it’s unclear at this point whether the pretrial hearing will happen in Washington or at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. That’s where Bales is currently being held. Ophardt acknowledged prosecutors at Lewis-McChord recently sent four Washington based soldiers to prison for killing Afghan civilians in 2010.

SALEM, Ore. – The state of Oregon says one of its largest cities discriminated against fire fighters because they were National Guard members. The Oregon Department of Justice announced a settlement Wednesday with the City of Salem that puts the city under close federal scrutiny for the next three years.