The Senate this week passed an amendment that would reshape the Defense Department’s behavioral health and suicide prevention programs, compelling each service to adopt common practices.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., submitted the provision to the $631 billion defense authorization bill. Her amendment mirrors a bill she submitted in June.

“This is a major step forward in Congress really focusing on the issue of mental health of our service members, and it has not been done before,” Murray, the chairwoman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said today.

Her proposal seeks to standardize the Defense Department’s varied suicide …

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Two squadrons of airmen from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 62nd Airlift Wing changed places in the past week: One departed for a two-month mission in the Middle East, and another returned from a similar assignment.

The 10th Airlift Squadron left last week with about 75 airmen for its assignment delivering supplies and troops to bases in a region that stretches from the Horn of Africa to Afghanistan. It’s the second overseas mission for the squadron this year.

“Just as I said back in February, it is an honor to deploy as the commander of a flying squadron in a time of …

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I can’t say this any better than Spencer Ackerman at Wired’s Danger Room:

“Think it’s too dangerous to house the 166 suspected terrorists locked up in Guantanamo Bay within the continental United States? A powerful senator asked a congressional research office to run the numbers. It found that there are no fewer than 104 places inside the U.S. to safely lock them up — provided they make serious modifications.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s effort to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay generated this report from the Government Accountability Office, including an assessment of whether military jails …

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Here’s a fun photo that sums up the comings and goings of Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s largest infantry brigades, all three of which were on the ground in Kandahar Province for most of this month.

Two brigades are heading home, and one is just getting started on its own mission in southern Afghanistan.

This image shows the commanders and senior noncommissioned officers of Lewis-McChord’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th Stryker brigades at Forward Operating Base Masum Ghar in Kandahar Province last week.

Most of the 3,500 troops in the 3rd Brigade deployed late last year. Many of them are home in the …

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The Montana Missoulian this week published an eye-witness account of an insider attack in Kandahar Province that killed a well-loved Joint Base Lewis-McChord intelligence soldier last month.

Spc. Brittany Gordon of Lewis-McChord’s 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division died with a CIA officer and four Afghan partners Oct. 13 when a man in an Afghan intelligence uniform detonated a suicide vest. Press reports suggest the killer was a member of the Afghan National Directorate of Security

Spc. Steve Beaty of the Montana National Guard was among the wounded that day. He was part of a security detail protecting a …

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An annual exercise that brings thousands of Army officer cadets to Joint Base Lewis-McChord for a month of demanding drills could be moving to Kentucky, according to lawmakers who are lobbying to keep the program in the South Sound.

Operation Warrior Forge last summer drew more than 6,000 Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets to Lewis-McChord. Many of their parents attend graduation ceremonies to see off cadets heading into their final year of college.

That 29-day Leader Development and Assessment Course could be consolidated with the Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox. Fort Knox hosts a smaller summer ROTC exercise called …

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A noncommissioned officer from a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker brigade that just this month hit the ground in Afghanistan has died, the Defense Department announced today.

Staff Sgt. Rayvon Battle Jr., 25, of Rocky Mount, N.C., died Tuesday, in Kandahar Province.

He was assigned to the 38th Engineer Company, 4^th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and deployed three times. His unit is charged with clearing roads of enemy mines so convoys can drive safely in dangerous territory.

The Army has not released information about the manner of Battle’s death.

It said Battle joined the Army in June of 2005 …

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Sen. Patty Murray plans to leave her bully pulpit as chairwoman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to seek a greater role shaping federal spending as the leader of the Senate Budget Committee.

We’re planning to speak with Murray later today. She intends to remain on Veterans Affairs, a committee that she used to draw attention to long waits for patient services in the VA and to push for improved behavioral health services in the active-duty military.

She told Politico she wants to leverage her new role on Budget Committee to shape discussions about investing in the country’s future. …

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