Here are recent headlines about the military in Kansas:Fort Leavenworth(USA Today) Confiscated weapons pile up in Iraq: Despite tactical success on the battlefield, Iraq’s national government has made almost no progress in passing legislation that would help win Sunni support for Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government. The legislation is included in the 18 military and political benchmarks Congress will be using to measure progress in Iraq. On Monday, Iraq’s parliament adjourned for a month despite the lack of progress. Petraeus will likely highlight progress on reconciliation at the local level when he comes to Washington. he report in September will likely be an interim assessment and not a final report on whether the new strategy has failed or succeeded. The last of the additional forces arrived in Iraq in June. “That’s not a whole lot of time to implement and assess,” said Col. Timothy Reese, director of the Combat Studies Institute in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. “It won’t be obviously a failure, and it won’t be obviously a success.”(NBC Action News) Good Question: Sheep at Ft. Leavenworth: Fort Leavenworth gets thousands of visitors a year. Two of those visitors uncovered an unusual new weapon. Along the rolling hills of Ft. Leavenworth, just beyond the main gates of the Army base, you’ll find a flock of sheep. Jamie Root doesn’t wear army green and is not even in the Army. She does help the Army by keeping her flock of sheep on Ft. Leavenworth. “They’re very effective and very environmentally friendly,” Root said. “The sheep do an outstanding job of brining it down,” Matt Nowak with Military Natural Resources said. Ft. Leavenworth is almost 6,000 acres big. The base uses the wide open areas for training. Horses and troops walk the woods, and drive the hills. So, the sheep are the base’s weapon against weeds. “They will run through perfectly good grass to get to the broad leaf plants,” Nowak said. Fort Riley ¢ 1st Infantry Division(49News.com) One Fort Riley Soldier is dead, and another is behind bars: Fort Riley soldier Castulo Salas is accused of manslaughter in the shooting death of fellow soldier Christian Quinones. Salas had his first court appearance yesterday his bond was set at $50,000. The shooting happened Saturday night in Junction City at this apartment complex. Neighbor Kara Embry told us what she heard in the hours before the shooting. “I know it was his 21st birthday and they was drinking and having a party, it was pretty loud…I know it just got out of hand,” Embry said. The County attorney tells us if Salas is able to make bond, he will be confined to the Fort Riley military post. His next court appearance is set for Thursday.[(AP) Ham passes 1st Infantry colors to general:][4] One day shy of a year since he took command himself, Major General Carter Ham relinquishes command today of Fort Riley and the 1st Infantry Division. Ham passes the division colors to Major General Robert Durbin at a ceremony on the Calvary Parade Field. Durbin comes to Fort Riley after commanding forces in Afghanistan. He served at Fort Riley from 1998 to 2000, leading a brigade of the 1st Infantry Division. Ham is headed to the Pentagon to be director of operations for the joint staff. He also has been nominated to receive a third star. Over the past year, Ham has overseen the return of the historic Big Red One after ten years in Germany.[(CARL Book Beacon) John Nagl Interview:][5] John Nagl discusses his book “Learning to eat soup with a knife” in this Pritzker military library podcast from 14 July 2007. Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl commands the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor at Fort Riley, Kansas. He led a tank platoon in Operation Desert Storm and served as the operations officer of a tank battalion task force in Operation Iraqi Freedom. A West Point graduate and Rhodes Scholar, Nagl earned his doctorate from Oxford University, taught national security studies at West Point, and served as a Military Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. He is the author of Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam and was on the writing team that produced the Army’s new Counterinsurgency Field Manual.Kansas National Guard[(All American Patriots) Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius Directs Flags to Half-Staff for Sgt. Courtney Finch:][6] Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has directed flags to be flown at half-staff throughout Kansas on Thursday, August 2, 2007 in honor of Kansas National Guardsman Sgt. Courtney Dean Finch who died in Iraq last week. “We join Sgt. Finch’s family in mourning their loss and in honoring the service Sgt. Finch provided to our state and nation,” said Sebelius. [1]: www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-07-30-weapons-caches_N.htm [3]: www.49abcnews.com/news/2007/jul/31/49_news_now_morning_update_news_and_weather/ [4]: www.kbsd6.com/Global/story.asp?S=6863270