Fort Lewis military base in Washington State-extremely active right now

well, at this point we understand no ground troops at Libya, but if were looking at a real war..this might be what is being prepared for

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
Well there was a stealth bomber seen flying low over LA yesterday:

bombs away...

Holy F. That is interesting. Over LA? How common is that? Wonder if there was an air show?

Hope I'm not boring anyone with this thread. Its just the most abnormal thing I've experienced since I moved here in 2000. And considering how all signs point to some serious business going down soon, I figured people should know.

They are back at it by the way.

Thank you for posting this. We heard it too and was about to check the local news. We live about 10 minutes from McChord and we started hearing thumping about 12:30ish. We both went outside, and decided it was from the base. From here it didn't sound like mortar but thumping and scraping or short thunder. We thought they were moving something with the C-5, but that wouldn't explain the thumping. We didn't hear it anymore after 1 a.m. Glad to know it was bombs/mortar and not something the earth was doing. It was very eerie and it didn't help that the TV did a test of the emergency alert system around 1 a.m.

Edit to add: We're in south Tacoma near Pacific Highway. Technically were in a hovel called Midland (it's near Parkland/Spanaway. Normally we don't hear too much from the AF Base, let alone Ft Lewis. Although yesterday I did hear the start of revelry. I chalked it up to the clouds and rainy weather. But tonight, the clouds were dispersing.

Originally posted by collietta
Thank you for posting this. We heard it too and was about to check the local news. We live about 10 minutes from McChord and we started hearing thumping about 12:30ish. We both went outside, and decided it was from the base. From here it didn't sound like mortar but thumping and scraping or short thunder. We thought they were moving something with the C-5, but that wouldn't explain the thumping. We didn't hear it anymore after 1 a.m. Glad to know it was bombs/mortar and not something the earth was doing. It was very eerie and it didn't help that the TV did a test of the emergency alert system around 1 a.m.

I saw the same test on tv here in puyallup haha...it made me jump a bit, then flashed back to This thread about ft Lewis firing at a UFO in 2009.

Honestly we first thought it was a rude car thumping their music, but it wasn't consistent.

I was listening for the frogs outside and they stopped chirping, so I started thinking geologically. But then they went back to their noise. The thumping continued, then I was thinking mortars/bombs, but they didn't resonate like they did when I was in Iraq, but that still made me think we were under attack.

I heard scraping, so I thought it was a unit deploying, but if they were, they were being sloppy and careless with all the noise they were making.

It seems awfully strange that they would conduct a base exercise (especially with live rounds) without notifying the public first. I was a PA when I was in, and before any exercise we had to send a press release telling the surrounding communities that our base was conducting an exercise, and nothing they were hearing was real world.

Probably unrelated, but wasn't it this same Fort Lewis where those soldiers were from that committed all those Afghan atrocities?

www.q13fox.com...

Just a thought.... *smacks self*

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
Probably unrelated, but wasn't it this same Fort Lewis where those soldiers were from that committed all those Afghan atrocities?

www.q13fox.com...

Just a thought.... *smacks self*

Indeed sir..they were from ft Lewis.

Crazy times we live in.

Originally posted by collietta
Honestly we first thought it was a rude car thumping their music, but it wasn't consistent.

I was listening for the frogs outside and they stopped chirping, so I started thinking geologically. But then they went back to their noise. The thumping continued, then I was thinking mortars/bombs, but they didn't resonate like they did when I was in Iraq, but that still made me think we were under attack.

I heard scraping, so I thought it was a unit deploying, but if they were, they were being sloppy and careless with all the noise they were making.

It seems awfully strange that they would conduct a base exercise (especially with live rounds) without notifying the public first. I was a PA when I was in, and before any exercise we had to send a press release telling the surrounding communities that our base was conducting an exercise, and nothing they were hearing was real world.

Funny, I live in a subdivision on south hill that has tons of frogs chirping all the time, and noticed the same thing tonight. Great insight with your experiences! I have never received a notice from the base warning of exercises though....

It's press releases sent out to local media. That way the base and emergency services don't get panicked calls when a civilian hears the loudspeaker mention a part of the exercise (such as alarm red), hear the attack siren, or hear live rounds and think we're under attack.
I'm searching local media and I have found one article about medical reservists prepared to deploy at a moments notice. So far nothing else.
Their possible deployment could explain the scraping and maybe carelessness if they were loading an air craft, but it doesn't explain the, at least, an hour long thumping/bombing we were hearing.

Just heard a couple more thumps. I think they are starting it up again.

Anyone closer to Lewis than I am, hear it (or in your case) feel it shaking your home again?

This might help explain some things, if it is talking about the same base:

Each time, the sound carries perhaps as far as Parkland-Spanaway to the east, Yelm to the south and Lacey to the west. Weapons noise has been known to travel even as far as Fox Island.

The Army's newest howitzer is thousands of pounds lighter due to its titanium construction, making it easier for soldiers to maneuver. But those advances do not extend to its decibel level.

"There's nothing quiet about it," said Lt. Col. JP Moore, who commands the 386 soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, during Thursday morning's training exercise.

The joint base is turning up the volume on the "sounds of freedom" in a big way after a period of relative quiet for surrounding communities.

Officials say the booms will be a weekly occurrence throughout the spring and summer. Units are ramping up their training schedule now following delivery of refurbished equipment and the completion of individual training.

"As the weather gets nice, and we got more and more units going out to the ranges, the likelihood of the communities hearing more booms from the field artillery is going to increase," said Joe Piek, a Lewis-McChord spokesman.

The base's four 155mm howitzer battalions - one assigned to each of the three Stryker combat brigades and another assigned to the 17th Fires Brigade - will split time at the range for the first time in two years after returning from combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan last year.

The base is advising residents of late-night firing, including demolitions and plastic explosives, Monday through Friday of next week.

yelm.komonews.com...

But at 2 am?

Also, this from twitter:

The explosions ARE ft lewis #JBLM artillery training and going to go on all night. Confirmed w/ MPs there. #puyallup #tacoma

reply to post by TrueAmerican


That article is a good explanation as to what's going on, if that's what's really going on. I didn't see a publication date, but the comments are from three weeks ago.
I find curious is that it was published in the Yelm section of Komo, but not on the main page since this affects more than Yelm. It even says so in the article. I couldn't find it searching through Google and regional news, I'm glad you found it.

Also, late night could be 2 a.m. but it usually refers to 10 or 11. They more than likely would say early morning hours if they were going to go this late.

Edit: Thanks for adding your edit. I'll be prepared to deal with this all night

reply to post by collietta


the howitzer training is suppose to occur again tonight as well as throughout the spring/summer.

www.northwestmilitary.com...

had me worried for a few minutes last night.

WOLVERINES!!!!

Thanks for the follow up guys....interesting the way they are spinning it though. I'm not sure I believe their reasoning.

reply to post by amongus


i don't know. part of my brain says they're blowing smoke...
on the other hand, it truly is a brand new weapon for the stryker brigade and they do need to familiarize themselves with it.
night training is part of it.

since they say that it's suppose to be fairly routine during the spring/summer it seems that it'll be a sound that we'll have to get use to.

if we don't hear training throughout the next few months then that tells me it was all b.s. and it was an independent incident. (i think it's just legitimate training)

I wonder if it has anything to do with North Korea disagreement with nuclear weapons...