On Monday Gov. Bobby Jindal awarded 158 veterans from Vernon Parish with the Louisiana Veterans’ Honor Medal at the VFW Old Stage Post 3106.
 

The Army combat brigade stationed at Fort Polk will leave for Afghanistan in October.
 

Governor Jindal is scheduled to attend a Veterans Honor Medal event in Vernon Parish next week, according to Representative James Armes.

As the U.S. winds up combat operations in Iraq this month, a gap is widening between the militaries of both countries and their political masters over whether American soldiers should stay beyond the 2011 deadline for a complete U.S. troop withdrawal.

Most of the former employees of Multi Family Services walked away Wednesday morning after receiving the wages they said were due them by the now defunct landscaping company nodding that they'd received the correct amount. But not all were pleased.

"MFS employees at Fort Polk will receive 100 percent of their wages, and the remainder of the $128,662.28 final payment from Picerne to MFS will be distributed to the vendors," said Picerne spokesman Mark Williams in a released statement Tuesday afternoon.

The Mexican nationals employed by Multi-Family Services (MFS) who are still living in housing provided by the landscaping company had been without water since Friday morning and were expecting the electricity to be cut off on Monday because the company had failed to pay for the utilities.

As the war rages on in the Middle East, soldiers come and go to and from their families as the country calls upon them, but when the dust settles, little lives are left with blank spots. One man got to fill that spot last Friday. 
 

Former employees of MFS are becoming restless once again. The date on which they were expecting to be paid has come and gone with no word on when, exactly, they can expect to see the funds they need to pay their bills.

According to state Representative James Armes, a 1.5 mile section of U.S. 171 from Entrance Road to La. 1211 will be receiving a facelift this fall.

Picerne Military Housing announced on Thursday that "MFS has not experienced an interruption in the normal payment schedule under its contract with Picerne."

The Army's  Privatization of Army Lodging (PAL) program has led to the grand opening of the first branded hotel on an Army Military base at Fort Polk.

Former employees of Multi-Family Services protested when representatives from the financially strapped company arrived at its new Llano office Wednesday morning to take equipment. The former employees, many of whom had not been paid in a month, said the equipment should remain in place, as collateral of sorts, until the company could make good on the money owed. Company owner Jeremy Parrott said he could not pay the employees until he liquidated the equipment. 

At least 30 area residents are not only out of a job, but also wondering if they'll be compensated for work they've already performed, with some facing not being able to buy school clothes, supplies or make rent or mortgage.
Multi-Family Services (MFS), a landscaping business based in Georgia with an office in New Llano and employing approximately 30 people has shuttered its doors after terminating its contract with Picerne Military Housing last Friday.
 

Like many area residents, Leesville chiropractor William Wilkerson attended Freedom Fest at Fort Polk, where Trace Adkins was the headliner.

 Though Saturday brought with it intermittent showers and gray skies, Fort Polk's Freedom Fest 2010 was a resounding success, celebrating the soldiers who have preserved and still preserve America's freedom.

Construction of 8.5 miles of wall barriers by the Louisiana National Guard’s 225th Engineer Brigade continued in six areas along the coast of Cameron Parish in an effort to keep oil-tainted water from reaching inland, June 22.

FreedomFest explodes at Fort Polk in a flare of fireworks and fun July 3 at the Polk Army Airfield beginning at 3 p.m. Country music star Trace Adkins returns to his roots when he visits Fort Polk for FreedomFest.

The immensity of the 383rd's mission, stateside and overseas, is an incredible contrast to the size of the team: 23 soldiers. Numerically, their accomplishments include coordinating 100 air support missions, moving more than 50,000 soldiers, preparing more than 6,000 pieces of equipment for movement and loading nearly 2,000 rail cars with millions of tons of equipment.

A family with roots in northwest Louisiana has donated a Civil War diary and several letters of that era to the archives at Northwestern State University. The John Coleman Sibley Collection, presented to NSU’s Cammie G. Henry Research Center at Watson Library, details the experiences of Sibley, a 1^st Sergeant and later 2^nd Jr. Lieutenant of Co. E 2^nd Louisiana Cavalry.