WASHINGTON — President Bush signed the fiscal 2008 Defense authorization bill into law Monday. The signing will belatedly activate a bigger pay raise and more than two dozen bonuses owed to troops.

The measure, passed by Congress in December, was vetoed by Bush on Dec. 28 over concerns that one overlooked provision could freeze billions in Iraqi government reconstruction funds held in U.S. banks.

Congress finalized a revised version Tuesday, removing that language and backdating pay increases and bonus language to the start of the calendar year.

The measure calls for a 3.5 percent pay hike for all military personnel, 0.5 percent above what troops saw on Jan. 1. The difference is about $9 a month for an E-3 with four years service, and just over $13 a month for an E-5 with 10 years service.

Even though the extra pay increase in retroactive, Defense officials said servicemembers won’t see the extra cash until mid- or late-February, because payroll officials won’t have time to process the new rate for the end-ofJanuary payroll period.

They added that backdated bonuses will likely take a few more weeks as well. Since Jan. 1, the services have delayed payment of 26 bonuses and specialty pays while waiting for reauthorizing language included in the legislation.

The list includes some six-year re-enlistment bonuses worth up to $90,000, the Army’s enlistment referral reward of $2,000, and a host of special pay and incentives for health professionals.

The $696 billion authorization bill, which sets spending priorities and policy for the fiscal year, also includes language allowing troops to carry up to 75 days of leave from one year to the next and allowing certain deployed troops to sell back up to 30 days of unused leave.

It also elevates the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to a four-star general; guarantees combat veterans mental health evaluations within 30 days of their request; establishes a Family Readiness Council to better coordinate family programs; and sets aside nearly $5 billion for efforts to combat roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

About 70 soldiers and other servicemembers from Joint Task Force Bravo climbed 5.5 miles up Comayagua Mountain to bring a Thanksgiving feast of moer than 600 pounds of food to villagers in La Sampedrana Nov. 17.

The hike was the third in a series of five planned by Air Force Chaplain Capt. Chad Bellamy and the longest one to date.

Spc. Vincent Medrek carried more than 20 pounds of rice and milk to La Sampedrana on what was his second hike in the series. “The hikes are a good way to hang out and have fun,” said Spc. Medrek. “It’s good to meet with the Honduran people.”

Medrek said he plans on participating in the remaining two hikes to Capiro and El Volcan in the upcoming months, making Thanksgiving a more year-round event.

The chapel-planned hikes have increased in popularity with U.S. servicemembers, with each hike drawing more participants than the previous one. The hike to La Sampedrana was the first in which JTF-Bravo servicemembers not only delivered but also purchased the food.

“The food for the previous hikes came from Troop Issue Subsistence Activity, so there was no cost to us,” said Chaplain Bellamy. “But that ran out, so we collected an offering at the chapel and raised $1,100. The food for this hike was bought with that money.”

For first-time participant Air Force Capt. Guillory-Hawkins, the 11-mile round trip hike was more arduous than she had expected, but despite the physical demand, she was happy she participated.

“The hike was well worth it,” said Guillory-Hawkins, deployed to JTF-Bravo from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. “When we got here there were so many people in need I wish we could have brought more food.”

Air Force Capt. Carlos Jayme was another first-time participant who plans on trying to join the remaining hikes.

“It was a good experience,” said Jayme, who is deployed to JTF-Bravo from Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. “It was humbling. It makes you realize how much you take for granted.”

Bellamy noted the timing of the hike so close to the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving was a good way for many deployed members to celebrate in an unusual fashion.

“The hike reminds us of how much we’ve been given and how much many others don’t have. The greatest joy comes from being able to share what you have with others,” said Bellamy. “And this Thanksgiving we want our Honduran friends to know we’re thankful for their friendship.”

Do you have a special way to give thanks during the holiday season? Join our discussion here.

PORTLAND, Ore - The echo of a three volley salute and bugler playing Taps seemingly marked the end of an era as a state and national treasure was laid to rest in Portland, Ore. on March 2.

Retired Army Cpl. Howard V. Ramsey, Oregon’s last living World War I veteran and the last known U.S. combat veteran of WWI, died in his sleep Feb. 22 at an assisted living center in southeast Portland. He was honored in a memorial service attended by nearly 200 people at Lincoln Memorial Park exactly one month before reaching his 109th birthday.

“This is a very historic occasion; we lay to rest today our nation’s oldest combat veteran,” said Pastor Stu Weber, who officiated over Ramsey’s memorial service.

In an Associated Press report, Jim Benson of the Veterans Administration said there are now only seven WWI veterans on record with the VA, although it is possible there are unknown veterans who may still exist.

Of the seven known WWI veterans still living, none were shipped overseas, making Ramsey the last known combat veteran of “The Great War.” Ramsey inherited the title two weeks before his passing, when Massachusetts veteran Antonio Pierro passed away on Feb. 8.

Ramsey’s lifetime spanned three centuries and 19 presidents. He was born in Rico, Colo., on April 2, 1898, when the U.S. flag had just 45 stars and President McKinley was preparing to declare war with Spain.

Too young to be drafted, Ramsey tried to voluntarily enlist but was told he was too skinny by Army standards. After gorging on bananas and water to successfully meet weight standards, he was placed in the Army’s transportation corps.

Ramsey sailed to France in September 1918 to join General John “blackJack” Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force. Ramsey drove cars, trucks and motorcycles for the ARmy and trained other soldiers how to drive. He was often selected to drive officers to special engagements, one officer “gigging” him for having a dirty truck despite the constant rain and mud in France. He also drove ambulances, transported troops to the frontlines and delivered water to troops on the battlefields.

Ramsey once recalled his service in WWI saying, “We were under fire a lot at the front, and we really caught hell one time. I lost friends over there.”

After the armistice, Ramsey spent several months recovering the remains of American soldiers who had been hastily buried in the trenches and transported them to the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, the largest American cemetery in Europe.

“You’d better believe it was pretty awful work,” Ramsey told Oregonian reporter Rick Bella in 2005. “It was tough, but you became hardened to it.”

Nearly 90 years later, Ramsey was still haunted by regret for not breaking the rules and keeping a diary that fell from the pocket of one deceased American soldier. Ramsey told family and friends, “I wanted to keep that diary so badly to send it to his mother, but it was against the rules to keep anything from off the bodies.”

Veterans of many generations and wars, and military representatives attended RAmsey’s memorial service to pay their respects, including Brig. Gen. Raymond C. Byrne Jr., commander of the Oregon Army National Guard’s 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and Jim Willis, state director of the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs.

“If we are going to end an era, I can think of no better way than to do it with a person who is a model representation of the kinds of soldiers who served this country in WWI, and someone who whould be an example to any combat soldier serving up to, and including those who serve in Afghanistan and Iraq today. All [veterans] would be justifiably proud to have known Corporal Howard RAmsey,” said Willis.

Retired Army Col. Don HOlden, whose father was Ramsey’s classmate at Washington High School, shared fond memories of Ramsey’s sense of humor. He said farewell to his old friend by reading the epic WWI poem “Flander’s Field,” which Ramsey could recite from memory well into his late 90s.