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In the Military
Gregg K. Kakesako
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
A soldier from the 101st Airborne Division, left, hands over the responsibility for much of northern Iraq to a soldier from the U.S. 25th Infantry Division at a function in Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq.
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Pacific Air Forces shifts generals
The Air Force has announced several changes at Pacific Air Forces, with headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base. Maj. Gen. Edward A. Rice Jr., director, air, space and information operations, plans and requirements, has been named vice commander, and Maj. Gen. Jeffrey A. Remington, special assistant to the commander, will become director of air, space and information operations, plans and requirements. Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Owens, assistant director air and space operations, who will become commander of 36th Wing at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam.
A 25-year Army veteran will assume command of the Pacific Army Reserve's 411th Engineer Combat Battalion at Fort Shafter Flats today. Lt. Col. Juan Diaz, who served as the public facilities director of the 322nd Civil Affairs Brigade, will succeed Lt. Col. Jonathan Wung, who will become the executive officer for U.S. Forces Korea Support Unit.
Two year ago, the 411th was the first large group of island reservists mobilized for combat duty in Iraq and was attached to the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood in Texas. More than 300 of its 600 soldiers were from Hawaii, with another 100 from American Samoa, 70 from Alaska and 100 from 29 mainland states.
Diaz, 48, also served in Iraq last year. In civilian life, he is director of Asia-Pacific operations for Parsons Corp.
The 25th Infantry Division assumed responsibility on Sept. 13 for operations in Multi-National Division North Iraq from the 101st Airborne Division. Besides the more than 7,500 soldiers from Schofield Barracks, the command also include units from the 82nd Airborne Division, 4th Infantry Division and 2nd Infantry Division.
In a Sept. 8 news briefing, Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner, then commander of Multi-National Division North Iraq, told reporters that of the 35 forward-operating bases under his command, 11 will be turned over to the 25th Division and the rest will be closed, turned over to the Iraqi army for use as garrisons or turned over to the Iraqi government for use as business centers, vocational training areas or recreational areas.
He said the area the 25th Division assumes control is more than 47,000 square miles. Multi-National Division North contains six provinces, Turner said: Diyala, just east of Baghdad, that goes out to the Iranian border, contains the city of Muqdadiyah; Salahuddin province north of Baghdad, which contains the cities of Samarra, Tikrit, and Baiji; Kirkuk province to the east of Salahuddin, which has the city of Kirkuk City; Nineveh province, north of Salahuddin and bordering Syria, which contains the cities of Mosul and Fawafra; and the northern mountainous provinces of Sulimaniyah and Dohuk. The area of operations runs from north of Baghdad to the Syrian, Turkish and Iranian borders.
Cmdr. Brian Howes, former commanding officer of the Pearl Harbor-based nuclear attack submarine USS La Jolla (SSN 701), has been named winner of the Stockdale Award for inspirational leadership. Howes now commands the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Training Unit in Ballston Spa, N.Y. The award will be presented in October in Washington, D.C. Howes, who left the La Jolla in October 2005, said it was an "honor and very humbling" to be nominated by his peers for the award which was established in honor of Vice Adm. James Stockdale, whose naval career symbolized the highest standards of excellence in both personal example and leadership.
"In the Military" was compiled from wire reports and other sources by reporter
Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for the Star-Bulletin. He can be reached by phone at 294-4075 or by e-mail at
gkakesako@starbulletin.com.