Isles’ top enlisted
man almost missed
chance to carry
Olympic torch

He carried the symbol
of the Winter Games in
Carmel, Calif.

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

The Army's top enlisted man in Hawaii nearly missed a chance yesterday to be one of the 10 people from the islands selected to help bring the Olympic Winter Games torch to Salt Lake City.

Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Etheridge of the 25th Division and U.S. Army Hawaii was selected last month to help bring the symbolic flame to Salt Lake City -- the site of the Winter Games -- after it left Atlanta on Dec. 4.

However, Etheridge is part of the 1,900 25th Infantry Division soldiers and reservists currently deployed to Fort Polk in Louisiana in preparation for its Bosnia peacekeeping mission in March.

Etheridge nearly declined the opportunity until he was given three days of leave to fly to California to carry the torch one-fifth of a mile in Carmel and return today to Fort Polk and his military duties.

The short run, which he did while wearing his Army PT (physical training) uniform under the running suit sent to him by the Olympic Games committee, was the result of a letter of endorsement sent to the committee by his daughter, Brandi, a 22-year-old Leeward Community College student.

Brandi Etheridge had told the committee last year that she thought her father was the kind of man who should be chosen to represent the nation.

"I was surprised," Etheridge said. "I don't think of myself as a role model. I was pleased. It gives you a good, warm feeling to think your children think of you that much."

Although he realizes that his position and rank set him up as a role model in the Army, Etheridge said he did not expect the other honor.

"This is something I never set out for."

Hawaii's infantry soldiers, who will be part of "Task Force Eagle," will begin flowing into Bosnia beginning in late February and are projected to remain in the Balkans until autumn.

They will be augmented by 700 Army National Guard soldiers from Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Indiana and Wisconsin.

The 25th Infantry Division assumes control from the outgoing unit, the 29th Infantry Division of the Virginia National Guard, on April 5.

The pre-mission training at Fort Polk began shortly after New Year's Day, and the soldiers will be back at Schofield Barracks by the end of the month.