In the Military
For and about Hawaii's servicemen and womenBy Gregg K. Kakesako
See also: For Your Benefit
The Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor will receive one of the Navy's newest Arleigh Burke class destroyers -- USS Chafee, which will be christened tomorrow at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. Cmdr. John W. Ailes of New London, Conn., is the prospective commanding officer of the Chafee with a crew of approximately 30 officers and 355 enlisted. New Pearl warship
to be christened in MaineThe 511-foot warship will be homeported here next year following its commissioning. There are now four Arleigh Burke class destroyers -- USS Hopper, USS O'Kane, USS Paul Hamilton and USS Russell -- at Pearl Harbor.
Four gas-turbine propulsion plants will power the ship to speeds of more than 30 knots. The ship is named for John Chafee of Providence, R.I. Chafee was a U.S. senator, Navy secretary, Rhode Island governor, and a Marine, with service as both an enlisted man and commissioned officer.
Serving as co-sponsors for the ship at tomorrow's ceremony will be Virginia Chafee, wife of the ship's namesake and Diane Blair, wife of retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair, former commander in chief, U.S. Pacific Command.
>>>><<<< Navy Secretary Gordon England personally delivered a message to "be prepared" to the sailors and Marines aboard USS Tarawa (LHA 1) during a visit to the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship off the coast of Southern California Oct. 24. "I want to thank you for your service, and for what you're doing for America and the American people, because this is vitally, vitally important," England told sailors and Marines of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. "I can tell you the president appreciates what you're doing, and the American people appreciate what you do."
Referring to al-Qaida and associated terrorist organizations, "terrorism is a bona fide threat," he said. "This is the first time in the history of mankind that very small numbers of people have been able to wreak havoc against our citizens, against our families and against our cities."
>>>><<<< The Pentagon will offer special training -- including instruction on chemical weapons protection -- to journalists who cover the military. "While no decisions have been made about future operations," a memo sent to news organizations said, "prudent planning demands that we prepare for embedding media with military units." The weeklong training courses are scheduled to start as early as mid-November, at bases in Virginia, New Jersey and Georgia and at an undisclosed location abroad. The training sessions are not mandatory and were put together in response to recent inquiries from news organizations about media access in the event of a war with Iraq.
Gregg K. Kakesako can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
