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In the Military Gregg K. Kakesako |
See also: For Your Benefit
Gregson to command
Marines in PacificLt. Gen. Wallace Gregson Jr., commander of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa, will be the next commanding general of U.S. Marine Forces Pacific.
It is the largest field command in the Marine Corps, extending over more than 105 million square miles, from pole to pole and from the U.S. West Coast to the Arabian Sea. More than 80,000 Marines and sailors are assigned to the Camp Smith command.
Gregson will replace Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, who will retire in August. Hailston has held the job for two years.
At Fort Shafter, Brig. Gen. William Brandenburg, deputy commanding general for training and readiness at I Corps and Fort Lewis in Washington, has been selected to be the deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific. His new job means a promotion to a two-star rank. Brandenburg was a company commander with the 25th Division, and from June 1994 to August 1996 was plans officer at the U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith.
At Schofield Barracks, Brig. Gen. W. Montague Winfield, assistant division commander for support at the 25th Division, has been selected for promotion to major general.
Also selected for her second star was Brig. Gen. Janet Hicks, who was director of U.S. Pacific Command's command, control, communications and computer systems from June 2000 to last July; and Brig. Gen. John Gardner, who was assistant division commander for support at the 25th Infantry Division and deputy commanding general of the Multinational Division (North), Stabilization Force-11 with Task Force Eagle, Eagle Base in Bosnia-Herzegovina from July 2001 to last August.
Since August, Gardner has been deputy commanding general for transformation at the Army Training and Doctrine Command located at Fort Lewis in Washington.
Hicks is now commanding general of the U.S. Army Signal Center at Fort Gordon in Georgia. Hicks has commanded a company and the 125th Signal Battalion at the 25th Infantry Division. From June 1997 to June 1999, she was the commander of the 516th Signal Brigade and deputy chief of staff for information management at Fort Shafter.
The Army also has honored Capt. Calvin Hudson, aide-de-camp to the commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division and a member of Company B of the 65th Engineer Battalion at Schofield Barracks. He was one of 27 soldiers who were named as recipients of the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award. Criteria for the award include the ability to motivate others, understand fellow soldiers and inspire commitment, teamwork and esprit de corps.
One of the Navy's oldest aircraft carriers, the USS Constellation, will make a week-long stop in Hawaii this week on its way to its home port at San Diego, where it faces the possibility of being retired after 41 years of service.It is set to be decommissioned next year unless the Navy accepts a proposal to turn it into a special-operations platform.
The Constellation left San Diego on Nov. 2 after spending less than 13 months to prepare for war.
The Constellation battle group had returned home from its last deployment Sept. 14, 2001, three days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Commissioned in 1961, the Constellation was the first carrier to launch airstrikes against North Vietnamese targets and was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation from President Nixon for its Vietnam War service.
On May 30 the U.S. Postal Service will feature the country's oldest military decoration -- the Purple Heart -- on a 37-cent stamp. The medal was created by Gen. George Washington on Aug. 7, 1782, during the Revolutionary War, for meritorious action.
Moving up
>> Schofield Barracks: Col. Gilbert Griffin has assumed command of the Defense Information Systems Agency, relieving Col. Stephen Walker.
"In the Military" was compiled from wire reports and other
sources by reporter Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for
the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He can be reached can be reached by phone
at 294-4075 or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.