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In the Military Gregg K. Kakesako |
See also: For Your Benefit
Case introduces bill to
recoup state burial fundsU.S. Rep. Ed Case has introduced legislation that would provide $750 per veteran to the state to cover the cost of burying veterans in its eight veterans' cemeteries.
The Department of Veteran Affairs now only provides $300 to cover such costs, but Hawaii Democrat Case said the state Department of Defense says it costs as much as $750 to bury a veteran, with the state absorbing the additional costs.
Case estimates there are 120,587 veterans living in Hawaii who are eligible to be buried in one of eight state veterans cemeteries as well as the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. However, there is no more room for new burial plots at Punchbowl and veterans seeking burial there can only request spaces in the columbarium.
>>>><<<< The Washington Times last week reported that a 33-year-old Marine staff sergeant gave birth to a seven-pound boy aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer in the Persian Gulf on May 23, marking what Pentagon officials believe is the first time an active-duty woman delivered a baby on a combat ship in a war zone.
As a rule, the Pentagon does not deploy pregnant service members to war zones. Navy regulations, which also cover the Marine Corps, require a pregnant servicewoman to notify her commanding officer no later than two weeks after diagnosis. A Pentagon official told the newspaper the Marine told superiors that she did not know she was pregnant.
The Marine is assigned to Headquarters Battery, 11th Marines, as an administrative chief. She and the baby, both healthy and in good condition, were transported from Boxer to the New al Mowasat Hospital in Salmiya, Kuwait, and then San Diego. They were not identified.
Moving Up
Kaneohe Bay>> Rear Adm. Kenneth W. Deutsch will assume command of Patrol and Reconnaissance Force, Pacific, and commander of Task Force 12 in Misawa, Japan, replacing Rear Adm. Anthony L. Winns, who will become deputy director of Air Warfare Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Arlington, Va. Deutsch is director of the Fleet and Allied Requirements Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
Camp Smith
>> Rear Adm. William D. Sullivan, director for strategic planning and policy at U.S. Pacific Command, has been assigned as vice director for the Joint Staff in the Pentagon.
Kalaeloa
>> Cmdr. Kirk DeVoe relieved Capt. Robert Dunn as commanding officer of Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point. Dunn will be the Coast Guard liaison in the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
"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.