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In the Military Gregg K. Kakesako |
See also: For Your Benefit
City undecided on plan
for Pearl Harbor radarHonolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris is still waiting for a briefing before taking a position on the Navy's proposal to dock a 25-story floating radar platform at Pearl Harbor.
The Seattle Times on Thursday reported that Adak in Alaska wants the Pentagon's new Sea-Based Test X-band radar, a floating radar platform that is 250 feet high. That would make it the third city to launch a bid for a crucial part of the nation's ballistic missile defense system. Besides the cities of Adak and Valdez in Alaska, officials in Ventura, Calif., also want the platform.
Opposing the plan are city officials in Everett, Wash. Snohomish County residents are concerned that the SBX's powerful radar could affect local hospital equipment and disrupt radio communications. Everett recently activated an 800-MHz emergency-radio system for police and fire. The city is concerned the platform, at 250 feet tall, 231 feet wide and 272 feet long, could hurt economic development efforts along the waterfront.
Other ports being considered are Oxnard, Calif., and the Marshall Islands. A decision is due next month.
Joint Task Force-Full Accounting and the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory will merge in October and be renamed the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. The merger of the two military units that investigate, recover and identify America's missing war dead will result in an Army unit with 405 people and an annual budget of $61 million.
However, the two units will retain their separate offices, with Joint Task Force-Full Accounting operating out of Camp Smith and the lab at Hickam Air Force Base. The Army forensic lab opened in 1973 with the mission of searching for missing U.S. service personnel from World War II, the Korean War, Cold War and Vietnam War. Joint Task Force was created in 1992 to account for Americans missing from the war in Southeast Asia.
The aircraft carrier Midway, the last remaining vessel of the World War II-era CV 41 class, will be donated to the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum. The ship was named for the Battle of Midway, which was fought in the Central Pacific June 4-7, 1942. It is considered the decisive battle of the war. Before this battle the Japanese were on the offensive; after it, the Americans and their allies took the offensive.
The San Diego Union Tribune reported last week that Navy One, the gray S-3B Viking jet in which George Bush made the first arrested carrier landing by a president, was put on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Fla. The flight also marks the beginning of the end for the naval career of the Viking fleet. It will be the first Viking to be retired and mothballed as the Navy plans to stop flying the twin-engine jets by the end of 2009.
On May 1, Bush, a former Air National Guard pilot, landed aboard the aircraft carrier Lincoln, which was just outside San Diego Bay on a return voyage from a record-setting 10-month deployment. After landing on the Lincoln Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq during a televised speech from the flight deck.
The Navy will retire the 105 remaining Vikings over the next six years. Two North Island Naval Air Station squadrons will be shut down by next April as 13 Vikings are mothballed this year.
Museum officials hope Navy One will become a tourist magnet at the museum, which is the Navy's official aviation museum and houses more than 140 vintage aircraft.
Moving up
Pohakuloa Training Area>> Lt. Col. Frederick S. Clarke has assumed command of the PTA, relieving Lt. Col. Gerald J. Schmitz.
Hickam Air Force Base
>> Lt. Col. Eric Stone has assumed command of the 56th Information Warfare Flight, relieving Lt. Col. Howard Fields.
>> Lt. Col. Von Gardiner has assumed command of the 15th Communications Squadron, relieving Lt. Col. Joseph Buder.
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.
