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In the Military Gregg K. Kakesako |
See also: For Your Benefit
Former commander
at Kaneohe gets Navy unitCol. Joseph V. Medina, former commander of the 3rd Marine Regiment at Kaneohe Bay, has been tapped as the first commander of the Expeditionary Strike Group-3 and will become the first Marine Corps general to head the Navy's new combat unit comprised of six warships and one submarine.
The warships assigned to the Navy's second Expeditionary Strike Group will be the USS Belleau Wood and the amphibious ships USS Denver and USS Comstock, the cruiser USS Mobile Bay and the destroyers USS Hopper and USS Preble. A submarine assignment is still pending. All of the ships, except for the Hopper, are based on the West Coast. The Hopper is home-ported at Pearl Harbor. The contingent of Marines will consist of the 2,300 from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
The first Navy strike group is commanded by Rear Adm. Robert Conway, who until March headed Navy Region Hawaii. It is now operating off the coast of Iraq. Medina, a 1976 Naval Academy graduate, will receive his first star as a brigadier general after the Expeditionary Strike Group-3 is commissioned on Nov. 17 in San Diego.
A Hickam Air Force Base captain was a member of the eight-person Air Force Team that took the 2003 Armed Forces Marathon on Oct. 26 in Washington, D.C. The Air Force team completed the 26.2-mile race in a total time of 11 hours, 1 second, defeating the Marine Corps, Army and Navy teams for the second year in a row. "Winning the championship again this year is very exciting and special. We all train very hard with the goal of helping the Air Force Team win," said Capt. Bob Dickie, aide to Gen. William Begert, commanding general of Pacific Air Forces. "It's great to go into a Marine Corps event and upset them on their home turf in front of their home crowd."
More than 50 marching units will participate in the 57th annual Veterans Day parade sponsored by the Wahiawa Lions Club beginning at 10 a.m. Nov. 11 in Wahiawa. The parade will begin at Kaala Elementary School and travel on California Avenue to Fred Wright Park. Parade grand marshal will be Vietnam veteran William Cable. Lt. Gen. James Campbell, commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific, will be the featured speaker at the program following the parade.
Remains of eight American soldiers missing in action from the Korean War will arrive at Hickam Air Force Base tomorrow for identification by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.
A team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command operating near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea recovered several sets of remains believed to be those of U.S. Army soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division who fought against Chinese forces from November-December 1950. Approximately 1,100 Americans are unaccounted for from battles of the Chosin campaign.
A second team recovered remains in Unsan County, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang. This area was the site of battles between communist forces and the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry and 25th Infantry Divisions in November 1950. The recovery expeditions were conducted between Aug. 23-Oct. 28.
Four U.S. Pacific Fleet submarine skippers recently received Bronze Stars for their leadership during Operation Iraqi Freedom. They are: Cmdr. Michael Jabaley, USS Louisville (SSN 724); Cmdr. Charles Merkel, formerly USS Key West (SSN 722); Cmdr. Duane Ashton, USS Columbia (SSN 771); and Cmdr. Charles Doty, USS Cheyenne (SSN 773).
These four ships patrolled the 5th Fleet area of operations and performed Tomahawk strikes in support of the global war on terrorism.
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.
