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In the Military Gregg K. Kakesako |
See also: For Your Benefit
29th Brigade looks
to foreign dutyMaj. Gen. Bob Lee, head of the Hawaii National Guard, says he doesn't believe the soldiers from the 29th Infantry Brigade (Separate) will be part of the next troop rotation to Iraq in 2005. However, Afghanistan may be a different story.
This is because three Army National Guard brigades from Tennessee, Louisiana and Idaho have been alerted that they probably will be sent to Iraq next year. They will replace National Guard enhanced combat brigades from North Carolina, Arkansas and Washington state, which are there or soon will be en route as part of the 2004 rotation of forces.
However, Lee said the training tempo for his soldiers is still being maintained "because the military still hasn't announced the Afghanistan rotations. We are still training to get ready for any of those missions because as far as I am concerned it is still a question of when."
Yesterday, the first of 200 soldiers from the Hawaii Guard's Charlie Company, 193rd Aviation Regiment, began the trip to Iraq, where they will be for a year. Elements of the 193rd's Bravo Company have been in Kandahar since August.
>>>><<<< Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, who served as assistant 25th Infantry Division commander in 2000, will be the next commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division. He is now senior military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense.
In 1992, he commanded the 4th Battalion, 27th Infantry, at Schofield Barracks and three years later was politico-military officer for the U.S. Embassy in Haiti when the 25th Infantry Division pulled peacekeeping duty there.
Before leaving for his current post Caldwell in June 2002, Caldwell was deputy director for operations for the U.S. Pacific Command.
>>>><<<< In an effort to reduce personnel turnover and increase unit readiness, the Army will offer soldiers and officers an extra $300 per month in pre-tax pay bonuses if they volunteer for extended tours in South Korea, Army officials announced last week. Soldiers already stationed there will have a 60-day window from March 12 to May 12 to sign up for the new assignment incentive program and extend their tour by 12 months.
Soldiers already in South Korea are to begin receiving the bonus as soon as they sign up for the program, 8th Army officials said. Soldiers stationed elsewhere worldwide who are assigned to South Korea and volunteer for extended tours -- either two-year unaccompanied tours or limited three-year accompanied tours -- would get the bonus for their entire stay.
The program will be in effect for at least one year.
The Army expects the program to save some $20 million per year in costs associated with moving soldiers on and off the peninsula.
Moving Up
Pearl Harbor: Navy Capt. Cecil E. D. Haney, commander of Submarine Squadron 1, has been nominated for appointment to rear admiral.
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.