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In the Military Gregg K. Kakesako |
See also: For Your Benefit
2 Pearl warships
to join Iraq expeditionThe Pearl Harbor-based destroyer USS Hopper and the nuclear attack submarine USS Charlotte are expected to be part of a seven-vessel Expeditionary Strike Group 3, commanded by Marine Brig. Gen. Joseph Medina, which is taking 2,200 Marines to Iraq. The ESG is expected to be in Iraq after the turnover of sovereignty on June 30.
Col. Gale S. Pollock, special assistant to the commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, will become the commanding general of Tripler Army Medical Center and the Pacific Regional Medical Command.
She also has been named as chief of the Army Nurse Corps, which means an automatic promotion to the rank of a two-star general, skipping the rank of brigadier general. Until she takes over at Tripler, Col. Stephanie Marshall will serve as commander, replacing Maj. Gen. Joseph Webb Jr. who will become deputy surgeon general.
At Pearl Harbor, Rear Adm. Bernard McCullough, commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group, MIDPAC, will leave this month for Mayport, Fla., to become the new commander of USS Enterprise aircraft carrier battle group. Capt. Ronald Cox will serve as acting commander of Navy Region Hawaii while Capt. Phil Greene will be the acting commander of Naval Surface Group, MIDPAC.
Army Spc. Sean Kimmons, who is deployed to Iraq with the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, won first place in the annual Department of Defense Thomas Jefferson Awards in the stand-alone photograph category. He took the photograph while deployed to Australia last year with 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment for Pacific Bond 2003.
His photograph had placed first in the Pacific Region and Department of the Army Keith L. Ware Journalism Competitions. First-place winners from the Army competition were then forwarded to the Department of Defense, where they competed against winners from the other services.
Sgt. William Tyrrell, a squad leader from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, negotiates an obstacle on a confidence course in Canungra, Australia, during Pacific Bond 2003. This photo by Army Spc. Sean Kimmons won first place in the annual Department of Defense Thomas Jefferson Awards in the stand-alone photograph category.
Gov. Linda Lingle will host an "operation ohana" picnic beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday at Schofield Barracks to show support for the families of the more than 10,000 Hawaii-based soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sony Hawaii will provide video screens and equipment so troops stationed there can communicate with their families. The event is co-sponsored by the Chamber Commerce of Hawaii as part of the 19th annual military appreciation month.
Sen. Daniel Akaka will give the keynote address at 10 a.m. May 30 at a Memorial Day ceremony honoring Pacific-American veterans and active duty service members at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl.
The 53rd annual mayor's Memorial Day ceremony will begin at 8:30 a.m. May 31 at the cemetery. Mayor Jeremy Harris will deliver the keynote address along with Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the Pacific Command; and Rep. Neil Abercrombie will place the memorial wreath at Punchbowl's dedicatory stone. City buses will operate every 15 minutes from the Alapai bus terminal at South King and Alapai streets beginning at 7:15 a.m.
When Col. Richard Pedersen and Command Sgt. Maj. James Dickie uncased the colors of the 25th Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team May 6 at Kandahar International Airport terminal, it meant that their unit officially took charge of one of the roughest areas in southern Afghanistan.
Schofield Barracks' Bronco Brigade assumed command of the entire southern region of Afghanistan from Kandahar to Paktika provinces, as well as Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Kandahar, Qalat, Gardez and Khowst from the 10th Mountain Division. On May 15 the 25th Aviation Brigade assumed authority of aviation in Afghanistan from 10th Mountain's Aviation Brigade.
Moving Up
>> Cmdr. J. Stephen Perry has relieved Cmdr. Andrew Hale as commanding officer of the nuclear attack submarine USS Santa Fe.
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.
