Isle combat unit
arrives in Texas

The last elements of the 100th Battalion, one of three combat units of Hawaii's 29th Infantry Brigade, arrived at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, on Oct. 7 and are housed at Forward Operating Base McGregor. Maj. Mike Peteers, the battalion's executive officer, said: "The soldiers are settling into their living arrangements, and although pretty tight, they are making the most of it. There are showers, laundry, and all the brigade soldiers eat together at the main mess hall. The food is adequate, there is plenty of it, and the soldiers are settling in to begin the initial portion of their collective training."

He added, "The soldiers' spirits are high and they are ready to begin their training."

Peteers said snacks and refreshments are available from a trailer manned by Fort Bliss post exchange personnel. Buses also are available to take the soldiers to the main post store.

The destroyer USS Hopper, which left Pearl Harbor on July 28, became the first Navy ship to have a port of call in Masawa since 1997. It is located in the east African country of Eritrea, which gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after more than 30 years of fighting. During its three-day visit, which began Oct. 7, Hopper sailors participated in two public service projects. About 30 sailors volunteered at the city's public library, providing painting, landscaping and plumbing assistance. Outside Masawa, 25 sailors planted more than 500 mangrove trees along the coast of the Red Sea as part of the Sea Water Forest Initiative Project, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The destroyer is operating with coalition forces of Task Force 150, composed of more than 12 nations, including the United States, Pakistan, France and Germany.

Retired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki will be the keynote speaker Nov. 6 at The Go For Broke Educational Foundation third annual Evening of Aloha dinner at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. The dinner will feature a five-course dinner prepared by Hawaii chefs Alan Wong and Roy Yamaguchi. Tickets are $130 per person or $100 for veterans and must be purchased in advance by calling (310) 328-0907. The Makaha Sons will perform, along with ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro and Keali'i O Nalani, a Polynesian dance group.

The home front in America during World War II will be explored through slides, a display of paper artifacts and discussion by Stan Cohen, author and publisher of pictorial history books, Oct. 21 at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park. Cohen is the author of more than 70 books and has published more than 300. Light refreshments will be served at 6:30 p.m., followed by Cohen's presentation at 7 p.m. on the Bowfin Park lanai. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Bowfin Park at 423-1341.

The nuclear attack submarine USS Cheyenne, which was the first U.S. warship to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles in Operation Iraqi Freedom, left for a Western Pacific deployment from Pearl Harbor on Oct. 8. In Washington, the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln left Friday on a four-month western Pacific deployment seven months early. The Lincoln's last historic, 9 1/2-month deployment ended with a visit by President Bush. The carrier deployed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and spent 290 days at sea, taking part in military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq during one of the longest deployments of a nuclear-powered carrier since the Vietnam War era. No Pearl Harbor-based warships will be part of the Lincoln strike group.

Remains of servicemen missing from the Korean War were repatriated from South Korea on Friday and will be sent to the Joint POWÚMIA Accounting Command's forensic lab at Hickam Air Force Base. The remains are from the Chosin Reservoir, where the 1st Marine Division and the Army's 7th Infantry Division fought battles with the Chinese in November and December 1950. More than 1,000 servicemembers are still listed as missing in action there. Remains also will be brought back from Unsan County, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang, where the 1st Cavalry Division and 25th Infantry Division fought in November 1950.