Hawaii unit
readies for Iraq

The Hawaii unit will be replacing the 81st Brigade Combat Team from the state of Washington.

There are 3,600 members in the 29th Brigade Team, with about 2,200 from Hawaii and other Pacific areas who will be in Iraq for a year.

The brigade reports to Iraq from Kuwait, as members of the Pacific Army Reserve's 411th Engineer Combat Battalion are about to leave the Baghdad area, where they have been located for nearly a year as members of the 1st Cavalry Division.

Of the 600 soldiers assigned to the 411th, about 300 are from Hawaii.

Marine Corps Brig. Gen. George J. Trautman III, the deputy commander of U.S. Marine Forces Pacific and commanding general of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, has been nominated for a second star as a major general. Trautman, a helicopter pilot and a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, has been in Hawaii since August 2004.

The USS Missouri Association will hold its 32nd reunion Sept. 1-5 in Albuquerque, N.M. Events will include a beer bash, formal dinner dance and a memorial ceremony. For more information, contact Herb Fahr at (516) 931-1769 or MoBB63Mo@aol.com.