Briefs

Advertiser Staff

AIR FORCE

New commander named in Pacific

President Bush has nominated the current assistant Air Force vice chief of staff, Lt. Gen. William J. Begert, to become the next Pacific Air Forces commander.

Begert served in the Pacific as an O-2A forward air controller and flight examiner pilot for the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, in 1972 and 1973, flying more than 300 combat missions over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Following Senate confirmation, Begert will assume command of the 28th Pacific Air Forces from Gen. Patrick K. Gamble, who officially retires May 1 after 33 years of service.

Gamble's retirement ceremony was at Hickam Air Force Base on April 9.

ARMY

Earth Day program set

On Friday, U.S. Army, Hawai'i and the Army Corps of Engineers join forces for an Earth Day program that begins with a tour of the Schofield Barracks' greenhouse, which contains many endangered species. Dr. Laurie Lucking, cultural resources manager with the Directorate of Public Works, will talk on cultural sites in Hawai'i.

Volunteers are sought to help remove Clidemia hirta, a weed that threatens endangered species, from a 100-acre fenced enclosure on Kahanahaiki Ridge above Makua Valley. Volunteers meet at the Natural Resources Center, Bldg. 1595 at 7:30 a.m. on Friday. To sign up, contact Kapua Kawelo at 656-7641.

COAST GUARD

Service opens ship to tours

The Coast Guard Polar Sea, a 399-foot, 13,000-ton icebreaker, moors tomorrow at Pier 9, Aloha Tower Marketplace for a four-day port of call. It will be open to the public for tours 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The cutter is en route to its home port in Seattle from Operation Deep Freeze, a six-month patrol in Antarctic waters.

For more information on the Polar Sea, log onto www.oz.net/polarsea.

NAVY

Pacific research office opens

The Greater Mid-Pacific Branch of the Office of Naval Research was opened Wednesday with the untying of a traditional maile lei by Sen. Daniel Inouye and Rear Adm. Jay Cohen, chief of Naval Research. The new offices are within the Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet compound.

The event granted recognition to the increasing role Hawai'i and the Greater Pacific region, including Alaska, play in Office of Naval Research missions. The office spends nearly $50 million in Hawai'i annually for basic research at the University of Hawai'i and other military and industrial activities.