Briefs

Advertiser Staff and News Services

PACIFIC COMMAND

Military leaders hold meeting

Military leaders from 20 nations, including the United States, met in Honolulu last week for U.S. Pacific Command's Asia-Pacific Chief's of Defense Conference. Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of U.S. Pacific Command, played host to the three-day conference, which ended Thursday.

The defense chiefs focused on enhanced regional cooperation and security-related issues such as transnational threats of terrorism and drug-trafficking as well as peacekeeping operations, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.

Chiefs of defense from Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritus, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga and the United States attended.

NAVY

USS Honolulu to get new skipper

The USS Honolulu, a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine, will have a change of command ceremony Wednesday as Cmdr. Charles Harris relieves Cmdr. John Richardson at 10 a.m. at Naval Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor's Parche Memorial.

ARMY

Remains being returned to U.S.

The remains of what is believed to be eight servicemen who died during the Korean War will be returned to U.S. soil at Hickam Air Force Base tomorrow.

U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawai'i teams recovered the remains on the final joint recovery operation of the year in North Korea. Teams escorted the remains to Hawai'i following the completion of the monthlong operation.

A CILHI team recovered what is believed to be remains of five servicemen in the Chosin Reservoir area. Another recovery team excavated what is believed to be remains of three servicemen in Kujang county, near the Chong Chon River.

ACADEMIES

Bridge design contest held

West Point U.S. Military Academy is sponsoring a nationwide bridge design competition for students in grades K-12.

The competition, which opened this week, features a computer-aided design package called the West Point Bridge Designer. The free software can be downloaded from the contest Web site, bridgecontest.usma.edu/.