Briefs
Advertiser Staff
NAVY
Strike group near Horn of Africa
The Navy's Expeditionary Strike Group 1 out of San Diego, with the Pearl Harbor-based cruiser USS Port Royal and attack submarine USS Greeneville, was recently off the Horn of Africa, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The strike group is an experimental battle grouping that adds increased firepower to a typical three-ship amphibious-ready group.
The ships will return home in April.
Last of squadron back at Kane'ohe
The last of Navy Patrol Squadron 4's 400 crew members and eight aircraft returned Dec. 11 to Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe Bay after a six-month deployment.
Cmdr. Robert Racoosin, VP-4's commanding officer, said the deployment covered a range of areas of operation for the P-3 Orion aircraft.
"Our mission varied from antisubmarine warfare, surface surveillance, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance," Racoosin said. "Pretty much everything our planes can do, we did this deployment."
Among the efforts was counterterrorism operations in the Philippines.
MARINES
Base receives utility rebate
Hawaiian Electric Company visited Marine Corps Base Hawai'i recently to present base commander Brig. Gen. Jerry McAbee a rebate check for $133,500. The rebate was given as a thank-you for the installation of water heating panels in new base housing that save the base approximately $48,000 in heating costs annually, the Marine Corps said.
ARMY
Soldiers learn to detect land mines
For Schofield Barracks soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan next year, land mines are a huge concern.
Soldiers with the 65th Engineer Battalion recently received training on a new piece of equipment that will make it easier to detect them.
Instructors from the Counter Mine and Counter Booby Trap Center at the U.S. Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., provided training on the AN/PSS-14 mine detector. The new detector can differentiate between mines and pieces of metal in the ground.
"It's hands-down the best mine detector in the world," said Sgt. 1st Class John Mincey, senior instructor.
