Briefs
Advertiser Staff
NAVY
Fleet suicides doubled in 2003
A memo from Adm. Walter Doran said that 16 Pacific Fleet sailors committed suicide in 2003 — double the number in 2002, Stars and Stripes reported.
Doran, commander of Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, said the number called for "immediate attention and action."
"Some sailors feel overwhelmed but will not seek help or assistance," Stars and Stripes quoted Doran as saying in the memo. "Often issues that can be resolved spin out of control, leading to depression, adjustment difficulties, relationship problems and sometimes suicide."
The memo said 42 sailors Navywide killed themselves last year.
The Navy has said it has placed a renewed emphasis on educating sailors about suicide prevention.
Work progresses on four new subs
Work continues on four new Virginia-class submarines, including a boat named "Hawai'i."
According to Aerospace Daily, the Virginia is 90 percent completed, the Texas is 83.4 percent finished, SSN 776 (Hawai'i) is 56.2 percent completed, and the North Carolina is 38.6 percent completed.
Northrop Grumman Newport News and General Dynamics Electric Boat are alternating construction of the first 10 ships of the Virginia class. The Virginia is expected to be delivered next year.
SEALIFT COMMAND
Raytheon gets radar contract
A $1 billion contract was awarded Dec. 18 to Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems for the design and replacement of the "Cobra Judy" radar system aboard the USNS Observation Island, which operates from Pearl Harbor.
Cobra Judy, an S- and X-band radar system, is used to detect, track and collect intelligence data on United States, Russian and other strategic ballistic missile tests over the Pacific Ocean.
The 564-foot Observation Island, operated by Military Sealift Command, is a converted merchant ship, modified first as a fleet ballistic-missile test-launch platform, and then as a missile tracking platform.
The Raytheon contract seeks a new platform for the radar system. Launched in 1953, Observation Island is the second oldest active ship in the Navy.
The replacement work, which will be done outside of Hawai'i, is expected to be completed by 2011.
POW/MIA
Merged unit keeping busy
Since in the fall, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command has deployed to several locations around the world and held three repatriation ceremonies honoring service members from the Korean and Vietnam wars.
The command's laboratory branch, meanwhile, has identified more than 70 unaccounted-for service members.
The U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawai'i, at Hickam Air Force Base and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting at Camp Smith were merged under "JPAC" on Oct. 1.
In January, teams will deploy to Cambodia, Laos and Palau. Missions are planned to Vietnam in February, Papua New Guinea in March, and North Korea and Europe in April.
Five trips are planned to North Korea in 2004.
