Briefs
Advertiser Staff
AIR NATIONAL GUARD
Squadron returns from Gulf duty
Members of the 297th Air Traffic Control Squadron, Hawai'i Air National Guard, returned home a week ago after supporting missions related to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Twenty-four unit members left Hickam Air Force Base on March 8 and served on active duty at an undisclosed location within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. The squadron's mission is to provide air traffic control and radar approach guidance for U.S. military aircraft.
U.S. agreements with host nations do not allow the Air National Guard to disclose exactly where unit members are deployed.
NAVY, MARINES
Tarawa-led ships on Pearl stopover
More than 4,000 sailors and Marines on three San Diego-based ships, returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom, spent the Fourth of July in Hawai'i.
The amphibious assault ship Tarawa, dock-landing ship Rushmore and amphibious-assault dock ship Duluth arrived Wednesday and Thursday at Pearl Harbor for stopovers of several days.
The Tarawa amphibious-ready group took part in the war in Iraq. The ships carried four M-1A1 battle tanks, 16 light armored vehicles, 15 amphibious assault vehicles, 33 aircraft and seven landing craft.
The Tarawa group was part of the largest amphibious force assembled since the Inchon landing in the Korean War. Task Force 51 included seven amphibious "large deck" ships.
ARMY
Eight cadets interning at state offices
Eight cadets from West Point will be participating in a three-week internship with Gov. Linda Lingle's administration. Hawai'i is the first state to develop such a program with the U.S. Military Academy.
The Hawai'i Advanced Individual Academic Development Program is modeled after the White House Fellowship Program.
"This program is a tremendous opportunity for West Point cadets to get a unique leader development experience while further enhancing the civil-military relations in Hawai'i," said Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson, commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division (Light).
WAR REMAINS
North Korea agrees to talks
North Korea has accepted a U.S. proposal for new talks on recovering remains of American servicemen missing from the Korean War, the communist nation's news media reported.
The North's state-run news agency, KCNA, said the country agreed to the talks "out of humanitarian concern."
The U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory, Hawai'i, has conducted earlier recoveries of missing U.S. servicemen's remains in North Korea. More than 8,000 American troops are missing from the war, which began in 1950 and ended with an armistice in 1953.
