Briefs

Advertiser Staff

AIR FORCE

Airmen bound for Afghanistan, Iraq

About 50 members of the 25th Air Support Operations Squadron are expected to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Air Force unit is based at Wheeler Army Airfield and provides close-air support, communications and other Air Force capabilities to ground-based units.

At the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, members of the 25th ASOS worked out of uniform with U.S. special operations forces and Afghan members of the Northern Alliance.

IRAQ

Troop strength to fall by 20%

The United States is reducing its troop strength in Iraq by about 20 percent as part of the biggest force rotation since World War II.

The number through the spring will drop from 130,000 to 105,000, and include about 4,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers moving into northern Iraq as part of a move to a lighter, faster fighting force in the country.

The number of M-1 Abrams tanks will be trimmed from 600 to 150, and the United States will rely more on Humvees, including armored versions that have bulletproof glass.

NAVY

Role in Iraq to be discussed

Navy Capt. Phillip Greene, commander of Destroyer Squadron 31 at Pearl Harbor, will be the keynote speaker at the Honolulu Council of the Navy League of the United States annual meeting Thursday.

The event at the Waialae Country Club will begin at 6 p.m. with cocktails, dinner at 6:45 p.m., the keynote address at 7:45 p.m., and an awards presentation at 8 p.m.

Recently returned from the Iraq region, Greene will discuss the Navy's role in Operation Iraqi Freedom. As commodore of Destroyer Squadron 31, Greene is in charge of eight Pacific-based destroyers.

For more information, call 422-9404.

MARINE CORPS

Residents warned to expect noise

Marine Corps Base Hawai'i will have stepped-up air operations for the next three weeks and O'ahu residents should expect more noise. The operations are to support the Hawai'i Combined Arms Exercise at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.