THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609170420
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 78 lines
OCEANA AIR SHOW: The 37th annual Oceana Naval Air Station Air Show, which is part of the Virginia Beach Neptune Festival, will be held Saturday and Sunday. Gates open at 9 a.m. each day. Admission and parking are free. In addition to flying exhibitions, the show features 85 parked planes on display, carnival rides, band concerts, a USO troupe and plenty of food. To purchase advance tickets, call 433-3301. A private show Friday will cater to those with special needs; for information about this performance, call 433-3131.
POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY: National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremonies honoring prisoners of war as well as service members and civilians still unaccounted for will be held at 9 a.m Friday at the Atlantic Fleet Headquarters Compound POW/MIA Park. Guest speaker will be George Coker, a Navy pilot who was shot down during a mission over North Vietnam in 1966 and spent 6 1/2 years as a POW. The public is welcome. For more information, call 444-4759. There will also be a ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Friday on Murphy Field at the U.S. Army Transportation Center, Fort Eustis.
TRICARE ENROLLMENT DEADLINE: Appointments for military beneficiaries not enrolled in TRICARE Prime, the military's HMO-type healthcare option, will become more limited at TRICARE Prime clinics after Oct. 1. TRICARE officials recommend enrolling by Thursday to start benefits as soon as possible. If you do not choose to enroll in TRICARE Prime, there are still other options open for military health care. ``The door is still open, but the hole is getting smaller,'' said TRICARE representative Phil Garcia. ``The most timely access to care is through Prime.'' For further information call 677-6000.
BEST SHIP'S STORE: The aircraft carrier John C. Stennis has won the Atlantic Fleet's Ship's Store Best Sales and Service Award, special category. The award is based on more than the ship's store operation; it includes aspects of shipboard supply service such as the laundry and barber shop. Crew members have also been awarded their first Meritorious Unit Commendation for service from Nov. 1, 1993, until Dec. 9, 1995, the period from the christening to the commissioning of the carrier. Achievements included delivery of the ship more than seven months ahead of schedule, saving more than $75 million. Stennis is commanded by Capt. Robert Klosterman.
MILITARY MAIL CALL: The annual campaign to ship morale-boosting cards and letters to men and women in the service is under way. The program sends mail from every part of the United States to more than 1,000 military units around the world, and does it without expense to taxpayers. To learn how you or a group to which you belong can participate, send your name and address, along with a first-class stamp for return postage (NOT an envelope, just the stamp) to: Military Mail, P.O. Box 339, Soldier, Ky. 41173.
PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE: NATO/Partnership for Peace exercise Cooperative Support 96 started Tuesday and will continue through Sept. 26 at Dam Neck Fleet Combat Training Center. The exercise introduces Partnership nations to NATO multinational, shore-based and afloat logistical operations. It focuses on the logistical aspects of peacekeeping, search and rescue and humanitarian operations. A dozen NATO nations and 12 Partnership countries, such as Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, will participate.
PURPLE HEARTS AWARDED: Several members of the Air Force's 10th and 30th Intelligence Squadrons have been awarded Purple Hearts for wounds they incurred during the Dhahran bombing on June 25. Lt. Gen. Carl Franklin, commander of the 9th Air Force and U.S. Central Command Air Forces, presented the decorations last week at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton.
DAV ANNIVERSARY: Hampton Roads chapters of The Disabled American Veterans will hold a ceremony at 10 a.m. Sept. 25 at the MacArthur Memorial to celebrate the organization's 75th year. Guest speaker will be Maj. Gen. Matthew Zimmerman, former Army chief of chaplains. For more information call Philip Egert at 423-7100 or 363-2868.
COMINGS AND GOINGS
ARRIVING: The guided missile destroyer Gonzalez arrives at 8 a.m. Monday at the Nofolk Naval Station for pre-commissioning preparations. The ship, which is the eighth Arleigh Burke Class destroyer homeported in Norfolk, will be commissioned Oct. 12 in Ingleside, Tex. The commanding officer is Cmdr. Frederick Allard Jr.
CHANGE OF COMMAND
Cmdr. John Kunert relieves Cmdr. David Britt as commanding officer of the guided missile frigate Kauffman in a ceremony at 10 a.m Friday at Pier 7, Norfolk Naval Station. Kunert's most recent assignment was at the Naval Education and Training Center in Newport, R.I. Britt reports to the Naval War College in Newport. by CNB