DATE: Thursday, June 5, 1997                TAG: 9706040641
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Military 
                                            LENGTH:   65 lines

WEEKLY BRIEFING

SHIPS OPEN: Three Navy ships will be open to the public from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 7 and 8. The guided missile destroyer Laboon will be at Norfolk Naval Station. Visitors should enter through Gate 2. The dock landing ship Oak Hill will be at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. Visitors should enter through Gate 1. The guided missile frigate Samuel B. Roberts will be at Nauticus. For updated information, call the tour and information center at 444-7637.

CELEBRATE DENMARK: A NATO flag-raising ceremony at 10 a.m. today will celebrate the signing of the first democratic constitution of Denmark. The ceremony will be at Allied Command Atlantic Headquarters. The Navy's Atlantic Fleet Band will perform.

ARMY SAVINGS: Two Army aviation soldiers at Fort Eustis have revamped the Kiowa Warrior helicopter phase maintenance system, which is expected to save the Army more than $1 million a year. Chief Warrant Officer John M. Zimmerman and 1st Sgt. Thomas W. Tompkins each received the Army Ideas for Excellence Program Cash Award of $4,203. They also received the 1997 Secretary of Defense Productivity Excellence Award during a Pentagon ceremony. Their changes to the system will cut 7,860 hours a year off helicopter maintenance.

FLAG DAY: Fort Monroe's Flag Day ceremony at 11 a.m. June 13, will be in the post theater, Building 42, in case of bad weather. The Army previously announced that the event would be canceled in case of inclement weather. The free event, including a narration of Army history with soldiers dressed in period costumes, will be held at Continental Park if the weather is good.

SUPER DAY 1997: The U.S. Army Transportation Center will hold an open house from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 13, on Murphy Field at Fort Eustis. The free event features a Stealth flyover, a performance by the 82nd Airborne All-American Free Fall Parachute Demonstration Team, rides, games, food, car and boat displays, hot air balloon rides, sports events and entertainment including the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders and various music groups. Children's activities include Nickelodeon Game Lab, a magician, a juggler, bingo and costumed characters from King's Dominion. A health fair will also be held.

Comings and goings

The Coast Guard cutter Bear has returned to Portsmouth after a Caribbean counterdrug and migrant interdiction patrol that began on April 9. The vessel also hosted several events in Barbados for President Clinton's Caribbean Summit. The crew renovated a school for mentally and physically disabled children in St. Thomas Parish.

The Coast Guard cutter Legare spent the past three days in Klaipeda, Lithuania, the second of 19 ports it will visit during its four-month deployment. The ship is the first ``Famous Class'' cutter to participate in the Baltic operations exercise with 49 ships and 16 air squadrons from 13 countries.

Capt. Richard E. Bennis is the new commanding officer of the Hampton Roads Coast Guard Marine Safety Office. He relieved Capt. Dennis A. Sande in a May 28 ceremony at Nauticus. Sande's next assignment is commanding officer of the Coast Guard Reserve Training Center in Yorktown.

Navy Cmdr. P.T. Smith, the longest-serving SEAL on active duty, will retire on Friday with more than 36 years of service. The ``Bullfrog Trophy,'' held by the individual with the most time as a SEAL, will pass to Capt. Ed Bowen.

Capt. Charles E. Allen, commanding officer of Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity, Norfolk, retires June 12 after 38 years of naval service - 13 of it as enlisted, advancing to chief petty officer. He is being relieved by Cmdr. Robert G. Butler Jr., previously engineering officer aboard the amphibious assault ship Saipan.

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