Some changes made today……..what’s up with that?

HONOLULU (AP) - President George W. Bush has appointed Lt. Gen. Carrol “Howie” Chandler as the new U.S. Air Force commander in the Pacific, the Pentagon announced.

Chandler has been nominated to replace Gen. Paul V. Hester, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a statement Friday. Chandler also has been nominated for his fourth star and promotion to the rank of general.

Chandler would work out of Pacific Air Force headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu if the U.S. Senate confirms the appointment. The commander oversees some 55,000 Air Force personnel in Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Japan and South Korea.

The former F-15 and F-16 fighter pilot is currently the deputy chief of staff for Air Force operations in Washington, D.C.

Chandler has lived in Hawaii before, serving at the U.S. Pacific Command and Pacific Air Forces in the 1980s and 1990s.

He also has served as a fighter squadron commander at Kadena Air Force Base in Japan and as a U.S. Air Force adviser to the Royal Saudi Air Force.

More recently, Chandler was the Alaskan Command commander.

Hester said he expected to be relieved sometime in November and retire to Texas.

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