Pace to lose post as Joint Chiefs head

Bitter divisions over the Iraq war, particularly on Capitol Hill, led the Bush administration to change course and replace Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a grim Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.

Gates said that despite earlier plans to recommend Pace for a second two-year term as chairman, he instead was recommending Adm. Mike Mullen, currently chief of naval operations, to take over when Pace’s term expires Sept. 30. President Bush accepted the recommendation.

“I think that the events of the last several months have simply created an environment in which I think there would be a confirmation process that would not be in the best interests of the country,” Gates said. “I wish it were not necessary to make a decision like this. But I think it’s a realistic appraisal of where we are.”

U.S. Navy Plans Six-Month West African Training Mission

The U.S. Navy plans this autumn to begin a half-year patrol of West Africa as a follow-up to a regional conference in November 2006, in which Gulf of Guinea nations called for greater maritime security cooperation.

Under the new plan, a U.S. ship will act as a floating headquarters and training base. It will cruise the region for five or six months, conducting numerous port visits, deploying training teams and allowing international visitors on board, said Admiral Harry Ulrich, chief of U.S. naval forces for Europe and Africa.

The ship will carry between 200 and 300 personnel – exact numbers will change over time as experts and specialized teams come and go, Ulrich told reporters May 31 after describing the plan to West African diplomats and military officers in Washington.

The ship’s personnel will focus mainly on training and working closely with Gulf of Guinea nations. Ulrich said he actively is seeking participation from European nations with an interest in West Africa as well as nongovernmental organizations. The idea is to create a “floating schoolhouse” in which multinational training teams can train in key activities such as port and oil-platform security, search-and-rescue missions and medical and humanitarian assistance.

Two U.S. carrier groups complete exercise in Straits of Hormuz

The U.S. Navy has concluded another exercise in the Gulf as part of an effort to deter Iran while reassuring Gulf Arab allies that fear being drawn into a U.S.-Iran conflict.

On Thursday, the navy concluded an exercise of its two carrier strike groups near the Iranian coast. The exercises took place in the Straits of Hormuz, the passage for 40 percent of global oil shipping.

The exercise was comprised of the navy’s USS John C. Stennis, USS Nimitz and the Marine Corps’s Bonhomme Richard amphibious assault group. The exercise consisted of nine ships, 140 combat aircraft and 17,000 personnel in the largest daylight transit since 2003.

Navy Assigns Openly Gay Sailor to Reserves

The United States Navy has again assigned an openly gay sailor to duty in the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR), according to paperwork obtained by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). Former Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Knight, a Hebrew linguist recently deployed to Kuwait, has been placed on IRR duty until April 2009, despite publicly ‘coming out’ in national media outlets and being told he would receive a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” dismissal. Knight’s dismissal form, also called a DD-214, again lists his reason for dismissal as ‘Completion of Service,’ and places him in the IRR. The classification allows him to again be called to active duty, as he was in 2006 after completing a four-year enlistment in the Navy. Knight has now served openly during two tours with the Navy, with the support of his command and colleagues.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2007 and is filed under Africa, Armed Forces, Iran, Maritime Strategy News, Navy, Personnel Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.