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IN THE MILITARY

Air Force chief
opposes new curb
on Bronze Star

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Air Force Secretary Whitten Peters opposes a new law that bars the services from awarding Bronze Star medals to service members who served outside of a combat zone.

Congress passed the law after disclosures that many of the Bronze Stars -- the nation's fourth-highest combat award -- handed out during NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia last year went to those sitting behind a desk at the Pentagon or in Europe.

The Air Force passed out 200 Bronze Stars, the Navy a few dozen and the Army none.

Peters said geographic location should be a secondary concern and linking the medal to combat pay would exclude many service personnel.

Pearl Harbor could lose three of its 20 nuclear attack submarines as early as 2002 if the Navy finds the move feasible, according to Adm. Frank Bowman, director of naval reactors.

Bowman, in a speech Thursday to the Guam Chamber of Commerce and the Navy League, said the move would add 750 Navy personnel to Guam.

The Army's elite Rangers may switch to a new color for their headgear when the entire Army dons the black beret June 14 -- the date of the Army's birthday.

Rangers now are assigned a black beret and special "Ranger" shoulder tab after completing a grueling 58-week course.

But since Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki said the black beret will be the standard Army headgear next year, the Rangers may switch to an olive drab version -- a slightly darker shade of green than one worn by Army Special Forces "Green Berets."

The Army still envisions its soldiers wearing baseball-style camouflage caps while in the field, but the black beret would replace the flat green garrison cap and the saucer-like service hat.

Individual units will be identified by a colored unit "flash" or cloth patch worn on the beret. Soldiers will be issued the beret only after completing basic and advanced individual training.

Soldiers belonging to Airborne paratrooper units now wear maroon berets.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie said he has received assurances that the Navy will not hire a private contractor to store and distribute fuel at Pearl Harbor, ending months of uncertainty for 45 civil-service employees who feared they'd lose their jobs or face an extreme reduction in benefits.

Texas-based Trajen Inc. won the fuel job last year when it was selected under a federal rule requiring the military to privatize certain operations if contractors can do them for less.

The company's bid of $12.7 million was the lowest by about $2,000.

But workers challenged the bid. A further evaluation found the hourly wage-rate used by Trajen to calculate its bid was too low.

The Trajen contract had been rejected once before when a Navy office in Virginia decided to keep the operations under civil service control. The General Accounting Office sided with Trajen because it was the lowest bidder.

Moving up

Camp Smith: Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster has assumed command of the Special Operations Branch, Pacific from Maj. Gen. Jack Holbein.

Pearl Harbor: Rear Adm. John Padgett III has been selected to assume command of the Pacific Fleet's Submarine Force at Pearl Harbor in March.

Padgett is now commander of Submarine Group Two in Groton, Conn.

No immediate assignment was announced for the current commander, Rear Adm. Albert Konetzni.