KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Adm. Dennis Blair, left, and Adm. Thomas Fargo shared a laugh yesterday in a light moment at the change-of-command ceremony at Marine Corps Base, Hawaii. Fargo was promoted after a tumultuous tenure that included the Greeneville collision and the Navy reconnaissance plane incident in China. Blair, the outgoing commander of Pacific forces, is retiring.

Fargo takes command
of Pacific forces

Top military brass attend
the ceremony at Kaneohe Bay

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

With a touch of aloha from the Halau Hula Olana, Adm. Dennis Blair turned over the Pacific Command yesterday to fellow Annapolis graduate Adm. Thomas Fargo.

Blair, who took over as commander on Feb. 20, 1999, will leave today to become senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Analysis in Alexandria, Va.

Fargo, 54, became yesterday the fourth Navy four-star admiral since 1958 to be elevated from head of the Pacific Fleet to commander of all Pacific military forces.

In a touching closing ceremony at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay, Blair; his wife, Diane; and Fargo and his wife, Sarah, watched as keiki hula dancers from Halau Hula Olana danced to "Aloha 'Oe."

At least 1,000 people attended the change-of-command ceremony, including Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark and Mayor Jeremy Harris and his wife, Ramona.

The U.S. Pacific Command was established Jan. 1, 1947, and is the oldest and largest of the United States' nine unified commands.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz praised Blair, who had held the Pacific Command post since February 1999.

"A sixth-generation sailor who has worn our nation's uniform for more than three decades, Adm. Denny Blair has led in war and peace with independence, imagination and powerful intellect throughout those years and throughout the world," Wolfowitz said.

Recalling that Kaneohe Bay "witnessed the bloody opening salvos" of the surprise Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands on Dec. 7, 1941, Wolfowitz said the "larger lessons from that attack remain unchanged and clear, especially after Sept. 11.

"We must be prepared for surprise from wherever it may appear and however it may threat."

Myers recalled that during the more than three years of Blair's watch, he was faced with:

>> Restoring contacts with the Chinese after the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

>> The collision between the nuclear attack submarine USS Greeneville and the Japanese training vessel Ehime Maru, which killed nine Japanese men and boys.

>> The collision between a Chinese F-8 jet fighter and a U.S. EP-3 reconnaissance plane.

>> The current terrorist threat in the Philippines.

"For those of you in uniform here today and for the many defending our interests in the farthest corners of the earth, it is my great pleasure to continue to serve with you," Fargo said.

Fargo said the mission of the Pacific Command has two key objectives: "to reach and maintain a very high state of readiness, and to ensure the personal as well as the professional development of each man and women in every service."

Adm. Walter F. Doran, assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will succeed Fargo tomorrow as commander of the Pacific Fleet.