Rear Adm. Robin M. Watters, the Pacific Fleet's reserve deputy commander, will become the Pacific Command's new chief of staff.

The Pentagon also announced that Rear Adm. Thomas H. Copeman III, a 1977 Punahou School graduate, will be assigned as the chief of legislative affairs for the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. Copeman is currently serving as commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo in Cuba.

Watters was commissioned in 1977 through the University of Nebraska Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program and holds a master's degree in business administration from Bryant College.

A reservist, Watters spent his active-duty career on the USS Inchon and the frigate USS Hawes.

As a reservist he has commanded seven units, including detachments with the Naval Reserve Fleet Training Group in Mayport, Fla., U.S. Naval Forces Korea, the Naval Surface Group Mediterranean and the 7th Fleet, based in Yokosuka, Japan.

He was recalled to active duty in December 1990 for six months in the Persian Gulf in support of Desert Storm. Watters was again recalled to active duty in February 2003 and assigned to the staff of the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In 2005 he performed extended active duty as deputy commander of Navy Region Northeast in support of the region's Base Realignment and Closure effort. Watters assumed his current assignment as reserve deputy and U.S. Pacific Fleet chief of staff in 2008.