Admiral picked to lead Middle East war efforts
Adm. William J. “Fox” Fallon
By JACK DORSEY AND DALE EISMAN, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 6, 2007
NORFOLK — President Bush’s nomination Friday of Adm. William J. “Fox” Fallon, a former Oceana naval aviator and Norfolk-based fleet commander, to head Central Command will bring “superb experience” and a “fresh look” to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to retired top officers.
If the Senate confirms his appointment , it will be the first time a naval officer heads the command, which traditionally has been le d by a Marine or Army general.
The appointment means “the administration is recognizing the combatant commander needed to be focused broadly … on advancing our relationships with the nations and partners in the region ,” said Stephen R. Pietropaoli, a retired rear admiral who now is national executive director of the Navy League of the United States.
For the past two years, Fallon has commanded a 300,000-member joint service force that is in diplomatic discussions with China and North Korea and had persuaded Japan to accept a nuclear aircraft carrier in that country for the first time.
Early in his career, he was an aviator in RA-5C Vigilante electronic reconnaissance jets in Vietnam and switched to the A-6 Intruder as a bombardier and navigator, flying out of Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach.
The now-four-star admiral commanded Attack Squadron 65 and Medium Attack Wing One, both at Oceana, and Carrier Air Wing Eight aboard the carrier Theodore Roosevelt during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
He then served as commander of the 2nd Fleet in Norfolk from 1997 to 2000 and earned a master’s degree in international studies from Old Dominion University.
The 33-year Navy veteran headed the Atlantic Fleet and Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk from October 2003 to February 2005, when he assumed his present command in Hawaii.
“The bottom line is they wanted somebody with experience, instead of moving up a three-star” to command, said retired Adm. Robert J. Natter, who succeeded Fallon in Norfolk as commander of the Atlantic Fleet and Fleet Forces Command.
Natter, reached Friday by telephone in Florida, said Fallon brings “a different, fresh look” to the command. “He is well-respected.”
Naval historian Norman Polmar said Fallon is “the right guy” for his new duties at Central Command and has demonstrated “a broad understanding of political-military matters.”
Most admirals are more focused on Navy concerns, he added.
Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Tom Wilkerson, now chief executive of the U.S. Naval Institute, said the most eye-opening thing about Fallon’s appointment is the way he has jumped from Atlantic to Pacific and now to Central Command.
He could not recall a previous top-level commander who had three successive assignments in three different theat ers.
Fallon “is a known commodity at a time when steadiness and dependability is the necessary quality,” Wilkerson said.
Fallon, 62, the son of a mailman from Merchantville, N.J., the oldest of nine children and a 1967 graduate of Villanova University, has been picked by the Bush administration to succeed Gen. John Abizaid as the top commander in the Middle East.
Abizaid has had the command since 2003 and has asked to retire.
Fallon “is a guy who has terrific operational credentials,” said Pietropaoli, who continues to work closely with Fallon on issues involving maritime matters in the Pacific region.
Pietropaoli said the key to success includes being able to work “in the political, diplomatic are na, which Adm. Fallon has done with superb experience in the Pacific.”
Fallon “is going to have very capable ground commanders in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in the Horn of Africa” to direct the fighting, Pietropaoli said.
As far as having a naval officer leading Army and Marine ground forces, both Pietropaoli and Natter said there should be no concern.
“They’ll get over it and follow orders like everyone else,” Natter said.
One of the five geographically defined unified commands, Central Command is responsible for planning and conducting U.S. military activity in a region encompassing 43 countries in northeastern Africa, Southwest and Central Asia, and the island nation of Seychelles, according to a Pentagon news release.
It was established in 1983 to cover the “central” area of the globe, between the European and Pacific commands.
B as ed at MacDill Air Force Base, near Tampa, Fla., the command maintains offices overseas as well.
Although Fallon will be the first admiral to head Central Command, there is ample precedent for Bush’s decision to put a naval officer in overall command of a ground war, Polmar said.
He recalled that Adm. John S. McCain Jr., father of U.S. Sen. John McCain, headed the U.S. Pacific Command in the midst of the Vietnam War, overseeing more than 600,000 troops.
Before that, as c ommander in chief in the Pacific in World War II, Adm. Chester Nimitz led Army and Marine forces that fought their way across Pacific islands claimed by the Japanese. The ground forces under Nimitz were larger than those commanded by Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Polmar said.
