Military

Hailston and about 200 of his staff are joining Army, Navy and Air Force counterparts
in Central Asia. They are relocating from posts in the United States to set up battle
staffs in that tumultuous region.

Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command based at MacDill AFB,
Fla., said "come over here, I need you here," according to Marine Pacific
Command spokesman Chuck Little.

Hailston is the component commander for the U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Central
Command, and heads all Pacific Marine forces. He oversees about two-thirds of all Marine
Corps forces around the world, most of them in California, Hawaii or Okinawa.

"General Hailston and key members of his staff forward deployed to Bahrain in
mid-January, and the rest of his staff will join him there within a matter of weeks,"
said Lt. Col. Patrick Sivigny, public affairs officer for U.S. Marine Forces Central
Command.

General Hailston is the last of General Franks' component commanders to move his
headquarters to the region.

The military has not ordered a comparable march of senior tactical commanders to the
Middle East since the Gulf War in 1991.

"These are the guys who are actively fighting the war every day," said Rear
Adm. Craig R. Quigley, senior spokesman for the Central Command, to the New York Times
this week. "When you have that task of running the war from the tactical level,
it's better when you're physically closer to the forces you control."

Lt. Gen. Charles F. Wald, Central Command air component commander, moved his
headquarters from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., to Saudi Arabia in mid-September to run a new
advanced air operations center where 300 American military personnel now work.

Rear Adm. Albert M. Calland III moved his special operations headquarters from MacDill
in early October. About half of the 40 Army Special Forces "A-teams" that worked
with anti-Taliban troops have left the region, giving way to a growing number of Army
civil affairs specialists.

Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek moved from his Army headquarters at Fort McPherson, Ga., to
Kuwait on Nov. 11, taking most of his staff of 700 with him, Army officials said.

Sivigny would not speculate whether this move suggests future operations against
terrorism in the region.

"I can't discuss specific operational aspects of the deployment. The U.S. is
repositioning some of its military forces in support of the president's campaign
against terrorism," Sivigny said. "Our mission is to plan, coordinate and
sustain Marine operations in support of Central Command."

Hailston's move marks the first time a Hawaii-based component commander has been
ordered to the Central Command's area of responsibility.

It's absolutely a significant move, Sivigny said.

Marines remaining in the Western Pacific, the largest concentration assigned to
Okinawa, should see no day-to-day changes in operations, the colonel added.

"This is a Central Command-unique deployment," he said.

Sivigny said the deputy commander of Marine Forces-Pacific, Brig. Gen. John G.
Castellaw, will take over planning and conducting Marine exercises supporting the U.S.
Pacific Command.

Sivigny said the Marine Corps Hawaii staff ranges between 400 to 500 Marines and
civilians, and many of the vacancies caused by the Bahrain deployment will be filled by
reservists.

"When Operation Enduring Freedom kicked off, a number of individual reservists
came in to augment the staff. Obviously we're working more with Central Command than
we were in the past so they will occupy the vacancies in Hawaii."