Hawai'i Marine to help lead war on terror
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The top Marine in Hawai'i, Lt. Gen. Earl B. Hailston, has been sent to Bahrain to coordinate several thousand Marines as they fight the war on terrorism.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 12, 2001
A support staff of about 200 Marines and sailors from Camp H.M. Smith will join him in coming weeks, said Lt. Col. Patrick Sivigny, spokesman for Marine Forces Pacific.
Lt. Gen. Earl B. Hailston oversees two-thirds of all Marines.
Hailston, who oversees the 1st and 3rd Marine Expeditionary Forces, which comprises about two-thirds of all U.S. Marines, left Hawai'i in mid-January, Sivigny said. He will report to Gen. Tommy R. Franks, head of U.S. Central Command and the man running the day-to-day operations of the war.
"Lt. Gen. Hailston and his staff will control assigned forces, coordinate and sustain Marine activities in the region and assist Gen. Franks in planning for any possible deployment of Marine forces in the region," Sivigny said. "They are up and running. They are in operation there. It is a very seamless transition."
Franks had asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to send Hailston.
The other branches of the military already have commanders operating in the region, Sivigny said.
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
