Pacom is traditionally a "water command" run by an admiral, and Sen. Dan Inouye at first bristled at the idea of Martin's nomination.

The Martin nomination was speedily pulled after he was fiercely questioned about his role in a tainted Boeing Co. contract.

Now Fallon will need to hit the ground running, with the tsunami relief efforts, ongoing tensions between China and Taiwan, nuclear ambitions in North Korea and civil wars and terrorist cells in Muslim Southeast Asia.

Not that Fallon, the current commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., isn't familiar with the region, or its relationship to Hawai'i.

During President Bush's first term, Fallon led a diplomatic mission to Japan to apologize on behalf of the U.S. government for the collision between the USS Greeneville and the Ehime Maru fishing vessel, which occurred nine miles from Diamond Head and killed nine Japanese men.

Indeed, the last decade has seen a trend toward calling on the top military brass to help manage world affairs and ward off potential conflicts.

Diplomacy is nothing new for those heading the Pacific Command, which covers half the globe and includes hundreds of thousands of troops in a 43-country region extending from the West Coast to eastern Africa.

The job also calls for bridging the gap between military and civilian communities in Hawai'i.