Lt. Col. Alan Ostermiller, 41, commander of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, was suspended last week while an investigation is conducted into the incident, Ma said.

Although reports were still filtering in, Ma said it appeared a verbal altercation in the battalion headquarters at Logistical Supply Area Anaconda escalated into physical contact between Ostermiller and his operations officer, a major.

"What we got back was he grabbed the officer by the collar and that's pretty much the extent that we saw," Ma said.

The battalion is attached to the 29th Brigade Combat Team of about 2,200 Hawai'i National Guard and Reserve soldiers. The unit, along with other Pacific island and Mainland components, recently arrived in Iraq for a year of duty. LSA Anaconda, where the battalion is based, is about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Ma said 29th Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Joseph Chaves "is looking at everything leading up to that incident" and will soon make a recommendation for a final outcome. Maj. Paul Gault has been named acting commander of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment.

Ma was responding to reports by some battalion family members that there had been a near-choking and that Ostermiller was pulled off the officer and thrown to the ground before being placed under arrest by military police.

"My understanding was that MPs were called after the altercation," Ma said. "I don't know whether he was arrested or anything like that."

Lt. Col. Howard Sugai, a Reserve spokesman here, said conflicting e-mails have been received as to what happened. In Iraq, the 29th Brigade no longer reports directly to its Hawai'i headquarters.

Depending on the seriousness, and whether the operations officer pursues charges, the case could lead to a court-martial, Sugai said.

Ostermiller, who took command of the battalion in July, is a 1982 Kamehameha Schools graduate. He went through the University of Hawai'i ROTC program.

Tina Ioane, whose husband, Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Ioane, 46, is with the 100th, said she hopes the allegations against Ostermiller aren't true. She described him as a charismatic leader.

Ioane was getting information "bit by bit from people, and I don't want to take their word for it."

"I trust his (Ostermiller's) abilities. He's a man of God," she said. "I have confidence in him."

Ostermiller is married and has four children on Maui. His family declined to comment yesterday.

Sugai said the conflict "certainly doesn't help because they are in the process of relieving the unit that's in place right now ... But every report we get says everything is proceeding smoothly." He said a message was sent out reassuring families that leadership is sound and the unit is cohesive — and asking that they not "add more juice to the grapevine."