[CPEO-MEF] NNS3303. DoD Names Heads of Vieques Replacement Group

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NNS3303. DoD Names Heads of Vieques Replacement Group
By Rudi Williams, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Retired Adm. Leighton W. Smith and
retired Marine Corps Gen. Charles Wilhelm have been named co-
chairmen of a group charged to find a training site to
replace the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley announced the
appointments during a recent press briefing at the Pentagon.
Smith and Wilhelm were tapped by the Center for Naval
Analysis to head the study group, Quigley said. Other members
have not yet been named, but the group is expected to include
analysts and other retired senior military officers, he
noted.
Quigley said the Smith-Wilhelm group's goal is to find
one or more places to provide Atlantic Fleet naval forces
with good quality training in air-to-ground and amphibious
operations, and naval surface fire support.
The Navy is scheduled to end operations at Vieques in May
2003.
The new group's task is different from that of an earlier
team led by Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace and Adm. William
Fallon. That group's charter was to find an alternative to
Vieques, Quigley said, but it concluded no perfect match
currently exists.
For more information about Vieques, go to
http://www.navyvieques.navy.mil.

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