Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 1, 1991 TAG: 9102010539
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short
Miller was born in Roanoke, where he lived for a short time before he followed his father into the sea service in 1964.
He will relieve Adm. Powell F. Carter Jr., who is retiring after almost 40 years of service.
Miller - speaking to an audience of about 300 people attending the ceremony aboard the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship docked at the Norfolk Naval Base - said that less than two years ago, when communist governments were collapsing in Eastern Europe, it became fashionable to dismiss the need for a strong U.S. military force.
"Since last August, most of those voices have been stilled," Miller said, referring to the Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. When it comes to the importance of a strong Navy, "the future may be not as unlike the past as many had hoped it would be," he said.
The change of command came under unusual circumstances - mostly empty piers because of deployments to Desert Storm.
Miller was deputy chief of naval operations for naval warfare before coming to the Norfolk command. He is a former commander of the Seventh Fleet in the Pacific and was an executive assistant to the secretary of the Navy.
The Atlantic Fleet, headquartered in Norfolk, has about 270 ships, 2,300 planes, 227,000 Navy personnel and 50,000 Marines.
by CNB