THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702150233
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 48 lines
The Marine Corps' Atlantic headquarters is returning to Norfolk, three years after moving to Camp Lejeune, N.C., in a cost-cutting move.
While billed as a move to save money, the return also reflects the creation of 12 new general officer billets - and a reorganization of workloads among some top Marines.
Lt. Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm currently commands U.S. Marine Forces Atlantic and serves as commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force, a 50,000-member Camp Lejeune-based command.
The new general officers Congress authorized will enable the Marines to divide those duties between two officers, and between Norfolk and Camp Lejeune.
The Marines moved their Atlantic headquarters out of Norfolk in summer 1994, taking a three-star general and 150-member staff. The Corps also shut down Norfolk's Camp Elmore and reassigned about 450 Marines who had been based there.
The aim at the time was to consolidate the force's command, increase flexibility and save money, according to officials. Locating the headquarters with the subordinate commands already at Camp Lejeune would streamline bureaucracy, enhance training and deployment, and enable the commanding general to command his war-fighting forces in person, the Corps said then.
But splitting Wilhelm's commands promises to simplify what has proved to be a complicated, extremely busy juggling act.
Lt. Col. Stan Gould, a Marine Corps spokesman at Camp Lejeune, said that with one general handling the Corps' Lejeune duties and another ``the responsibilities in Norfolk to function as a component command to the commander-in-chief, it will be a much cleaner operation.''
The unit that returns to Norfolk, probably this summer, will be much smaller than that which left in 1994, Gould said. ``We don't know the exact number because we are doing a functional analysis, trying to determine which ones go and which to leave behind.''
Those returning to Norfolk will move into spaces controlled by the small contingent of Marines left behind in 1994. The cost of the move is expected to be minimal.
No announcement has been made as to who would take which command, or if both would continue to be held by a three-star general. That decision most likely will be made later in the year, Gould said. Wilhelm has been in his post since August 1995. ILLUSTRATION: Lt. Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm