Commanding Officer

Almost 30 years ago, Robert D. Shadley was a brand new Army officer training at the Ordnance Center and School at Aberdeen Proving Ground.Today, as a major general with combat experience in Vietnam and Desert Storm behind him, he's back as the commanding officer of the school as it is shaken by one of the biggest sexual misconduct scandals in the history of the Army.And as Army officials aggressively take the case to the media, saying they have no intention of covering up any misdeeds, Shadley, 54, has been a constant presence on television screens across the nation.

Over two years have passed since firefighter Mark Falkenhan was killed at an apartment fire on Dowling Circle in Towson. His death resulted, in part, from a collapse of the Incident Command System (ICS), when first-arriving units were faced with heavy fire and multiple rescues. ICS is a procedural policy for ensuring that command and control mechanisms are continually utilized during mitigation efforts at every incident. "Command" is assumed by the officer of the first-arriving unit and passed to the responding chief officer upon his or her arrival.

Gen. Robert D. Russ,64, who headed the Air Force tactical unit during the Persian Gulf war, died of cancer Friday in Shalimar, Fla. Russ was commanding officer of the 120,000-member Tactical Air Command, now known as the Air (( Combat Command, at Langley Air Force Base, Va., before he retired in March 1991.Pub Date: 5/27/97@

Marine Col. Susan B. Seaman , of Columbia, assumed duties as commanding officer for Marine Corps Forces Command Headquarters and Service Battalion from Lt. Col. Anthony A. Ference during a change of command ceremony attended by more than 100 Marines, Sailors and family members on Aug. 25, at Camp Allen. Seaman was transferred to Norfolk, Va., from Headquarters and Support Battalion, in Camp Lejeune, N.C., where she served as the commanding officer over the last couple of years.

Navy Capt. Gerald M. Farrell will take over as deputy commandant of midshipmen at the Naval Academy. He replaces Marine Gen. Charles Bolden, who has become the assistant wing commander at the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro, Calif.Captain Farrell, a 1970 academy graduate, will help formulate academy policy and will handle daily operations and the training of the 4,000 midshipmen, officials said.He graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1981 and recently was commanding officer of the USS Princeton, responsible for air defense during operations in the western Pacific and Indian oceans.

Donald A. Haines, a retired Navy captain and engineer, died Aug. 21 at Anne Arundel Medical Center of lung cancer. The Severna Park resident was 69. He was born in Morristown, N.J., and earned his bachelor's degree in industrial psychology at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., while participating in ROTC. He was commissioned into the Navy upon graduation in 1957, and specialized in computer systems and communications while on tours of duty in Japan, Spain and Vietnam. He did several tours of duty on submarines.

Capt. James Hested, a career naval engineer, has assumed command of the U.S. Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, the facility's 34th commanding officer in its 97-year history.Hested succeeds Capt. Ronald Marafioti, who served as the shipyard's commanding officer since June 1993. Marafioti retired from the Coast Guard after 30 years.A 1968 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, Hested holds two master's degrees: one in naval architecture marine engineering and the other in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Dana L. Stewart,77, the Ohio National Guard commander who changed rules on firing weapons after National Guard troops killed four students during the Kent State anti-war protest in 1970, died on March 1 of an infection in San Antonio. He adopted Army guidelines allowing soldiers to load ammunition into their weapons only when their lives are at stake and to open fire only when ordered by a commanding officer.Lawrance Washington,97, one of the closest living relatives of George Washington, died Thursday in California.

Woman pedestrian abducted, assaultedA woman told police she was kidnapped and sexually assaulted Sunday night by a man who forced her into his car in Linthicum.According to the police report, the woman was walking on West Edgevale Road near Belle Grove Road at 10:30 p.m. when a man drove up to her and forced her into his car. Taking her to a truck stop on Thomas Road, he tried to force her to perform several sexual acts while he assaulted her.The woman managed to escape but was beaten on her head and body.

As the Army prepares to release a report critical of commanders in the Aberdeen Proving Ground sex scandal, the leader of a corrupted training battalion at the post has been suspended from his command.Lt. Col. Martin T. Utzig, a 20-year Army officer, was suspended Friday as commander of a battalion where seven drill sergeants -- including convicted rapist Delmar G. Simpson -- were charged with criminal sexual misconduct involving female trainees.Utzig's suspension, confirmed yesterday by a base spokesman, was ordered by the general in charge of the Army's training program and comes shortly before the Army's Inspector General is expected to release a report detailing the "command environment" at Aberdeen.

CAMDEN, S.C. - While the political class was focused on the meaning of pigs wearing lipstick, a few fortunate South Carolinians were riveted by the meaning of valor. The occasion was a celebration of four of the state's living recipients of the Medal of Honor: Charles Murray Jr. (Army, World War II, 1944), John Baker (Army, Vietnam, 1966), James Livingston (Marines, Vietnam, 1968) and Michael Thornton (Navy, Vietnam, 1972). The four appeared in Camden (at an event my husband helped organize)

Lamar Owens, Navy's former standout quarterback, will face a court-martial for allegedly raping a female midshipman, the Naval Academy announced yesterday. Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, the academy's superintendent, made the decision to seek the most serious form of military trial, which could send Owens to prison for life. No date was set, but Owens, a senior, might be barred from graduating next month. "Due to the severity of the charges and the time it may take for the allegations to go to trial, the accused and his family have been advised that it is unlikely that he will be allowed to graduate on time," said Deborah Goode, spokeswoman for the academy.

Donald A. Haines, a retired Navy captain and engineer, died Aug. 21 at Anne Arundel Medical Center of lung cancer. The Severna Park resident was 69. He was born in Morristown, N.J., and earned his bachelor's degree in industrial psychology at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., while participating in ROTC. He was commissioned into the Navy upon graduation in 1957, and specialized in computer systems and communications while on tours of duty in Japan, Spain and Vietnam. He did several tours of duty on submarines.

Capt. John McLaughlin, a retired Navy officer and real estate executive, died of heart failure Wednesday at Memorial Hospital at Easton. He was 86. Born and raised in Baltimore, he was a 1936 Loyola High School graduate. He attended Loyola College during the Depression, and in 1938 he was forced to leave college and go to work because he couldn't produce the $75 he needed toward tuition, said his daughter, Shawn McLaughlin of Oxford. He worked at Crown Cork and Seal and the Pan American Oil Co. until he joined the Navy in 1941.

State police Capt. Scott Yinger is hoping local residents are willing to pay to see him take a dive - one that will benefit charity. On Saturday, the commander of the Westminster state police barracks will barrel into the 40-degree waters of the Chesapeake Bay. In return, he's asking for donations to the Special Olympics. "It may be cold on the outside, but it's a warm feeling inside to know what you're doing is for a good cause," said Yinger, who will be participating in his third arctic adventure during the eighth annual Polar Bear Plunge at Sandy Point State Park near Annapolis.

LANDSTUHL, Germany - Under sudden fire from disguised Iraqi soldiers, U.S. Army Sgt. Charles Horgan could only watch as a missile zoomed toward him. "It was just like in the movies," Horgan said. "It was a whizzing noise. I thought, `Oh, my God, I'm gonna die.'" As he tried to warn his crew, the missile slammed into Horgan's Humvee, blasting him onto the top of the vehicle and knocking his commanding officer out the side. For the next 10 minutes, their unit was engulfed in a shootout with enemy troops - a whirl of gunfire, shouts and smoke outside the southern Iraqi city of An Nasiriyah.

Capt. John McLaughlin, a retired Navy officer and real estate executive, died of heart failure Wednesday at Memorial Hospital at Easton. He was 86. Born and raised in Baltimore, he was a 1936 Loyola High School graduate. He attended Loyola College during the Depression, and in 1938 he was forced to leave college and go to work because he couldn't produce the $75 he needed toward tuition, said his daughter, Shawn McLaughlin of Oxford. He worked at Crown Cork and Seal and the Pan American Oil Co. until he joined the Navy in 1941.

Standing atop a flight of rusty stairs, high above the U.S. Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, the Ancient Mariner watches the battered ships come in. He is older than most of the cutters. He's even outlived some. In nearly 40 years in the Coast Guard, he has steered ships through Arctic storms and war zones, white-knuckled nights and nail-biting days. At 61, Capt. William S. Cheever is an old sea dog. But the elements that wear down the ships seem to invigorate Cheever, the commanding officer of the Coast Guard Yard that straddles the border between Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County.

Standing atop a flight of rusty stairs, high above the U.S. Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, the Ancient Mariner watches the battered ships come in. He is older than most of the cutters. He's even outlived some. In nearly 40 years in the Coast Guard, he has steered ships through Arctic storms and war zones, white-knuckled nights and nail-biting days. At 61, Capt. William S. Cheever is an old sea dog. But the elements that wear down the ships seem to invigorate Cheever, the commanding officer of the Coast Guard Yard that straddles the border between Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County.

KEEDYSVILLE -- I have joined an army that no longer exists, fighting a battle and a war whose outcome is predetermined, and I can barely wipe the silly grin off my face when the cameras start rolling. Mr. Maxwell, I'm ready for my close-up. Right. Me and about 400 other re-enactors on location for Gods and Generals, Part 2 of director Ron Maxwell's Civil War trilogy. Part 2 is named for the novel by Jeff M. Shaara on which it is based. Today we're filming the battle of Chancellorsville, a resounding Confederate victory that came at the high price of Gen. Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson's life.