THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 21, 1994 TAG: 9412210277
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
A Virginia Beach-based Navy man who helped coordinate the triumphant return to power of Haiti's president got the personal thanks of America's commander-in-chief here Tuesday.
President Clinton pinned commendations on Senior Chief Petty Officer Samuel F. Wood and six other servicemen in a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. Because of their efforts in the fall to secure the island and restore democracy, ``now at least all Haitians have a chance,'' he said.
The honorees included an enlisted man from each service branch, along with Army Lt. Gen. Henry H. Shelton, the initial commander of the entire operation. Shelton received the Distinguished Service Medal.
Wood, an operations specialist, was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. He has worked since September as a plans and policy officer attached to the Army's 3rd Special Forces Group in Port-au-Prince, a job that's given him ``lots of responsibilities I never thought I'd have.''
Wood is among a handful of troops, he said, who work to ``coordinate, organize, plan, not just the concepts'' of major events like the return of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but the details - ``who's gonna do what, when is it going to occur.''
He helped arrange the peaceful dismantling of Haiti's secret police force and its replacement with a new force the Haitian public can trust. He worked to assemble and coordinate special teams that toured the country to buy back weapons from Haitians. After Christmas, he'll return to Haiti to resume work on a briefing on the entire mission.
Typically, such large responsibility is given to commissioned officers, but the Haitian operation has been unconventional since its inception.
Wood said he worked initially as something of a secretary for an Army lieutenant colonel, but when the officer got a new assignment, ``they just kinda said, ``Well, you can do that,' '' and gave him many of the same responsibilities.
The only Navy man in a group of Army planners, Wood typifies the kind of versatility that senior military officials say will be vital in the increasingly cross-service operations of the future. When his superiors were looking for someone with planning experience to fill out the Army unit, he volunteered and shipped out in the same day.
He was living in Virginia Beach and working as a trainer for tactical air controllers at the Atlantic Fleet Combat Training Center at Dam Neck, Wood said, when he and two other chiefs were called in and told about ``an opportunity in Haiti.''
``And I'm thinking about the other people in the room with me,'' he said. ``And I knew one of 'em was a single parent, and I didn't think it appropriate for them to go. And the other was a newly promoted senior chief, who had just been assigned to a new division that was fixing to have a major loss of manpower, and I didn't think it was appropriate for him to go. . . . I thought it's just best for the people involved that I go.''
At 38, Wood has been in the Navy for 20 years. He once sought - unsuccessfully - a commission, but some years ago decided not to pursue it further and to finish his career as a senior chief.
``It's an honorable place to be,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
President Clinton presents Senior Chief Petty Officer Samuel F. Wood
with the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. Wood has been working as
a plans and policy officer attached to the Army's 3rd Special Forces
Group in Haiti.
by CNB