[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12525-S12526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S12525]]
                          TRIBUTE TO FRED PANG

  Mr. GLENN. Mr. President, a man who worked with me very closely on 
the Armed Services Committee, Fred Pang, a man who rose to become the 
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy, will retire 
from almost 40 years of service to our Government, on November 16.
  During these 40 years he has always kept one principle paramount in 
his service--that principle has been the welfare of the troops. Over 
his entire period of service, and especially during the past 3 years, 
he has constantly worked to improve the quality of life for our men and 
women in uniform and their families.
  Mr. Pang's long and productive association with the military of the 
United States dates back to his earliest days. Growing up in Hawaii, 
his father was a shipyard worker at Pearl Harbor and a survivor of the 
Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. Perhaps growing up in Hawaii 
during World War II helped shape Mr. Pang's propensity for public 
service, his fervent patriotism, and his penchant to participate in the 
defense of our Nation. In high school, Mr. Pang was a member of the 
Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at McKinley High 
School. Next, he joined the Naval Reserves, and following boot camp in 
San Diego, he served aboard two destroyers. While pursuing his 
bachelor's degree at the University of Hawaii, he enrolled in the Air 
Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program, and upon graduation, he 
was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. Thus, began 
his long and illustrious active affiliation with the Department of 
Defense.
  His 27-year Air Force career included a variety of manpower and 
personnel assignments, including a tour in Vietnam in 1968-69. Before 
retiring as a colonel in 1986, he was the Director Of Officer and 
Enlisted Personnel Management and the Director of Compensation in the 
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management and 
Personnel--two of the most important and demanding personnel jobs in 
the entire Department of Defense for an active duty officer. During his 
stint in these jobs, he worked on many critically important projects 
with long-term implications for the professional personnel management 
of uniformed personnel. Most noteworthy was the research and analysis 
he did in support of the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act 
[DOPMA] of 1981. While this act was obviously the result of much hard 
work by many people and was, in the final analysis, a work of the 
Congress, the work done by Mr. Pang in the Department of Defense 
contributed immeasurably to its success. The fact that DOPMA has 
remained in tact for over 16 years as the governing law for all 
Department of Defense officer personnel stands in tribute to the work 
done by then-Colonel Pang and all others who contributed to its 
development.
  Upon his retirement from the Air Force, and after a very short, 6 
months, time in the private sector, Mr. Pang again answered the call of 
his country and went to work as a professional staff member on the 
Senate Armed Services Committee [SASC]. As the majority staffer on the 
Personnel Subcommittee of the SASC, Mr. Pang was recognized as one of 
the leading experts and most influential people in the entire 
Government when it came to matters relating to the management of U.S. 
military personnel. Although his accomplishments on the SASC are far 
too numerous to list here, there is one facet of his service with the 
committee, which deserves mention. Following the end of the cold war, 
the Department of Defense was faced with the unprecedented task of 
drawing down an All-Volunteer military. Having lived through the post-
Vietnam war drawdown, which was something less than successful, Mr. 
Pang was determined that we would not return to hollow military of the 
mid- to late-1970's. Working tirelessly, he developed a package of 
downsizing incentives including the voluntary separation incentive 
[VSI], special separation benefit [SSB], and temporary early retirement 
authority [TERA]. These programs have proven themselves to be 
extraordinarily effective in helping reshape our military as it was 
reduced by some 33 percent. The results speak for themselves. Today, we 
have a military that is of higher quality in terms of education and 
aptitude scores than ever before in history. The force was drawndown in 
a well-balanced manner so that today our service men and women are more 
experienced and capable than ever before. Additionally, when the 
drawdown began, many feared that minorities and women would be 
disproportionately affected. So good were the tools provided by 
Congress, developed mostly by Mr. Pang and so skillful was the 
execution of the drawdown that the military force of today is more 
richly diverse than ever before.
  Working with his committee chairman, Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, Mr. 
Pang recognized that the true peace dividend coming out of the cold war 
was the incredible number of high quality men and women coming out of 
the military and returning to civilian life. He conceived and developed 
an innovative and effective package of transition benefit programs that 
have proved to be successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Literally 
millions of service men and women have separated from the military 
since the drawdown began. Transition counseling packages written 
into law along with brilliant and innovative programs such as Troops to 
Teachers and Troops to Cops have ensured that not only have our recent 
veterans found meaningful and rewarding employment, but that their 
skills, developed in the military, are now being utilized to the 
fullest in the civilian sector. A great deal of anecdotal evidence 
exists that these transition programs have worked exceedingly well. 
However, as overall evidence of the effectiveness of the transition 
programs developed by Mr. Pang, notwithstanding the huge number of 
people separating from the military during the downsizing, the amount 
of money, as a percent of the budget, that the Department of Defense 
has paid out in unemployment compensation has not increased at all. 
People are finding jobs in the private sector, and they are finding 
good jobs. Through job fairs and transition bulletin boards, private 
sector employers have acquired new employees who have a great work 
ethic, who understand the concept of mission, and who are drug free. 
And society has acquired former service members who are outstanding 
role models for the youth of America. Much of the credit for this truly 
American success story has got to go to Mr. Fred Pang.

  During his tenure as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and 
Reserve Affairs and as Assistant Secretary of Defense, Force Management 
Policy, Mr. Pang has continued and focused his leadership in the area 
of military and civilian personnel management and equal opportunity. 
Hard to put into words, but clearly evident from the accomplishments of 
the organizations that he has so skillfully led over the past 4 years, 
is the ``can do'', positive attitude that he inspires as a leader. 
During his tenure as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and 
Reserve Affairs, he dealt with some of the thorniest issues facing the 
Navy in many years such as the Tailhook scandal and the U.S. Naval 
Academy cheating scandal. Mr. Pang's integrity and commonsense approach 
to problemsolving did much to put the Navy on the correct course in 
dealing with these very difficult issues. As the Assistant Secretary of 
Defense, Force Management Policy, he completely revised and made right 
the Department of Defense Directive on officer promotion and nomination 
procedures. In the aftermath of Tailhook and other highly publicized 
officer promotion and nomination problems, the new directive, written 
under Mr. Pang's leadership, has not only put the processing of these 
critical actions back on an efficient and timely track, but has 
restored the faith and confidence of the Senate Armed Services 
Committee and of the American public in the officer promotion and 
nomination process. One of the major efforts of former Secretary of 
Defense William Perry was improving the quality of life of service and 
family members. He placed Mr. Pang in charge of this effort and 
appointed him as the chairman of the Department of Defense Executive 
Committee on Quality of Life. Under Dr. Perry's guidance and Mr. Pang's 
leadership, the Quality of Life Executive Committee has made major 
accomplishments in improving the quality of life of our service and 
family members, and, for the first time, we have established a series 
of measurements and

[[Page S12526]]

standards for all quality of life services. Because of these efforts, 
the lives of service and family members worldwide have been improved 
and enriched.
  Mr. Pang has led the Force Management Policy organization to new 
heights of efficiency and accomplishment across the spectrum of 
civilian and military personnel management; personnel support, families 
and education; equal opportunity; morale welfare and recreation and 
resale activities; and women in the military. He is leaving a legacy of 
service to the Department of Defense and our Nation, and most 
importantly, to our men and women serving in uniform, of dedicated 
service and lasting contributions.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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