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One-star SEAL tapped for vice admiral

A one-star SEAL admiral has been nominated to receive a third star, according to a Pentagon announcement Thursday. The move, if confirmed by the Senate, would send him leapfrogging over the two-star rank.

President Bush nominated Rear Adm. (lower half) Robert Harward for vice admiral and assignment as deputy commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., the statement said. He is currently deputy commanding general at Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Harward had been nominated to receive his second star, according to a Feb. 13 Defense Department announcement, but a Navy spokesman confirmed Thursday that Harward never pinned on that rank. No follow-on assignment was mentioned in the February nomination announcement.

A flag officer skipping a rank is rare, but not unprecedented. On Feb. 19, DoD announced that Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Joseph Dunford had been nominated for lieutenant general and assignment as deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations.

Harward, a 1979 Naval Academy graduate, was a surface warfare officer before joining the SEAL community, according to his official biography. He served as commanding officer of SEAL Team 3, and in August 2001, took command of Naval Special Warfare Group 1. After Sept. 11, he deployed to Afghanistan and served as commander of Task Force K-BAR, a combined joint special operations task force. In October 2002, he commanded Naval Special Warfare Task Group Central in Iraq.