Commarpac

Unlike NORAD where a formally constituted bi-national command staff existed to handle emergencies, the bilateral naval organization, which was every bit as complex as that of NORAD but did not have the same history of political sensitivity, relied on liaison between the key headquarters: COMASWFORLANT in the United States and COMARLANT in Canada to deal with the Atlantic with a parallel structure on the Pacific through COMTHIRDFLT and COMMARPAC respectively.

When I was assigned to COMMARPAC headquarters in 1973, it was for two reasons. The first was to get headquarters staff officer experience which helps your career down the road, and the second was I had some health issues and the flight surgeons wanted me out of the cockpit for a while.