The selection of a new 25th Infantry Division commander is making waves even before he takes on the Schofield Barracks job.

The Pentagon on Thursday announced that Maj. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., the commandant of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., will be the new commanding general at Schofield.

The Army said no change-of-command date has been set.

Caslen's appointment was met with criticism from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

The Defense Department's inspector general last August found that Caslen and six other military officers improperly participated in a promotional video for an evangelical group called Christian Embassy.

According to the inspector general's report, the four generals and three other officers violated rules by giving the appearance of governmental sanction to the Christian group, and did so while in uniform.

"The officers were filmed during the duty day, in uniform with rank clearly displayed, in official and often identifiable Pentagon locations," the report said.

Caslen and another general "accepted full responsibility for their actions and committed to be more alert to ethical issues in the future," the report said.

Caslen also testified he agreed to participate in the Christian Embassy video, in part, because other senior personnel had agreed to participate, including Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, who was chief of Army public affairs, according to the report. It also said Caslen believed the project had been "appropriately coordinated."

The Associated Press reported that the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Mikey Weinstein, said Caslen's new assignment in Hawai'i is further evidence of a pattern by the military to tolerate the promotion of fundamentalist Christianity among its ranks.

"And we're going to put this guy in charge of the 25th Infantry Division?" Weinstein said.

Army spokesman Paul Boyce said Caslen and Brooks received "written memoranda of concern" from the Army based on the August 2007 inspector general report.

The inspector general said Christian Embassy, a non-federal religious organization providing religious instruction and fellowship, had been conducting activities in the Pentagon since 1978.

IN BRIEF

POPPING THE QUESTION ON THE PIER

The fast-attack submarine USS Pasadena returned to Pearl Harbor last Wednesday after a six-month deployment to the western Pacific.

Jamie Thorp got her boyfriend back and something else — a ring and a proposal.

Electronics Technician 2nd Class Donald Gibson got on bended knee on the pier and popped the question.

"I just figured today would be the best time," Gibson said afterward. "I had a lot of time to think out there, so I figured, why not today?"

Oh, yeah — Thorp said "yes," Gibson's command reported.

AKAKA SAYS VA STILL FALLING SHORT

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawai'i., chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said the Veterans Administration is still not providing adequate long-term case management to veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI.

A recent report by the VA inspector general on Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with TBI injuries found that while VA's case management has improved, not all veterans with TBI are receiving follow-up care, and that many have significant unmet needs.

"I am particularly concerned to learn that, despite earlier assurances to the contrary, VA still is not providing vital long-term case management to all traumatically brain-injured veterans," Akaka said.

TBI, often referred to as the "signature wound" of Iraq and Afghanistan, often is caused by the concussion of roadside bombs. A RAND study found that 19 percent of returning veterans experience possible TBI.

At Akaka's request, the inspector general conducted a follow-up assessment and found that 24 percent of veterans who are suffering from TBI, and their families, reported significant unmet needs.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.