Remember Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada?

His father, Bob Watada, says the Army doesn't seem to want to, and his son remains in legal limbo.

The 1996 Kalani High graduate is still at Fort Lewis, Wash., pushing papers after he refused to go on his Stryker brigade's deployment to Iraq in June 2006.

Ehren Watada, 30, denounced the war as illegal and unjust, and said if he went, it would make him a party to war crimes.

The Honolulu man, who said he would have served in Afghanistan, was the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to the Iraq war.

Watada was charged with missing his unit's deployment to Iraq and with conduct unbecoming an officer for denouncing President Bush and the war.

Public opinion at the time reflected the polarization that existed over the Iraq war. Many military members said Watada violated his oath as an officer, and that he had no right to decide whether the Iraq war was just or unjust — essentially choosing which wars he would or wouldn't participate in.

A federal judge last November blocked the Army from conducting a second court-martial of Watada after the first one went awry, saying it was likely the second trial would violate his constitutional rights.

The ruling was based on the principle of double jeopardy, which protects individuals from being tried twice for the same crime.

According to Watada's supporters, the Army announced its intent to file court papers to try to prevent the injunction from becoming permanent, and then did nothing.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle did not indicate in his November order what the next steps would be; Watada's attorneys, Jim Lobsenz and Ken Kagan, inferred that the burden was then on the government to come forward and modify or dissolve the injunction.

"I kind of think it's like Guantanamo — just hold him," said Bob Watada, a former Hawai'i Campaign Spending Commission executive director who now lives in Oregon.

Watada was tried in a military court in February 2007 for failing to deploy and conduct unbecoming an officer. If eventually convicted, he faces six years in prison.

That first court-martial ended in a mistrial. Settle, the federal court judge, said the military judge likely abused his discretion in declaring the mistrial.

Watada now reports to a desk job at Fort Lewis, a base south of Seattle. His father said his son doesn't have security clearance to do anything.

"The attorneys are talking to the Army. They aren't telling me what they are saying, but they are talking to them," Bob Watada said.

Bob Watada said he suggested to his son's attorneys that they somehow force a conclusion to the issue.

"I talked to him — he was going to take some classes, then he was not certain exactly what was going to happen, at least for the fall term, so he dropped that idea," Bob Watada said.

IN BRIEF

ELECTRIC BOAT TO WORK ON USS HAWAII

The Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $38 million contract modification to perform a range of work on the submarine USS Hawaii during what's known as a "post-shakedown availability," the company said.

Electric Boat is a subsidiary of General Dynamics.

USS Hawaii, a new Virginia-class submarine, is expected to arrive at its home port of Pearl Harbor in 2010.

The contract calls for Electric Boat to conduct maintenance, repairs, alterations, testing and other activities on the submarine. The work is scheduled for completion in March 2009 and will involve more than 500 current employees.

The initial contract was awarded in December 2006. It now has a potential value of $62 million if all options are exercised, General Dynamics said.

USS Hawaii is the third Virginia-class submarine, the first class of the Navy's major combatants to be designed specifically for post-Cold War missions.

Electric Boat and its construction partner, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, have been awarded contracts to produce 10 of the submarines.

SHIPYARD GRADUATES CENTENNIAL CLASS

The 109 men and women graduating from Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard's apprentice program May 14 were christened the "Centennial Class of 2008," receiving their diplomas 100 years and a day from the date of the establishment of the Navy yard.

The shipyard's apprentice program is a paid, four-year work and study program that prepares participants for trade careers.

Trainees earn a tuition-free, two-year degree from Honolulu Community College and certification in ship maintenance from the Navy and U.S. Department of Labor.

Starting pay for apprentices is about $17 an hour. Upon graduation, journeyman positions pay about $27 an hour.

BROWN TO LEAD COAST GUARD DISTRICT

Rear Adm. Manson Brown on Thursday assumed command of the 14th Coast Guard District.

Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O'Hara, who stepped down from the position, is moving to Washington, D.C., to become the Coast Guard's assistant commandant for operations.

The 14th District includes Coast Guard units in Hawai'i, Guam, American Samoa, Saipan, Tokyo, South Korea and Singapore. Brown returns to Hawai'i after spending the past two years as the commander of the U.S. Coast Guard's Maintenance and Logistics Command Pacific in Alameda, Calif.

Brown was the commanding officer of Sector Honolulu and the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port, Honolulu, from 2005 to 2006.