Hagel to be 5th Pentagon chief with enlisted time

WASHINGTON – When President Barack Obama declared that his defense secretary nominee, Chuck Hagel, would be the first former enlisted man to lead the Pentagon, he seemed to overlook four previous defense chiefs who served part of their military years as enlisted men.

William J. Perry, who served as defense secretary from 1994-97, was in the Army’s enlisted ranks from 1946-47 and served in Japan as a member of the American occupation force, according to a biography on the website of Stanford University, where he is affiliated with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Perry wa...