Pedersen joined the Navy in 1953 as an enlisted mechanic. In 1955, he was accepted into the
Naval Aviation Cadet Program. After completing flight training on 1 March 1957, he was assigned to
VF(AW)-3 flying the
Douglas F4D Skyray. In late 1968, Pedersen joined VF-121 at NAS Miramar as a tactics instructor. The report recommended that an "Advanced Fighter Weapons School" be established at
Naval Air Station Miramar under the control of VF-121 to revive and disseminate community fighter expertise throughout the fleet. The report stated that the Advanced Fighter Weapons School was to have: one Officer-in-charge (F-4 or
F-8 Crusader pilot), three F-4 pilot instructors, three F-4
Radar Intercept Officer instructors, three F-8 pilot instructors and an Aviation Ordnance Officer. The school would train twenty (20) F-4 Phantom II aircrews and ten (10) F-8 Crusader Naval Aviators per year. The aircrew syllabus would consist of 25 hours per pilot/aircrew in the F-8 or F-4, 75 hours of classes and a course duration of four weeks. Following the implementation of the program, the Navy kill ratio in Vietnam went from 2.5:1 to 24:1. Trerice's father brought a lawsuit against Pedersen,
Rangers executive officer and others but the case was dismissed. On 11 June 1982 he relinquished command of
Ranger and became deputy chief of staff for the
Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Due to political opposition as a result of Trerice's death, his name was removed from the 1983 promotion list to
rear admiral and he retired from the Navy on 1 March 1983. ==Awards and decorations==