Bleg - What was that novel

I wrote

I read my first science fiction novel in the fourth grade. I no longer remember the title but I do remember that my teacher caught me reading it under my desk during a math lesson.

Now I'm wondering what the book was. It was in the elementary school library so it could not have been too adult ... here is what I remember about it ...

• The good guys were space marines. Their mission was to capture ... something .. in the asteroid belt before the bad guys did.
• The bad guys were Commies.
• Spacemen were nicknamed 'Rocky'.
• One of the space marines was one of 17 pure-blooded Hawaiians.
• One of the characters commented on how close the cruiser was to some of the asteroids, to which the helmsman .. or the officer of the deck .. replied 'a miss is as good as a mile out here' or words to that effect.

Anybody? Bueller?