A new airstrip at Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island, a return to live-fire training at Makua Valley on Oahu, a stronger state-military-business partnership, and military “liaisons” in Hawaii and Washington, D.C., are being pursued as the state seeks to maintain $8.8 billion in annual military expenditures amid defense budget cuts.
Adm. Harry B. Harris, head of U.S. Pacific Fleet, called Hawaii the “gateway” to America’s re-balance to the Pacific.
But he also cautioned at the annual Hawaii Military Partnership Conference on Tuesday that the state can’t take its key role for granted — particularly with budget battles to come.
“It would be a mistake for anyone to assume that because our nation is re-balancing to the Asia-Pacific, Hawaii will easily be able to maintain the resources that we have become accustomed to,” Harris told between 350 and 400 business leaders at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie and the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, which holds the military update conference each year, laid out plans to maintain Hawaii’s military clout — and paychecks.
The death of powerful U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye in late 2012 was noted more than once, and it was his former chief of staff, Jennifer Sabas, who detailed an initiative to establish new committees within the chamber’s expanded military affairs council.
“It’s going to take all of us. It’s going to take us to be focused. It’s going to take us to reach out much broader than we’ve ever had to,” Sabas told the business community. “But we can definitely do it.”
One new committee will focus on the shipyard, the state’s largest industrial employer, “to ensure that our shipyard continues to make the strides to get ships out on time and on budget,” Sabas said.
Another committee will take on training range and “encroachment” issues — a term used for civilian conflicts with military bases.
Abercrombie said his administration already is looking at ways to make the 132,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island a “premier” training site in the Pacific.
The state, through the Hawaii National Guard, can work with the active-duty military to provide capital improvements like a needed airstrip at Pohakuloa, he said.
Abercrombie also said the state could provide land and help develop public-private housing initiatives for additional troops to minimize Pentagon investment.
Some 2,700 Marines from Okinawa are expected to be moved to Hawaii by 2026, and the military is studying places to house them.
Additionally, Abercrombie said he’ll seek $525,000 in state funding for “liaisons” in Hawaii and Washington, D.C., “to protect and enhance and advance the military presence in Hawaii.”
David Bramlett, a retired four-star Army general, said at the military update that Schofield Barracks has “ambitious” plans to reopen Makua Military Reservation to increased training.
The 4,190-acre valley was used 10 years ago for combined arms live-fire training with artillery and mortars firing overhead, helicopters making strafing runs and advancing infantry firing at pop-up targets.
An environmental lawsuit halted live-fire training in 2004, but the Army believes it will have met final requirements for marine resources and archaeological studies next summer.
Although one Pacific Army commander said in the past that a return to live-fire training at Makua might not be necessary with the development of new ranges at Pohakuloa, the Army now says its goal is to resume such training in Makua.
“What we recognize right now is that we’ve got limited range capability here in Hawaii, that the training resources are finite (and) that we need Makua,” said Lt. Col. Derrick Cheng, a 25th Infantry Division spokesman. “Makua is a key resource in all of our range resources here.”
Maintaining or improving existing training ranges is seen as key to keeping the forces that are already forward-positioned in Hawaii.
“The budget constraints are driving an increased need for home-station training,” said Maj. Gen. Kurt Fuller, who heads the 25th Division.
Bramlett said the chamber’s military affairs council also continues to support Navy efforts to modernize the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, whose undersea range is “vital” to the submarine force.
He also noted that recent survey results show strong support for the military, with 92 percent statewide supporting the military and 77 percent supporting military training.
Some military leaders addressed a reduction in capabilities from sequestration and other budget cuts.
“We’ve canceled training exercises, we’ve got most of our Stryker (armored vehicle) fleet parked in the motor pool (and) our (helicopter) flying hours have been reduced,” the 25th Division’s Fuller said.
Overall, the Army is cutting its size by 80,000 soldiers, he said.
“So far, we’re not part of that (in Hawaii).”
The Air Force may be reduced by 25,000 to 30,000 airmen, said Gen. Hawk Carlisle, head of Pacific Air Forces.
“How we do that is going to be a challenge,” he said. “We’re upfront with our airmen and tell them what’s going on. They are both voluntary and involuntary (separations).”
Carlisle said readiness issues like flying hours need to be addressed.
“We’ve got to get our readiness back up,” he said. “Whatever the size of the force we have, it has to be capable and ready.”
The cuts are coming as the United States faces a nuclear-armed North Korea and an increasingly assertive China.
“We do know that China is moving towards this peer competitor status, this era of great powers, two great powers, the United States and China in the Pacific, and it’s something that we constantly look at,” said Army Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield, U.S. Pacific Command’s chief of staff.
Harris, the Pacific Fleet commander, told the business leaders that Hawaii has organizations such as the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies, East-West Center and Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies that provide “rich dialogue and intellectual capacity essential to the re-balance.”
Rim of the Pacific war games will be the biggest ever this summer with 23 nations, including, for the first time, China and Brunei, he said.
The Navy also announced Tuesday two impending ship arrivals this summer that will maintain firepower in Hawaii.
The destroyer John Paul Jones will replace the Pearl Harbor cruiser Lake Erie, with Lake Erie heading to San Diego for repairs. The destroyer Preble also will leave San Diego to replace the decommissioned frigate Reuben James in Hawaii.
Harris said “there is little doubt that our Navy today is second to none, and I guarantee that tomorrow’s Navy will be as well.” But he also said that to fill the “substantial shoes” of Inouye and former U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, “all of us here today must step up our game or accept greater risk to Hawaii’s prominence as the gateway to America’s re-balance.”
FUTURE FOCUS
Military budgets are being cut at the same time that the U.S. is “re-balancing” to the Pacific. Hawaii has a key role, but it doesn’t get a free pass from budget slicing and dicing. Officials here want to take steps to prevent losses, including:
>> Returning Makua Valley to live-fire training to secure cheaper, home-station training for the Army.
>> Developing Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island as a “premier” military training center.
>> Offering state capital and land and developing partnerships to develop military housing and facilities.
>> Organizing committees within the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii to sustain the shipyard and other military components.
>> Spending $525,000 for state “liaisons” to the military in Hawaii and Washington, D.C.
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