Schofield Barracks and Fort Shafter are two of 30 Army installations nationwide being targeted for force reductions, to meet budget controls.

That boils down to a potential loss of 19,786 positions — 18,119 soldiers and 1,667 civilians — each earning an average of $55,374 to $63,980 annually.

About 16,000 losses would be associated with Schofield; the remainder with Fort Shafter.

Our Wahiawa community, which has a long and storied history, stands to be severely affected. From the introduction of pineapple in the early 1900s, to agriculture’s rise and fall, to our increased ties with the federal government and Schofield Barracks, our residents and businesses have experienced significant fluctuations in the area’s economic well-being.

Currently, Wahiawa Town’s population is about 15,900, down from 16,200 in the 2000 Census, and includes a high population of low-to-moderate income and minority residents. The 2006 median income was $50,400, compared with $61,160 for the state. Forty percent of Wahiawa households earn less than $35,000 per year, 40 percent lower than state average; 16.7 percent of Wahiawa’s residents are below the poverty line, compared with 10.7 percent for the state. Unemployment in Wahiawa in 2000 was 20 percent higher than the city average.

Because of residents’ low income, a major portion of Wahiawa has been designated a Neighborhood Revitalization Area by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Recently, there has been an encouraging trend of entrepreneurial businesses and fast-food restaurants here, an area almost totally dependent on military personnel and their dependents. The town is bordered by significant U.S. Army facilities: Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Army Airfield and East Range, an Army training area extending into the hills south and east of Wahiawa. The U.S. Navy’s Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific is also here.

The business and economic partnerships are evident throughout Wahiawa. The public schools here are routinely visited: the primary purpose is to find ways the U.S. Army-Hawaii can partner with schools in providing support, academic help through mentoring and tutoring, and encouragement to schools where military dependents receive their education.

The Army’s draft Findings of No Significant Impact includes one clear description of Wahiawa’s profile, stating in part: "Socioeconomic impacts could include greater impacts to lower-income populations that provide services to military employees and installations, or where job losses affect communities whose proportion of minority population is higher than the state average. Some school districts may need to re-evaluate staffing plans for schools that could lose soldiers and Army civilian-related students as part of their student populations."

However, another finding lists force-reduction impact on sales and income here as "less than significant" — clearly contradicting what we perceive.

The Wahiawa Community and Business Association, as well as its general populace, is very concerned with this erroneous and misleading finding. Over the years, Wahiawa Town has become very familiar with deployments via various 25th Infantry Division units. With each deployment, our businesses have experienced significant loss of revenue generation, and with that, loss of income. Along with these deployments comes the inevitable loss of continuity of programs and partnerships with the command structure and soldiers that were previously woven into the community fabric.

The implementation of force reduction at Schofield would come at a most inopportune time. Wahiawa is just beginning to see an economic resurgence, and there is great promise and anticipation of a renaissance of agricultural production in fallow lands that border neighboring military installations.

Hopefully, the Army will recognize that its proposed reductions indeed "could have serious impacts to the communities that host the nation’s force" — and will minimize the environmental and socioeconomic impacts to our Wahiawa community.